The 1920's: A Decade of Winning

Fargo Forum, June 9, 1928

For more than a decade the Union Giants were known as one of the best barnstorming teams in the country.  In 1928, Robert Gilkerson was interviewed by the North Dakota newspaper, The Fargo Forum, where he defended his team's reputation, "We do not claim to be the best traveling team in the business, but if there are any teams claiming that honor, we'd like to meet them in a three game series, and we'll bet our end of the gate receipts on the outcome."

Gilkerson added, "There are plenty of strong traveling teams this season but any team that can win 95 percent of their games, playing the best aggregations in the middlewest, and barring none, is certainly worthy of consideration."

The idea that the Union Giants won 95% of their games was a bit of a stretch.  It may have been true when considering a short run of games, the Union Giants were known for long win streaks, but it simply wasn't sustainable over the course of a whole season and certainly not long term.  So, it's fair to ask, how good were the Union Giants really?  

Unfortunately, when it comes to independent traveling teams like Gilkerson's there were no official records or stats.  They did not belong to any league or conference and did not report to any governing body.  Instead, year-end totals were compiled and occasionally sent off to various newspapers by team owner Robert Gilkerson, mostly to promote the team the following year.

A century later, these records remain buried and forgotten in old sports columns, spread out over a decade and isolated in different parts of the country.   To my knowledge, no one had ever tracked them all down, compiled and publicly shared them until now. 

With this in mind, during the 1920's, the Union Giants are reported to have won 1,017 games out of 1,301 played.  This would put Gilkerson's combined winning percentage for the decade at over 79%.  The team's best overall year, according to the totals, was 1927, when they won nearly 84% of their contests.   Both are elite numbers and demonstrate clearly how the majority of their opponents were simply outmatched by the Union Giants.  Even on their worst year, the team won over 72% of their games.

Here are the totals broken down by year (sources below):

YEAR	W	L	T	PCT
1920	91	20	4	.809
1921	97	23	1	.806
1922	89	29	2	.750
1923	88	22	4	.789
1924	101	38	1	.725
1925	91	30	4	.744
1926	117	22	4	.832
1927	118	22	2	.838
1928	103	23	3	.810
1929	122	26	4	.816
TOTALS	1017	255	29	.793

The question remains, are these numbers accurate?  The totals seem almost too good to be true and there would have been nothing preventing Gilkerson from simply embellishing his wins and losses to help promote his team.  

On this point, I can offer this amateur analysis.   I've positively identified the outcome of approximately 60% of the 1,301 games the Union Giants are said to have played during this 10-year period.  I used box scores, line scores and accounts of games from a variety of newspapers that had no real interest in making the Union Giants appear better than they really were.  Of the more than 780 games I've verified for this period, the Union Giants won roughly 74% of them.  For 1927, the Union Giants' best year according to Gilkerson's numbers, I show them winning over 78% of their games.

While these winning percentages fall below what Gilkerson provided, they are still quite impressive.  With 40% of the games still unaccounted for, it is within reason to expect the gap between the two set of numbers to narrow.  I would even say, for most years, Gilkerson's totals are still plausible.  Based on my preliminary numbers alone, the 1925 team was likely a little worse than Gilkerson said.  At the same time, the 1926 Union Giants might prove to be better than reported.  

In the end, if it turns out that Gilkerson did in fact boost his numbers, it wasn't really necessary.  His team clearly lived up to their reputation as one of the great independent barnstorming teams of the decade. 

Here are the newspaper sources for each of the above totals along with some additional information.  As you will see, most years had multiple sources.  Any discrepancies or conflicting reports are also noted.

1920 (Record: 91-20-4):  The Chicago Whip, March 5, 1921.  The Dubuque Times-Journal and The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, April 10, 1921.  Both Dubuque, Iowa papers also reported their run differential and number of shutouts for 1920.

