Negro Leagues

Ulysses “Slim” Hollimon

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Ulysses Hollimon photo
Ulysses Hollimon with the Baltimore Elite Giants. Photo courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Ulysses “Slim” Hollimon turns 90 today! Hollimon was born on this date in 1931 in Amory, Mississippi. He pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1948 to 1956, most notably for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Baltimore Elite Giants. It appears that in 1956, Hollimon may have also pitched for the Class D Gainesville G-Men and the Class B Peoria Chiefs, both in the Cardinals’ farm system.

After his baseball career, Hollimon attended Tennessee A&I College in Nashville, Tennessee, then worked for the Ford Motor Company for 33 years. He also coached Little League in Plattsburg, Missouri.

In 2008, Hollimon was chosen by the Kansas City Royals in the MLB Negro Leagues Player Draft.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Hollimon!

~ baseballrebecca

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Best of the Week: 6/13/2021 – 6/19/2021

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When Baseball Reference announced they’d updated their site with expanded info on the Negro Leagues, Adam Jones retweeted the post and said he was excited “to be part be part of something so powerful.” Then I learned what he meant: he’d contributed to the site by writing an essay about how he learned about the Negro Leagues. It was definitely the Best of the Week!

Stat-urday, 6/19/2021: Juneteenth

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Happy Juneteenth National Independence Day! So, how many teams are celebrating today? At least seven Major League or Minor League Baseball teams have an event on their schedule celebrating the Negro Leagues and/or Juneteenth today or tomorrow. In addition, the Durham Bulls had their Juneteenth Series last weekend and the Oakland A’s celebrated African American Heritage Day on June 12. The Miami Marlins will be holding a South Florida Black History Celebration next weekend.

The Arizona Diamondbacks put their Juneteenth celebration on their calendar and hopefully more MLB teams will follow suit. Check out the other teams celebrating African American history this month:

DateTeamEvent
18-JunGwinnett StripersHank Aaron Tribute
19-JunColumbia FirefliesNegro Leagues Celebration
19-JunDiamondbacksJuneteenth
19-JunGiantsAfrican American Heritage Day
19-JunInland Empire 66ersNegro League Celebration
19-JunMarinersSalute to the Negro Leagues and Juneteenth
19-JunPensacola Blue WahoosNegro Leagues Celebration
20-JunColumbia FirefliesNegro Leagues Celebration
27-JunMarlinsSouth Florida Black History Celebration

Happy Stat-urday!

~ baseballrebecca

Juneteenth at the Durham Bulls

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Last weekend the Durham Bulls celebrated Juneteenth, which is June 19th, by paying tribute to those who came before them:

Stat-urday, 6/27/2020

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Yesterday, I posted a video about Effa Manley, co-owner of the Newark Eagles. The Eagles won the Negro World Series in 1946, and included future Hall of Famers, Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Biz Mackey, Mule Suttles, and Willie Wells.

Check out the team’s stats below, from Seamheads.com:

YearRankWinLossTieW%
19366273110.466
19372362220.621
19385243000.444
19392372110.638
193941300.250
19403262210.542
19413302510.545
19423363330.522
19433263200.448
19445323500.478
19453272500.519
19461562430.700
194614300.571
19472534210.558
19483333230.508

~ baseballrebecca

Who Were the Monrovians?

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As I noted on Tuesday, the Wichita Monrovians, have become famous for beating a Ku Klux Klan team in June 1925. Unfortunately, little else is known about the team.

The Monrovians were an all-black baseball team owned by the Monrovian Park Association which also owned the team’s ballpark, Monrovian Park (also called Monrovian Amusement Park). The team was named after the capital of Liberia. Their ballpark was located near the corner of 12th and Mosley in Wichita. According to an article by Brian Carroll in The Baseball Research Journal, Monrovian Park opened on June 3, 1922, to much fanfare. Author Jason Pendleton noted, the team “appears to have become one of the leading social forces of Wichita’s small black community.”

Prior to joining the Western League of Professional Baseball Teams, the Monrovians were called the Black Wonders. The Western League began play in 1922 and consisted of teams from Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas: Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha, St. Joseph, Coffeyville, Independence, Topeka, Wichita, and Kansas City. However, the league collapsed after their first and only season. Afterwards, the Monrovians returned to barnstorming throughout the state of Kansas eventually playing – and, more importantly, beating – the Ku Klux Klan in that famous game in June 1925. It has even become memorialized in song:

~ baseballrebecca

The Wichita Monrovians Defeat Hate in 1925

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Every few years or so, the story of the Wichita Monrovians vs. the Ku Klux Klan is recounted. So, in keeping with my theme of eradicating racism from the past several weeks, I thought I’d share this today. On June 21, 1925, the Wichita Monrovians, a Negro League team, played a game against the Number 6 team of Wichita, Kansas, which was made up of members of the Ku Klux Klan. The Monrovians won the game, 10-8, making an important social statement. Let’s keep fighting for fairness and equality.

Check out the story Old-Time Baseball Photos posted on Facebook on Sunday to commemorate the event:

~ baseballrebecca

Best of the Week: 6/7/2020 – 6/13/2020

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There is some good in this world – a Twitter campaign started by an artist has earned thousands of dollars for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: