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.
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.
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