Plenty Tough At Best

Harry J. Earle was a vaudeville performer turned sports reporter based in Fairmont, Minnesota in the 1920's and 1930's.  He was almost certainly one of only a few African Americans living in Marion County at that time.  Earle's column in the Fairmont Daily Sentinel covered Gilkerson's team extensively whenever they passed through the area.  Thanks to Earle, we have names and details about players and games that would otherwise be lost to time.  He even traveled with the Union Giants for a few days in early July 1926, providing us with one of the best reports of the era about life on the road for a Black barnstorming team.

In late June 1926, Gilkerson's men were bouncing around northern Iowa and would soon reach southern Minnesota. The team had gotten off to a hot start that season thanks in part to the pitching of "Lefty" Wilson and the home runs of "Steel Arm" Davis.  As always, the Union Giants were in high demand for 4th of July celebrations.  The previous year, they drew a crowd of 36,000 people in Wisconsin for a single game during the holiday weekend.  In 1926, they would play five games in three days, traveling hundreds of miles between engagements.

Greene Reporter, June 16, 1926

The Union Giants were in Albert Lea, MN on July 2nd for a game against the local team.  With Dave "Mule" Knight on the mound, the Union Giants beat the Tigers, 3-1.  The win, according to the Albert Lea Evening Tribune, "gave the Giants a record of forty-nine wins and five defeats for the season."  The team quickly headed south to Greene, IA to play the Eldora team as part of the town's Sesqui-Centennial Celebration.

In front of a large crowd in Greene, the Union Giants defeated the Eldora team 4-3.  Maurice Young pitched for Gilkerson while field manager Clarence "Pops" Coleman did the catching.  The team likely did not stick around to enjoy the festivities however.  Instead, they got right back on the road and headed north to Fairmont where they were scheduled to a play a double header the next day, starting at 1 pm.

In Fairmont, they would face the Lismore, MN team which included legendary African American pitcher John Donaldson.  In the second game, they would meet the team from Swea City, IA.  The advertisements for the event called it "the greatest baseball card ever assembled for one day."  

An article promoting the contests claimed, "Donaldson has won more ball games than any living ball pitcher, white or colored, and Gilkerson has won more ball games than any other colored base ball manager in the world.  Swea City will be loaded for bear, as a win for them means a reputation worth thousands of dollars.  The management guarantees this to be the best aggregation of base ball stars they ever had, and has guaranteed these team over one thousand dollars to get them.

The Truman Tribune, July 1, 1926

The Union Giants did not arrive in Fairmont until 6 am that morning due to car troubles.  Despite the all night journey from Iowa, Gilkerson's team won both contests easily.  Harry J. Earle recapped the twin bill for the Fairmont Daily Sentinel the next day.  

 "Gilkerson's Union Giants won both games of the double header at Hand's Park yesterday.  Lefty Wilson held Lismore in check during the opener to cop a 6 to 1 verdict.  Lefty displayed pitching form galore to snatch the victory.  Dedus started the game for Lismore and the famous John Donaldson finished.  Three runs were scored off each pitcher.  Three double steals netted three runs while Donaldson was on the mound.  The Giants' hitting and inside baseball won for them."  He added that "Steel Arm Davis added a home run to his string by dumping one over the right field fence in the first game."

In the second game, the Union Giants defeated the Swea City team 3-0.  Earle wrote, "Knight held Swea City to four hits, but his support was spectacular throughout."  Later he wrote, "it was by far the best game of the season to be staged at the park."  The Union Giants could not enjoy the victories for long however.  They had another doubleheader scheduled in Charles City, IA the next day starting at 10 am.  With little rest, it would mean getting back on the road for several more hours.

Earle decided to make the trip to Charles City with the team.  On July 7th, 1926 the Fairmont Daily Sentinel published Earle's report from the road:

    The writer embarked for Charles City with the Gilkerson caravan Sunday night and experienced once again, the trials and tribulations that go with a traveling baseball club.  We arrived in Charles City about 3:45 a.m.  The Union Giants were slated for a morning game at 10 o'clock with the Charles City Collegians.  The boys were in uniform at 9 o'clock, without breakfast.  Arrived at the Lion's Park, where a huge celebration was staged about 9:30.  With no hitting practice the Giants annihilated the Collegians 14 to 6.  Young started the game but gave way to Lefty Wilson after the Collegians had registered their six runs.  Wilson had just hurled the game at Hand's Park, but he stood the Collegians on their heads.  Not a man reached third base in the seven frames he worked.  Lefty knows how to pitch.

    The morning setto drew a large crowd, but the afternoon game was the knockout.  Fully 5,000 customers saw the afternoon session.

