The 1920 Season

The winter of 1920 brought great changes to Black baseball in the Midwest.   Under the leadership of Rube Foster, owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants, the first Negro National League was formed in Kansas City after a three-day meeting of team owners at the Paseo YMCA.

Robert Gilkerson did not attend in person, however according to a February 21st article in the Freeman, he and his team were represented at the meeting by Attorney Elisha Scott of Topeka, Kansas.  When it was all said and done, the new league consisted of eight clubs but Gilkerson’s was not one of them.  Instead, the new league would mean that some of Gilkerson’s best players would be leaving for a chance to play in the new league.

In an article in the Chicago Defender on May 1st, Gilkerson addressed the issue saying, “After losing Boyd, Jack Marshall, Rube Currie, Cunningham, Harris and McNear in the new circuit, we still will be able to put out a team that will not suffer in comparison with the teams in the new circuit, who are as yet only great on paper.”

New additions to the Union Giants included William "Happy" Evans (cf), William "Peewee" Lowe (3b), H. Williams (ss), ? Poole (2b), John Fields (of), and ? Ellison (rf).  New pitchers for 1920 included H. Smith, ? Harris, and ? Hoskins.  Returning from the previous season was catcher and team captain Clarence "Pops" Coleman,  Edgar Burch (p), George Harney (p), Jess Turner (1b), and B.R. Jones (2b, of).  

Gilkerson’s team spent two weeks “spring training” in Spring Valley at Hicks Park before getting on the road.  This ritual would be repeated nearly every year of the team’s existence.  

An early game scheduled for May 16th in Dixon, Illinois promoted Gilkerson’s team, once again, as the Chicago Union Giants.   Before the game could happen, W.S. Peters wrote a letter to the Dixon Telegraph objecting to the use of the name, just as he had done in Omaha the year before.  

“Manager W.S. Peters of the Chicago Union Giants states that his team will play in Chicago Sunday and the organization coming to Dixon is made up of players from Spring Valley, who are traveling under the same name as the Windy City organization which has been playing baseball for 36 years.”

By June, Gilkerson's club would fully embrace the use of the name Gilkerson’s Union Giants.  Although, “of Chicago” or "from Chicago" was often added erroneously by newspapers when mentioning the team.

For the 1920 season the club was based in Lake View, Iowa with regular games scheduled there on Sundays.  During the week, like the year before, they would travel around the state playing local town and company teams.  On a few occasions they played other African American barnstorming teams such as the Tennessee Rats and Swift's Colored Giants from St. Joseph, Missouri.  On at least one occasion they crossed the state line and into Omaha, NE for a series against their recent rivals, the Armours.   The Union Giants swept them in a three game series.

In fact, the Union Giants dominated most teams in the Hawkeye state.  Based on a letter that Gilkerson had written to the Dubuque team at the close of the season, Gilkerson’s Union Giants finished the year with 91 wins, 20 loses and 4 ties.    According to an article in the Dubuque Times Journal in April 1921, Gilkerson’s team outscored their opponents 846-398 in 1920 with 14 shutouts.

This would be the last year that the Union Giants would spend the majority of their season in Iowa however.   By 1921 and with each subsequent year, Gilkerson would push farther north and west eventually reaching Canada and the West Coast by the end of the decade.

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After the team had returned from their tour of Iowa, Gilkerson booked one final game in nearby Dixon, Illinois on October 10, 1920.  Several of his players however had already split off from the team and were headed home.  As a result, Gilkerson recruited three white players from his hometown of Spring Valley, two of which had played for him on the Spring Valley Giants in 1918.

The Ternetti brothers (listed as Ternetter in the box score), John and Pete, along with ? Quinn intergrated the Union Giants for one afternoon.  Gilkerson's team defeated the Dixon Browns by a score of 6-1 in front of more than 1,100 fans, reportedly the biggest crowd for a baseball game in Dixon that year.  Peter Ternetti would eventually become the mayor of Spring Valley, Illinois.

Dick Tate's Summer of 1929

Richard J. "Dick" Tate doesn't appear in any books or articles about the Negro Leagues.  His stats are nowhere to be found on Seamheads or anywhere else for that matter.  And yet, for a few months in 1929 he shared a uniform with some of the top African American and Cuban players of the era while barnstorming in Canada and the Upper Midwest with Gilkerson's Union Giants.

