Archive for December, 2011

 

Danny Despert

Daniel James Despert

Daniel James Despert was born on April 3, 1891 in Washington, D.C.

Birthdate

The Negro League Database lists his birth year as 1892. That’s based on his World War I registration card. The District of Columbia Birth and Christening records identify 1891 as his birth. This is confirmed by his parents in the 1900 U.S. Census – who rightfully listed their only child as being born in April 1891.

Name

The Negro League Database lists his name as James Daniel Despert. Again, this stems from the WWI card. That is how Despert filled it out and signed it. Presumably, that is how he wanted it in his mid to late 20s. However, he was dubbed Daniel James by his parents (per the 1900 Census) and was called “Danny” in his youth in D.C., even into his 20s.

Interestingly, a 1916 newspaper account calls him “Harry,” which may have been a baseball nickname or merely an error. Likewise, he is referred to at times a “Denny.” This just may be a written error of Danny.

Parents

Despert was the only child of Daniel Despert and his wife the former Isabella “Belle” Holland. They were married at the turn of 1880. Daniel was employed as a day laborer.

• Daniel, born in June 1854 in Virginia
• Isabella, born in March 1852 in Maryland

Baseball

Despert lived his entire life in DC. He participated in competitive athletics throughout his teens, as the black community was rich in sporting talent. In 1910 he helped form and organize a football squad, an offshoot of the local Asbury Browns baseball nine. He played left guard.

Despert is listed at 172 pounds with that football team. He was almost exclusively a left fielder throughout his amateur and professional career.

Teams (all confirmed)

• 1910 DC Asbury Browns
• 1911 Asbury Browns
• 1912 DC Interiors, Washington Giants
• 1913 DC All-Stars, Cuban Giants
• 1914 Asbury Browns, Philadelphia Giants
• 1915 Philadelphia Giants
• 1916 DC All-Stars, Brooklyn Royal Giants

It is likely that Despert played for Asbury before 1910 and in the early part of the year in 1912 and 1913.

The Interiors were a member of the Colored Departmental League of D.C. The All-Stars, also known as the Colored All-Stars, seem to be a nine made up of some of the finer players in the league.

1912

• With the Interiors at least during late of June
• With the Washington Giants in September

1913

Despert played with the DC All-Stars in early May. By the 10^th, he was in the Cuban Giants’ lineup. In January, the Cubans had extended contracts to local players Danny Despert, Ed Brown and Herbert Cooper. Their former teammate Tom Johnson had performed for the Cubans in 1912 and talked the club into bringing them on. By the end of the year, other DC players were with the Cubans – Herbert Cooper and another simply known as Ham.

The Wyoming County Times (14 August) referred to Despert as “from New Orleans.” The reference is unclear.

1914

• With the Asbury Browns in April
• With the Philadelphia Giants at least mid-July to October

1915

With the Philadelphia Giants all year, May to September

1916

Despert is listed with the All-Stars in mid-May. Around June 25, he joined the Brooklyn Royal Giants. On 29 June the Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted, “The Brooklyn Royal Giants have been strengthened by the addition of … Despert, a hard-hitting outfielder.”

On August 19, traveling with the Royal Giants (they had played in Millville, New Jersey on the 16^th), Despert was aboard a train when either his train or one passing rocked and they sideswiped each other. Something hit the lower part of Despert’s left arm and shattered the bones. The arm was amputated below the elbow on the 31^st, ending his baseball career at age 25.

Brooklyn Eagle 9/1/1916

He filed a lawsuit the following year. The disposition of the case is unknown.

Washington Times 4/5/1917

Washington Post 4/5/1917

After Baseball

Despert still lists himself as a professional ballplayer in June 1917 when he filled out his WWI registration card.

In the 1920 U.S. Census, Despert is listed as a hackman, a cab driver, who owned his own car. He appears to be umpiring local college games in at least April 1928.

According to the Negro League Database Daniel James Despert passed away in June 1931 at age 40.

SOURCE LIST

• Ancestry.com
• Baltimore Afro-American, 10 May 1913, 14 April 1928
• Bridgeton Evening News, New Jersey, 17 August 1916
• Brooklyn Eagle, 1914-1916
• Chicago Defender, 8 July 1916, 12 August 1916
• Familysearch.com
• Gloversville Morning Herald, New York, 2 June 1913
• Greenville Evening Record, Pennsylvania, 28 August 1913, 29 August 1913
• Indianapolis Freeman, 1916
• Jersey Journal, 10 July 1916
• Negro League Database at Seamheads.com
• New York Age, 1914-1915
• New York Sun, 14 August 1916
• Niagara Falls Gazette, New York, 14 June 1913
• Olean Times, New York, 20 September 1913
• Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 June 1915
• Richmond Times-Dispatch, 25 June 1912
• Schenectady Gazette, New York, 20 September 1913, 22 September 1913
• Springfield Republican, Massachusetts, 24 July 1915, 25 July 1915
• Syracuse Herald, 18 May 1913
• Washington Herald, 1910-1914
• Washington Post, 14 May 1916, 5 April 1917
• Washington Times, 5 April 1917
• Watertown Daily Times, New York, 21 May 1913
• Wyoming County Times, Warsaw, New York, 14 August 1913

 

Tullie McAdoo (not Tully)

Nickname: Dudley

Birth date: November 24 in:

• 1883 (according to the 1900 U.S. Census)
• 1884 (according to his WWI registration card)
• 1885 (according to his WWII registration card)

Birth place: Topeka, Kansas according to his death notice

• 1880 Census – family living in Dunlap
• 1900 Census – family living in Topeka

Father: Russell McAdoo, born in Tennessee, August 1851 (day laborer)

Mother: Lucretia “Creasy” McAdoo, nee Turner, born in Tennessee circa 1858 (died between 1895 and 1900)

The couple was married on November 21, 1872 in Rutherford, Tennessee. The family moved to Kansas in 1879 or early 1880.

Siblings: Eva, Thomas, George, Nellie, Lizzie, Tullie, Era, R.E. (brother), Clyde

Tullie married a Kansas woman named Maggie, born circa 1883. It doesn’t appear that they had any children. She died in Chicago November 28, 1960. Tullie died in Chicago six months later on June 16, 1961.

Topeka Daily Capital, 17 June 1961
Tully McAdoo

A former baseball player and Topekan, Tully McADOO of Chicago, died there Friday in a hospital after an extended illness. He and his wife, Mrs. Maggie McAdoo, who died Nov. 28, 1960, lived in Topeka until 30 years ago when they moved to Chicago. He was born in Topeka and was a member of the Shiloh Baptist Church.

Mr. McAdoo was a first baseman with the Topeka Giants baseball team and played for the Kansas City, Kan., Giants, the Kansas City Monarchs and a team for St. Louis. Surviving are a sister, Mrs. Lizzie M. JOHNSON, 1212 Lincoln; a niece Mrs. Antionette DUNN of Denver; and a number of cousins, including Mrs. Alyce Monroe REID of Kansas City. Services and burial will be in Chicago. Mrs. JOHNSON plans to attend services. The Gaines and Son Funeral Home made the announcement.