    The morning game did not conclude until after 12 o'clock and as the aftermath was slated for 3, the boys were not allowed to eat.  The four games in two days and the 300 mile jump began to toll.  Knight started on the mound for the Giants but had nothing, not even a prayer, so "Steel Arm" Davis, the home run hitter took up the burden, and his stuff ran short after two frames and Knight was sent back to the mound.  When the smoke had cleared, the score was 14 to 1 in the favor of the Collegians.  The Giants' one run being a homer, coming from Mr. Davis.

    "Red" Learn worked on the mound for the Collegians in the afternoon and had plenty.  His win was merited, but the fans of that city will always believe that Gil's crew laid down. 

    It is great stuff, to listen to the different "why fors" when a colored traveling club gets the short end of the score.  Gilkerson has a better club than Charles City, and that's no joke, but they were beaten without a chance Monday afternoon and offered no alibi.  It was just a simple case of vitality snapping.  The life of a traveling ball club is plenty tough at best, but Gil caught three big celebrations - five games in three days - and the answer is there.  Just why the fans will always think that the game was framed when Gilkersons' drop one, is more than we can understand.

Tired and hungry, the Union Giants still managed to win four out of five games over the long holiday weekend.  Still, unrealistic expectations to win everyday were put upon the team by both their fans and their detractors.  Earle illustrates nicely how, despite having a better team than most of their opponents, life on the road came with challenges that even the best of teams could not always overcome.

Gilkerson's club would continue on in the manner for three more months.  In the end, they would log thousands of miles around the upper Midwest and finish the season with an impressive record of 117 wins, 22 losses and four ties.

Webster McDonald & The Mysterious Duff

Webster McDonald was a right-handed "submarine artist" that pitched for a number of great Negro League teams including the Chicago American Giants, the Homestead Grays and the Philadelphia Stars.  In 1952, the Pittsburgh Courier voted him to their "Honor Roll" team as one of the best African American pitchers of all time.  

This photo, which was published in the Philadelphia Daily News around the time of his death in 1982, appears to show McDonald warming up for Gilkerson's Union Giants sometime in the late 1920's.   

McDonald only pitched for Gilkerson a handful of times in 1928 and 1929.  He was never a regular member of the Union Giants' roster.  Instead, Gilkerson would hire him on a limited basis for big games at the end of the season, especially tournaments with large purses.

Between 1928 and 1931, McDonald pitched for a white team in Little Falls, Minnesota for most of the season.  The Union Giants traveled in that part of the country often, playing the Little Falls team a number of times during those years.  In late August 1928, the Union Giants faced off against McDonald.  He struck out seven of the Union Giants in a extra inning game but had no run support whatsoever.  The Union Giants beat the Little Falls team, 1-0, in 12 innings.  Less than a month later, McDonald was pitching for the Union Giants in Iowa.  In a game against the Bayside Cubs of Mason City, MacDonald's underhand delivery was described as "wizard-like" as he pitched four shutout innings.

St. Louis Argus, Sep 27, 1929

In June 1929, McDonald threw a shutout against the Union Giants in Little Falls, allowing just five singles in the game.  Three months later he was back on the mound for Gilkerson's team pitching in the championship game of the Eastern Nebraska tournament at Arlington.  McDonald and the Union Giants went up against a team from Blair, Nebraska that was made up of mostly Western League players.

"McDonald, former American Giants Hurler Holds Opponents in Palm of Hand," proclaimed the Kansas City Call.  He gave up just one run on six hits.   The Union Giants won the championship easily, 10-1, which came with a $1,000 prize. 

McDonald briefly remained with he Union Giants, pitching again is Sioux City a few days later.  Against the local Stockyards team, McDonald started the game but only pitched three innings, giving up three hits and two runs. This was likely the last time McDonald pitched for Gilkerson...  or was it?

Starting in 1928, Gilkerson had a mysterious "submarine twirler" that would occasionally pitch for him, typically in Canada.   He was only ever listed as Duff.  The Winnipeg Tribune claimed he was "rated as the best colored submarine pitcher in baseball."  In mid-July 1928, Duff pitched part of a game against the House of David team in Winnipeg.  "Duff's peculiar delivery and his underhand ball which broke sharply, had the bearded stars swinging wildly in the two rounds that he worked.   He was nicked for a single hit, while he whiffed four," wrote the local paper.  The very next night Duff pitched again.  This time a complete game against the House of David, giving up only one run on five hits.  The Union Giants won, 2-1.

When the Union Giants returned to Winnipeg in August, Duff was back with the team, at least for one game.  He showed up to pitch against the Plentywood, Montana team which featured six former major league players, including Happy Felsch.  Thanks to Duff, the Union Giants were able to beat the Plentywood club that night.  It would be their only win in a four game series with the all-star team.  

