Three Strikes and You’re Not Out: The Trouble with Umpires

This article appears in SABR’s “The Stars Shone on Philadelphia: The 1934 Negro National League Champions” (2023), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.

In 1934 Ed Bolden’s Philadelphia Stars baseball team capped off the best season of its existence when the squad defeated the Chicago American Giants and won the Negro National League II (NNL2) title. For Ed Bolden, the victory marked the second time he had led a team to a championship; previously, his Hilldale Daisies had defeated the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League World Series in 1925. For the Stars franchise, however, the victory over the Chicago American Giants came amid a spate of controversy that damaged the sport’s reputation. Several games during the series featured ugly fights between players and umpires on the diamond. NNL2 Commissioner W. Rollo Wilson, a newspaper columnist who had a relationship with Bolden, faced allegations that he favored the Stars in the punishments he dealt to players involved in those fights. Wilson’s actions likely cost him his job and spurred other changes to the NNL2’s leadership early in the 1935 season.

The on-field fights and related controversies that marred the Stars’ 1934 NNL championship had deep roots in the history of Black professional baseball. Some of those roots had a direct connection to the Stars through Bolden, whose name was part of the team’s full, official name. During the 1920s, the frequency of attacks upon umpires led leagues like the Eastern Colored League (ECL) and American Negro League (ANL) to pass strict laws governing players’ on-field behavior. Bolden, who had formed both of those circuits, served as the leagues’ president when those policies were enacted. The ANL, however, neglected to enforce its laws, and the attacks upon umpires continued unabated. Bolden added more fuel to the controversy by using White umpires at a time when Black newspapers were calling for more Black umpires, thereby opening himself up to allegations of prejudice from the Philadelphia Tribune.

Overall, the attacks upon umpires that marred the Stars’ 1934 title were a symptom of a much larger problem within Black professional baseball. The absence of reserve clauses in player contracts meant that Bolden and other owners regularly tried to poach talent from one another’s rosters. That lack of discipline among the owners had a trickle-down effect upon the players as they, too, paid little attention to their contracts and “jumped” them for better offers from teams both inside and outside of the United States. Additionally, the precarious financial state of many all-Black baseball teams made owners reluctant to penalize their top players and to focus instead on getting as much revenue as possible from gate receipts. The attacks upon umpires, therefore, were an unsolvable problem for Bolden and other owners because they depended upon players to attract crowds and to generate gate receipts. Ultimately, the issues with umpires contributed to the atmosphere of instability that characterized Black professional baseball in the twentieth century.

Ten years before the Stars captured the NNL championship, the issue of player conduct against umpires was a topic of discussion for Bolden and other owners in the ECL. Similar to other Negro Leagues, the ECL operated under different rules than the ones governing the two leagues in what was then called major-league baseball, the National and American Leagues. In those latter two leagues, the selection of umpire crews did not fall to the individual teams. Instead, the selection of umpire crews happened at the league level. In the ECL and other Negro Leagues, however, responsibility for selecting umpire crews belonged to the individual teams, specifically to the home team. For that reason, allegations of umpire bias against road teams happened frequently in the Negro Leagues. Many games also suffered delays due to on-field confrontations between players and the umpires. To reduce those delays and to dissuade players from striking umpires, Bolden and the ECL owners enacted new policies in 1924 that designated a field captain or player-manager as the only people empowered to resolve disputes with umpires. Additionally, the new policies instituted fines against players who baited umpires into confrontations; such players were subject to fines of $100 and ejection from the game. The players were not the only ones who faced new rules in 1924 – the umpires also worked under new rules because Bolden and the other ECL owners wanted to project an image of professionalism. Even though the home teams continued to select umpire crews, the crews were called upon to act in unbiased ways and to use discretion when ejecting unruly players from contests. At the same time, the rules also pushed umpires to act promptly when dealing with unruly players and to eject such players. Umpires who failed to adhere to the ECL’s somewhat vague rules faced expulsion from the league.1