A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Tate was a star athlete in both football and baseball at Bloomington High School.  In the summers he played baseball for several town teams including the Bloomington Colored Giants.  With Tate in the outfield, the Colored Giants won the Bloomington city championship in 1922.

At nearby Illinois State Normal University, Tate was considered one of the best outfielders in the "Little Nineteen" state conference.  At the plate, he typically batted leadoff because of his speed but was also capable of hitting home runs, including two against ISNU's crosstown rival, Illinois Wesleyan, in the big game of the 1927 season.

In football at ISNU, Tate was a speedy halfback known as the "Colored Flash" with a reputation for being a hard tackler as well.  As a junior, Tate was named the University's team captain, a distinction rarely given to Black athletes in Illinois at that time.  It is worth noting, he was the only African American on both the baseball and football teams at ISNU.

After the 1928 football season, Tate dropped out of college for work, making him ineligible to play baseball that spring.  In April 1929, the Daily Pantagraph announced that Tate had signed a contract with Gilkerson's Union Giants and would join the club on their annual tour. 

The other players on Gilkerson's initial squad for 1929 included future hall-of-famer Cristóbal Torriente, Hurley McNair, ? Clark, George Giles, Rogelio Crespo, "Red" Haley, Charley Akers, Frank Cárdenas and "Pops" Coleman.  Additional pitchers on the team included Owen Smaulding,  "Black" Wax and Joe Lillard (aka Joe Johnson).

Lillard, who played basketball in Chicago the previous winter for the legendary Savoy Big Five, pitched in at least one exhibition game in late April in Davenport, IA where he was credited as himself in the box score.  After that he used the pseudonym Joe Johnson.  

Lillard, like Tate, was a multi-sport talent and would eventually go on to play football in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals.  His time with the Union Giants however would be the source of great controversy and ultimately got him disqualified from playing football in college at Oregon (more on this in a later post).     

In late May, Wax left the Union Giants and joined the Auto Kary-All Stars team in Sioux City, IA.  By early July, pitcher Earl "Iron Horse" Harrison and pitcher/catcher Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe would join the Union Giants.  Later in the season, Gilkerson would also add Eddie Dwight to the roster.

The Union Giants spent the majority of May and June in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota.  By July and into August, the team was playing mostly in Canada.  During this period, Tate sent multiple correspondence back home.  The Daily Pantagraph reported on May 28th that Tate was "making good" with the team according to friends.  Less than two weeks later the newspaper reported, "The Union Giants have won 28 out of 30 games played this year and Tate has been hitting the ball consistently."

In August the Sioux City Journal reported that the Union Giants had "returned recently from Canada where they swept all opposition aside to win five tournaments, each having a first money prize of $500."  One of the teams that the Union Giants faced in Canada was Felsch's All-Stars, a team based in Virden, Manitoba that included former White Sox players "Happy" Felsch and Swede Risberg.  Banned from Major League Baseball for their roles in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, both men had been playing semipro ball in the Upper Midwest and Canada for years.  The Union Giants defeated Felsch's team three out of five games.

Dick Tate however did not get a chance to play against the two former big leaguers.  Instead, he was replaced at center field by Eddie Dwight, who had been playing with the Kansas City Monarchs before coming to the Union Giants.   Tate, it appears, left Canada and the team before the end of July and returned to Bloomington.  

Perhaps he was hoping to start back up at ISNU in the fall semester and play football one more year.   If so, he would be disappointed.  He was ruled ineligible again because of his incomplete classes from the previous year.  He spend the rest of the summer playing baseball for Cooksville, a local town team, as well as the Colored Giants of Bloomington.

As for the Union Giants, they finished the season with a record of 122-26-4.  In September the team won yet another tournament, this time in Eastern Nebraska with a purse of $1,000.  Third baseman "Red" Haley had a reported 41 home runs on the year.

In early April 1930, the Daily Pantagraph reported that Tate had once again signed with Gilkerson for the coming season.  Even though he had not been in school, he had been consistently working out with the ISNU team.