The Winnipeg Tribune reported, "Duff was in his element last night.  His usual control was perfect and he displayed to the fans once again his ability to cut the plate in half at any time he chose to do it.  He didn't walk a man and made eleven Plentywood batters bite the dust.  His submarine ball looked tantalizingly easy to hit, yet the batters couldn't connect."  After one game, the dominant pitcher disappeared as quickly as he came.

The name Duff wasn't associated with the Union Giants again until late in the 1930 season.  The Union Giants provided a possible lineup for the Southwestern Iowa tournament and it included a pitcher named Duff.  There is no evidence however that Duff ever pitched in any of the contests.  The Union Giants lost the tournament's championship game to the Kari-Keens of Sioux City.  Duff however did return briefly the next year.  In early June 1931, he pitched at least one game against the Stockyards team of Sioux City and then was gone for good.

So who was Duff?  The most logical answer is that it was Webster McDonald pitching under an assumed name.  But why?  McDonald told John Holway in a 1970 interview that his top salary with the Little Falls team was $750 a month with expenses and transportation included, making him the highest paid player in the league by a long shot.  With that in mind, it is quite possible he used an alias so as to not jeopardize his contract with the Little Falls team.  This is only a theory however and needs more research.

Additional Notes:

Gilkerson had another pitcher named McDonald in 1933 and 1934 however this could not have been Webster as he was playing and managing in Philadelphia by then.  Instead, it may have been Luther McDonald.

For more info on Webster McDonald please see his SABR bio by Leslie Heaphy.

The No Hitters & Two Perfect Games

Below is a brief account of ten different no-hitters that Robert Gilkerson was associated with, either as a player, a manager or a team owner.

 

HORACE JENKINS - July 24, 1909

Illinois Giants 3, Chicago Wrigleys 1

Robert Gilkerson left his hometown of Pittsburgh in early July 1909 and headed to Chicago hoping to take his baseball career to the next level.  He played at least one game for the Chicago Union Giants when he arrived but soon joined the Illinois Giants.  In one of his first games with the new team, Gilkerson assisted in a no hitter while playing second base.  On July 24th, his new teammate, Horace Jenkins, struck out nine men, giving up a run on two errors, but allowed no hits against the Chicago Wrigleys.

JAMES HARVEY - July 4, 1911

Chicago Union Giants 2, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin 0

By 1911, Gilkerson was back playing for the Chicago Union Giants full time.  In fact he was the team's captain that year and was playing second base when James Harvey threw a no-hitter in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on July 4th.  According to the South Bend Tribune, "Harvey pitched a no-hit, no run game, only one man reaching second base."  The Chicago Union Giants won the game 2-0.

BILLY NORMAN (Perfect Game) - July 21, 1913

Chicago Union Giants 10, Guthrie Center, Iowa 0

Robert Gilkerson was spiked in a game in June 1913 that ended his season at second base.  That year however Gilkerson was also the team's manager.   Less than a month later in Guthrie Center, Iowa, the Union Giants defeated the local team 10 to 0.  On the mound that day was William Rufus Norman.  According to the Omaha Daily Bee, "The most remarkable game of the season was played at Guthrie Center, only twenty-seven men facing the colored phenom, Norman, during the entire game and not a man reaching first base."  No line or box score for the game has been identified.  While the score was reported in several other newspapers, none made mention of it being a no-hitter.

EDGAR BURCH - May 28, 1917

Lost Island Lake Giants 5, Toulon, Illinois 0

Gilkerson's playing days ended in 1913 but he stayed on with the Union Giants for several more years as the traveling business manager.  In 1917 however he severed ties with the Chicago club and started his own team.  They had yet to adopt the name of Gilkerson's Union Giants and instead went by a few different monikers that summer.

While playing in Illinois, he often passed his new team off as the "Chicago Union Giants."  This was the case in Toulon, Illinois where the Stark County News reported, "The Chicago Union Giants held Toulon to a no hit, no run, game Monday afternoon on the local grounds, while the Giants secured five runs and could have run up a larger score had they been so minded."  The paper did not record the name of the pitcher.  In Iowa however, Gilkerson's team was known as the Lost Island Lake Giants.  The Des Moines Register provided a line score for the exact same game (above) where that team name is used and Edgar Burch is credited with the no-hitter.

EDGAR BURCH & RUBE CURRY (Combined) - June 8, 1919

Gilkerson's Union Giants 7, Sutherland, Iowa 0

In early 1919, Gilkerson's team was still playing near Ruthven, Iowa and still promoting themselves as either the historic Union Giants of Chicago or the Ruthven Union Giants.  By the end of the season, they settled on Gilkerson's Union Giants.  In one of the first games of the season Edgar Burch and Rube Curry threw a combined no-hitter against the Sutherland, Iowa team in front of 1,500 people.  According to the Ruthven Free Press, "Burch pitched the first six innings and did not allow the visitors a hit, and Curry who threw the last three also held them hitless."

