Jackie's Time With The Monarchs Ends As He Heads To Brooklyn To Meet With Branch Rickey

The Monarchs were in Chicago for a four game set with the American Giants over August 24-27th. The Monarchs had a series to forget on the field, dropping all four contests while being outscored 29 to nine. Booker McDaniels had a particularly rough game on the 26th, allowing 15 runs and 21 hits in eight innings. The Monarchs managed no runs and just one hit in the game.

Jackie Robinson and Clyde Sukeforth (source)

Off the field, however, it was a monumental series, even if no one knew it at the time. The Brooklyn Dodgers, in the person of scout/coach Clyde Sukeforth, made their first contact with Jackie at the game on Friday the 24th. According to Arnold Rampersad's Jackie Robinson: A Biography:

On August 24, at Comiskey Park, Jack was out on the field, but nursing a sore shoulder, when a white man called out his name and beckoned. Jack went over. The man introduced himself as Clyde Sukeforth, which meant nothing to Robinson. The he said he was there on behalf of Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now he had Jack's attention. Mr. Rickey was starting a team, the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers. He wondered about Jackie's arm strength; could Jack throw a few balls for Sukeforth? The Dodger  scout would remember Jack listening "carefully, and when I was through he spoke right up--Jackie was never shy, you know."

"Why is Mr. Rickey interested in my arm?" Jack asked. "Why is he interested in me?"

Sukeforth convinced Robinson to meet him after the game at the Stevens Hotel, where the scout was staying, and where he bribed a bellman two dollars to allow Jack to use the passenger elevator, from which blacks were normally barred. Eventually Jack arrived and began to pepper Sukeforth with questions. One thing above all intrigued both men. Mr. Rickey had made it clear, as Sukeforth informed Jack, that if Robinson would not come to him, he would come to Robinson. Both Jack and Sukeforth now suspected that something more than a place on the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers might be at stake.

The men arranged to meet in Toledo, where Sukeforth had to observe another player,then take the train to New York. Sukeforth then sent a wire to Rickey telling of Jack's injury ("Player fell on shoulder last Tuesday [21st]. Will be out of game a few more days"). On Sunday night [26th], after the white scout convinced a ticket seller that, yes, he intended to share quarters with the black man, they left Toledo.

After a day of travel on the 27th, Robinson had his legendary meeting with Rickey on the 28th.

Robinson did go to the ballpark with his Monarchs teammates one last time on the 26th, but didn't play due to his injury. Chicago Defender sportswriter Fay Young had somehow gotten wind that Jackie might be heading east to meet with Rickey, and he questioned Jackie about it at Comiskey on the 26th. Young wrote in a September 1 column:

Between the doubleheader [on the 26th], your columnist flagged Robinson and asked him what there was to the rumors.

"Just rumors," answered Jackie.

Pressed for an answer to a simple question as to whether he had been invited, approached on the subject or not, Robinson evaded a direct answer.

Told that if it was such a secret , somebody had been doing some talking as too many, even to his club owner, knew about it, Robinson came back with a grin, "Well, it's a rumor. If you don't see me here tomorrow, then there's something to it."

September 1 Chicago Defender

Robinson, Williams, McDaniels & Duncan In Chicago For East-West Game; Monarchs Take On American Giants In KC

Jackie goes 0-5 at East-West all-star game, Satchel pitches a masterpiece in Kansas City.

August 4 Chicago Defender

August 3 Kansas City Call

Satchel Makes First '45 Appearance & Jackie Is Perfect At The Plate

The Monarchs and American Giants returned to Chicago for a Memorial Day double header. Satchel Paige was on the mound for the Monarchs in game one. This marks the first time Satchel joined the 1945 squad. He was primarily a Monarch from 1940-1947, but he never really belonged to just one team. He was the ultimate free agent, making one-off appearances with any team willing to part with a big enough cut of the gate. Satch may have been traveling the country making such appearances, or perhaps he just got a late start on the season.

Satchel pitched six frames for KC, allowing two runs on just three hits and one walk. Satch struck out six. The Monarchs only managed one off familiar foe Gentry Jessup in the first six innings, so the Monarchs trailed 1-2 when Booker McDaniels took over for KC in the seventh. McDaniels shut the Giants out for his three innings, and the Monarchs managed to get three more off Jessup to claim game one 4-2.

In the second game, Hilton Smith went all seven innings and allowed just two runs but suffered a loss as Walter McCoy hurled a shutout for Chicago. The Monarchs managed just four hits off McCoy, and three of them belonged to Jackie. From the June 1 Kansas City Call: "Jackie Robinson had a perfect day at the bat in both games. He doubled, singled and tripled in the second. In the first, he walked three times and on his fourth trip to the plate singled." Not a bad day's work.

