Forgotten Heroes:

David “Gentlemen Dave” Malarcher

by

Center for Negro League Baseball Research

Dr. Layton Revel

and

Luis Munoz Copyright 2014

Dave Malarcher – One of the Greatest Negro League Managers of All Time

David Malarcher was an above average third baseman who played on several championship teams with the Indianapolis ABC’s and Chicago American Giants, but he was also one of the greatest managers in the history of Negro League baseball. In his seven years as a manager in the Negro Leagues, he had a won-lost record of 296-146-7 (.670). Only four managers: Candy Jim Taylor (907-809), Oscar Charleston (529-446), Vic Harris (400-231) and Buck O’Neil (311-210) won more games than Gentleman Dave. Malarcher also won three Negro League titles (1926, 1927 and 1932) and two Negro League World Series titles (1926 and 1927). In addition his winning percentage of .670 is the highest of any manager on the “All Time Top Ten Managers Games Won List.” Malarcher learned his craft as a manager from two of the greatest managers of all time. These two managers were Andrew “Rube” Foster (Chicago American Giants) and Charles Isham “C.I.” Taylor (Indianapolis ABC’s).

E.C. Knox (Indianapolis Freeman)

Rube Foster (Chicago)

J.D. Howard (Indianapolis Ledger)

C.I. Taylor (Indianapolis)

(standing - left to right) As a young ball player playing for the Indianapolis ABC’s, Dave had the opportunity to view first-hand the managing style of Charles Isham “C.I.” Taylor. From Taylor, Malarcher learned the following principles:

1. Concept of physical conditioning of players. As Malarcher put it, “he ran them.” 2. Conducting clubhouse meetings before the game to discuss strategy. 3. Importance of bringing top players along slowly, nurturing them and preparing them for the

intensity of “league” play. 4. Concern about what players did in the off season and helping players find an off season job. 5. Unwillingness to accept the players’ drinking, both during the season and in the off season.

Taylor also modeled a bold attitude, freedom of spirit and dedication to the game of baseball that would be integral to making Gentle Dave the type of man and manager he would become. C.I. Taylor taught baseball and taught Dave Malarcher how to “teach baseball.” Dave Malarcher played for the “great” Rube Foster or the “Master” as Dave called him from 1920 until Foster retired in 1926. From Rube Foster, Dave learned the following skill sets.

1. Managing a game, working for the one run lead and the art of manufacturing runs. 2. Importance of teaching the basic fundamentals. 3. Baseball strategy. (Foster was one of the best baseball strategists who ever managed). 4. Negotiating with players and the owners of opposing teams. 5. Business management skills of owning and running a professional baseball team. 6. Importance of promoting and how to promote your team 7. Developing and maintaining a winning tradition

Mentoring under Foster and Taylor gave Dave Malarcher the opportunity to develop into one of the greatest managers of all-time.

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David Julius “Gentleman Dave” Malarcher was born October 18, 1894 at the Charbone Plantation which is located near the small town of Whitehall (Ascencion Parish), Louisiana. He was the youngest of eleven children (David had seven sisters and three brothers) born to Henry Louis and Martha Malarcher. Louis Malarcher was a laborer on the sugar and rice plantation while Martha, who was born a slave, was a midwife and was also in charge of educating the children on the plantation on how to read, write and think. Malarcher stood five feet seven inches tall and weighed approximately 148 pounds during his playing career. He was a switch hitter and threw right handed. As a hitter he had a reputation for being very patient at the plate and had the uncanny ability to be able to get on base. He was considered a solid hitter who always seemed to be able to deliver in the clutch. Dave increased his effectiveness on offense by being an excellent bunter and had the ability to be able to draw walks. David Malarcher Chicago American Giants According to Malarcher his philosophy towards hitting was as follows:

“When I came up to the plate I only swung on strike three. I would wear pitchers down. If I came up to the plate and the bases were empty I would try to walk – the easiest way to getting on base. Unless I was bunting; if I was going to bunt – it depended of course on the pitcher and third baseman – I would pick a good low strike to bunt easy down the third base line and make the pitcher come get it. Batting from the left side of the plate gave me about six to eight feet advantage when bunting.”