RUBE CURRY (Perfect Game) - August 31, 1919

Gilkerson's Union Giants 11, Wellsburg, Iowa 0

The best bit of pitching in a Union Giants uniform however came in the second half of the 1919 season when Rube Curry pitched a perfect game against the Wellsburg, Iowa team.  The Des Moines Register recorded the achievement this way, "The winning pitcher was never in danger at any time during the full nine innings.  The locals failed to put a man on first base, either by the free walk route or by a hit."  The Sioux City Journal reported the win a few days later:  "Wellsburg lost to the Union Giants 11 to 0.  Curry, pitching for the Giants, did not permit a Wellsburg runner to reach first base."

Even a decade later the Kansas City American Sports made note of the accomplishment:  "Currie also pitched a no-hit, no-run game against Wellsburg, while he was playing with the Union Giants in 1919.  He didn't allow a man to get to first."

LUTHER FARRELL - September 20, 1922

Gilkerson's Union Giants 5, Whitehall, Wisconsin 0

By 1922, Curry and Burch were gone from the rotation and Luther Farrell was the new ace of Gilkerson's Union Giants.  In a game in Whitehall, Wisconsin near the end of the season, Farrell blanked the locals in a 5-0 win.  According to the Winona Daily News, "Luther, the colored southpaw ace, was the shining light of the game.  His fast and wicked shoots completely baffled the Whitehall batters with the result that not a single hit was collected off his delivery in the nine frames.  Only one Whitehall player reached first during the game.  That was on a walk.  Luther whiffed ten batters."  The Chicago Whip's recap of the game recorded 12 strikeouts for Farrell.

LUTHER FARRELL (No Hit One Hit Loss) - June 26, 1923

Tomahawk, WI 2, Gilkerson's Union Giants 0

In early July 1923, the Chicago Defender reported that Luther Farrell pitched another no-hitter in Wisconsin, however this time it was for a loss.  The Tomahawk Leader's recap of the game however, printed two days after the fact, included this rebuke of the no-hitter:  "The remarkable feature of the game was that Tomahawk won although they only got one safe hit and that was by Wangler who beat out an infield hit to the bag."  Wangler's hit did not contribute to the score however.  The Leader confirms that Tomahawk's two runs were achieved without a hit.

TOM COX - July ?, 1925

Gilkerson's Union Giants 14, Guttenberg, Iowa 0

Charles "Tom" Cox was in his second season pitching for Gilkerson when he threw a no-hitter in Guttenberg, Iowa according to the Chicago Defender.  The line score was printed on July 18th but the date of the game was not provided.

ADMIRAL WALKER - August 22, 1926

Gilkerson's Union Giants 4, Newton Maytags 0

In his second year with the Union Giants, Admiral Walker pitched a no hitter against the Newton Maytags of Newton, Iowa in August.  Several newpapers noted that 36 assists were made by the two teams in the game.  The next season, Walker would go on to pitch for the Kansas City Monarchs.

FRED SIMS - August 26, 1926

Gilkerson's Union Giants 10, Lone Rock All Stars 0

A few days after Walker's no-hitter, Union Giants pitcher Fred Sims threw another one in Thornton, Iowa.  This time it was against the Lone Rock All Stars... or was it Rockdale?  Multiple newspapers reported the win over the All Stars, an African American team based in Lone Rock, Iowa.  The newspapers in Davenport, Iowa however reported, "Jimmy Sims hurled a no-hit, no run game at Thornton, Ia., yesterday, the Gilkersons defeating Rockdale by the score of 10 to 0.  The Giants secured 14 hits, including two home runs by 'Steel Arm' Davis."

The Cuban Players

There were at least seven different Cuban players on the Union Giants over the years, including one Hall of Famer.  For most seasons, starting in 1922, Gilkerson had one or two Spanish-speaking players on his roster at a time.  In 1929 and 1930, he had three.  In 1935, shortly before the team folded, Gilkerson even briefly changed the name of his team to the Cuban Giants.

Robert Gilkerson's connection to the baseball-loving island went all the way back to his playing days.  In October 1910, while Gilkerson was still playing for the Chicago Union Giants, the Benton Harbor News-Palladium reported that Gilkerson and the team had just "returned from a trip to Cuba, where they played a series with the Havana team."  

In 1911, the Escanaba Daily Press reported in November that Gilkerson himself was preparing to leave for Cuba where he played for a Cuban team during the winter months.  How much time he actually spent on the island however, is not well documented.  Once he became a team owner, it would be years before Gilkerson signed anyone born on the island.

