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 this 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 subsquent 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, had 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 interview, Evans was still thinking about La Crosse and his time with the Union Giants, telling Holway:

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

36,000 Rabid Baseball Fans (July 4th - A Century Ago)

By late June of 1925, Gilkerson's Union Giants were already barnstorming in Minnesota and northern Iowa, having played more than 30 games by that point in the season.  

They started their annual tour in Illinois, as always, and had already been through parts of Wisconsin as they proceeded north and west for the summer.

The Union Giants however were in high demand, particularly for Fourth of July celebrations, which meant Gilkerson could take his team wherever the payout was the greatest.  In 1925, that would mean backtracking to south central Wisconsin for a series of big games over a three day holiday weekend.  That year, in fact, they would play in front of one of their largest crowds ever.

The Union Giants were certainly no strangers to baseball fans in Wisconsin.  For much of the previous five years, Gilkerson's team had played a good portion of their season in and around the Badger state.  It helped that the team was given a lot of newspaper coverage in the state during those years, particularly from Roundy Coughlin, the popular sports columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal.

On July 3, 1925, the Union Giants were one of the main attractions for Derby Days in Darlington, WI.   Their matchup with the Madison Blues, a local semipro club, would be the first of three games with the capital city team.  The series would take place over the long holiday weekend in three different towns.

Advertisements for the Darlington celebration often mentioned, "the Union Giants carry with them a fine vocalist which will entertain you during the game."   It is not clear who this could have been and was never mentioned at any other time in advertisements promoting the Union Giants that season.

The two day celebration had a combined attendance of more than 12,000 paid admissions.  Crowds poured in as early as 8 am on Friday to see the baseball game.  City and fair officials said they had never seen such a crowd for a morning game.  

The Union Giants defeated the Blues in Darlington by a score of 6-4 in ten innings.  No box score was published for the contest however it was mentioned that (?) Walker and Tom Young made up the battery for the Union Giants.

The big game however was the next day in Waterloo, WI where a reported "36,000 rabid baseball fans" watched the Union Giants and the Madison Blues play at Firemen's Park on the 4th of July.  The Union Giants lost the game, 7-2.  

Roundy Coughlin, in his column for the Wisconsin State Journal, remarked, "Of all sights ever saw at ball games in these parts were knocked for a row yesterday at the Fireman's park at Waterloo they say that over 36,000 paid one-half-buck each to get into the park.  Out of that many about 25,000 saw the ball game."

He continued, "The Firemen at Waterloo also had a very fine system in handling the crowds, you must remember that is some crowd in a town that is only about around 800 in population - and they did fine work to keep things moving the way they did."

He added, "You never saw so many autos in your life, I thought every auto in the world blew in for the day."

As for the game itself, Roundy provided this analysis:  "There were plenty double plays and some fine catches in outfield and in blazing sun the game was a good ball game.  The Blues got hot in one inning and scored five runs."

"Some stupid base running in ninth lost the Giants a run at least.  With five runs behind they wouldn't play them bags safe and this hurt their chances, a safe game would have been very sound baseball here, that's a cinch."

"Porter went into box in sixth for Giants and the left hander stopped the Blues cold while in the box.  If he started the ball game they might be playing yet, he had all kinds of stuff and was burning them in there."

In the Wisconsin State Journal's recap of the game, they commented, "the Giants were almost faultless in the field, for that matter, committing but one error, but their inability to hit proved their downfall."

The third game of the series was held the next day at Sun Prairie, WI as part of their two-day Fourth of July celebration.  The Blues won again, 6-4, in front of a crowd of about 3,200 fans.

Roundy's recap of the game was far more critical of the Union Giants this time around, saying "Some punk fielding on ground balls by Steel Arm Davis for the Giants hurt - you think he was picking up hot potatoes out there."

He was even more harsh in his critique of their base running, adding "The Giants got caught on same play at first in this game that they did at Waterloo off first.  In eighth inning got man on first and he takes at least eight foot lead and is finally picked off first.  They yell their heads off on him not being out as they generally do on this one play all the time - Lewis called him out everybody in ball park saw that he was out.  Stand off there eight and ten feet and on a sharp peg can't help but be caught but this their chief beef play all the time they love to chew the rag on this one and - it is to laff out loud this play with that lead they take."  

In the Capital Times, columnist Hank Casserly was more generous in his assessment of the team especially when it came to Union Giants' catcher Tom Young:  

"This Young who catches for Gilkerson is about the sweetest piece of baseball machinery that has been seen around these parts in many a moon.  He has a million dollar arm and the way he throws the ball around the diamond would make any catcher in the big show envious.  He is only twenty years old and has a bright future.  His color, of course, bars him from the organizedball, but he can play with any team in the colored league, which contains a number of crack ball players."

Tom Young, who played for Gilkerson in '24 and '25, would indeed have a long career in the Negro Leagues, playing the longest for the Kansas City Monarchs.   His brother, Maurice Young, would eventually play for Gilkerson as well.