1921 (Record: 97-23-1):  The Capital Times (Madison, WI), May 26, 1922.  Grant County Herald (Lancaster, WI), May 31, 1922.  The Vernon County Censor (Viroqua, WI), June 7, 1922.  June 14, 1922.

Nearing the end of the season, The Chicago Whip on October 22, 1921 reported their record as 91-23-1.

1922 (Record: 89-29-2):  Montreal River Miner (Hurley, WI), August 10, 1923.  

The Ironwood Daily Globe (Ironwood, MI) also published the Union Giants' 1922 record on August 7, 1923.  They however listed 89 games played instead of 89 wins.

1923 (Record 88-22-4):  The Capital Times (Madison, WI), May 27, 1924.  The Bricelyn Sentinel (Bricelyn, MN), June 13, 1924.  Reedsburg Free Press (Reedsburg, WI), September 11, 1924.  The Omaha Monitor, September 26, 1924.  The Grand Island Independent (Grand Island, NE), October 2, 1924.

                           

1924 (Record 101-38-1):  The Chicago Defender, October 18, 1924.

The August 7, 1925 editions of the Daily Times (Davenport, IA) and the Davenport Democrat and Leader both listed the Union Giants' 1924 record this way:  "Last year the colored boys copped 101 of their 139 contests."  This fails to acknowledge either one of their losses or more likely, their one tie.

1925 (Record 91-30-4):  Moline Daily Dispatch (Moline, IL), October 14, 1925.  Bureau County Tribune (Princeton, IL), October 23, 1925.

The Sioux City Journal reported on April 17, 1926 one less win and one more loss: 90-31-4.

1926 (Record 117-22-4):  Winside Herald (Winside, NE), June 30, 1927.   

The Brainerd Daily Dispatch (Brainerd, MN), August 10, 1927 listed their record with two less ties, 117-22-2.  Several other newspapers that year published their record as 117 wins and 22 losses, with no mention of ties.  The real outlier however was the Daily Times (Davenport, IA), May 3, 1927 which listed the Union Giants' record for 1926 as 134-32-4.

1927 (Record 118-22-2):  The Winnipeg Tribune, June 7, 1928.

The Daily Times (St. Cloud, MN), August 24, 1928:  "The Gilkerson Union Giants copped 118 games this season and lost but 22."  No mention of ties.

1928 (Record 103-23-3):  The Albert Lea Tribune (Albert Lea, MN), June 26, 1929.

The Fargo Forum (Fargo, ND), August 8, 1929 listed the Union Giants with 105 wins and 23 losses in 1928.   During the 1928 season, the Brainerd Dispatch reported on July 9th, that the Union Giants had already played 147 games that year, winning 101 of them.  This seems to be pure fabrication.

1929 (Record 122-26-4):  The Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois), Apr 19, 1930 and April 20, 1930.  The Bismark Tribune (Bismark, ND), June 4, 1930.

The Daily Times (Davenport, IA) and the Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) on April 25, 1930 listed their 1929 record with four fewer losses:  122-22-4.  The Daily Pantagraph initially provided their record this way on April 16, 1930:  "won 92, lost 24 and played four tie games out of 122 contests waged in 1929."  (The math is clearly wrong here.)  Another early provided record that was later updated came from the Bismark Tribune.  On May 27, 1930 they wrote, "last year, the Giants played 105 games, 23 of which they lost.  Three of their games ended in ties."

James Allen, Pitching Detective

As mentioned in an earlier post, the 1931 Union Giants had a number of great players, including several veterans of the Negro Leagues.  The team also had a handful of talented young players, many of which went on to play professionally.  One member of the team that is perhaps lesser known however is pitcher James Allen from Des Moines, Iowa.

Allen was a big part of Gilkerson's starting rotation in 1931.  According to the year-end stats published in the Chicago Defender, Allen had a record of 15-4 on the season.   When he wasn't starting on the mound, Allen pitched in relief and played the outfield.