Satchel illustration by Steve Willaredt

Barnstorming With American Giants Continues With Exciting Game In Racine

Horlick Field, Racine, WI, circa '40s (source)

Horlick Field entrance, 2003 (source)

Meeting in the fifth different city in six days, the rival Chicago American Giants and Kansas City Monarchs pulled into Racine, Wisconsin for a game at Horlick Athletic Field on Tuesday, May 29. (There is still a Horlick Field in Racine at the same site, though now a football field stands where the baseball diamond did. The original gate, seen above, still remains, and a baseball field is located next door.) Only 1,119 fans attended the game; some potential fans may have been deterred by "frigid weather." Happily, the Racine Journal Times regarded the game as newsworthy, publishing a detailed game summary and box score. Outfielder Walter Thomas, who had done some pitching early in his career, was the starting pitcher for the Monarchs, and was knocked around by Chicago before being replaced by Lefty LaMarque in the second inning. Thomas stayed in the game as right fielder. KC was down 3-8 after three innings. The Monarchs weren't done however, and pulled to within 6-8 after six. From the Journal Times:

In the crucial seventh frame, Jackie Robinson, KC shortstop and former UCLA All-American football and basketball star, led off with a double. (John) Scott hit his third triple of the evening to center field, scoring Robinson. Lee Moody doubled to count Scott, and (Chico) "Old Fellow" Renfroe, who played a sparkling game in left field for the Monarchs, hit a single to center to score Moody with the winning run.

The hardy fans who showed up were treated to quite a game. ("Old Fellow" Renfroe was 23 years old at the time...not sure where the paper came up with that nickname. He would replace Jackie at shortstop in 1946 and make the East-West all-star game.) John Scott had a remarkable day with three triples. Jackie, back in the three hole, went 3-for-5 with a double, bringing his hitting totals I've found for the year (including two preseason games) to 10-for-25 (.400). First sacker Lee Moody went 4-for-5, pacing the Monarchs' 15 hit attack. Moody's bat was on fire early in '45; in eight box scores I have for him to this point in the season, he had at least one hit in each, and had hit 15-for-34 (.441).

 May 31 Racine Journal Times

The two teams would meet yet again the next day in a Memorial Day doubleheader in Chicago, with Satchel Paige finally showing up to hurl for KC for the first time in '45.

Date With The Chicago American Giants In Milwaukee

After playing in Chicago the day before, the American Giants and Monarchs traveled to Milwaukee to square off on Monday, May 28. The Giants got the best of the Monarchs by a score of 4-2; Jackie had a rare hitless game against the hurling of Walter McCoy. Courtesy of John Holway, here's the May 29 Milwaukee Journal report:

A Losing Effort In Chicago's Home Opener

May 27 was the fourth Sunday of the 1945 Negro American League season, but it was the first home game for the Chicago American Giants. Chicago fans were ready, as 18,000 came out to Comiskey Park to see the Giants take on the Monarchs. The two clubs were already quite familiar with each other; this was the third Sunday they'd met in the young season, and had squared off in many mid-week and preseason barnstorming contests. In all the '45 Giants vs. Monarchs games played before May 27 for which I've found results, Kansas City had won six of eight.

Booker McDaniels & Gentry Jessup

Pitchers Booker McDaniels and Gentry Jessup faced off for the third time of the year. Both  went the distance. McDaniels allowed eight Giants hits and Jessup allowed seven Monarchs safeties. Both struck out two and walked two. Sounds like an even match-up, but Chicago apparently did a better job of bunching baserunners in managing a 6-2 win. Monarchs manager Frank Duncan had Jackie Robinson in the the sixth spot of the batting order after batting him third in every game I've seen a box for before this one. Jackie had a 1-for-3 day with a double. (The three at-bats suggest he may have drawn a walk.) Rain fell through the final two innings, and the scheduled second game was called off.

From the June 2 Chicago Defender summary:

The Giants, all dolled up in their new uniforms, looked and played like a big league club. This of course does not detract from the performance of the Monarchs, especially Jackie Robinson, the Pacific Coast star who the Boston Red Sox owner said was of big league calibre. Jackie, who was recently discharged from the army where he served as lieutenant, handled nine chances in short perfectly. He contributed a double in the fourth with Moody on first but the Monarchs couldn't score as (Dave) Harper, who played stellar football at Clark college in Atlanta, looked at the third strike float by.