The Union Giants were even scheduled to play in Bloomington against the local Three-I League team, the Bloomington Bloomers (renamed the Cubs that year), in an exhibition game on April 20th.   The game however was rained out.  With no arrangements made for a make up game, the Union Giants promptly left for Iowa to begin their annual tour.

Tate however, for reasons unknown, never joined Gilkerson and the Union Giants in 1930.  Instead, he went back to playing with the local Cooksville team and the Bloomington Colored Giants that summer.  

In 1931, Tate was still looking to play baseball at the semipro level.  He even took out an ad in the Indianapolis Recorder, hoping to "get in touch with some strong semi-pro baseball club."

In 1935, Tate returned to ISNU to revive his college baseball career.  Despite being over 30 years old at that point, he technically still had two years of eligibility left.  In the season opener against the University of Wisconsin however, Tate broke a bone in his ankle on a hard slide.  He was out for almost the entire season.  His year-end totals show just four at bats with one hit on the season.   His college baseball days, it seems, were over.

Even though his career came to a disappointed end, Tate's impressive skills in both baseball and football remain part of sports lore in Bloomington-Normal.  In 1972, Tate was inducted into Illinoi State University's Athletics Hall of Fame.

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Presumably because Tate dropped out of school during the 1928-29 school year, the University doesn't seem to recognize his accomplishments on the football field during the 1928 season - the year he was named team captain.  Below is the school newspaper's article honoring him at the time:

The Vidette, December 7, 1928

The Motorized Base Ball Club

For a time in the early 1920's, Gilkerson's team was promoted as a “motorized base ball club.”  

An article in the Freeport Journal-Standard from May 17, 1922 explains, “the colored boys are traveling about in their own automobiles and hence the name.  Practically every trip made by the Giants is made in automobiles.  This is done to eliminate the possibility of missing trains and to avoid lay-overs in small towns which often cause the team to cancel games because of poor train connections.”   

A promotional photo of the team taken around 1922 (see this website's header) even shows the team vehicles and trailers displayed in the background.

While the use of automobiles certainly gave Gilkerson and his team a lot of freedom and flexibility while barnstorming around the Upper Midwest, life on the road was not without risks, particularly in a time before paved roads and major highways.  As a result, the team was involved in a number of accidents and mishaps over the years.   

On the morning of July 8, 1921, several players were injured outside of Lancaster, Wisconsin when the axle on one of the team vehicles broke, causing it to roll over.  Players were bruised and cut by flying glass but first baseman Jess Turner was hurt the worst.  He suffered a broken collar bone and two broken ribs.  Turner's season was finished.  As for the rest of the Union Giants, they played later that same day.

Two years later, four players were involved in another serious accident in Wisconsin.  A car carrying Clarence "Pops" Coleman, John Taylor, George Harney and Frank Cárdenas ran off the road, crashed through a wooden railing and rolled over twice as it plummeted twenty feet to the bottom of a ravine.

Incredibly, none of the players were seriously hurt.  The local newspaper reported, "The players say their lucky star was in the ascendency and they owed their escape to an act of Providence.  It was explained that the driver was unaccustomed to handling cars.  The swerve into the railing was caused by another member grasping the wheel in an endeavor to steer away from trouble."

The vehicle didn't fair as well as the players.  It lost a wheel and suffered a bent axle and a smashed top.  The players were quoted as saying "She's a good old boat just the same."

The team was not slowed down by the crash however.  They were able to complete several already-scheduled games in the area while a local garage repaired the car.  A few days later the Union Giants were back on the road.

Early in the 1928 season, Robert Gilkerson himself was involved in a vehicle fire while out booking games near Dyersville, Iowa.  After fueling up at a local service station, his car started to smoke and eventually burst into flames.  The local newspaper reported,  "An alarm was sent in and a fire crew responded with the truck.  The special hand chemical tank was put into play and the flames were extinguished, but there was considerable damage done the car.  A short in the ignition system is thought to have been the cause of the blaze."  Gilkerson and an unnamed player that was travelling with him were unharmed.

