Bingo DeMoss 

Elwood DeMoss 

Elwood DeMoss was born in Topeka, Kansas on September 5, 1889. 

Family 

• Father: Mansfield DeMoss, born in Tennessee in March 1848, listed as a day laborer
• Mother: Aley (or Alie or Eley) DeMoss, born in Tennessee in March 1861
• Siblings: Lulu, Thomas, James, Willis, Elwood, Lillian, plus three that died young 

His father died between the 1900 and 1910 Censuses, making Elwood most likely a teenager at the time. Mansfield may have been marries once before; according to the 1895 Kansas Census, Lulu was born circa 1874. Lulu was the only child born in Tennessee.

Teams (all confirmed by contemporary accounts) 

• 1910 Kansas City (KS) Giants, Oklahoma City Giants
• 1911 Kansas City Giants
• 1912 Kansas City Giants, West Baden (West Baden Springs, IN) Sprudels
• 1913 French Lick (French Lick Springs, IN) Plutos (captain), Chicago Giants, Chicago American Giants
• 1914 West Baden Sprudels, French Lick Plutos, Indianapolis ABCs
• 1915 Indianapolis ABCs
• 1916 Indianapolis Bowser ABCs, Indianapolis ABCs
• 1917 Palm Beach Poinciana, Chicago American Giants
• 1918 Palm Beach Poinciana, Chicago American Giants
• 1919 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1920 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1921 Palm Beach Poinciana, Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1922 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1923 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1924 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1925 Chicago American Giants (captain)
• 1926 Indianapolis ABCs (player-manager)
• 1927 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1928 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1929 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1930 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1931 Detroit Stars (manager) 
• 1935 Newark Dodgers (manager)
• 1936 Chicago American Giants (manager) 
• 1938 East-West All-Star Game (coach of West) 
• 1942 Chicago Brown Bombers (manager)
• 1943 Chicago Brown Bombers (manager)
• 1944 Chicago American Giants (manager)
• 1945 Chicago Brown Bombers (manager)
• 1946 Chicago Brown Bombers (manager)
• 1947 Chicago Brown Bombers (manager)
• 1948 Chicago Bombers (manager) 

(DeMoss lived in Chicago; he was the manager of the Chicago Brown Bombers in 1945. No evidence was uncovered that he managed the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers of Branch Rickey’s United States League as has been reported.) 

Baseball 

• 5’11” and 180, righthanded
• Second baseman
• Nicknamed Bingo, by 1910 

DeMoss was a good, solid ballplayer who would make any team better. At the plate, he was a superb bunter and contact hitter. He rarely struck out and was an excellent man with the stick during the hit-and-run. Once on the bases, he was very fast, a good base runner and a threat to steal. 

In the field, he had quick hands and an accurate arm. A second baseman, Bingo was among the top double-play men in black baseball. 

DeMoss was 20 years old when he joined the Kansas City Giants in 1910. Historian James A. Riley notes that he was a member of the Topeka Giants in 1905, as a shortstop. He would have been 15 years old at that time. It was found that the club had recently changed its name from the Bees, but that was all. 

The story goes that DeMoss injured his arm pitching early in his career which necessitated his permanent shift from shortstop to second base. 

In 1910, he played with the Kansas City Giants (owned by Tobe Smith) until July when he was picked up by owner C.H. Young of the Oklahoma City Giants shortly after the clubs played each other.

In March 1912, the Kansas City Royal Giants and Kansas City Giants merged under the latter’s name. The best players were consolidated with Bingo taking over second base for the revamped club.

 In 1913, he opened the season with French Lick, playing with them into at least June. In July and August he was playing with the Chicago Giants. He also played with the Chicago American Giants in August. (The Negro Leagues Book lists DeMoss with West Baden in 1913) 

Chicago Tribune 7/21/1913

C.I. Taylor was the manager of the West Baden club before buying into and performing the same duties with the Indianapolis ABCs, owned by Tom Bowser, in 1914. Taylor brought a strong contingent to the ABCs including George Brown, Morty Clark, DeMoss, Dizzy Dismukes, George Shively and Ben and James Taylor. C.I. then went out and signed the great Oscar Charleston. 

Bingo sparked an ugly incident in October 1915 during a contest against major leaguers, bringing unfavorable light on interracial contests. On the 17^th at Federal Park in Indianapolis, the ABCs took on a major league squad led by Donie Bush. ABCs pitcher Dicta Johnson defeated Reb Russell of the Chicago White Sox 3-2, ceding only 4 hits. 

On the 24^th, same location, things became heated: 

Indianapolis Star 10/25/1915

 

After the game, DeMoss and Charleston headed to Cuba with ABCs. Upon returning from Havana, they were arrested again for missing their court date. In January, the pair did not go to Palm Beach with the club; presumably they had legal issues to iron out. 

Prior to the 1916 season, Taylor and Bowser, who each owned half the Indianapolis ABCs, split and two ABC clubs developed. DeMoss stayed with the Bowser ABCs until the club finished up in September and then joined Taylor’s nine. 

DeMoss was to take over the field management of the Detroit franchise in the new Negro National League in 1933 but the deal fell through. 

On March 27, 1944, DeMoss was named manager of the Chicago American Giants after Double Duty Radcliffe resigned. Bingo was fired in mid-June. 

Family 

• First wife: Virgil “Virgie” Robinson, a Topeka native born on May 18, 1890 – they married on August 20, 1913 in Chicago – Virgil died on May 10, 1938 in Chicago
• Second Wife: Miranda Fulton, on March 22, 1946
• Children: Cecil (circa 1923), Bessie, Norma Jean - all by Virgil

Virgil seems to have been married before. Her parents were named Williams and in her marriage application to Elwood she refers to herself as Mrs. Robinson.

Member and at one time treasurer of the Old Ball Players Club of Chicago 

Elwood DeMoss passed away at Cook County Hospital “after suffering a long illness” January 26, 1965 at age 75. (He died early Tuesday morning which places his death on the 26^th, not the 25th. The Cook County Death Index however states the 25th) He was interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Cook County, Illinois. 

 (I could not locate DeMoss’ WWI registration card. I found the link at Ancestry.com but it led to the wrong listing. However, I don’t think that it would hold anything else of significance other than maybe an off-season employer and maybe the correct spelling of his wife’s name.)

SOURCE LIST 

• Ancestry.com
• Baltimore Afro-American, 13 February 1926, 7 October 1933, 16 April 1934
• Chicago Defender, 1913-1925, 2 April 1932, 25 February 1933, 1 June 1935, 1942-1946, 16 February 1957, 27 January 1965
• Chicago Tribune, 1910, 10 September 1911, 1913
• Clark, Dick and Larry Lester. The Negro Leagues Book. Cleveland, Ohio: Society for American Baseball Research, 1994.
• Debono, Paul. The Indianapolis ABCs: History of a Premier Team in the Negro Leagues. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1997.
• Familysearch.com
• Heaphy, Leslie A. Black Baseball and Chicago: Essays on the Players, Teams and Games of the Negro League’s most important City. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006.
• Indianapolis Freeman, 23 July 1910, 16 March 1912, 1913-1915
• Indianapolis Star, 1911-1912, 26 October 1915
• Kansas City Star, 2 July 1911, 23 July 1911
• Kansas City Whip, 22 May 1936
• Madden, W. C. Baseball in Indianapolis. New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
• Muskogee Times Democrat, Oklahoma, 7 September 1911
• Negro League Database at Seamheads.com
• New York Age, 1918, 8 June 1935, 1 February 1936, 24 September 1938
• Riley, James A. The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1994.