June 2 Pittsburgh Courier summary and box

Fay Young's "Through The Years" column, June 2 Chicago Defender

A Split With the American Giants in Columbus, Ohio

Red Bird Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Sunday, May 20th found the Monarchs meeting the Chicago American Giants at Red Bird Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The park, now known as Cooper Stadium, is still standing in Columbus, but no longer in use. 2008 appears to have been its last season hosting baseball. Developers are hoping to turn it into an automotive race track.

In the opening game of the double header, Jim "Lefty" LaMarque took the hill for the Monarchs. LaMarque was from the town of Potosi in eastern Missouri. His entire career in the Negro Leagues was spent as a Monarch, and spanned from 1942-51. According to Negro Leagues historian James A. Riley, LaMarque was "a hardworking, cagey hurler who was tough in the clutch. His sharp-breaking curve was his best pitch, but he had an assortment of effective pitches, including a blazing fast ball, a good drop, a screwball, and good control." According to LaMarque himself, from the book The Negro Leagues Revisited, "I won most of my games. I learned to have real good control. I guess my top speed was maybe 80 or 85 miles an hour...my fastball always moved. I couldn't throw a straight fastball, it just moved. I guess just the movement on the ball kept the hitters from hitting it as well as they could if it came straight at them. I think I was a pretty fair pitcher. Well, most people said I was." Lefty made the East-West all-star game in 1948 and '49.

On the bump for Chicago was veteran Sug Cornelius, one of the best Negro Leagues pitchers of the '30s. He was a three-time all-star ('35, '36 and '38). By 1945, 37 year old Cornelius was in his 18th year of Negro Leagues play. According to Riley, Sug was "a crafty right-hander with good control...had a superb curveball that he could 'throw around a barrel.' Other pitches in his arsenal included a good fastball, hard slider, screwball, drop, and change of pace."

Cornelius held a 3-1 lead over KC through seven innings, but his defense let him down in the final two frames. The Chicago Defender box score shows Giants shortstop Jesse Douglas (a former Monarch) committing four errors, which must have aided the Monarchs come-from-behind 6-4 victory. According to the game summary, Monarchs "first baseman (Lee) Moody hit the ball hard and timely as did Lefty LaMarque." Negro Leagues pitchers seemed to know how to swing a stick. Moody went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Jackie Robinson had a rare hitless game in three at-bats, bringing his three game hitting line to 2-for-10. After Frank Duncan caught opening day and Double Duty Radcliffe caught the second Sunday, Sammie Haynes shows up as the receiver on this third Sunday of the season. The rest of the Monarchs line-up remained consistent through the first three weeks.

The seven-inning nightcap pitted Booker McDaniels against Gentry Jessup in a rematch of the opening-day starters. This time, Jessup and the American Giants enjoyed a victory. Jessup did it all, holding the Monarchs hitless through six before Lee Moody got the Monarchs' lone hit with a seventh inning single. The Monarchs failed to push a run across the plate. Jessup received no run support from his teammates, so he took care of it himself with an inside-the-parker to take the game 1-0.

May 26 Chicago Defender

From Columbus, the Monarchs toured through Indianapolis and Springfield, IL on the way to Chicago for a doubleheader scheduled for Sunday, May 27. They were to meet the Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns in Indianapolis's Victory Field on the 23rd, but I've found no result. They stayed in Indianapolis for a contest with the Chicago American Giants on Wednesday the 24th that they won 6-4, then traveled to Springfield to beat the American Giants again, this time 7-4, on the 25th. Of the eight game results I've found to this point in the season, the Monarchs won seven.

Opening Day

Your 1945 Kansas City Monarchs in their home whites. Jackie is in the lower right; note his bandaged hand.

The 1945 Negro American League season, featuring the Cleveland Buckeyes, Birmingham Black Barons, Chicago American Giants, Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns, Memphis Red Sox and Kansas City Monarchs, got underway on Sunday, May 6. The Monarchs opened up at home against Chicago. The festivities at the ballpark got under way at 2:00, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:00. According to the May 11 Kansas City Call, the pre-game ceremony “began with a parade led by the Wayne Minor American Legion drum corps and Arthur E. Toney, president of the Monarchs Boosters’ club. A detail of the Kansas State Guard…drilled. Dr. J.B. Martin, league president, was introduced from the pitcher’s mound. James H. Herbert, attorney, pitched the first ball to Eddie Dwight, a member of the Monarchs when 'Bullet' Rogan was manager.”