1908 Kansas City Monarchs

William Houston, Bert Wakefield, McAdoo, West Wilkins, Bill Lindsay, Tom McCampbell, Chick Pullam, Frank Evans, Tom Stearman, Ernest McCampbell, Fred Lee, and Frog Lindsay

7/30/1910 Indianapolis Freeman with Kansas City Royal Giants

SOURCE LIST

Ancestry.com

Familysearch.com

Topeka Daily Capital, 17 June 1961

 

Tampa Trubune 7/22/1910

 

Louis Santop

Louis Santop Loftin

Lewis Santop Loftin

Louis Santop was born on January 17, 1889 in Forth Worth, Texas. This may differ from the traditional listing for Santop but: 

Birth date 

Most references list Santop as being born in 1890.That date stems at least to the publication of John Holway’s article in SABR’s Baseball Research Journal in 1979. However, contemporary sources and Santop’s repeated assertions show that 1889 was the correct year of birth. 

First, the 1900 U.S. Census lists his birth date as “Jan 1889.” Finally, Santop’s death notices in 1942 list 1889 as his birth year. Unfortunately, troubling research of old ballplayers is the absence of the 1890 Census data. This could clear up the picture but nevertheless there is other supporting data. 

In between the above, other documents list his birth in 1889: 

• 1910 Census, listed as 21 years old
• Santop lists his birth as 1889 on two separate WWI registration cards, in 1917
• Santop lists his birth as 1889 on his passport application, in 1920 

In fact, no contemporary reference was found declaring 1890 of importance. It should also be noted that Santop’s mother had another child in August 1890, which would also support Santop as being born in 1889. 

Place of Birth 

Present day references show Santop hailing from Tyler in Smith County, Texas. This appears to be another case of baseball people confusing one’s place of birth and his primary residence at the time he entered the professional ranks or perhaps the location of early athletic success. 

Santop and his family however were not confused. Besides his death notices which list Fort Worth as his origin, others do as well: 

• Santop lists Fort Worth on two separate WWI registration cards, in 1917
• Santop lists Fort Worth on his passport application, in 1920 

Again, no contemporary documents were found that show Tyler as his birthplace. 

Name 

The ballplayer popularly known as Santop was actually named Loftin. That was his family name and that was the name he used officially throughout his life. (Except that he used Santop when traveling with his ball clubs – for example on passenger manifests) 

His baseball career began in Texas under the name Loftin and continued as such as he soon hopped to Oklahoma clubs. The Loftin name even appears during his early days in the east. Why the change? Unfortunately, it’s unclear. 

Even his first name seems to be an issue. The 1900 Census seems to list him as “Luray.” He can be found in the 1910 Census as “Louria.” Nevertheless, he was known most of his life as Louis, or perhaps Lewis. He lists himself as Louis in his passport application but forever muddles the issue with two separate WWI registration cards, on one he signed as “Louis Santop Loftin” and the other as “Lewis S. Loftin.” Moreover, his grave marker shows him as Lewis. 

 

 (References have been made to his name being D. Louis Loftin. This is a misread of the 1930 U.S. Census where the Census taker wrote everyone’s middle initial as their first initial. For example, Loftin’s wife was written as B. Minnie but her name was Minnie B. The “D” identified with Louis is an error as middle initials frequently are in Censuses)

Family 

In the 1900 Census Santop is shown living in Tyler, Texas with his family (all born in Texas): 

• Father: James, born June 1856, a railroad laborer
• Mother: Belle, December 1869
• Siblings: Henry (March 1880), Louis, Octavia (August 1890), Joseph (May 1893), Rubie (March 1896) 

James and Belle were married circa 1888. They had five children, all living. Actually, it lists Belle bearing the five children. Considering the ages, this doesn’t seem to jive. James, much older than Belle, was probably married before and that would explain the older son Henry. 

Continuing with the name game, Santop identifies his father as named Andrew in his passport application and, in fact, the 1910 Census shows the family patriarch as Andrew. Were James and Andrew the same man? It would seem so, unless Belle actually married two different men with the same last name, especially unlikely since both the 1900 and 1910 Censuses show them married at about the same time – in the late 1880s. 

The 1910 Census is muddled simply because there are two listings of the family and strangely they date less than a week apart (in April) and vary in several ways. They both are seated in Smith County, but one in Bullard and one in Tyler – communities that were only about 15 mile apart. 

Andrew (farmer) and Belle reside in Bullard with Joe, Jessie Mae and Rupert. In Tyler, Belle (chambermaid at a restaurant) lived with her ballplayer son Louis and other children Octavia, Joe, Jess and Rubert. The separate listings suggest two possibilities: 

• Family troubles
• Two residences due to employment restraints 

(Santop’s siblings Octavia, Jesse and Joseph were still alive when he died in 1942) 

Personal 

Santop was light-skinned and known to be a bit gruff. A teammate’s wife once described him as pleasant enough as long as you didn’t rub him the wrong way. He was also deemed to hold himself somewhat aloof because of his star status. This and other descriptions suggest a measure of temperamental-ness, which was probably an asset on the diamond. In one famed incident he grabbed Oscar Charleston in a bear hug and cracked his ribs. Whether this was strictly playful or a bit malicious is unclear, but the pair was known to butt heads. 

Top, a big man, was an equally big eater. 

Type of Ballplayer 

Santop was a big buy, well over six feet. Various sources list him between 6’2” and 6’5” and between 200 and 250 pounds. (You can see him in comparison to teammates in the 1911 Lincoln Giants picture below) Such physical measures in the early 20^th century stood out much more than they would today, as the average height sat a couple of inches below 6’. A catcher, he must have looked imposing behind the plate. 

Santop, a righthander, had a strong arm and was known to put on exhibitions to show it off. He was said to be able to heave the ball over the center field wall from home plate, a mighty feat at the cavernous ballparks of the Deadball Era. To entertain the crowd before big contests, such as against major leaguers, he would peg the ball all over the infield from his knees from behind the plate. 

During Santop’s era, Bruce Petway was perhaps known as a better catcher but it wasn’t by much. They both possessed a stunningly strong and accurate arm, amazing fans and teammates and certainly having an effect on opposing runners. Whereas Petway suffered from arm injuries, Santop seemed to escape any maladies. He caught steadily for over 15 years, often spending the winter out West, in the South or abroad and never lost extensive time to injuries.

He’d also work both ends of a doubleheader without complaint; once he even did so with a mending broken thumb. Another measure of his toughness would be the reaction at his military physical. Initially listed as 1-A for draft purposes, he was reclassified after an examination exposed a crooked arm due to an old baseball injury. One that seemingly stemmed from a previous break – that, it should be noted, did not put him out of action on the diamond. 