Issues surrounding umpires at Negro League games often focused on the race of the umpires who were tasked with managing the behavior of Black players. As the leader of the ECL, Bolden found himself at the center of this issue. Prior to the 1924 World Series featuring the Kansas City Monarchs and Bolden’s Hilldale club, a National Commission was formed that consisted of Bolden, Andrew “Rube” Foster of the original Negro National League (NNL1), and other NNL1 and ECL officials. The National Commission had the task of planning the coming World Series, the first for two Negro Leagues; Bolden and others on the commission chose White umpires for the World Series contest. In response, the Pittsburgh Courier published criticism that lamented the lack of Black umpires and the message it sent about Black players.2 W. Rollo Wilson, who published regular columns in the Courier, used his forum to issue a reminder about an earlier proposition to change how the leagues selected umpire crews. According to Wilson, the proposition called for “NEGRO umpires, paid by the league, rotated among the cities of the league.”3 As Wilson reasoned, if “colored men can play baseball they can umpire baseball games and should be given the chance to do so.”4

In the 1925 season, the issues surrounding umpires at Negro League games came to the fore. Bolden and the ECL tried to remedy the situation by hiring rotating umpire crews, thereby ending the practice of home teams selecting their own crews. To manage this new responsibility, the ECL hired a White man, Bill Dallas; his hire prompted the Philadelphia Tribune to publish a cartoon depicting the ECL as an Uncle Tom. In turn, Bolden authored a response, carried by the Tribune, in which he defended the hiring of Dallas and praised him as competent, fair, and experienced. The hiring of Dallas had little effect upon ECL games as many contests continued to face delays due to player-umpire confrontations. The NNL1 experienced similar issues, and Foster responded by releasing most of the league’s umpires and using the sports pages of the Pittsburgh Courier to castigate the poor work of the umpires who had been dismissed. Overall, the ugliness on the sports pages reflected the ugliness on the field of many Negro League games. In one instance, during a game between Hilldale and the Harrisburg Giants, fights broke out both on the field and in the stands. In his columns, Wilson tracked umpire behavior at games that led to allegations of bias and incompetence. At the Hilldale-Harrisburg game, for example, umpires took a break to get some water, and the break appeared to help the Hilldale pitcher. The umpires, furthermore, did nothing when a player threw dirt to protest a call. The disruptions on the field and the lack of a cohesive or effective response threatened to turn fans away from games and to mar the reputation of the Negro Leagues to the general public.5

Bolden, Foster, and newspaper columnists were not the only ones who used the sports pages to defend their actions or to air their grievances about umpires. Bert Gholston, one of the Black NNL1 umpires Foster fired, used the sports pages on two different occasions. The first came in the Pittsburgh Courier before his dismissal from the NNL when he co-authored a letter with another umpire in which they asked for patience and for more balanced coverage from newspapers. The second occasion came in the Philadelphia Tribune after his dismissal; in that article, Gholston asserted that the race of the umpires played a key role in the on-field confrontations. According to Gholston, several NNL1 teams planned attacks on Black umpires and openly refused to respect Black umpires’ calls.6 Gholston and other Black umpires had the support of Wilson, who proclaimed in one of his columns “EASTERN LEAGUE UMPIRES HAVE NO MORE AUTHORITY THAN A KU KLUXER WOULD HAVE AT A BANQUET OF THE ‘HELL FIGHTERS’ IN HARLEM!”7 Wilson did not blame the individual umpires; on the contrary, he blamed the leagues for not supporting competent umpires and hinted that league officials pushed umpires to favor the home teams.8

On the heels of that ugliness, the ECL abandoned its policy to hire rotating umpire crews for league games and reinstated the policy that allowed home teams to hire the umpire crews. Unsurprisingly, on-field confrontations and allegations of bias continued unabated. Bolden was once again involved, both as the ECL’s president and as the owner of Hilldale. In one of Hilldale’s games, pitcher Phil Cockrell punched an umpire after the arbiter changed his mind on a call. The fight on the field eventually involved local police, one of whom hit Cockrell on the back of his head as he left the field. Bolden enforced the league’s rules by fining Cockrell $100 and suspending him for five games. Bolden’s actions, however, did little to alleviate the problem or to deflect criticism about the ways the leagues managed relations between players and umpires.9

The troubles with umpires followed Bolden three years later when he formed the ANL, his second attempt to form an Eastern league of Black baseball teams. Bolden again served as league president and again tried to implement strict measures to dissuade players from attacking umpires. Under his direction, the ANL team owners agreed to a system of rotating umpire crews. They also agreed to laws mandating fines and suspensions for players who attacked umpires, engaged in on-field fights, or delayed games by arguing with umpires over disputed calls. Bolden and other owners, however, lacked the willpower to enforce their own rules. Games at Hilldale’s home ballpark and other ballparks throughout the ANL continued to feature fights and delays over disputed calls.10 Even more troubling for Bolden, he faced acute criticism from the Philadelphia Tribune for his decision to use White umpires. One sharply worded editorial alleged that using White umpires to manage the behavior of Black baseball players fed into racial stereotypes and hindered attempts to promote equal opportunities for Black Americans. The writers asked very pointed and uncomfortable questions of Bolden and the rest of Hilldale’s management:

