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.

The Sioux Falls Scorecard

A rare scorecard from Sioux Falls, South Dakota featuring Gilkerson's Union Giants was recently put up for auction on eBay.  The seller listed the item as Original 1919 Negroe League Scorecard Gilkerson's Colored Giants vs Sioux Falls.

The scorecard however is not from a 1919 game.  Instead it is from 1932 - June 12, 1932 to be precise.   We know this thanks to a few details provided by the original owner.  

The first clue they gave us is the Union Giants' lineup for that day (I've provided the players' first names):

• (Rogelio) Crespo, 2b
• (Charles) Akers, ss
• (Owen) Smaulding, lf
• (George) Gill, 1b
• (Leon) Daniels, c
• (Chester) Hicks, cf
• (Harold) Morris, p
• (Russell) Page, rf
• (?) Saunders, 3b

None of these players were on the 1919 Union Giants, though this is a typical lineup for the 1932 team.  The other clue is that Akers and Smaulding hit home runs in the game.

The Union Giants played in Sioux Falls a few times that year, including a couple of games in June and another in August.  The first meeting  with the Sioux Falls club was June 11th.  Gilkerson's team lost to the Canaries, 6-1.  Charley Akers scored the Union Giants' only run in the ninth.  Owen Smaulding was the losing pitcher.  The next day, the Daily Argus-Leader wrote, "the Union Giants expect to be strengthened for today's game by the addition of two players stalled in Iowa yesterday with Manager Gilkerson."  Despite the claim, the lineups for both days were almost identical.  The only difference was Owen Smaulding pitched and "Yellowhorse" Morris played left field in the first game.  They switched roles the following day.

Sioux City Journal, June 13, 1932

On Sunday June 12th, Gilkerson's Union Giants defeated the Sioux Falls Canaries 5-2.  As noted on the scorecard, both Akers and Smaulding hit home runs in the game.  This is confirmed by the Sioux City Journal (right) and the Daily Argus-Leader:

"Charlie Akers, the clown shortstop of the flashing eyeballs, hit the first home run off Collins in the third inning after "Congo" had passed Saunders.  Smaulding, the losing pitcher in the game here Saturday, clouted his homer almost over the same part of the left field fence in the fourth, with Morris safe on Shortstop Pat Pierce's error, scoring ahead of him.  That was the Negroes' last hit, the other run having been counted in the first frame on Crespo's single, a sacrifice hit by Akers and a safe blow by Daniels, catcher."

On the flipside of the scorecard, the original owner also noted that Canaries' first baseman "Whitey" Freitag had a home run in the game.   Again, this is confirmed by both newspapers.

The box score printed in the Daily Argus-Leader on June 13th contains a few inconsistencies however.  Despite giving the score as 5-2 in their article and in the line score, the box score only shows four runs for the Union Giants (they failed to record Saunders' run).  Also, the box score fails to note several of the above-mentioned home runs.  

Finally, Russell Page is listed as "Buzz" and playing left field.  Curiously, "Bazz" was Owen Smaulding's nickname.   It is possible the reporter got confused and listed Smaulding twice.  The day before, Page was correctly listed as playing right field.

The Union Giants actually played a second game on June 12th.  After defeating the Canaries, Gilkerson's team traveled 89 miles to Sioux City, Iowa to face the Stock Yards Cowboys in a night game that lasted 13 innings.  The first several innings were played in drizzling rain.  It was near midnight before the game ended.

The Cowboys outlasted the Union Giants in the contest, winning 6-5.  Page pitched the entire game for the Union Giants, giving up a walk-off home run to Cowboys' catcher "Hack" Wilson.

The Union Giants returned to Sioux Falls just one other time in 1932.  On August 28th, they lost to the Canaries 6-1 once again.  Smaulding, Morris and Page all pitched in the game.

Update:  The Gilkerson's Union Giants vs Sioux Falls scorecard sold on eBay for $316.00.

 

The Basketball Team

For two seasons starting in January 1931, Robert Gilkerson sponsored a barnstorming basketball team under the same moniker as his baseball team, Gilkerson's Union Giants.

Like the Harlem Globe Trotters, who had  formed a few years prior, Gilkerson claimed that his new team would be comprised of players from the Savoy Big Five, a legendary African American team from Chicago. 

Gilkerson already had several connections to members of the Savoy team including Joe Lillard, who had played baseball for Gilkerson starting in 1928.  Lillard, a multi-sport athlete, would go on to play football in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals.  

The Big Five's assistant coach Robert "Bobby" Anderson had played baseball for Gilkerson as well and would become the head coach and occasional forward for Gilkerson's new team. 

Before the start of the season it was advertised that Tommy Brookins, another member of the Savoy team, would be playing forward for the Union Giants.  Brookins played in a few of the early games but doesn't appear to have stayed with the team long.  

Instead, the star of the Union Giants basketball squad was Sol Butler, world's champion long jumper and member of the 1920 Olympic team.  Butler had been a member of the Savoy Big Five in 1930 and was previously on the Forty Club and Chicago Defender basketball teams.

Other members of the Union Giants that first year included Tom Hall, Neil Robinson, Clifford Phillips and Julian "Al Jolson" Ramsey.  At some point in the season Phillips was replaced by Prince Zepho.

The Union Giants started the season off with a game near Spring Valley, Illinois at St. Bede College before heading to St. Louis.  The St. Louis Argus reported that "the team has just been outfitted with some of Leacock's flashiest uniforms and is reported to be one of the finest looking aggregations in basketball."  

For the next several months the Union Giants barnstormed in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota playing against mostly local teams.

On April 18, 1931 the Chicago Defender reported that the Union Giants finished the season with an overall record of 66 wins and 12 losses.   The paper claimed the team had  "38 consecutive wins, playing 30 games in 28 days during February, winning all of them."

Nine months later, the Union Giants started the 1931-32 season in Springfield, Illinois.  Sol Butler did not return and was instead replaced with Phillips.  The rest of the team stayed mostly the same except center Tom Hall was replaced by ? Wharton.

Like the year prior, the team barnstormed in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  As before, they played primarily local teams but occasionally faced off against other travelling squads such as Olsen's Terrible Swedes and the House of David.

The team that had eluded them for most the season however was the Harlem Globe Trotters, who traveled in much of the same territory as the Union Giants.  

On March 10, 1932, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported, "The Giants last night challenged the Harlem Globe Trotters to a game any place at any time, winner take all.  According to Mr. Gilkerson, manager, he has been trying to get a game with Abe Saperstein's outfit for two years."

On March 30th, the Union Giants finally clashed with the Globe Trotters in Des Moines, Iowa, defeating them 39 to 14.   In a second game that same night, members of the Globe Trotters and the Union Giants combined to take on the Terrible Swedes.  Playing two games back to back proved to be too much.  They lost 33 to 19.

Two nights later, the Union Giants and the Globe Trotters met again in Marshalltown, Iowa.  This time the Globe Trotters won, 41-31.  Bobby Anderson committed nine personal fouls in the game.   

The Union Giants finished the season with two games in Iowa against Olsen's Terrible Swedes; winning one and losing the other.  These would be the last games that Gilkerson's basketball team would ever play.