Petway was extremely fast afoot and was a master at defending bunts. This may tip the scales in his favor but Santop’s reputation was stellar behind the bat until an incident in the 1924 World Series, at age 35, which has been blown out of proportion like all big-game errors. 

The main difference between the backstops was the overwhelming power Santop possessed with the bat. Some say he was the first big slugger in black baseball history. That distinction though probably goes to Grant “Home Run” Johnson, who had been a star for well over a decade before the pair became teammates on the Lincoln Giants in 1911. Overall, many place Top just below Josh Gibson on the all-time rankings of catchers in black baseball. 

Santop was however one of the sport’s biggest sluggers during the Deadball Era and well into the 1920s. He wielded a big, heavy bat which still seemed like a toothpick against his might frame. In Jesse Hubbard’s words, “Santop hit the ball farther than anybody … Most others, they hit home runs like I did, just over the fence. Santop hit them way over.” Hits shots during the time were eclipsed perhaps only by the Bambino himself. In fact, Santop was at times called the Black Babe Ruth or the Black Ty Cobb. 

Like Ruth, Santop was a crowd pleaser. He was a showman before, during and after games. He’d banter with the crowd and opponents and more than once is alleged to have called a wall-clearing shot. He did it one day in Atlantic City, actually pushing a dollar bet that he’d homer through the backstop screen to a taunting fan. He came through that time and probably did a time or two others as his boasting and jawing certainly presented other opportunities to impress. The failures aren’t chronicled. 

Also like Ruth, Santop was a huge fan favorite and a big draw. He often headlined advertisements, which might proclaim something to the effect that “The Great Santop is coming to Town.” In smaller print underneath his team name would be mentioned. Fans headed to the park excited to see the tall slugging legend and could cause quite a fuss if he wasn’t present as advertised. 

He also played the corners in the field during his career – first and third base, left and right field. 

Nicknames

 Like many admired athletes, Santop accrued several nicknames. Besides the white sportswriters’ references to Cobb and Ruth, Santop was more so called: 

• Top
• Big Bertha (of the bats)
• Tex or Texas
• Black Star Ranger
• Louis Napoleon Santop 

“Big Bertha,” was an analogy of his slugging skills to that of the detested German howitzer of World War I. Probably on a more day-to-day basis he was called “Top,” obviously derived from his name. 

Teams (all confirmed) 

• 1910 Fort Worth Wonders, Oklahoma City Giants
• 1911 Philadelphia Giants, New York Lincoln Giants, Fe
• 1912 Lincoln Giants
• 1913 Fort Worth Wonders, Lincoln Giants
• 1914 Lincoln Giants
• 1915 Palm Beach Breakers, Chicago American Giants, New Orleans Specials, New York Lincoln Stars, Havana Red Sox
• 1916 Lincoln Stars, Brooklyn Royal Giants
• 1917 Palm Beach Breakers, Lincoln Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, Hilldale Daisies
• 1918 Palm Beach Breakers, Lincoln Giants, Hilldale
• 1919 Royal Giants, Hilldale
• 1920 Hilldale, Atlantic City Bacharach Giants
• 1921 Palm Beach Breakers, Royal Giants, Hilldale
• 1922 Hilldale
• 1923 Hilldale
• 1924 Hilldale
• 1925 Hilldale
• 1926 Hilldale, Santop’s All-Stars
• 1927 Santop’s Broncos, Philadelphia Denmars
• 1928-1933 Santop’s Broncos, manager 

Early Baseball Career, 1909-1910 

Santop’s early baseball skills were honed in Tyler, Texas, a town that also produced contemporary pitcher Jeff Tesreau of the New York Giants. A later reference (Chicago Defender 4 February 1933) indicates that he began his career with the Tyler All-Stars. That seems dubious (did the 1933 All-Star team actually date back to 1907, ‘08? or ‘09?) but, assuredly, he played with local clubs. He seems to have entered pro ball in 1909 at age 20 in the black Texas leagues. 

Already a catcher, Santop – actually called Loftin – played for the Ft. Worth Wonders and Oklahoma Monarchs of Guthrie in 1909 according to Negro league historian James A. Riley. Riley also lists Santop with the Philadelphia Giants in 1909 but it seems unlikely that he headed to the northeast at that time. 

Dr. Rob Fink, who studied the Texas black leagues, states in his work Playing in the Shadows, “[Santop] began his career playing for the Fort Worth Wonders and later played for teams in Austin and San Antonio.” Historian John Holway also referred to Santop as an old battery mate of Joe Williams with the San Antonio Broncos. 

Unfortunately, no 1909 or earlier game accounts or box scores were found during this research to confirm. References however were found listing Loftin with the Fort Worth Wonders in April 1910 and the Oklahoma City Giants in August 1910. The clubs were members of the Texas Colored Baseball League. 

Dallas Morning News 4/25/1910

The league seems to have broken up at the beginning of July. Oklahoma City then went on a barnstorming tour of the South that took them throughout Texas and Arkansas and then to Memphis, St. Louis and up to Chicago to face Rube Foster’s American Giants. After stopping in Memphis, Oklahoma City picked up pitcher Hamp Gillard from the local Tigers to fortify its lineup against St. Louis and Chicago. 

(There is some confusion about the Oklahoma clubs. Oklahoma City was nicknamed the Giants but some papers mistakenly called them the Oklahoma City Monarchs. The Monarchs were actually a separate club from Guthrie, simply known as the Oklahoma Monarchs.) 

Sources also list Santop with the Philadelphia Giants at the end of 1910; but no contemporary sources were found to confirm him playing in the east at the time or the Giants heading south where he may have joined them. 

(Dr. Fink claims that Texas newspapers were lax in reporting black baseball until 1919. Prior to that, the Indianapolis Freeman and Chicago Defender were the relevant sources. This would indicate difficulty in chronicling Loftin prior to his venturing east) 

1911 

In April 1911, Santop was playing in Florida with the Philadelphia Giants. As the team headed north to start the regular season, they stopped in Atlanta and added a hometown kid to their roster, a righthanded fireballer named Dick Redding. He would become one of the great pitchers of the early 20^th century. Redding and Santop formed what became known as the “Kid Battery.” Together, they jumped the club in early July, joining the upstart Harlem-based New York Lincoln Giants owned by the McMahon brothers, Jess and Edward. 

It appears that it was at this point Loftin changed his baseball name to Santop. Why? It’s unclear. It doesn’t seem to be for two of the main reasons – amateur eligibility and to hide the activity from family. He was already playing in a completely different part of the country than his family, so there was no need to alter his name in the newspapers. The following two clippings show the transition – within a week: 

Philadelphia Inquirer 7/7/1911

New York Times 7/13/1911

The loss of the kid battery temporarily set Philadelphia back: 

New York Age 8/3/1911

Smokey Joe Williams and righthanded submariner Harry Buckner also joined the Lincolns, creating one of the most impressive battery sets in black baseball. The nine also included Home Run Johnson and the great Pop Lloyd, who also managed the club. 