Are we still slaves? Is it possible that colored baseball players are so dumb that they will resent one of their own race umpiring their game? Or is it that the management of Hilldale is so steeped in racial inferiority that it has no faith in Negroes?11

In the next edition of the Philadelphia Tribune, the newspaper’s editors reinforced their commitment to seeing Black umpires at Hilldale’s games. The editorial appeared to be a response to a letter that supported Bolden’s use of White umpires. The letter’s author questioned whether Black players respected Black umpires enough to respect their decisions. To counter that allegation, the editorial writers offered evidence of Black players treating Black umpires with respect. Additionally, they once again raised the argument that Bolden and the rest of Hildale’s management used White umpires due to a sense of racial inferiority. As had been the case in the first editorial, the second editorial alluded to slavery to prove its point about Hilldale’s racial sensibilities and sarcastically thanked God that “ball players are no longer slaves. They do not think that everything white is perfect and everything black is evil.”12

The controversies over umpires and pointed allegations toward Bolden presaged his unhappy exit from Hilldale in 1930. They also showed that Bolden had an ugly history regarding umpires when his new team, the Stars, faced the Chicago American Giants in the 1934 NNL2 championship series. Like its predecessor, the NNL1 in the 1920s, the new NNL2, founded in 1933, still had not resolved issues concerning the hiring of umpire crews and the on-field behavior of players who disputed umpires’ calls. Those lingering issues spilled out during the series and tarnished the Stars’ accomplishments.

On-field disputes regarding umpires’ calls helped to turn the planned seven-game series between the Stars and the American Giants into an eight-game series. The series began at Passon Field in West Philadelphia and then shifted to Chicago for Games Two through Four. After four games, the Chicago American Giants had a commanding lead in the series and seemed poised to capture the title.

The Stars, however, made a comeback by winning Games Five and Six to tie the series. American Giants field manager Dave Malarcher formally protested the Stars’ victory in Game Six to the NNL commissioner, W. Rollo Wilson. Malarcher pointed out that the umpires had allowed two Stars players, third baseman Jud Wilson and catcher Ameal Brooks, to remain in the game after both players had assaulted the umpires.

While Rollo Wilson considered the protest, Bolden pleaded with him not to suspend either Jud Wilson or Brooks for the pivotal Game Seven. To pressure Wilson, Bolden threatened to pull the Stars from the series; Wilson relented and did not issue any punishments.

Understandably, Wilson’s decision incensed Chicago American Giants owner Robert Cole. The problems compounded in Game Seven when the umpires ejected an American Giants player after he assaulted an umpire, thereby opening themselves to allegations of bias toward the home-team Stars. A fight on the field, along with Pennsylvania’s blue law mandating an early curfew for games played on Sundays, caused the game to end in a tie and necessitated an eighth game. Amid further disputes, the Stars won Game Eight and took the series.13

Sportswriters in the Philadelphia Tribune did not hold back their withering contempt for the 1934 NNL championship series. Ed Harris covered the series extensively and decried the fact that “two sorry incidents” in Game Six set “[u]nhappy precedents” and fomented “out-and-out diamond lawlessness.”14 He regarded the actions by players Wilson and Brooks as “illegal” and “unfair to their teammates and to the fans that came to the game.”15 Harris further criticized Wilson and Brooks for forgetting “it was a championship game, that their services were valuable to the teams, [and] that spectators had paid to see a baseball game and not a court-room debate or a prize fight.”16 He both expressed sympathy for and criticized the umpires in Game Six. While acknowledging that umpires’ decisions almost always attract criticism, Harris chastised them for not ejecting Wilson and Brooks. According to Harris, their actions set “unfortunate precedents” and gave Malacher ammunition for filing a protest with the league commissioner.17

The ugly 1934 series featuring the Stars and the American Giants marked the culmination of a decade of controversies regarding umpires and player conduct on the field. Much of the blame for what happened in 1934 belonged to Bolden and other owners who never figured out a realistic system for managing umpire crews. They also lacked the willpower to consistently enforce rules governing player behavior and allowed the problem to fester. The controversies about umpires bled into questions about race and whether latent racial prejudice factored into both the hiring of White umpires and the physical attacks on Black umpires.