The Cuban player that spent the most time with Gilkerson's Union Giants was Rogelio Crespo (pictured above, on right).  He was with Gilkerson for a total of ten seasons: 1922-1925, 1928-1930 and again from 1932-1934.  During his long run with the Union Giants, Crespo likely helped bring other Cuban players to the team.  When he wasn't barnstorming with the Union Giants, Crespo played for various teams back in Cuba as well as the Cuban Stars (East).   In fact, several of the Cubans that eventually played for Gilkerson also spent time on the Cuban team from New York.

The reason that Gilkerson kept bringing Crespo back year after year wasn't his connections however, it was his versatility and his reliability.  Most seasons, Gilkerson had him playing at different spots in the infield, either second base, shortstop or third base.  In 1923, 1925 and 1933 however, he was primarily an outfielder for the club.  While other players came and went over the course of a season, Crespo rarely missed a game.

One rare exception was in August 1924 when Crespo was spiked at third base in a game against the Twin City Red Sox of Sauk City, Wisconsin, a team that featured Happy Felsch, former member of the Chicago Black Sox.  The hard slide split Crespo's leg open "from knee to ankle."  According to the Fennimore Times, "Crespo was taken to the Cunningham hospital, where eight stitches were put in to bind the wound."   He was back on the field in a couple of weeks. 

In later years, the Union Giants traveled to Canada regularly, sometimes multiple times a season.  Crespo and the other Cuban players generally went along without incident.  In July 1932 however, having already visited Canada once that season, Crespo refused to travel north of the border.  The Bellingham (WA) Herald reported, "Al Crespo, Giant second sacker, stayed here last night, refusing to go to Vancouver with the team.  Crespo, it appears, was born in Cuba, and fearing any 'foreign entanglements' arising from questioning by the immigration authorities of Canada, he decided to stay here while the team was across the line."   Even though the Union Giants continued to travel to Canada the next two seasons, Crespo doesn't appear in any Canadian box scores after this point.

In 1923, Gilkerson added a second Cuban to the squad when catcher Frank Cárdenas joined the Union Giants.  Cárdenas was behind the plate from May until October of that year.  Cárdenas did not return in 1924 but pitcher David Gómez joined the Union Giants, pitching for the team that entire summer.  Gómez also stayed just one season.  He would go on to pitch for the Cuban Stars (West) for the next several years.

In June of 1925, the Union Giants briefly had an outfielder and backup catcher by the name of Abreu, sometimes spelled Abrew, Abru, or Abrean in box scores.   I originally thought this could have been Eufemio Abreu, however Eufemio was playing pretty consistently for the Cuban Stars (West) in June of 1925.  Perhaps a young Juan Abreu?  For now, it remains a mystery.  Whoever he was, he only stayed with Gilkerson's club for about a month.

Crespo left the Union Giants in '26-'27 to play for the Cuban Stars (East) once again.  When he returned in 1928, he was joined in the infield by Pelayo Chacón, a teammate from the Stars.  Crespo played second base and Chacón was at third for almost the entire season for the Union Giants.

Ogden Standard-Examiner
July 27, 1931

Chacón left in '29 but Frank Cárdenas returned to the team as catcher that year.   The big addition in 1929 however was Cristóbal Torriente.  Torriente stayed with the team, on and off, for three years, primarily as a pitcher but also playing the outfield.  The veteran player was well past his prime at this point in his career but he could still pitch and hit and was often billed as the star attraction on Gilkerson's squad.  

With Cárdenas behind the plate and Torriente on the mound, the Union Giants had a distinct advantage, which was pointed out by the Sioux City Journal, "When the Cuban battery is working they talk over the situation in Spanish, much to the discomfiture of opposing hitters."  The Sioux City newspaper however also reported that Cárdenas had been on the injured list for part of the 1929 season.  

In 1930, Gilkerson got a new Cuban catcher to pair with Torriente, José María Fernández.  Fernández however was only with the team during the first half of the season.   As reported in the Chicago Defender, Fernández and pitcher "Yellowhorse" Morris both left Gilkerson to join the Chicago American Giants in early July.  Torriente also appears to have left the team around the same time.  He returned in 1931 for most of the season.

The last Cuban (sort of) to play for Gilkerson was pitcher Juan Padrón during the ill-fated 1935 season.  According to Seamheads, Padrón was actually born in Key West, Florida.  The Grand Rapids Press described him as "a Cuban of Spanish and West Indian descent.  He speaks Spanish fluently.  He goes back to Cuba each winter, after playing baseball during the summer months in the United States, and plays quite a few games at Havana each winter."