1911 Lincoln Giants

Top: Dan McClellan, Pop Lloyd, Bill Francis, Spot Poles, ?, Dick Redding, Santop, Jude Gans, Pete Booker Bottom: Phil Bradley, Grant Johnson, Harry Buckner, George Wright 

The Lincoln Giants ended their season in October after a game with an all-star squad headed by Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Gabby Street. The kid battery had already left for home before the game. The contest is noteworthy as being the first confrontation between the great shortstops Wagner and Lloyd. 

A month or so later, Santop headed to Cuba with several teammates. There, he played in the Cuban League for the Fe club, appearing in 5 games in December. 

1912-1914 

Santop spent all of 1912 with the Lincolns. At the end of the year, he headed to Cuba with the club. 

In April 1913, Santop opened the season back home playing for Ft. Worth. He headed north in May, spending the rest of the season with the Lincoln Giants. In Elizabeth, New Jersey he walloped a couple massive home runs, tape measure shots that forever marked his legacy. 

New York Age 6/12/1913

New York Age 7/17/1913

The 1914 Lincoln Giants were one of the top clubs in black baseball history. In October the club headed to Cuba for some exhibition contests, amassing a 4-9-1 record. Santop went 13 for 36 in the contests. (He’s listed on a passenger manifest arriving in New York City from Havana on November 24) 

Another stunning shot: (versus Elmhurst Grays in Elmhurst on August 22) 

Newtown Register 8/27/1914

1915 

Santop opened 1915 with Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants. The team played throughout the South. In Palm Beach, Santop played for the Breakers Hotel. For a brief time, these American Giants boasted the two top catchers of the era, Santop and Bruce Petway. 

In New Orleans, Santop played at least one game for the New Orleans Specials against the Giants, apparently helping to fill out the local’s roster. In March, the Giants headed out west before returning east for the regular season by May. 

At that time, Santop returned to New York but moved to the Lincoln Stars, a club also owned by the McMahon brothers. The Stars also included Redding, Jude Gans, Spot Poles and shortstop Pop Lloyd. 

Santop finished the year with the Stars. As luck would have it, the American Giants and the Stars played for the “championship” in 1915. After 10 games, the series remained spilt, 5-5. The eleventh game was started but never finished due to controversy. Issues like this plagued black baseball and highlighted the need for an organized league structure and, moreover, conciliation between western and eastern clubs and promoters. 

While still a member of the Stars, Santop played at least 2 games with the Havana Red Sox on September 15 and October 1. 

1916-1918 

Santop opened the 1916 regular season with the Lincoln Stars, playing with them into mid-September. He jumped the club for the Brooklyn Royal Giants, appearing with the new club for the first time on September 19. He later accompanied the club on a trip to Puerto Rico, leaving New York by ship on October 30. 

In January 1917, the Lincoln Giants and Chicago American Giants headed to Palm Beach to compete in the local so-called Hotel League, which pitted teams from the Poinciana and Breaker Hotels. Santop joined the Lincoln club, playing for it into April and also playing under the Breakers banner. In April, he also played for the Lincoln Giants basketball team. 

When the regular season kicked off, Santop returned to Brooklyn, playing with them through September. In October, he landed with the Hilldale Daisies for three contests against big league barnstormers on successive Saturdays, the 6^th, 13^th and 20^th. 

The Hilldale club was owned by Ed Bolden and was based in Darby, a suburb west of Philadelphia. Bolden had recently converted his amateur squad, from the Hilldale Athletic Club, into a professional one, landing Spot Poles, Bill Pettus and Santop among his first big-named pros. 

The October games were a sort of coming out for the club, which would soon become a dominant force in eastern black baseball. They won 2 of the 3 games over the big leaguers, who were led by pitcher Bullet Joe Bush of Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. Santop went 4 for 12 in the three contests. He would play much of the rest of his career with the Daisies and consequently permanently relocate to the city. 

Santop began 1918 again with the Lincoln Giants and Palm Beach Breakers. When the regular season began, he rejoined Hilldale for the entire year. The club held a Santop Day at its park, signifying the addition of the team’s biggest star. 

Military Service and 1919 

Over the summer of 1918 with World War I still going on, Santop was listed with a draft status of 1-A, ready to serve. He and teammates Tom Williams and Pearl Webster were ordered to report for a physical at Camp Dix on August 10, 1918. Subsequent headlines roared that he was rejected because of a twisted arm, a lasting effect of a previous baseball-related break. The newsmen flavored the story with the supposition that he couldn’t handle a rifle properly nor salute to satisfaction. 

First of all, when did this break occur? He had been going full tilt since at least 1909. If the arm broke and became deformed, he played through it with little to no complaint. Second, it’s doubtful that such a physically imposing superstar athlete couldn’t perform such basic functions as aiming a firearm or saluting. 

Still, he was being reclassified and wouldn’t enter the Navy until early November, very near the armistice. In essence, he missed no time on the diamond in 1918. Stationed at the Naval Air Detachment in Newport News, Virginia, Santop was a fireman second-class in the Fifth Naval Division. From Wikipedia: 

[Naval Air Station] Norfolk started its roots training aviators at Naval Air Detachment, Curtiss Field, Newport News, on May 19, 1917. Approximately five months later, with a staff increasing to five officers, three aviators, ten enlisted sailors and seven aircraft, the detachment was renamed Naval Air Detachment, Naval Operating Base, Hampton Roads. The aircraft, all seaplanes, were flown across the James River and moored to stakes in the water until canvas hangars were constructed. The new location offered sheltered water in an ice-free harbor, perfect for seaplane landings, good anchorage on the beach front, accessibility to supplies from Naval Station Norfolk and room for expansion. Its mission was to conduct anti-submarine patrols, train aviators and mechanics and run an experimental facility. 

Santop was discharged in late May 1919 and immediately joined the Brooklyn Royal Giants, appearing in his first game of the year on the 25^th. That day, he smacked 2 home runs versus the Bushwicks. As far as the regular season goes, he missed less than a month to military service in total. 

Reports declared that Santop was recalled by the Navy in mid-June but it doesn’t appear that he lost much if any playing time. For example, on the 20^th at the Farmers Oval he went 6 for 6. 

By September, Santop was playing for both Brooklyn and Hilldale. The Daisies brought him in during their championship series against the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants. The Bacharachs won the deciding ninth game on the 8^th with a 10-0 shutout. Santop was the only Daisy to reach third base – in the ninth. Soon, he was playing for only Hilldale. 

1920 

Santop spent the winter of 1919-1920 with his family in Texas. There, he went on a recruiting drive for the Hilldales and other eastern clubs. The talent-rich Texas Colored League would feed the game for years. For example, Eagle Pass-native Biz Mackey, Santop’s eventual replacement, would soon join the Indianapolis ABCs. 

