J. L. Wilkinson
Most people know of the contributions of Rickey and Robinson to major league baseball. Branch Rickey added Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers roster in 1947 as the first African American. There is another person that you may not have heard of, who was more influential in the integration of baseball in the United States. James Leslie Wilkinson was born on May 14, 1878, in Perry, Iowa, to John Joseph Wilkinson and Myrtie Harper Wilkinson.
J. L. attended Highland Park College in Des Moines, where he pitched for the Hopkins Brothers, a sporting goods store. An injury to his wrist terminated his playing days, which took him into management. This led to the creation of the All Nations team, which didn't include every nation on the planet but the number represented was about equal to the number of players on the club. Some on the team were Couteau, who was French, Native American Joe Graves, Jess Jackson, an African American, even a woman named May Arbaugh and Chico Hernadez and Figarolo, both Cuban. J. L. insisted, we all ate, slept and played together. There never was any trouble. We were a happy family.
You could find some of the best on the All Nations club, who beat the Chicago American Giants of Rube Foster, two out of three games. In 1916, they also played what some considered the nation‟s most dominant black club, C. I. Taylor‟s Indianapolis ABCs. They tied them in one game and beat them twice in the other games. The military draft left them with only nine players, but the team still played 35 games, winning all of them except one, which they lost, 1-0.
Wilkinson formed a new team with Bullet Rogan, Lem Hawkins, Oscar Johnson, John Donaldson and Dobie Moore, which became the Kansas City Monarchs – one of the greatest baseball teams in history. J. L. was the only white owner in the league. In 1937 he was chosen treasurer of the newly formed Negro American League. He served with the Monarchs from 1920– 1947, six of which the team barnstormed from 1931-1936. The team was often compared to the New York Yankees, winning almost as many league championships. The Yankees won more World Series only because they were many years that the Negro leagues didn't have them.
The Monarchs took on the white American Association Kansas City Blues in 1912 in a postseason series. The Blues won the series in seven games but in a rematch, the Monarchs won in five out of six contests. This was the last match-up between the teams, but the Kansas City Star showered the winners with praise, eyes are open now to the fact that it isn’t lack of ability that keeps the Negro players off the big time – it’s color.
In 1937, Wilkinson removed all the obstacles at Ruppert Field so that anyone could sit in the seat of his or her choice, regardless of color. For a time, black players needed to dress at the local YMCA or at home. That changed with the desegregation of the park when the Monarchs used the all-white clubhouse and its facilities. J. L. had a great deal to do with that.
With the Great Depression in 1929, Negro baseball was bound to see trouble until Wilkinson, also known as Wilkie, came to the rescue. His innovation was lighting so the games could be played at night. They were portable, thus able to go where the Monarchs played. Mounted on trucks, the lights were set up and dismantled in about an hour. The lighting was accomplished with a powerful generator that drove 44 giant floodlights.
Star light, star bright,
I wish to see a game tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might.
But only Wilkie has the light!
Star light, star bright,
Black players overcome their forbidden plight.
They wish they may, they wish they might.
That only the stars come out at night.
The lighting of the field was done with a dozen men. Baseball parks from Portland, Maine, to the Midwest and from Mexico to Canada were lit up thanks to Wilkinson‟s efforts. The first game under the lights was played on April 28, 1930 at Alton Stadium in Enid, Oklahoma. About 3,000 fans saw the Monarchs beat Phillips University, 12-4. The ten errors they committed didn't help the Haymakers. Under the lights, attendance doubled and tripled in some cases. The Kansas City Call mentioned: Night baseball will be a lifesaver. It gives recreation for the business and working man who can’t afford day games. The Monarchs will probably do to baseball this year, what the talkies have done to the movies. Monarch third baseman George Giles commented, those lights saved baseball. It took five years before the major league used lights.
The Monarchs won many games, even against white teams. They beat all-star teams headed by Grover Alexander, Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller, consistently. In 1932, Wilkinson split up the team, deciding not to stay in the league. The players went to different teams but soon J. L. called them to meet in Chicago. A new edition of the Monarchs was formed. They barnstormed and won 42 games in a row, before losing 2-1 to the Chicago American Giants. They wound up losing a total of five games that season.
During the 1934 campaign, J. L.‟s team whooped the St. Louis Gashouse Gang, 7-0 and 9-0, defeating them in three out of four games. There wasn't any team that could match them. They won their sixth league championship in 1937, beating the Chicago American Giants in four out of five games, with one tie. They gathered more league championships in 1939, 1940 and 1941. The next year offered a bigger challenge against the heavily favored Homestead Grays in the Negro World Series. Even with Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard, the Grays were swept in four games as Gibson hit only .125.
Tragedy struck in the middle of July 1947. J. L. and a few of his players were in a car accident. Wilkie‟s retina was ruptured causing the loss of most of his vision in his right eye. Complications from cataract surgery resulted in blindness in the other eye. Seeing his situation, he sold half the ownership of the team to his friend, Tom Baird. A few years later, Wilkinson was completely blind.
That same year, Robinson played in the Major Leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming Rookie of the Year in the National League. He had played shortstop for the Monarchs in 1945. J. L. received no compensation for Jackie. People who knew Robinson, felt that he could live up to expectations. Some who thought Jackie wouldn't succeed in the majors included Rogers Hornsby, Bob Feller and Fred Dixie Walker. At least one of those wasn't paying attention when the Monarchs clobbered his team. That year of the late 1940s brought with it the fading away of the Negro Leagues.
