Dave Wyatt Charlie Grant
If true, the following story answers some questions I raised at the end of this post about the Tokohama affair. In a 1910 article in The Freeman, the longtime Chicago sportswriter (and former teammate of Rube Foster and others) Dave Wyatt wrote that he and Charlie Grant concocted the plan to get Grant into the major leagues. Here are his own words, from his column “Notes of the Managers and Players” (Indianapolis Freeman, February 19, 1910). Unfortunately, my copy is unreadable after scanning; if I can get over to Chapel Hill soon I will try to get something better.
By DAVID WYATT.
[…]
[Charley] Grant was one of our greatest baseball players. Some years ago he accompanied the writer to Hot Springs, where we hatched a plan to better the condition of colored players. I placed the same before McGraw, whom I knew personally. After considering things, McGraw said that he could probably get Grant into the League as an Indian. I told Grant of the decision, but it did not appeal to him as right. After seeing Grant perform “Mac” became all enthused, and insisted upon us hunting up some long Indian name to be used. We manufactured one—Grant-a-muscogee. This made a hit with McGraw, but in the meantime some newspaper man had got “hep” to us and sent the news broadcast that the Indian find’s name was Tokohoma. The idea that McGraw did not know Grant was a colored man is all bosh; the writer arranged the whole plan, and McGraw stuck to his word all the way through until the colored players and patrons of the game worked up so much sentiment that Ban Johnson took a hand. McGraw was one of the most loyal men I ever saw. McGraw told Johnson that it was a shame for a man to be barred from baseball on account of color, and he actually wept when he could go no further with Grant. In justice to Grant, I will say that at no time did he want to pass as anything but a colored player. There were a half dozen players on the Baltimore club then who knew Grant personally; two of them were Mike Donlin and Roger Bresnahan. George Rohe was raised up with him in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jimmie Burke knew him well. All these agreed to play dumb, and they carried out the part. It was left to players with whom he had associated for years to have him turned down.
Lucius C. Harper remembered this story in 1942 for his column “Dustin’ Off the News” (Chicago Defender, August 8, 1942, p. 1), adding a number of key details:
I haven’t been able to substantiate the supposed incident at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The first time Baltimore and Chicago met in 1901 was in Chicago in late May, well after Tokohama’s identity as Grant had been exposed. There’s no indication in the Tribune that Grant was present at the games (though he was in Chicago at the time, according to the Washington Post), nor was there any mention of the Tokohama affair. If something like Tom Evans’s on-field confrontation with Grant took place, maybe it was at a spring training or exhibition game, whether in Hot Springs or elsewhere.
Pete Burns had indeed been Grant’s teammate on the Columbia Giants just the previous year (1900).
Images above are from Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide (1907).
UPDATE 4/23/2009 Here’s the Washington Post from May 28, 1901: “Tokohoma, McGraw’s alleged Indian, is in Chicago, but will not accompany the team. Why not?” On second thought, maybe something did happen in Chicago, though Grant had in reality been exposed about two months earlier. Keep in mind that McGraw, locked in a struggle with Ban Johnson, was apparently quite persistent about Grant.
Randall, yes, I'd agree--the timing definitely seems to suggest that he was recalling Grant as a challenge to Johnson.
Posted by: Gary Ashwill | March 31, 2012 at 05:06 PM
Have been looking into context of incident which seems central to McGraw-Johnson feud. Seems that McGraw felt that new American League might ignore color line, as its predecessor, the Western League, had more or less friendly to Page Fence, Union and Columbia Giants. It is interesting that Clark Griffith was present at Grant's tryout, implying that he would not have objected to his presence on the field. McGraw's comment at that time was the first of several straight-faced denials. "At first Muggsy thought he was a negro, and was about to tell him to move on when he noticed is straight black hair. He walked over and took a look at him, then asked him if he wasn’t an Indian." (March 24, 1901 Chicago Tribune).
Apparently, Grant went from Hot Springs to New Orleans, as Sporting Life stated that he would report to Baltimore from there. Wonder if he actually reported?
The timing of the May item seems highly significant, as it was simultaneous with Johnson's five-day suspension of McGraw. It may have been a deliberate challenge.
May 19, 1901 Chicago Tribune
"McGraw After the Umpires. Hints That He Will Reorganize the American League Because of His Suspension for Rowdyism.
Baltimore. Ban Johnson’s action in suspending John McGraw, may cause trouble between the magnates of the American league. A friend of McGraw says he may withdraw from the game altogether and act only as manager. He only plays through love of the game and a desire to please the patrons of baseball in this city. McGraw is an aggressive player and hot tempered. His recent disputes with umpires were no worse than he has engaged in hundreds of times before.
McGraw Wants His “Indian.”
South Bend, Ind., May 18. Charlie Grant, Captain and second baseman of the Columbia Giants, who was signed by McGraw of the Baltimore team early this season as an Indian, under the name of Tokohoma, has been ordered to report to Baltimore at Boston on Monday."
The Columbia Giants were, in fact playing in South Bend then--question is whether Grant stayed with them or not.
Weather was a joker as well--last game in Boston was rained out, as were two scheduled games in Milwaukee, which might have been a friendlier environment.
There is also a story that McGraw tried to pass Bill Monroe off as a Cuban, but no other details.
Posted by: Randall Brown | February 12, 2012 at 12:53 PM