St. Louis Argus, Sep 4, 1931

Padrón had been living and playing in Michigan since at least 1930.  In Grand Rapids in 1931, Padrón pitched in several exhibition games against Major League teams, including both teams in the World Series that year, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Athletics.  Against the Cardinals, Padrón pitched a 10-inning complete game, striking out seven batters and allowing just six hits and one run, which was enough for the win.  A month later, the Cardinals went on to win the World Series.

At the start of the 1934 season, Padrón was leading a team in Michigan called the Cuban Giants.  The team disbanded by June and several of the players, none of them actually Cuban, joined up with Gilkerson mid-season.  In 1935, Padrón joined Gilkerson as well.  The team started out as the Union Giants as usual but by June of 1935 they were now calling themselves the Cuban Giants.  The Green Bay Press-Gazette said the team was "formed out of former Cuban and Hawaiian players."  In truth, Padrón was the only member of the team with any Cuban heritage.  Gilkerson's entire operation came to end before the end of the summer.

Clarence Lee Moore

Source:  National Baseball Hall of Fame

Clarence Lee Moore was a born in El Dorado, Arkansas but played an important role in Black baseball in Asheville, North Carolina in the 1940's as the owner and manager of the Asheville Blues.  His life and career are well documented in the 2012 Black Ball article, "Wonder Team of the Carolinas" by Pamela Mitchem. 

Here I want to focus on the few seasons, early in his career, that Moore played for Gilkerson's Union Giants.  According to Mitchem's article, Moore "spent three years with the Chicago Union Giants, with whom he reportedly earned $300 a month and played against Happy Felsch, one of the 1919 'Black Sox' stars banned from the big leagues more than a decade earlier."  

In the footnotes to the article, Mitchem adds, "Moore also told interviewers that the team played for substantial cash north of the border: We played in Canada; the first prize was $20,000.  I knocked in the winning run against a good left-handed pitcher."

First, I should point out, Mitchem's article misidentifies Gilkerson's team as the "Chicago Union Giants," an all too common mistake.  The other quibble I have with the article is the description of the above photo which Mitchem includes as "an undated photograph of Clarence Moore in his Chicago Unions uniform."  I believe this is wrong, though I recognize it may have been mislabeled by the Baseball Hall of Fame, Mitchem's source for the photograph.  According to Mitchem's own article, Moore attended Virginia Union University in Richmond for three years on a baseball scholarship.   I believe the photo is actually Moore in his college uniform and not with the Union Giants.

Beyond these clarifications, here is what I can confirm and add to Moore's baseball biography:  C.L. Moore played first base for Gilkerson's team in 1927, 1928 and again in 1934.  During that time, he took part in several tournaments in Canada and definitely played against Happy Felsch and other major league players, just as Mitchem wrote.

Moore first joined the Union Giants in July 1927 while the team was playing in Iowa.  Two months into the season, the Union Giants were going through a bit of a rebuild.  After adding Moore, Gilkerson acquired southpaw, Ted Shaw, who had been pitching for the Chicago Giants.  Shortly after that, Gilkerson picked up three players from the Sioux City All Stars: catcher Walter Harris, pitcher and outfielder Earl "Iron Horse" Harrison, and outfielder Raymond Sharp.  These five men, with Moore playing first base, would stay on with the Union Giants for the rest of the season.

The 1927 team would prove to be one of the best teams Gilkerson ever assembled.  The other players already on the squad included Eddie Dwight in the outfield, Dave Thomas at second base, Charley Akers at shortstop, and "Newt" Joseph at third base.  An additional pitcher traveling with the team was Fred Sims from Iowa.  In August, Gilkerson added pitcher "Eggie" Hensley and outfielder ? Jones.  Clarence "Pops" Coleman was the team's manager, although he did some catching and even played first base, early in the season.

Winnipeg Tribune, Aug 20, 1927

The July additions quickly had an impact.  Before the end of the month, Ted Shaw threw both games of a double header against two different teams in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  He struck out 20 men that day and only allowed two hits in the 2nd game.  The Union Giants won both games easily.

In August, Moore went 4-for-4 at the plate in a game against the House of David team in Winnipeg.  Collectively, the Union Giants had three home runs and four doubles that night, winning 9-4 in front of 5,000 people.   

The team returned from Canada before the end of the month and closed out the season in Minnesota and Iowa, winning the majority of their games in the final stretch.   In fact, the Union Giants won almost 84% of their contests that year, finishing the season with an impressive record of 118-22-2.

In May 1928, it was announced that Clarence Moore, "the sensational left handed first baseman of Union University," had joined the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants.  He played in at least one game for the team according to Seamheads.  By June however, he was back at first base with Gilkerson's squad.  Most of the team around him was new however, including two Cubans in the infield, Rogelio Crespo at second base and Pelayo Chacón at third base.  Gilkerson also added pitcher Joe Johnson (aka Joe Lillard), outfielder C. Smith and super utility players,  Clarence Everett and ? Marshall.  While in Canada, Gilkerson also had a mysterious submarine pitcher known only as Duff.  