On defense, he was known as an outstanding fielder. Dave played the majority of his career at third base, but he could also play the other infield positions and the outfield. He had a good glove and his speed gave him excellent range. In addition he possessed a strong and accurate throwing arm. Many Negro League researchers consider Dave Malarcher the best third baseman of his day. Noted researcher Bill James ranks Dave Malarcher as the fifth best third baseman in the Negro Leagues behind Ray Dandridge, Judy Johnson, Oliver Marcelle and Jud Wilson. Dave Malarcher was known for his excellent speed on the base paths and for being an extremely intelligent base runner. Consistently throughout his career he was always one of the leaders on his team in stolen bases. Once he got on base, he was known for scoring runs. When he went to the Chicago American Giants in 1920, Dave fit perfectly into Rube Foster’s small ball style of play of bunting and running to score runs. Dave Malarcher was the prototype Rube Foster player. He got on base, stole bases and scored runs that led to team victories. Malarcher was known as a hard worker throughout his career. His work ethic can be traced back to his meager up-bringing in Louisiana. As a youngster he worked in the cane fields, rice fields and cotton fields. When he went to New Orleans he worked his way through school. As a player he learned physical conditioning from C.I. Taylor, his manager with the Indianapolis ABCs. When he played he was always in excellent physical condition and when he managed he expected his players to work hard.

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Even though he had solid skills on both offense and defense, it was his superior intelligence, self-discipline, physical conditioning, mental toughness, hard playing attitude and an insatiable desire to win that made him a successful athlete and major contributor to the numerous championship teams for which he played. He also possessed an even temperament. His keen intellect was far more than him just having gone to college. Many have said he had the spirit of a philosopher. Even though he was a very good player, Gentleman Dave Malarcher is best remembered for being one of the greatest and most successful managers in Negro League baseball history. As a manager he was respected by everyone who played for him and against him. He was a very principled man who expected the best out of everyone on his team. Reportedly he never argued with the umpires and was never ejected from a game. In his seven years managing the American Giants, he made the play-offs five times, won three “league” titles and also won two Negro League World Series championships. He also led his team to the Chicago Semipro Championship in 1927. Gentleman Dave’s career record as a manager stands at 361-160-8 (.693). In short he was a winner. When asked about Dave Malarcher, the ball player and manager, his contemporaries had the following to say about him:

“He was a good man, a very good man. He was more than a quiet type. What I liked about him, he was a gentleman at all times. He didn’t carouse around like the rest of the ball players.” (George Sweatt)

“He was a very intelligent man. Used to make us go to church Sunday

mornings, wherever we were. A very fine man.” (Webster McDonald)

“Best manager I ever saw because he was an intelligent man. If you made you made a great catch or a great hit, he would come up and shake your hand, congratulate you, make you feel good. He was in the ball players corner.” (Alec Radcliff)

Dave Malarcher was truly a unique individual for his day. Noted Negro League researcher Larry Lester once described Dave Malarcher as the “Rhodes Scholar of managers.” Malarcher’s philosophy towards how he lived his life can be seen in the following three quotations:

“Ever since I left the university in the spring of 1918, I’ve never ceased to read and build education by studying constantly in many subjects. My knowledge of history from school and such reading has made my life immune to the fears and uncertainties which are derived from a lack of information of man’s troublesome and sordid past.”

“The education of the mind and spirit discipline which I had acquired at New Orleans University enabled me to observe and absorb the baseball training techniques and strategies of the three greatest managers in baseball history – Charley Stevens of the New Orleans Eagles, C.I. Taylor of the Indianapolis ABCs and the incomparable baseball genius of Andrew “Rube” Foster of the Chicago American Giants.”

“Education should discipline the mind and the mind should discipline the body.” During his baseball career, he was given the nickname of “Gentleman Dave” because of his cultured, gentle, soft-spoken and Christian nature. He went to church regularly and when he was the team’s manager he strongly encouraged his players to attend church on Sunday. Malarcher never drank, smoked, swore, chased women and was happily married. Dave was a sensitive and dignified man who loved reading and writing poetry hence the nickname “Gentleman Dave.” He was truly a classy individual and a fan favorite his entire career. To sum it up Dave Malarcher was a very good ball player, great manager and a Renaissance man.