Despite the impressive record, Allen only played the one season for Gilkerson.  Unlike most of his teammates on the 1931 squad, Allen never got a shot in the Negro Leagues.  If he had offers from bigger clubs, he chose not to pursue them.  Instead, Allen pitched in and around Des Moines for most of his baseball career.     

Allen graduated from North High School in Des Moines in 1929 where he starred in football and basketball.  In the summers, he had already been pitching for several different African American baseball teams.  At 16, Allen toured around Iowa and Nebraska pitching for the traveling Tennessee Rats for a season.  Closer to home in Des Moines, Allen played for Scott's Little Giants and then the Capital City Giants starting in 1929.  In a Sunday School league that same year, Allen threw a no-hitter, striking out ten.  Allen played for the Capital City Giants again in 1930.

In early June of 1931, an "Iowa State News" announcement in the Chicago Defender read, "James Allen left for Sioux City, Iowa, where he will join Gilkerson Giants as a pitcher."  Allen would barnstorm around the Northern Plains and into the West with the Union Giants for the next several months.

By mid-July the Union Giants had made their way to the Pacific Northwest.  In front of more than 3,000 people in Portland, Oregon, Allen struck out 10 of the city's All-Stars.  The Oregon Daily Journal reported that Allen had "good control and plenty of stuff."  The Union Giants won the game 12-6.  Union Giants' second baseman "Red" Haley went four for five at the plate that day.

Against the Amateur All-Stars of Salt Lake City, Allen struck out nine but also walked nine.  According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Allen "never was seriously threatened until the ninth inning, when the Amateurs chased over three runs."  The Union Giants won 9-4.  

In early September, now back in Sioux City, Iowa, Allen was still pitching fine ball.  The Sioux City Journal wrote, "A fellow named Allen unraveled a superior brand of pitching from his right arm to win over the Stock Yards club for Gilkerson's Union Giants, 5 to 3, here Tuesday evening."   Allen had pitched a shutout into the ninth inning.  

The Union Giants finished their season with a series of games in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska against the House of David team.  Several articles promoting the team at the time made mention that Gilkerson had five college athletes on the 1931 squad.  According to the articles, that included Owen Smaulding, Joe Johnson (Joe Lillard), "Subby" Byas, Russell Page and James Allen.  The first four mentioned did indeed attend college.  I found no evidence however that Allen was ever enrolled in higher education.

In the summer of 1932, Allen did not join back up with Gilkerson.  Instead, he pitched for Dusty Rhodes' Clowns, an African American team based in Des Moines.   The Clowns changed their name in 1933 to the Black Barons and Allen was once again on the mound for the local team that year.  By 1937, Allen was pitching for the Negro Elks of Des Moines.

In 1938, Allen joined the Des Moines police force as a night patrolman.  He played for the Elks that summer but his baseball days soon came to an end.  The exception being, for a few years, Allen participated in a local African American East-West all star game held in Des Moines.  

In 1940, he was the starting pitcher for the Westerners.  The Des Moines Register at the time described Allen as, "former North High athlete and Sunday school ball player."  Allen gave up ten hits in the game and his team committed five errors but they still managed to win 6-5.  

In the years that followed Allen would occasionally pitch for the police department in their annual game against the local fire department.   In 1942, he struck out eight firefighters and won the game with his bat, hitting two key doubles in the game.

Allen remained on the Des Moines police force for more than 20 years, quickly moving up the ranks to detective.  Despite having never fired a gun prior to joining the force, Allen proved to be an excellent shot.  During his time as a detective he won multiple statewide awards and acknowledgements for sharpshooting, specifically with a pistol. 

In 1960, he resigned from the force and moved to San Diego.  He retired in 1976 as a machinist with the U.S. Naval Air Station, North Island.  James S. Allen passed away in 1984.   His obituary mentions that he had been a semi-professional baseball player with the Tennessee Rats, the Black Barons and Capital City Giants.  The summer he spent with the Union Giants, playing alongside so many other great ball players while touring the country, was not included in the bio.