James T. Farrell and Baseball by Charles DeMotte

Author:Charles DeMotte [DeMotte, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO003030 Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History, HIS036090 History / United States / State & Local / Midwest (ia, Il, In, Ks, Mi, Mn, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi)
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Promoting Black Baseball

While black baseball mirrored the same problems that were pervasive throughout the sport, teams also contributed to the integration of baseball into Chicago’s African American community by dedicating games to charity. An event, described as “the Coney Island of the West,” that took place at the White Sox Park for the benefit of Provident Hospital featured an appearance by boxing champion Jack Johnson, who performed the duties of master of ceremonies. Included were two wrestling matches and a number of stunts, along with feats of strength and exhibitions of jumping and endurance. Almost as an afterthought there was a game between the American Giants and Niesen’s all-star Gunthers. These events, attended by Mayor Carter Harrison Jr. and Governor Charles S. Deneen, were punctuated by a continuous performance by the Eighth Regiment band. Another benefit game to support the Old Folks Home featured a match between the City Firemen and a black team, the Chicago Red Caps, at American Giants Park. Chicago’s two black semipro teams further staged a benefit game for Harry Moore, a popular baseball player who was suffering through the last stages of tuberculosis, a rampant disease at that time. That same year a game between the American Giants and the ABCs for the benefit of the Phyllis Wheatley Home for Girls proved a huge success, netting $502 for the institution.31

Black baseball magnates considered their teams to be part of an expanding entertainment industry. Theatrical connections with promoters were a characteristic feature of an emerging African American culture in northern cities. When E. B. Dudley, owner and manager of the Vaudette Theatre in Michigan, visited Chicago to transact theatrical business, he paid Foster a visit. The object of this meeting was to promote two games between the American Giants and the ABCs in Detroit, to be played at Navin Field (the American League park) so as to ensure a large crowd. It is uncertain what Dudley might have had up his sleeve with respect to other events associated with the games, but it is clear that showmanship and baseball went hand in hand.32

The close association between the black elites in Chicago and Republican Party operatives spilled over into baseball. This was not surprising since there was always a close connection between baseball and politics, the one feeding off the other. As a reward for winning “the championship of the world” the previous year and as a goodwill gesture, Edward R. Litzinger, a candidate for Chicago’s Board of Review, presented a flag to the American Giants prior to a game against the Gunthers. According to one report Litzinger was a confederate of Rube Foster “and has been a close friend of our people.” Some years later Judge Robert Crowe, who was campaigning for the post of state’s attorney, accepted an invitation to throw out the first ball in a game between the Chicago Giants and the Oak Park semipro nine. Crowe, it was said, had been given solid support from the race and was characterized as “Chicago’s squarest judge.

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