Gilkerson must of quickly replaced the vehicle because a few weeks later a Minnesota newspaper mentioned that "the Union Giants are traveling in style this year using a Studebaker and a Packard."  The paper added, "Coleman left with the Studebaker packed with nine ball players for that city (Alexandria) about 4 o'clock yesterday after awaiting word from Gilkerson who was in Albert Lea having a new box attached on the back of the Packard."

In 1930 during a series of games with the House of David team in Bismark, North Dakota, the local newspaper mentioned that the Union Giants' bus had overturned near Max, ND a few nights before.  As a result, pitcher Owen Smaulding was sitting out the series with a split finger but otherwise it was business as usual for the club.    

Given the various road conditions and remote locations that Gilkerson was travelling in, it is frankly surprising that the team didn't experience more trouble on the road than they did.  The Union Giants played more than 1,500 games in 18 different states and four Canadian provinces, yet they rarely missed a scheduled game.

In fact, in all my research, I could only find one instance where the team failed to make a game because of travel issues.  In 1932, the team arrived late for a game in Butte, Montana.  The Butte Daily Post reported "the traveling club failed to arrive before night fall.  Poor roads between Great Falls and Helena delayed the Giants, who had played in the Power city Monday evening."   The game could not be made up as the Union Giants were already scheduled in Bozeman the next day.

Otto Ray, Mule Knight & The 1926 Union Giants

This photo of Otto "Jay Bird" Ray and Dave "Mule" Knight in their Union Giants uniforms was first published in Phil Dixon's The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History.  The photo is undated but it must be from 1926, the only year both played for Gilkerson's team.

For just one season, Ray shared the Union Giants' catching duties with Clarence "Pops" Coleman.  Mule Knight, Ray's battery mate, was one of five regular pitchers that travelled with the team that year.  The others were Fred Sims, Charley Walker, Maurice Young and "Lefty" Wilson.  On a few occasions, Dick Whitworth and ? Hank pitched for the team as well.

The other members of the 1926 squad included:  George Giles (1b), Gene Redd (2b), ? Thomas (2b), Clarence Everett (3b, ss), Charley Akers (ss), Steel Arm Davis (lf, rf), Eddie Dwight (cf, lf) and Jess Turner (rf).  

In July, Redd broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season.  Sometime in September, ? Clark replaced Turner in the outfield.

During the team's "spring training" period spent around Spring Valley, Illinois, ? Britt (ss), ? Harris (rf) and ? Thompson (2b) were all listed in the lineup but did not end up travelling with the team.

The 1926 club was one of Gilkerson's winningest teams.  They played the bulk of their season in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota with just a few games in Wisconsin.  

Their opponents were mostly town teams but they also played other barnstorming clubs like the House of David and the All Nations team.   They also had an extended series with the Rock Island Railway company team of Kansas City that was playing in Iowa that year.  

On more than one occasion, the Union Giants faced off against legendary pitcher John Donaldson, who was playing for the Lismore, Minnesota team at the time.  The Union Giants won both games of a big 4th of July doubleheader billed as "the greatest baseball card ever assembled for one day."

In early September, the Moline Dispatch reported, "The Union Giants have won ninety-six games this season, lost ten and tied three.  Two of their pitchers have pitched no hit, no run games this year, Sims blanking the Lone Rock, Ia., club, 4-0, and 'Slow Ball' Walker the Newton, Ia., team, 2-0."

For several days during their 1926 tour, a Minnesota columnist travelled with Gilkerson's team and reported on the trials and tribulations of life on the road for a Black barnstorming team.  During the brief time spent with the club, the Union Giants played five games in three days, travelling hundreds of miles between games.  They often didn't get a chance to eat a meal or warm up before games and had less than ideal accommodations in the small towns where they played.  Yet, the Union Giants still managed to win the vast majority of their contests.  (I will share the full reporting and other accounts from the road in an upcoming post.)

Their final tally for the 1926 season was reported at 117 wins, 22 losses and 4 ties.    Over half the players would leave the team or be replaced in the next season, including Ray and Knight, however the team would win even more games in 1927.

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In October 1926, the Chicago Defender reported that Robert Gilkerson was in the Windy City to attend the Colored World Series between the Chicago American Giants and Bacharach Giants.  Several former Union Giants players were on both rosters including Luther Farrell, George Harney, Rube Curry and Charley Williams.