Wilkinson and the Monarchs had much to do with the great success of African American baseball in the United States. Every young black who played baseball wanted to be on the Kansas City team, just as every white lad wanted to play for the Yankees. The Monarchs were as well known as the team from New York, accumulating more championships than any sports franchise in the history of Kansas City. They provided in excess of thirty players to minor and major league teams, more than any other black team. Earlier I listed some of the African American stars, but I left quite a few out. Surprisingly, the Monarchs have only fifteen players in the Baseball Hall of Fame as I write this. Admitted in 1962, Robinson was the first, followed by Paige in 1971. By 1995, only five Monarchs were in the Hall of Fame. I think more will be added. It was only the last few decades that many African Americans entered the Hall of Fame.
Satchel would have been the first except that he wasn't eligible. He was still pitching in 1966, three years after Jackie joined that prestigious group. I saw him pitch in Buffalo against the International League Bisons. He was either close to fifty years old or in his fifties. Like so many other Negro players, Paige was a member of numerous teams. It‟s rumored that he pitched a day game in one city and a day later was on the mound for another game, miles away. Because of this movement and the longevity of the Monarchs, the number of those who played for that Kansas City team was well over 300. More pitchers, coaches, infielders and outfielders from the Monarchs should be added to the Hall of Fame.
Chester Arthur Chet Brewer was an outstanding pitcher who was on the mound for 25 years, with a career record of 90-64.
His pitches were characterized as cannon shots into the glove of the catcher. His lifetime ERA is 2.89 which included a 17-3 record in 1929. In 1926 he compiled an ERA of 2.05 while going 13-2. He was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966 because of his winter efforts in Latin America. After his hurling days were over, he became a scout and manager.
John Wesley Donaldson was a member of the All Nations club before joining the Monarchs. He is rumored to have struck out 35 batters in an eighteen-inning game in Sioux Falls and shortly after that 27 in twelve innings. He was described as the greatest black pitcher, amassing a 1.37 ERA along with a 235-84 record. He struck out 3,832 opponents and completed 86 shutouts and six no-hitters, including three in a row. He helped his cause with his bat, hitting .334 in over 1,800 trips to the plate. Owner John McGraw mentioned that he would have paid $50,000 for his services if the league had have been willing to part with its racist ways.
Walter Dobie Moore would have had a longer career except for the gunshot wound. For seven years he played shortstop after starting out as a catcher. His lifetime batting average was .346. In 1924 he batted .352, but his attitude earned him a fine from Wilkinson. J. L. penalized him for heading into the stands to settle matters with a fan who uttered a few derogatory comments on his play.
Wilkinson was the owner, but he found the right coaches, scouts and players to produce winning teams. Once he was no longer in charge, the Monarchs, under Ted Rasberry, never reached the heights achieved by J. L.‟s team. Even so, by a unanimous vote, Wilkinson was made a lifetime member of the league. The Kansas City Call wrote, from a sociological point of view the Monarchs have done more than any other single agent in Kansas City to break the damnable outrage of prejudice that exists in this city. That same paper in 1928 paid tribute to the man with these words:
The best club owner in the world to work for –
who is familiar with the game as it is today
who knows how to plan for the future
who believes in us at all times
who stands for a fair and square deal to all
who gives the best and expects the best in return
who loves and is loved by his players
who believes that charity begins at home
who knows and appreciates real ability
who instills the fighting spirit in his club
who practices what he preaches who never turned on a friend.
On August 21, 1964, the Father of Night Baseball died in a Kansas City nursing home in poverty at the age of 86. Satchel paid him the highest compliment when he said: I’ll go into the Hall in a Monarch uniform. And I want it that way. Newt Allen praised J. L., offering: He was one white man who was a prince of a fellow. He loved baseball, and he loved his ball players. He traveled right along with us every day. Stayed at the same hotels we stayed at. Wilkinson‟s son Richard mentioned: I never knew a ball player or person that didn’t like my dad. Never drank, never smoked. Just a fine person and he helped a lot of players, financially. Buck O‟Neil said: One of the finest men I have ever known was J. L. Wilkinson. He was the type fellow, that it was nothing he had that was actually too good for you. Connie Johnson shared the highest view of him. You know J. L. Wilkinson was one of the greatest guys to ever live. I remember one time I borrowed $25 from him and never paid him back. He never asked for it. Allen Lefty Bryant added, „Wilkie’ traveled with the ball club. He made sure we ate whatever we wanted. If we couldn’t get served, he would go in and get the food and bring it out to us. That J. L. was one of the finest persons I ever knew. First baseman George Giles described him as the best man to ever live. I never missed a paycheck with ‘Wilkie’ in charge.
Baseball owners who followed James – maybe you forgot his first name – brought much innovation to the game. Wilkinson was way ahead of his time with the lights, which the major leagues were reluctant to use at first. It took them five years before they got wise. In the mid 1920s, Wilkie introduced Kids‟ Day to the fans, in which anyone fifteen or younger entered the ballpark for free. His Ladies‟ Day functioned the same way. He even had young women as ushers in 1922. If you were at the ballpark in 1939, you may even have been treated to a bathing beauty contest. Soldiers had free admission during the years of war. Black ministers were admitted to the park for free. They in turn dismissed their parishioners early so that they could be at the game, too – a great marketing idea.
J. L. was one of a kind. He cared for his players and the fans. He gave to the national pastime the blueprint for racial harmony as well as the greatest players of the game. I think his teams‟ records against Major League competition speaks for itself. Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier wrote: He has stayed in the game through storm and strife because he loved it, not because he had to. There is no owner in the country – white or Negro – who has operated more honestly, sincerely or painstakingly. It took way too long, but in 2006, Wilkinson joined the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Leslie A. Heaphy did a great job editing, Satchel Paige And Company: Essays On The Kansas City Monarchs, Their Greatest Star And The Negro Leagues. In that 2007 book, you can find information about African American baseball, including humorous stories – some of which may be true. Larry Lester contributed an entire chapter devoted to that great man, Wilkie.