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.

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.

Immediately following the season (October 6, 1927), The Daily Post-Tribune (LaSalle, IL) recorded four fewer losses:  "Gilkerson's outfit played 138 games.  Of these 138 they won 118, lost 18 and ended two in ties.  For those who must have statistitics [sic] and accurated figures and percentages with their baseball, it can be pointed out that Gil's team had a winning percentage of .855 of total number of games played."

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."