Today we pick up where we left off yesterday, but tack in a slightly different direction.
It turns out that on June 28, 1920, just days before Bullet Rogan and Dobie Moore, veterans of the 25th Infantry “Wreckers” baseball team, debuted with the Kansas City Monarchs in St. Louis, the St. Louis Giants played a game against—the 25th Infantry team. However, neither Moore nor Rogan are to be found in the box score, though several other Negro League names are, as well as a rather interesting pitcher. Here it is, from the June 29, 1920, St. Louis Globe-Democrat:
Unless the Ellers were a very progressive family for the 1920s, it would seem that the 25th Infantry played behind a white pitcher that day. (Hod Eller, incidentally, would show up as an umpire for some Negro National League games played in Cincinnati in 1921.) Now, check out the second game of the Monarchs/Giants series, played on July 4 (Globe-Democrat, July 5, 1920):
Three of the Giants’ players—Herring, Stewart, and Johnson—appear in their lineup for the first time that season. And the same three names appeared in the 25th Infantry lineup on June 28. Lastly (for today) here’s Dave Wyatt’s story on Rogan’s first appearance in Chicago on July 5 (Defender, July 10, 1920):
Wyatt corroborates the acquisition by St. Louis of three Army players, one of them “a catcher who is said to be the peer of them all”--all the baseball players recently let out of the Army, that is (at least that’s how I read it). Johnson played first base on July 4 against the Monarchs, but on July 5, with the Monarchs in Chicago, the St. Louis Giants hosted the Cuban Stars, with Johnson behind the plate. What the heck—I’ll post that one, too (Globe-Democrat, July 6, 1920):
After helping beat the Cubans, Johnson promptly disappeared from the St. Louis lineup. Herring and Stewart remain through much of the rest of the season, but as far as I can tell, Johnson is gone. So who was he? Tune in tomorrow.
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