The Union Giants Jersey

More than 15 years ago, Gilkerson's Union Giants were given the high quality replica jersey treatment by none other than Ebbets Field Flannels.   

The apparel company prides themselves on being "research-driven."  Their promotional materials at the time stated, "we were the first company to research and re-create uniforms from the Negro Leagues, and from the rich legacy of independent Minor League baseball."

Without question, EFF have made some incredible looking products over the years, many of which have helped bring interest and awareness to lesser known teams such as Gilkerson's.

That being said, the Gilkerson jersey has never looked quite right to me.  Despite the claim that it is an "exact reproduction," I have never seen a picture of any Union Giants uniform that matches the one that Ebbets Field Flannels produced.  

There are a few promotional photos of the team circa 1920 and none of the uniforms look like this.  Even their description as a "road jersey" is curious.   The Union Giants were strictly a barnstorming team.  With no home field, wouldn't every jersey be a road jersey?

Gilkerson's team often wore pinstriped uniforms.  More often than not they were lighter colored uniforms with dark stripes, especially in the early years, but for a few seasons they appear to be navy with white pinstripes.

The real issue I have with the EFF jersey is the lettering.  In the limited photos I've been able to find, Gilkerson's uniforms almost always had UNION in a column near the buttons, with GIANTS written in script across the front of the jersey.

So where did EFF get the idea of UNION GIANTS in felt letters in a long column down the front (with several letters likely hidden below the belt line once the jersey is tucked in)?  They certainly didn't make up their design, so I have to assume they used a rare photo or had some other reliable resource.  

The question however remains, was it a photo of Gilkerson's Union Giants?  In 1920, there were at least two other active Union Giant teams in Illinois alone (Chicago and Springfield were both well-established clubs that predate Gilkerson).  Not to mention,  short-lived teams named the Union Giants would occasionally pop-up in the Midwest, largely due to the popularity of Gilkerson's travelling club.

By the 1930's, Gilkerson changed his uniform design altogether.  For several seasons, the team wore a pinstriped uniform with GILKERSON'S written in script across the front with a large U G below.  (For another uniform variation see the earlier post about Eddie Dwight and Hurley McNair.)

To my knowledge, there are no original Gilkerson uniforms still in existence.  If so, they are locked away in private collections.  Photos of the team are almost as rare.  

At this point, even the Ebbets Field Flannels reproduction jerseys are scarce.  They only offered them for a few years and I can't imagine too many were ever sold.  

One can be found however at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  It is prominently displayed on the wall along the Field of Legends.

I Have To Keep The Team Playing Every Day

Above is a great example of the kind of postcard Gilkerson would send out in early spring to baseball managers across the Upper Midwest.   The card, which is postmarked April 15, 1920, reads:

Manager Base Ball Club

Dear Sir: -

    The annual tour of the UNION GIANTS BASE BALL CLUB will bring us thru your section of the country soon, and would like to arrange to play you a game or a series of games in your town.  If you can play us answer at once as I have to keep the team playing every day.  Kindly give me the names of all good towns around you that have base ball teams, and oblige,

Yours respectfully,

Robt. P. Gilkerson, Manager,

118 Dalzell St.   Spring Valley, Illinois

Phone 3 R 2

In the photograph, Robert Gilkerson is pictured on the far left (in the dark suit).  It is unclear when the photo was taken and therefore difficult to positively identify the players.  Gilkerson had a habit of reusing promotional materials from years before.  This could be the 1920 team but it is more likely the 1919 or even 1917 team.

Carter Wilson, who played for the Union Giants a few years later, further detailed how the team’s schedule was constructed in Robert Peterson’s book, Only The Ball Was White:

Gilkerson would make a skeleton booking for the whole season, covering Sundays and holidays, before the club started out in the spring.   As he went along, he would fill in the other days.  He had a letterhead and an ad which said, “Coming your way soon!” and he would write the managers of teams and tell them when we would be in their area.   And, of course, because Gilkerson’s Union Giants were an attraction he could easily fill in those other days.  There were very few days when we didn’t have a game.