Santop joined Hilldale for the regular season, as he would through 1926. On August 13, he was purposely walked three times by the American Steel Company in Chester, Pennsylvania. Perhaps they had read the headlines from a game in Riverside two weeks earlier. 

Chicago Defender 8/7/1920

Or one from Camden: 

Chicago Defender 8/21/1920

In a 4-game eastern playoff with Brooklyn, the teams split a game apiece with two ties. Black baseball’s first successful organized league, the Negro National League, was formed in 1920 but that was a western circuit. The eastern clubs, like Hilldale of Philadelphia, wouldn’t organize until 1923. The east was still independent with an informal playoff structure that was shaky at best and often confusing and muddled. 

For the winter, Santop and the Daisies headed to Cuba. 

1921-1922 

After the turn of 1921, Santop joined the Brooklyn Royal Giants in the south. He also played for the Palm Beach Breakers. 

With the Daisies in the early 1920s, Santop was hailed as the slugging star of the sport. He was heavily followed by the sporting press and the fans. Billboards hailed his arrival and ticket sales jumped whenever he was expect to make an appearance. Consequently, he and a few teammates were among the highest paid in black baseball. Reported amounts put his salary in the $450-$500 a month range. 

Hilldale played the Bacharachs in a 4-game playoff which ended in a tie, 2 games apiece. Top went 0 for 10. In October, they faced the western champion Chicago American Giants in a 6-game series, a sort-of World Series. Hilldale emerged victorious 3-2-1, with Santop placing 5 hits in 13 at bats. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer listed Santop in 113 games for Hilldale in 1922 with a .358 batting average. 

1923-1924

 Hilldale (variously known as the Daisies or Giants) joined the upstart Eastern Colored League in 1923 and copped its first pennant. In fact, the league was founded by Daisies owner Ed Bolden. Future Hall of Famer Biz Mackey, 25 years old, joined the Daisies and started pushing the 34-year-old Santop for playing time. 

Hilldale won the pennant again in 1924. Bolden and Negro National League president Rube Foster were able to put aside their differences and agreed to black baseball’s first formal World Series. Hilldale took on the western champion Kansas City Monarchs in a 10-game series in October. 

Kansas City took the close series 5-4-1, which ended in a 5-0 shutout in the deciding contest. Santop went 8 for 24 but became the goat. In Game 8 (series ties 3-3-1) on the 19^th Hilldale led 2-0 entering the ninth. With the bases loaded and the score now at 2-1, Top dropped a pop foul behind the plate. The batter promptly singled, knocking in the tying and winning runs. The Monarchs won the game 3-2 and eventually the series. 

Reports suggest Hilldale manager Frank Warfield tore into a distraught Santop, even causing him to come to tears. If true, the incident seems to say more about Warfield than his catcher. Even the rugged John McGraw handled the Merkle and Snodgrass miscues with more grace. Warfield had actually replaced the aging Santop for defensive purposes late in three previous games in the series but not in Game 8. 

Fay Young on the series (Chicago Defender 2/7/1942)

It’s been suggested that the error hastened his retirement, that is pushed him out of big-time baseball, but it seems more likely that 15+ years catching nonstop all over the country and abroad played a bigger role in his diminished responsibilities in 1925 and ’26. 

 

1925-1933

The rift with Warfield was apparent in early 1925. In mid-February, Top was released with two other Hilldale players. Pressure must have bubbled up with the loss of the team’s biggest draw because he was rehired 2 weeks later. 

Hilldale won its third consecutive pennant in 1925, but Santop was relegated to a supporting role; Mackey had supplanted him behind the plate. Santop appeared in only 17 league games, hitting a meager .174. In the World Series victory, 5-1, over Kansas City he went 0 for 2. 

Like the previous year, Santop mainly pinch-hit in 1926. On July 6, he was given his unconditional release, with the team in fourth place looking to make a move. Within a month, he formed the Santop All-Stars, an independent club based in Philly. He would manage the team through 1933. The All-Stars changed their name to Santop’s Broncos for 1927 as Top continued to play sporadically and sparingly. Soon enough though, he would hang up his spikes. 

Santop also played for the Denmars of Philadelphia in at least August 1927. In August 1938, he participated in an Old Timers game in New York City. 

Later Life 

Santop married a Philadelphia woman named Minnie B. Robinson in 1927. The 1930 U.S. Census finds them living on Catherine Street in Philadelphia in a $7000 home which they own, not rent. Louis still lists himself as a ballplayer. They didn’t have any children. 

(It has been stated and repeated that Eunice Taylor was Santop’s wife. This is a misread of an article in which Taylor comments on his personality. She was Joe Williams’ wife. See John Holway’s “Louis Santop, the Big Bertha”) 

At times during his career, he worked in the stockyards during the down months. After baseball, he held an array of jobs: 

• State inspector, named by a local ward leader in April 1932 (first African-American in such a post)
• Bartender, New Postal Card Saloon, 1934
• WELK, Philadelphia radio
• Republican committeeman, 4^th Division, 30^th Ward
• Clerk, Recorder of Deeds Office at City Hall, until 1941 

He was also a Mason and an Elk. 

In February 1941 while still working at City Hall, Santop slipped on ice and fell, causing a permanent spinal injury which may have hastened his death. He also developed arthritis over the years. After some time in the hospital after the fall, he reentered the Philadelphia Naval Hospital on November 7, 1941. 

He died there on January 22, 1942 at age 53 and was interred as Philadelphia’s National Cemetery. 

Fay Young had a different take on Top’s physical woes, which he linked to his retirement from baseball: 

Chicago Defender 2/7/1942

Ed Bolden’s Philadelphia Stars observed a moment of silence in Santop’s honor on Opening Day in May. 