The Union Giants took multiple trips north of the border that year where they clashed with local all-star teams, as well as the House of David and Happy Felsch's All Stars of Plentywood, Montana.  According to the Bismark Tribune, the Plentywood team featured six former major league players:  "Happy Felsch, formerly with the White Sox; Hruska, former American association player; Clarke, former Chicago Cub pitcher; Allen, second baseman for St. Louis at one time; and Happy Forman, once a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds."

Their first meeting was in July in Virden, Manitoba in the semifinals of a local tournament.  The game was a "nip and tuck affair" however the Union Giants rallied in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 6-5.  The big blow was a long home run by outfielder Sharp that reportedly went "over the cars in center field."   The Union Giants went on to win the entire tournament which came with a $600 prize (far below the amount Moore mentioned).

The Union Giants and the Plentywood All Stars met again in August for a four game set in Winnipeg.  The former major leaguers got the best of the Union Giants this time, winning three out of the four games.  In the second contest, Moore knocked in one of the Union Giants' four runs, helping to win their only game in the series.  

In addition to his hitting skills, Moore was known for his abilities at first base as well.  Earlier in the month, in a game against the House of David, the Winnipeg Tribune applauded Moore's fine glove work at first base:  "Moore made a beautiful play to end the seventh, when Evitt heaved the ball across low.  Moore scooped it up on the bounce in grand style.  Evitt almost swallowed his glove."

A few weeks before the Union Giants finished their season in Iowa, Moore appears to have split off from the team.  Perhaps, he needed to head to North Carolina where he was attending school at Shaw University in the fall.  As the baseball season came to an end, Gilkerson reported his team's record for the 1928 season as 103 wins, 23 losses and 3 ties.

It is unclear where Moore spent his summers for the next few years, possibly remaining in North Carolina.  In July 1931 however, a notice in the Chicago Defender indicated that Moore had signed with Happy Bingham's All Stars in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Bingham and Gilkerson had been partners in 1917 when Gilkerson broke away from the Chicago Union Giants to start his own team.)

Moore eventually returned to the Union Giants in 1934 for one last tour with the team.  The box scores are limited but Moore appears at first base from late May until early September.  The Union Giants started out the season on shaky ground, losing at least nine games in a row to the tough Bismark, ND team, but they were able to end strong.  On September 9, 1934, the Chicago Defender reported that the team had won 67 out of their last 76 games.  The 1934 season would end up being the last full season for Gilkerson's Union Giants.

As for Moore, Mitchem's article says that he spent "parts of two years, 1935 and 1936, as the left handed-hitting first baseman and captain of the Page, North Dakota, team, part of an integrated, informally organized league that included the Dakotas and Minnesota."  On June 28, 1936, the Fargo Forum reported that C.L. Moore and two other members of the Page baseball team were injured when their car overturned, after hitting loose gravel, while returning from a Canadian tour.  In the week after the accident, the Page team went on to play with borrowed players from the Fargo-Moorehead Independents.  It is unclear how long it took Moore and the others to recover from the accident.  That summer would mark the end of Moore's playing days in the Upper Midwest.

That next spring, Moore began his long tenure as coach, manager, mentor and eventual team owner in Asheville.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk), April 17, 1937

For more about Moore's time in North Carolina:

Mitchem, P. (2012). “Wonder Team of the Carolinas.” Black Ball: A Journal of the Negro Leagues, 5(1), 33–51.

Russell Page

Russell Page, 1932

For several seasons in the 1930's Gilkerson had a pitcher named "Paige" on his roster.  It was not, however, the one you're thinking of.

Russell Page was from Peoria, Illinois.  Like his older brother Ernest Page, Russell was a star athlete at Peoria Central High School and at Western Illinois State Teachers College (now Western Illinois University).

In May 1930, it was announced that Page was named the captain of Western's baseball team.  He was still a freshman at the time.  The 1931 yearbook described him as "one of the outstanding moundsmen in the Little Nineteen."  They added,  "He has been pitching steady ball all season and with good support he should win the greater number of his games."

That summer, as early as June 9th, Page was pitching for Gilkerson's Union Giants.  He was with the team all the way to the West Coast, pitching games in Oregon and Washington.  When he wasn't on the mound he could occasionally be found playing the outfield.  By mid-August however, Page no longer shows up in any of the Union Giants' box scores.   