Des Moines Register.  April 18, 1920

Des Moines Register.  May 13, 1924

  

Davenport Daily Times.  April 9. 1926

Sioux City Journal.  April 17, 1926

The 1919 Season: Gilkerson's "Chicago" Union Giants

The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide 1920

In 1919, Gilkerson went back to barnstorming.  Once again he promoted his team as the Chicago Union Giants, just as he had done at times in 1917, making no distinction between his club and the historic team that he once managed.  This lead to a brief confrontation in the Omaha newspapers that summer and has been a great source of confusion ever since.

In fact, nowadays when most baseball historians refer to the Chicago Union Giants of 1919, they are really talking about Gilkerson's club and not the actual Chicago team owned by William S. Peters.  

As mentioned in an earlier post, Gilkerson had no real claim to the name.  He did not purchase the team from Peters as is often professed in books and articles about the Negro Leagues.  Peters' team was still active in 1919 with the majority of their season taking place in Chicago.  They would continue to play in and around the Windy City for another 20 plus years.

Gilkerson's team, on the other hand, played almost all of their games in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska in 1919.  On a few occasions in early June they were referred to as the Ruthven Union Giants but most often they were called the Chicago Union Giants.

A few players from the 1917 team came back to Gilkerson, including Jess Turner (1b), "Bingo" Bingham (of) and Edgar Burch (p).  The team also included B.R. Jones (2b) which is likely the same player as Will "Rabbit" Jones from the 1917 and 1918 teams, though it is not entirely clear.  In late July, Jones broke his right leg in Boone, Iowa on a hard slide into second base.  Hurley McNair (cf) would join the team shortly afterwards.   

New additions to Gilkerson’s squad included:  Reuben Curry (p), George Harney (2b, p), Jack Marshall (of, p), Bob Anderson (ss), Gene Redd (3b), and ? Tiller (rf).

The most significant addition to the team in 1919 however was catcher Clarence "Pops" Coleman.  Already a veteran of the game, Coleman would stay on with Gilkerson for more than a decade as a player-manager.  He would eventually serve as Gilkerson's right-hand man as well as a mentor to many of the young players.  No one, other than Gilkerson himself, was more important to the success of the Union Giants than "Pops" Coleman.

To start the season Gilkerson headed straight back to northwest Iowa where he based his team two years earlier.  As the Ruthven Union Giants they played games at Electric Park at Lost Island Lake and at a new ballpark built in Ruthven.  Like 1917, when they traveled around the rest of the state and into Nebraska, they were billed as being from Chicago.

One of the team's biggest rivals in 1919 was the Omaha Armours, a white semipro team formerly known as the Brandeis Stores team.  The two clubs first met in June at Rourke Park in Omaha, with the Union Giants winning the first game.  The next day, the Armours won both ends of a doubleheader.

During the afternoon game, one of the Armours spiked Union Giants' first baseman Jess Turner which led to a brawl between the two teams.  A punch was thrown and the incident quickly escalated into a "free-for-all riot" with fans of both teams rushing onto the field.  After 45 minutes, Union Giants' right fielder Jack Marshall, who reportedly punched the offending runner in the face, was taken away in handcuffs and the game resumed (More on this incident in a later post).

The two teams would meet again in late July for another three game series.  Just as before, the Union Giants won the first game with the Armours winning both games of a doubleheader the next day.   

If there had been any animosity between the two teams after the first series, it did not come out in this series.   Perhaps one reason was that Marshall's playing time was kept to a minimum.  He did not play in the first game at all and was a relief pitcher in both games of the doubleheader with only one at bat in the whole series.

For Gilkerson however, the series would be the cause of some controversy.  The trouble started when some of the scores of the series were published in the Chicago Tribune.  This apparently peaked the interest of William S. Peters back in Chicago.

On August 1, 1919 the Omaha Evening Bee published the contents of a letter received from W.S. Peters in Chicago protesting any claim that the Chicago Union Giants were playing in Omaha.  The paper refers to Peters as the manager of the "one and only club of that name."

“According to Peters’ letter, the Chicago Union Giants are playing in the Chicago City league this year are not traveling.  He says the team that played here is not the Chicago Union Giants and they are not from Chicago.”

Gilkerson stayed quiet on the matter, making no public statement to having bought the team or the name.  In fact, he did not refute Peters' claims in any way.  