Starting lineup for Chicago:

Ralph Wyatt, SS
Jesse Douglas, 2B
Dolly King, RF
Art Pennington, 1B
Clyde Nelson, 3B
Jimmie Crutchfield, CF
Johnny Bissant, LF
Herb Barnhill, C
Gentry Jessup, P

Gentry Jessup

And for the Monarchs:

Jesse Williams, 2B
Walter Thomas, RF
Jackie Robinson, SS
John Scott, CF
Herbert Souell, 3B
Othello Renfro, LF
Lee Moody, 1B
Frank Duncan, C
Booker McDaniels, P

Booker McDaniels

Jackie had impressed manager Frank Duncan in spring training enough to be slotted in the three hole for his first regular season game. The Chicago Defender reported a crowd of 12,000, the Pittsburgh Courier said 15,000, and the Call only said a “record breaking crowd filled the Ruppert Stadium.” (Capacity was around 17,000 in the single deck days of Muehlebach/Ruppert/Blues/Municipal Stadium.)

The American Giants got on the board first in top of the second after Crutchfield was brought home after tripling. The Monarchs came right back with the tying run in the bottom of the inning thanks to a triple from Souell and a double by Moody. The Monarchs took the lead for good in the third “when three bases on balls, Souell’s second hit of the day, a double to right, a stolen base and an infield hit produced three runs” (May 12 Pittsburgh Courier). Jackie plated a run in the sixth inning with a double, and the Monarchs prevailed 6-2. He was also credited with a stolen base and a run scored for the game. Booker McDaniels went the distance for KC, allowing 4 or 5 hits (depending which paper’s box score you’re looking at) with 3 or 4 strikeouts and 1 walk. According to the Call, McDaniels “appeared jittery during the second inning, settled down…and turn(ed) them back in one-two-three order in five of the nine innings.”

Here’s the box from the Pittsburgh Courier:

Willie Bea Harmon, sports editor of the Call, liked what he saw from the Monarchs:

The Kansas City Monarchs have it. They’ve got the hustle, the spirit and they want to win. The Monarchs looked greater on the field Sunday than they have looked since their World Championship days. The outfield looks good, although it did not have an opportunity to demonstrate it. The infield seems to be a ‘stonewall of defense,’ as Hayward Jackson says. However, Moody has been shifted onto the first…Moody makes up in hits for any possible loss of defense. Booker McDaniels was never better than he was Sunday. The Monarchs have a great chance to win the league championship and know it. The Monarchs battle with the Birmingham Black Barons next Sunday should prove just how good the Monarchs are.

Baseball!

May 4 Kansas City Call

A Wild Three Team Game in Memphis

The Monarchs were scheduled to meet the Memphis Red Sox in Memphis on Thursday, April 19th, but had some trouble getting there thanks to a train running late. According to the April 21stChicago Defender, "About 15 minutes after the game was scheduled to start, the Chicago American Giants took the field to 'pinch-hit' for the Monarchs. The Monarchs showed up about 9:45 and took the field in the fifth inning, taking up where the American Giants left off. The Giants were trailing by a 4 to 2 score." The Monarchs managed to come back enough for the game to end in a 10-10 tie after nine innings. It looks to have been a wild, see-saw affair, with the three teams combining for 20 runs, 26 hits and seven errors. The Monarchs scored two in the top of the ninth to tie it at 10, and shut down the Red Sox in the bottom of the inning to preserve the tie. Whether or not Jackie Robinson made it to Memphis for this game after trying out with the Boston Red Sox on the 16th is unknown.

Two More Spring Training Tilts Vs. American Giants

After the Monarchs met the Chicago American Giants in Houston on the 2nd, the two clubs headed up for a game in Ft. Worth on the 5th and one in Dallas on the 6th. Beyond the scores, I have no detailed information on these games. From the April 14th Chicago Defender: "The Chicago American Giants and the Kansas City Monarchs played their final game of a three-game series here (Dallas) Friday, April 6, the Monarchs winning, 8 to 4. The Giants defeated the Monarchs at Ft. Worth the night before in what looked to be a mid-season game by a score of 3 to 2." The Monarchs and American Giants wouldn't meet again until opening day in Kansas City on May 6th.

"Monarchs Defeat Chicago Giants"

Monday, April 2nd saw the Monarchs taking on the Chicago American Giants in Houston in "the first exhibition game Monarchs first stringers have competed in" (4/6 Kansas City Call). It's unknown whether Jackie played in this game or not. Monarchs skipper Frank Duncan may have wanted players who hadn't played the day before in San Antonio to see their first game action of the spring. Monarchs hurlers Booker McDaniels and Jack Matchett shut down the American Giants.

April 6, 1945 Kansas City Call