In the fall, Page did not return to Western Illinois.  It would have been his junior year at the college.  He did however come back to the Union Giants in the summer of 1932, pitching from early May until late September.  Their annual tour took the team farther than ever before, even reaching California for the first and only time.  Toward the end of the season, Page was being listed as "Paige" in most box scores, particularly in Nebraska.

The legend of Satchel Paige was still taking shape in the early 1930s, but talk of his greatness had clearly reached the Midwest.  So much so, that on September 16, 1932 the Omaha World-Herald reported that Satchel Paige had pitched for Gilkerson in the first annual Midwestern baseball tournament.  Almost certainly, it was Russell and not Satchel on the mound that day.   The Union Giants lost the game 3-2 to the Norfolk, NE team.  The "Paige" pitching gave up ten hits, striking out just four and walking three.  Not exactly the stuff of legends.

At the beginning of the 1933 season, the Sioux City Journal reported, "Russell Page, right handed pitcher with Gilkerson's Union Giants for the last two years" had signed with the Sioux City Ghosts.  According to a few available line scores, Page appears to have pitched for the Ghosts in early June.  Before July however he was back with Gilkerson.

In a July 3rd game in Billings, MT, "Russell Paige" was playing left field for the Union Giants according to the Billings Gazette.  For almost all of 1933, Page's last name was again misspelled as "Paige" in box scores.  Like the year before, when he wasn't pitching, he was usually playing the outfield.  Page finished out the season with the Union Giants.  In one of the last games of the year, he hit a home run against the Dunn County All Stars in Menomonie, Wisconsin.  

In 1934, Page did not return to the team.  It is unclear if Page ever played organized baseball again.  He appears to have lived in Macomb and nearby Davenport, Iowa in the decade afterwards.

As for Satchel Paige, a few baseball historians have claimed that he pitched for Gilkerson's Union Giants at one time or another.  I however found no evidence to support that claim.   In fact, as far as I can tell, Satchel Paige and the Union Giants never met on a ball diamond, not even as opponents.

The closest they got was a game in Winnipeg, Manitoba in May 1934.  Satchel was scheduled to pitch for the Bismarck, ND team in the opening game of a series of contests with the Union Giants.  Satchel however failed to show up for the game.  After the fact, the Winnipeg newspaper reported that Paige wasn't unable to pitch because he was in jail.  It turned out, while on his way to Bismarck, Satchel had been detained in Chicago for breaking his contract with the Pittsburgh Crawfords.   It didn't help his case that he had borrowed the owner's car to get there.

In the end, the Bismarck team didn't need him for the series.  They swept the Union Giants in eight games in Winnipeg.  This was a sign of things to come.  The Union Giants' reign as one of the top barnstorming teams in the country was coming to an end.

Odebea Kirksey

The Sun (Omaha, NE), May 20, 1931

Another mystery man from the 1931 Union Giants was a pitcher named Kirksey, sometimes listed as Kirkson in box scores.  He started out with the team early in the season and lasted only about a month.  

Despite the brief stint, he seemingly pitched well for Gilkerson.  In fact, in late May, Kirksey pitched a one-hitter against the Jamestown, ND team.  The Union Giants won the game easily, 7-0.    One of the last line scores that Kirksey shows up in was from June 11, 1931.  Kirksey started the game but was relieved at some point by Hurley McNair.  The Union Giants scored four runs in the 9th inning of the game to defeat the Sioux City Stockyards team in De Smet, South Dakota.

Kirksey, it turns out, was Odebea Kirksey from Omaha, Nebraska.  Prior to playing for Gilkerson, Kirskey had pitched for the Cultural Center Red Sox in the Omaha Colored Baseball League.   On May 20, 1931, the Omaha newspaper, The Sun, wrote, "The report is that Odaby* Kirksey is getting $40 a week and expenses with the Union Giants.  That's a lot of money for a kid like him and it will take a lot of hours at the packing houses to give him that much money.  No wonder they are grabbing at chances to play baseball when they can make as much in three hours as they can make all day and see the country with it."  

Kirksey must of had a good reason for leaving the Union Giants so quickly.  Whatever it was, it didn't have anything to do with his arm.  Kirksey soon returned home to Omaha where he was back pitching for the CC Red Sox before the end of the month.  In 1933, he was still pitching in the Omaha "colored" league, this time for the South Omaha Globe Trotters.  Beyond these few meager facts, much of Kirksey's short life remains a mystery.  

Kirksey died in 1936 at the age of 24.  The Omaha newspapers first reported it on July 30th.  They gave no cause of death but indicated that he had been in the hospital.  

Source:  Find A Grave

*The Omaha newspapers had trouble spelling Kirksey's full name.  Here are just some of the variations I found over the years:  Odaby, Odeabea, Odeble, Odebeh and Odbie Kuksy.