In 2006 Santop was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

SOURCE LIST 

• Ancestry.com
• Gary Ashwill’s Agate Type website
• Baltimore Afro-American, 1925-1926, 9 April 1932, 26 August 1933, 3 February 1934, 13 September 1941, 1942
• Baseball-reference.com
• Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota, 19 May 1934
• Brooklyn Eagle, 11 June 1919, 1927-1929
• Buffalo Morning Express, 12 June 1911
• Chester Times, Pennsylvania, 15 June 1926, 22 August 1927, 29 May 1931
• Chicago Defender, 15 November 1913, 1915-1920, 10 July 1926, 23 April 1932, 4 February 1933, 20 August 1938, 1942
• Cottrell, Robert Charles. The Best Pitcher in Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant. New York: New York University Press, 2001.
• Dallas Morning News, 25 April 1910, 10 May 1911
• Familysearch.com
• Fink, Rob. Playing in the Shadows: Texas and Negro League Baseball. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 2010.
• Geneva Daily Times, 31 May 1933
• HeritageQuest.com
• Holway, John, “Louis Santop, the Big Bertha,” Baseball Research Journal, SABR, 1979
• Holway, John. The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History. Fern Park, Florida: Hastings House Publishers, 2001.
• Indianapolis Freeman, 1910, 29 April 1911, 3 May 1913
• Lanctot, Neil. Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1994.
• Lester, Larry. Baseball’s First Colored World Series: The 1924 Meeting of the Hilldale Giants and Kansas City Monarchs. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2006.
• Negro League Database at Seamheads.com
• Newtown Register, New York, 7 September 1911,  27 August 1914
• New York Age, 1911-1916, 4 September 1920
• New York Sun, 28 July 1912, 29 September 1916
• New York Times, 13 July 1911, 21 April 1912
• Nieto, Severo and Peter C. Bjarkman. Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba: Box Scores, Rosters and Statistics from the Files of Cuba’s Foremost Baseball Researcher. Jefferson, North Carolina, 2008.
• Nlbpa.com
• Oakland Tribune, 4 April 1915
• Oswego Palladium, New York, 13 August 1918
• Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 17 July 1918
• Philadelphia Inquirer, 7 July 1911, 11 August 1918, 8 September 1918, 23 December 1922
• Porter, David L. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
• Portland Oregonian, 21 March 1915
• Riley, James A. The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1994.
• Singletary, Wes. The Right Time: John Henry “Pop” Lloyd and Black Baseball. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011.
• Syracuse Herald, 10 July 1933
• Tacoma Times, 14 April 1915
• Trenton Evening Times, 3 October 1919
• Utica Daily Press, New York, 15 July 1932, 16 August 1932
• Watertown Daily Times, New York, 16 September 1915, 2 October 1915
• Wikipedia.org 

Numerous other contemporary newspapers to verify player movement – teams and dates

 

The first meeting between the great shortstops Honus Wagner and Pop Lloyd, October 1911.

New York Age 10/19/1911

Note some others involved: Walter Johnson, Gabby Street, Earl Mack, Harry Buckner, Jude Gans

 

Bruce Petway 

Bruce Franklin Petway 

Nicknames: Home Run, Buddy 

Bruce Franklin Petway was born in Nashville, Tennessee two days before Christmas in 1885. 

Father:

David S. Petway, a native of the Nashville area, was born into slavery in January 1957 (Re: the 1900 U.S. Census) or May 8, 1852 (Re: Death notice). Many African-Americans moved to a nearby city after emancipation to find work. If his family wasn’t already living in Nashville, it’s likely they relocated there at the end of the Civil War. David can be located in various U.S. Censuses employed as an engineer – working for a mill, a stationary company and a wholesale drug firm. He died on June 27, 1910. 

Mother:

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Cunningham, also a native of Davidson County, was born in May 1865. Lizzie was still living at the time of Bruce’s death in 1941. 

The couple was married on June 30, 1882. It appears that Lizzie was not David’s first wife as he had at least one daughter born earlier, in 1880. David seems to appear in the 1880 Census with a wife named Adela; however, the 1910 Census lists him as married only once. 

Siblings:

Mary, Howard, Bruce, Porter, Elvira, William, Lizzie, Hunter, George, Mattie, Richard, Victoria, and at least 5 of Lizzie’s children that died very young 

Howard, a lefthanded pitcher, was also a professional ballplayer. He is discussed here 

Bruce attended Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, after high school. Meharry was the medical school attached to Walden University, which had recently changed its name from Central Tennessee College. Meharry was the first medical school in the South for African-Americans. 

Petway left college to pursue a baseball career in 1906. Hence, he was only 20 years old at the time of his departure from school. It’s unclear, due to his youth, if he was actually a dedicated medical student or merely a Walden student who took some medical classes. 

Type of Ballplayer 

Petway switch-hit and threw righthanded. James A. Riley lists him at 5’11” and 170 pounds. The Negro League Database at Seamheads.com claims 5’10” and 159 pounds. Contemporary references were found claiming he was tall which would suggest that he was around six feet tall. 

Petway was nicknamed “Home Run” early in his career but he was more of a speed demon on the base paths than a power hitter. More than one headline marveled at his daring steals of home. His nickname “Buddy” was in much greater use and lasted throughout his career. 

It was said that Petway was a contact hitter and fit well into Rube Foster’s scheme during the early 20^th century. That is, he was an effective leadoff hitter who bunted well and stole his share of bases. Early statistical references seem to show this; however, his current stats at the Negro League Database show an overall weak hitter. 

Petway’s main contribution though was behind the plate. He was the finest defensive catcher of the first quarter of the century. His skills, particularly with his arm, were admired wherever he traveled – and he traveled extensively year-round in the East, West, South, North and to the island of Cuba. 

In short, he had a strong, accurate arm and was tough on base runners. Moreover, he was particularly heralded for his fielding of bunts. Petway was naturally compared to major leaguer Johnny Kling who was renowned for the same skills. They both pegged the ball to the bases, even second, from a squat. 

The nature of black baseball during the era – no formal league structure which led to a lot of club hopping and year-round play all over the country and abroad – allowed Petway to catch many of the sport’s top black pitchers of the first quarter of the 20^th century. The list is too extensive and an attempt to write it would probably fail to characterize his experience and usefulness properly. 

Many contemporaries viewed Petway as one of the finest backstops in the game, ranking perhaps behind Louis Santop who wielded a powerful bat. Unfortunately, the dominant white press mainly carried the estimation of white baseball men. The accounts of men who played with him day-in and day-out are rarer. More than a couple names that are familiar to all deemed Petway as the best, including Eddie Collins, Connie Mack and John McGraw. Some references: 

Trenton Evening Times 1/8/1911

 

Portland Oregonian 3/21/1913

Indianapolis Freeman 3/3/1913

Portland Oregonian 4/12/1914

Chicago Defender 1/16/1915 (Portland owner Walter McCredie)

Petway’s Clubs (all verified by contemporary accounts)

20 years 

• 1906 Leland Giants, Cuban X-Giants
• 1907 Philadelphia Giants
• 1908 Palm Beach, Philadelphia Giants, Fe
• 1909 Fe, Philadelphia Giants, Habana
• 1910 Palm Beach Breakers, Chicago Leland Giants
• 1911 Chicago American Giants, Habana
• 1912 Habana, Chicago American Giants
• 1913 Palm Beach Poinciana, Chicago American Giants
• 1914 Palm Beach Breakers, Chicago American Giants, Indianapolis ABCs
• 1915 Chicago American Giants, Dixie Giants, Chicago American Giants
• 1916 Chicago American Giants
• 1917 Chicago American Giants
• 1918 Palm Beach Poinciana, Chicago American Giants
• 1919 Detroit Stars
• 1920 Detroit Stars
• 1921 Detroit Stars
• 1922 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1923 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1924 Detroit Stars (player-manager)
• 1925 Detroit Stars (player-manager)

 (Many references list Petway with the Brooklyn Royal Giants circa 1908 or 1909; most in fact just repeat or cut-and-paste this assertion. However, no game accounts were found to confirm this.) 

