forgotten negro leaguer #2: alonzo longware, jr.

Alonzo Longware, Jr., was a ballplayer for the Shreveport Smart Set of the Texas Colored League during the 1910s, mentioned as early as 1916 in the Indianapolis Freeman.  Here’s his World War I draft card (and he did in fact serve in the Army during the war, as a sergeant):

Before the start of the Negro National League’s inaugural season in 1920, the Indianapolis A.B.C.’s took a spring training trip through the South.  On April 17, the Indianapolis Freeman, in a report on an A.B.C.’s/Caulfields game in New Orleans, mentioned that “Longwave [sic], a recruit from Shreveport, La., who joined the club today, playing third base, carried off the fielding honors.”  The Freeman again praised him for his fielding in the April 24 issue (this time spelling his name properly).

But Longware was no longer with the A.B.C.’s by May 2, the NNL’s opening day, when Indianapolis hosted the Chicago Giants.  C. I. Taylor evidently released him or dealt him to Detroit, as he next appears in the Detroit Stars’ first game, against the Cuban Stars on May 15, batting seventh and playing third base.  He was the Stars’ most frequent choice at third base through roughly the first two months of the season, batting .161/.212/.177 in 19 games (69 plate appearances), before apparently losing his job.  His last appearance for Detroit was on July 20 (again versus the Cuban Stars).  To my knowledge he never played again in the Negro Leagues, at least in the north.

The 1930 census shows Alonzo Longware back in Shreveport, living with his wife Louise, son James (aged 12), and daughter Alonzeta (4).  He died in Los Angeles, California, on March 30, 1961, just after his seventieth birthday, and was buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Comments

[Jessica]

Hello, Dean! Alonzo longware is my great-great-grandfather. From my knowledge there’s an Alonzo Longware and, there’s an Alonzo Longware Junior. Alonzo Longware Junior had a son named Reginald longware, and a daughter named Alonzetta longware with Louise Longware. My name is Jessica L Gaston (Trevino). I hope that helps.

[Dean]

I'm a member of a church in Saginaw County, Michigan. We are updating our cemetery list to ensure a correct mapping of who is buried where. In looking at the history of a teen-aged girl, it lists her father as Alonzo Longware – 1891–1961.
She died in 1949 at age 17 of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.