Instead, the manager of the local Armours team responded in the paper the next day saying, “the team that played the Armours in the recent series here were represented as the Chicago Union Giants and are made up almost wholly of players who have been with this club for years.   Manager Gilkerson himself having been connected with the club for nine years.  These players are well known to members of the old Brandeis team as being from Chicago.”

The newspaper, unwilling to choose a side, stated, "Whether they 'are' or 'not,' the Giants who gave the Armours six great games of ball, have shown some real base ball ability."

The Union Giants soon headed back to Iowa and the matter was dropped by the local newspapers.  That is until Gilkerson's team returned to Omaha in August for a final series with the Armours.  In the several weeks that had passed, it seems that neither the newspaper nor the Armours' manager was willing or able to determine with any certainty whether or not Gilkerson's team were the true Chicago Union Giants.   

On August 21st, the Omaha World Herald ran a story saying, “there are two negroe teams calling themselves the Chicago Union Giants this year.  One is playing in Chicago, and the other is on the road.”   Adding, “manager Deleware of the Armours cannot learn which is which so he gives the traveling club the benefit of the doubt and is using the name given him by that club.”  

Again, Gilkerson made no public statement or defense of his use of the name.  Perhaps he believed the issue would simply go away.  Unfortunately for him, this would not be the last time Peters would publicly challenge his use of the team name.    

The outcome of the final series with the Omaha team was a carbon copy of the first two.  The Union Giants won the first game with the Armours winning the next two in a doubleheader.

Despite losing all three series with the Omaha team, Gilkerson's "Chicago" Union Giants dominated most Iowa teams that summer.   The most notable win was a perfect game thrown by Rube Curry in Wellsburg, Iowa in September.

The Union Giants closed the season in Cooper, Iowa on October 12th, having played a total of 109 games that year.  The Des Moines Register provided their final record as 78 wins, 28 losses and 3 ties.

That same record was printed in the Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide 1920 along with a picture of the team (top).  Interestingly, Gilkerson did not refer to his team as the Chicago Union Giants for this publication.  In fact, there was no mention of Chicago whatsoever.  Instead, the team name he provided was:

Gilkerson's Union Giants Traveling Club, Spring Valley, Ill.

This was likely one of the first uses of the name in print.  By the end of the 1920 season, Gilkerson would exclusively used his surname to promote his team.  This lasted until 1935.  Even so, newspapers around the country would continue to refer to them as being from Chicago for most of the team's existence.

The Throwing Arm of Happy Evans

One of the stars of Gilkerson's team in the first half of the 1920's was outfielder William "Happy" Evans.  

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Evans joined the Union Giants in 1920 as a 21-year-old and quickly established himself as one of the best all-around players on the team.  He was especially known for his speed and incredible throwing arm.

In July 1921, the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald wrote, "Gilkerson's team boasts of some star ball players, who, but for their color, would in all probability grace the payrolls of big league clubs.  Evans, center fielder, is without doubt as classy a fielder and hitter as has been seen in Dubuque."

The newspaper continues, "Evans starred at bat in the June series, garnering three hits in the Saturday game and two healthy wallops in the Sunday tilt.  He was the outstanding star in the Giants - New Hampton braces of games, a spectacular shoe string catch, with New Hampton men occupying second and third, saving the Sunday game for the colored team."

At the beginning of the 1922 season, the Freeport Journal-Standard reported Evans as having "the best arm in baseball."  They added, "Giant management states that they have never met a man who could throw a baseball as far and with as much accuracy as Evans.  Last year Evans took on all comers in throwing contests and was never beaten. "

It was announced that Evans would give a "throwing exhibition" before both games with the Freeport team that May.  The newspaper added, "Evans has been dubbed the 'Ty Cobb' of the colored ball players because of his unusual speed."

Roundy Coughlin, popular sports columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal, went even further saying,  "Evans, the centerfielder for the Union Giants, is the greatest player I ever saw." 

He also confirmed the throwing contests, saying, "The Giants have a standing offer of $100 that he can throw a baseball farther than any man in the world.  The offer has been accepted a few times.  Joe Woods of the Cleveland Americans took the bet once and Evans beat him by over 31 feet."