1906 

Bruce’s brother Howard was pitching for Frank C. Leland’s Chicago Leland Giants by June 1906. Bruce crops up in game accounts the following month with the club. Presumably, Howard alerted Leland to his brother’s skills behind the plate and the catcher was brought to Chicago to begin his professional career. 

The following game accounts presumably show Bruce with the Lelands: 

• July 7 in right field
• July 8 at catcher
• July 14 at catcher

Unfortunately, both Petways are not listed together in either of the games to definitively say that the fielder – as opposed to the pitcher – was Bruce. However, it appears in perusing various legitimate second-hand sources (such as Holway’s The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro League and Sol White’s work) that indeed it was Bruce. 

Game accounts in August and September show Bruce with the Cuban X-Giants. He joined the club with Leland’s star pitcher Bill Gatewood and  outfielder Sherman Barton. In November Petway traveled with the club to play in Cuba. Four Philadelphia Giants accompanied them, as they played 11 games against Cuban clubs from November 4 to the 30th. In 7 games at catcher, Petway went 5 for 22.

A passenger list shows Petway arriving in New York City from Havana on November 30 with other X-Giants. The trip was the first of many to the island by the catcher. 

1907 

The Cuban X-Giants disbanded after the 1906 season. In Philadelphia, Sol White’s Giants were hit with a mass defection before the 1907 season. Rube Foster, Pete Hill, Pete Booker, Nate Harris and Mike Moore took off for the Leland Giants in Chicago. The loss of Booker opened the door for both X-Giant catchers, Petway and Clarence Williams, to join the Philadelphia Giants. Stellar teammates Harry Buckner and Pop Lloyd also joined them. 

Petway appeared for the Philly Giants all season and headed to Cuba with them in November (a passenger list shows him leaving Havana on December 31 with teammates). 

On August 24 at American League Park in Chicago, the Philadelphia Giants played what appears to be a split-team contest. The highlight that day was the appearance of heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, who would win the championship in 1908. Johnson umpired the contest. Petway played for the so-called “Cuban Giants” that day. 

New York Times 8/25/1907

Petway joined his Philly teammates in Cuba after the season. They played 13 games against Cuban clubs between October 10 and November 18.

1908-1909 

Petway kicked off 1908 in Palm Beach. He appeared with a makeshift nine called Palm Beach which played local white clubs. 

Petway played for the Philadelphia Giants throughout 1908 and ’09. After each season he headed to Cuba and played in the Cuban League: 

• 1908-1909 Fe, 39 games
• 1909-1910 Habana, 6 games

1910 

After the 1909 season, Rube Foster and Frank Leland had a falling out. In the melee, Foster actually won the rights to the Leland Giants name. In need of talent he recruited Petway, Pop Lloyd and Pete Duncan from Philadelphia by the beginning of 1910. 

Foster took his revamped club to Palm Beach early in the year. The resort area had been hosting black clubs for over a decade. Two area hotels, the Poinciana and the Breakers, each hired a nine and played a series of contests for a so-called Hotel League (or Coconut League).

(It actually gets confusing each year in Palm Beach as established black teams played under their own team name and at times split players and represented various hotels. For example, northern newspapers listed the Leland Giants as playing in the South. Various other papers may list the men as representing the Breakers, Poinciana or perhaps the Lelands or Palm Beach club.) 

Petway played for the Palm Beach Breakers in 1910. He would play for Foster through 1918. Foster and crew would typically play out West or in the South into late April and then head to Chicago to kick off the regular season. 

Petway played all season with the Leland Giants. This club is often identified as one of the greatest in black baseball history. In October, through the end of the year, they played in Cuba. 

Cuba 1910 

Much has been made of the 1910 postseason, as two clubs representing the American League headed to the island: 

• Detroit Tigers, November
• Philadelphia Athletics, December

Petway’s reputation was made in Havana in 1910, some of it justified, some perhaps not. A big part of it centered on the great Ty Cobb of Detroit. It has been repeated over and over again that Petway nailed the sport’s premier base runner at second base three times in a game and shut him down to the point that Cobb wanted to cut the tour short and to never play against black players again. 

Gary Ashwill has looked into the claims and presents a fine synopsis here  

In short, Ashwill could not verify the traditional claims. He did find some similarities in the November 28 contest. In the first inning, Cobb bunted with two outs but Petway fielded the ball and gunned him down at first. In the fourth, Petway nailed Cobb stealing at second after initially walking. That day, the Tigers star went 0 for 3 with a base on balls. 

A contemporary account of Detroit’s time in Havana (Indianapolis Freeman 2/4/1911): 

Things however were not all roses for Petway that offseason. The Ann Arbor News clearly notes a shortcoming in their November 11 issue: 

Detroit…freely ran the bases on Pentway (sic) 

Regardless of the details, Petway’s skills received national attention and respect. Havana’s other visitor, the A’s, left in awe of the great catcher. Eddie Collins, as seen in an above quote, declared his everlasting respect for Petway, calling him the greatest throwing catcher in the game. Connie Mack echoed the statement and John McGraw was soon touting the black ballplayer as well. 

1911-1914 

Rube Foster changed his club’s name to the Chicago American Giants in 1911. That winter, they played in Palm Beach before heading to Chicago by May. At the end of the year, Petway headed to Cuba once again, playing for Habana in the Cuban League for 30 games. 

By spring 1912, he was back in Chicago with the American Giants. In November, they headed to the west coast and played as a unit in the California Winter League. 

From January to March 1913 after leaving California, Petway played with the American Giants in Palm Beach. He also caught for the Poinciana nine. They also played out west into mid-April, before heading back to Chicago. 

The American Giants kicked off 1914 in Palm Beach. Petway appeared for the Breakers. The men headed out west for March and April, before returning home. The year-round catching was beginning to take a toll on Petway’s right arm. Strained ligaments curtailed his throwing beginning in the spring until finally forcing a prolonged injury stint in 1915. 

James A. Riley lists Petway down for the count in 1914, 1915 and 1916 due to injuries, the latter because a leg ailment. However, game accounts and box scores show him playing much of the time except for the curtailed 1915 season. 

In October 1914, Petway played for the Indianapolis ABCs in at least one contest, against an all-star squad that featured major leaguers Hooks Dauss, a 19-game winner for the Detroit Tigers that year, and Donie Bush. 

Indianapolis Freeman 10/24/1914

 

1915 

Petway headed west with the American Giants in March 1915, playing until mid-April. His arm however was giving out. He doesn’t appear in any box scores after about April 16 and did not open the season with the club in Chicago. 

It seems he tried to work himself back into shape in June with the Dixie Giants in Brighton, New Jersey, for at least one contest. 

New York Age 6/24/1915

He made his long-awaited Chicago debut on Labor Day, September 6. 

Chicago Defender 8/28/1915

Indianapolis Freeman 9/11/1915

He felt well enough to head west with the club in October. They landed in San Diego on the 30^th. That winter, the club once again entered the California Winter League. They remained out west perhaps into the New Year. 