A few months after the series ended, NNL2 owners replaced Wilson with a new commissioner, but the new commissioner and owners still failed to create a culture of accountability for on-field behavior. That lack of accountability came to the forefront a few years later when a spate of contract-jumping plagued the NNL2 and is Western counterpart, the Negro American League (NAL). Many of the top players in the Negro Leagues – including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson – left their teams in the middle of the season and accepted more lucrative offers to play outside the United States. President Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, seeking to consolidate his political power, saw a successful baseball team as a great way to cement his position. Black players already were popular in the Caribbean because of winter league baseball, and they often earned more money playing in the Dominican Republic and other leagues in that region. The contract jumping caught Bolden and other owners flat-footed, and they responded with tough language that was not supported by tough actions. They welcomed back the contract jumpers, and the problem continued until World War II reduced those opportunities.18

Overall, the umpire-related controversies that defined the Stars’ 1934 title had deep roots in Negro League history. The controversies were not a one-time event; on the contrary, they were part of a recurring story that stirred up passions and demonstrated the shortcomings of certain aspects of the Negro Leagues’ operations. Black sportswriters who supported the leagues understandably expressed dismay and scorn at the on-field disputes that delayed games and seemingly had no resolution. The controversies also touched upon racial issues and contributed to Bolden’s temporary exile from Black professional baseball in 1930. Sadly, the Stars never won, or even seriously contended for, another title after the 1934 season. The cloud of controversies and accusations that haunted the series prevented the team and Bolden from fully reveling in their accomplishments.

Notes

1 “Status of Umpires Discussed at Meet of Commissioners,” Philadelphia Tribune, April 19, 1924.

2 “Final Arrangements and Complete Details Are Made for East-West Baseball Classic,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 20, 1924; “The Sportive Realm,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 1, 1924.

3 W. Rollo Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 22, 1924.

4 Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 22, 1924.

5 “White Newspaperman Is Picked by Eastern League as Supervisor of Umpires,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 28, 1925; “Hilldale Manager Takes Exception to Howe Cartoon,” Philadelphia Tribune, April 4, 1925; J.M. Howe, “Sport Sidelights,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 1, 1925; Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 1, 1925.

6 “Comes to Bat in Behalf of Umpires,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 18, 1925; “Umpires Not Given Support Says Gholston,” Philadelphia Tribune, September 5, 1925.

7 Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 12, 1925. The Hell Fighters (popularly known as the Hell Fighters of Harlem) were a famous Black regiment in the US Army in World War I.

8 Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 12, 1925.

9 “Near Riot at Shore When Cops Beat Cockrell; Bacharachs Win Game 1-0,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 14, 1926; “Diamond Dust,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 14, 1926; William G. Nunn, “Diamond Dope,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 14, 1926; Wilson, “Eastern Snapshots,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 21, 1926.

10 “Eastern League Formed, Grays Join,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 19, 1929; Wilson, “American Negro League Flays Barnstorming; Reserves Named,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 2. 1929; “A.N. League Makes Laws,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 8, 1929; “Possibility of New Baseball League to Replace Defunct Eastern Circuit Looms in Conclave Here Next Month,” Philadelphia Tribune, January 3, 1929; “System of Rotating Umps Agreed by Baseball Magnates at Parley Here,” Philadelphia Tribune, February 28, 1929; Neil Lanctot, Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 192-193.

11 “Negro Umps at Hilldale,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 1, 1929.

12 “Hilldale Again,” Philadelphia Tribune, August 8, 1929.

13 “McDonald Wins 5-3 Sat.; Jones and Ellis Drop Games 3-0, 2-1,” Philadelphia Tribune, September 20, 1934; Ed Harris, “To Be or Not to Be,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 4, 1934; Harris, “… And Bright Stars,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 11, 1934.

14 Harris, “To Be or Not to Be,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 4, 1934.

15 Harris, “To Be or Not to Be,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 4, 1934.

16 Harris, “To Be or Not to Be,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 4, 1934.

17 Harris, “To Be or Not to Be,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 4, 1934.

18 Courtney Michelle Smith, Ed Bolden and Black Baseball in Philadelphia (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2017), 101-105.