The next year, when the Union Giants came back through Wisconsin, Roundy once again heaped praise on Evans, saying, "The Giant centerfielder, to me looks like the fastest man I ever saw in a baseball suit.  I might be wrong, but that is my opinion of him.  He has the greatest throwing arm in the game and is said can circle the sacks in less than 14 seconds.  He sure is worth the price to see him in action."

In the summer of 1923, "Red" Mich of the Wisconsin State Journal wrote, "Evans, the great center fielder who would be in the majors but for his race, has walloped only four homers, but his all around ability makes him the most valuable member of the club in the eyes of most of the critics who have seen the Giants in action."

In early 1924, the Chicago Defender reported that Evans was trying out for Rube Foster's American Giants and hoping to join that team for a series of early games in Dallas, Texas.  The paper adds, "Evans comes highly recommended."

According to Seamheads, Evans played in at least 8 games for the Chicago American Giants early that summer (now part of the official MLB record).  In a game against the Cuban Stars in late May 1924, the Chicago Defender reported, "Evans made one of the greatest catches ever seen on the 39th St. grounds, turning double somersaults and still holding onto the ball. "

By early June however, Evans was back with Gilkerson.  In an article written by John Holway for Black Sports in 1975, Evans explained why:

Rube gave me $150 a month.  But I found that Chicago was not the place for me.  When they paid off the first time, I wasn't used to drinking, and I got drunk.  Next time I got paid I did the same thing.  So they didn't know it, but I caught the train that night and went back to Gilkerson and played.

 

In the subsequent years, Evans would go on to play with a number of different Negro League teams around the country, including the Indianapolis ABC's, Dayton Marcos and Cleveland Hornets.

As a member of the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Evans played against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a series of exhibition games.

He is perhaps best remembered, however, for having played on the Homestead Grays for several years, including the 1931 club, considered by some to be the greatest baseball team of all time.

The team featured six players that were eventually inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Jud Wilson, Bill Foster and Joe Williams.  Another key player on that team, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, also played for Gilkerson in the 1920's.

In 1937, Cum Posey, the owner of the Homestead Grays, provided the Pittsburgh Courier with his picks for an "All-Time Grays Team."  He included Evans on that list under the heading of "best throwing outfielder."

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in Bill Evans though not for anything he did on the field.  Evans, it turns out, is the great-great uncle of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex.  The British newspaper, the Daily Mail, published an online article detailing Evans' long baseball career and connection with the royal family.

While Evans' early career has remained mostly undocumented, the legend of Happy Evans' throwing abilities, particularly while with Gilkerson, has endured.  

Starting in the 1970's and as recently as 2022, Wisconsin author and journalist Dave Wood has recounted stories his father would tell about seeing Gilkerson's Union Giants play in Whitehall, WI in the 1920's.  One player in particular, "Cap" Evans, left a lasting impression:

Cap Evans would go out between innings to deep center field in Melby Park.  And he'd be carrying a chair.  He'd sit in that damned chair and pitch strike balls across homeplate.  I'm here to tell you the ball came like a bullet and was never more than three and a half feet off the ground.

Wood's father, it is explained, refers to Evans as "Cap" because of how he "always wore his cap brim turned up."  This little tidbit about Evans' headwear was corroborated by a La Crosse, Wisconsin sports reporter in 1930 who just happened to recognize Evans on a baseball field while travelling in Florida that winter.  He also provides us with the possible origin of Evans' nickname:

    The shortstop looked familiar.  I noticed his back-hand catch, and the way he had the peak of his cap turned up.  I knew I had seen this man play before.  I went over to the dugout and said, "Hello, Happy Evans.  Did you play ball with a colored team in Wisconsin?"

    "Yes," he answered, "and I know what city your are from - La Crosse."

    The reason he gave that he knew I was from La Crosse was because Bill Krause (La Crosse ball player and promoter) was the first man to call him Happy Evans.

In the 1975 Holway interview, Evans was still thinking about La Crosse and his time with the Union Giants:

Did they ever tell you about my throwing arm?  You ask around Wisconsin - La Crosse - ask them about "Happy" Evans.  I was supposed to have the best throwing arm of all of them.

_________

La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, June 10, 1923