1916-1918 

In early 1916, Petway headed to Cuba. A passenger list shows him arriving in New York from Havana on March 20. He then headed to the west coast with the American Giants, playing there until the end of April. 

On September 15, Petway was injured when he was hit by a pitch in the leg in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This may be the incident James Riley was referring to. However, he doesn’t seem to have been hobbled for long, as he can be found in game accounts into October. 

January 1917 found the Giants and Petway in Palm Beach once again, playing a series of games against the New York Lincoln Giants. They played there into March and then headed to New Orleans and other southern locales before heading north for the regular season. 

The same goes for 1918. Petway can be located in Palm Beach with the Poinciana club early in the year. Then as usual, he appeared with the American Giants through the end of the regular season. 

1919-1925 

Petway left the American Giants for the Detroit Stars in 1919. He retired with the club. At the beginning of 1922 he succeeded Pete Hill as the club’s field manager, continuing as player-manager through 1925. The Stars competed in black baseball’s first successful circuit, the Negro National League, each season from 1920. 

(back row) Bill Holland, Edgar Wesley, Bruce Petway, Charlie Harper, Bill Gatewood, ?, ? (middle row) Buck Hewitt, Pete Hill, Tenny Blount (owner), Jimmy Lyons, Andy Cooper (front row) ?, William Force, Orville Riggins, ?

Outside Baseball

Petway married a woman named Mamie (born circa 1888 in Pennsylvania) in the mid-1910s. She was a resident of Seattle. Presumably, he met her during one of the American Giants perennial western swings. Petway’s World War I registration card shows the relationship. However, the couple seems to have split. 

There is an article in the Seattle Daily Times on 22 March 1918 where Mamie filed a police report after being robbed. All her belongings were taken down to the carpets and rugs. Interesting to think this might have been fallout from the separation. 

Around 1920, Petway married Emma Jefferson, a Michigan native born circa 1890. The 1920 Census, dated January 6, shows Bruce living in Chicago as a lodger in a house owned by Emma. Both are listed as single. 

Petway had no children with either wife. Bruce and Emma’s marriage lasted until his death. She passed away on December 20, 1944 in Chicago. 

Petway retired from baseball at the beginning of 1926. He had a full-time job as a foreman at the Briggs (Auto) Manufacturing Company in Detroit and decided to hang up his spikes. He was succeeded with the Stars by Orville Riggins. 

Bruce is listed as a “porter, pullman” living in Chicago in the 1930 U.S. Census. Emma is listed as a housekeeper for a kitchenette apartment. Bruce later managed a kitchenette apartment complex at 33 E. Garfield Boulevard in Chicago. 

Petway fell ill by the beginning of 1941. In May he was hospitalized, at Cook County Hospital and died there on June 28 at age 55. 

According to his Chicago Defender obituary he was interred at Burr Oak Cemetery, Chicago’s first African-American cemetery. However, he is listed by the Negro League Database as interred in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois. Perhaps his body was moved? 

One of Petway’s protégés with the Detroit Stars, pitcher Andy Cooper, had passed away earlier in the month. 

SOURCE LIST 

• Ancestry.com
• Ann Arbor News, Michigan, 11 November 1910
• Gary Ashwill’s Agate Type Website
• Atlanta Constitution, 24 February 1909, 8 March 1916
• Bakersfield Californian, 31 March 1916
• Baltimore Afro-American, 2 August 1941
• Broad Axe, Chicago, 15 October 1910, 3 February 1917, 28 April 1917
• Brooklyn Eagle, 6 May 1907, 17 August 1912
• Cayton’s Weekly, Seattle, 18 January 1919
• Chester Times, Pennsylvania, 20 August 1914
• Chicago Defender, 1910, 1915-1920, 1926, 16 August 1924, 22 January 1938, 1941
• Chicago Tribune, 1906-1919
• Cleveland Gazette, 7 August 1920, 1 April 1922, 2 August 1941
• Familysearch.com
• Holway, John. The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History. Fern Park, Florida: Hastings House Publishers, 2001.
• Idaho Statesman, 15 April 1915
• Indianapolis Freeman, 1910-1916
• Jersey Journal, New Jersey, 29 August 1908
• Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan, 22 December 1910
• La Crosse Tribune, Wisconsin, 7 May 1908
• Lebanon Daily News, Pennsylvania, 16 December 1910
• Logansport Pharos-Reporter, Indiana, 22 February 1917
• Malloy, Jerry. Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game 1886-1936. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
• Negro League Database at Seamheads.com
• New York Age, 16 January 1913, 25 June 1915
• New York Sun, 17 December 1910
• New York Times, 25 August 1907, 18 December 1910
• Nieto, Severo and Peter C. Bjarkman. Early U.S. Blackball Teams in Cuba: Box Scores, Rosters and Statistics from the Files of Cuba’s Foremost Baseball Researcher. Jefferson, North Carolina, 2008.
• Oakland Tribune, 22 March 1914
• Oxnard Courier, California, 31 January 1913
• Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 July 1907, 20 October 1909
• Porter, David L. Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.
• Portland Oregonian, 1913-1914
• Riley, James A. The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 1994.
• San Diego Evening Tribune, 29 October 1915, 8 November 1915
• San Diego Union, 10 November 1912, 1913
• Seattle Daily Times, 18 March 1913, 19 March 1913, 22 March 1915, 17 April 1915, 31 March 1916, 22 March 1918
• Sporting Life, 4 March 1911
• St. Paul Appeal, 2 November 1918
• Suburbanite Economist, Chicago, 1 April 1910
• Trenton Evening Times, 1907-1911
• Washington Post, 7 December 1910
• Wikipedia.org
• Winston-Salem Journal, North Carolina, 14 October 1923

 

Howard Harrison Petway

Born: March 1884, Nashville

Died: October 27, 1918, St. Paul, Minnesota

Lefthanded Pitcher, sidearmer

Brother of Bruce Petway, one of the top defensive catchers in history

Husband of Ester Marie Clayton, married December 15, 1915 in St. Paul

Picture: Page 77 here

Pro Baseball Career (very likely incomplete):

• 1906 – Chicago Leland Giants, June to July, September
• 1908 – St. Paul Colored Gophers, April to July
• 1908 – Baltimore Colored Giants, August
• 1914 – Brooklyn Royal Giants, August
• 1915 – Nashville Athletics

Howard, a year older than his brother Bruce, is probably responsible for helping Bruce get his first chance with a top black club. The catcher made his debut with the Leland Giants in July 1906. Howard came up lame in late June 1908 with a sore arm and was consequently released by St. Paul.

With Baltimore (Jersey Journal, 8/29/1908):

With the Royal Giants (Chester Times, Pennsylvania, 8/20/1914):

Death Notice (St. Paul Appeal, 11/2/1918):

Source List and extended biographical information forthcoming in a bio of Bruce Petway