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Early Baseball Career When Dave was five or six years old his family moved to a plantation located near Union (LA). As a youngster, David grew up working on the plantation and playing baseball for his youth team, the Baby T’s. As he got a little older he played for the local area men’s team called the Pelicans. In 1907 at the age of 12 David left his home and went to New Orleans which was about 50 to 60 miles away. In New Orleans he got a job as a house boy for one of the rich families that lived in the city. He was paid $ 2.50 a week plus room, board, clothing and medical care. The real motivation for him going to New Orleans was that he was able to go to school. It was his mother Martha that ingrained the importance of education on a young David Malarcher. In 1907 David enrolled in the elementary institution at New Orleans University which was a historically black college that offered educational programs for African American children from elementary school through college. During the summers David would return home to work in the rice fields. In 1912 he entered the College Preparatory Department at New Orleans University. There has been some confusion over the years as to where Malarcher actually went to school. Numerous resources list Dillard University which is incorrect. New Orleans University merged with Strait College (New Orleans) in 1934 to form Dillard University. When Malarcher attended school in New Orleans, it was called New Orleans University. From 1913 through the 1916 baseball season, David served as the captain of the school’s baseball team. Also playing on the team with David was future Negro Leaguer Robert “Bobby” Williams. The duo of Malarcher and Williams made the team virtually unbeatable. According to Malarcher the team did not lose a game the three years that he played for the school. While attending New Orleans University, Dave Malarcher also played baseball for the New Orleans Black Eagles from 1913 to 1916. They were a top rated semi-pro team that played an independent schedule traveling all over Louisiana and East Texas. The Eagles were owned by Charlie Stephens. It was while he was playing for the Eagles that Malarcher got recognized by C.I. Taylor. In March of 1915 the Indianapolis ABCs stopped in New Orleans on their way back from Cuba where they had spent the winter playing ball. Indianapolis was playing a doubleheader in New Orleans area against the Chicago American Giants and the New Orleans Eagles. A record crowd of 4,000 fans turned out to see the ABCs defeat the American Giants 7-6 and then the Eagles by a score of 2-1. C.I. Taylor was so impressed with Malarcher’s play at third base and his hitting that he offered the young college student a roster spot with the ABCs when Malarcher got out of school for the summer.

Negro League Career

When the summer came and Dave was out of school, he joined the Indianapolis ABCs and signed a contract for $ 50 a month for the rest of the 1915 season. He played several games at second base and third base during the months of September and October. The 1915 ABCs were led by the hitting of Ben Taylor (.333), George Shively (.315), Morten Clark (.295) and Todd Allen (.277). William “Dizzy” Dismukes (13-3) and Louis “Dicta” Johnson (10-4) led the team’s pitching staff. The Indianapolis ABCs finished the 1915 season with an impressive record of 44-20-2 (.688). In April of 1916 Dave returned to Indianapolis ABCs. The Indianapolis ABCs were managed by C.I. Taylor and played their home games at Federal League Park. During the 1916 season their top competition included the All Nations, Chicago American Giants, Cuban Stars, Lincoln Stars and Montgomery Grey Sox. The Indianapolis ABCs were led by the hitting of George Shively (.374), Ben Taylor (.341), Dave Malarcher (.333), Morten Clark (.299) and Candy Jim Taylor (.295) during the 1916 season. The team also included a young nineteen year old outfielder from Indianapolis on their roster by the name of Oscar Charleston (.293). Dizzy Dismukes (9-6), Dicta Johnson (7-6), Jim Jeffries (4-4) and Frank Wickware (2-0) were the team’s top pitchers.

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During the season Malarcher got some playing time under C.I. Taylor’s watchful eye. He mostly played second base but also filled in wherever he was needed. He had an excellent season during his rookie year in professional baseball. In the 24 games for which box scores have been found, Dave Malarcher posted a .333 batting average going 24 for 72 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 14 runs scored and 11 runs batted in. On October 14th the Indianapolis ABCs played an exhibition game in Indianapolis against a team of white ball players who played under the name of the “All Pros.” The ABCs’ white opponent was led by former Boston Braves pitcher Art Nehf. Behind the brilliant pitching of Dicta Jones, Indianapolis won the contest by a score of 1-0. The Indianapolis ABCs finished the regular season with a record of 39-22-2 (.640) in games against top level competition.

Indianapolis ABCs (1916)

(Top row left to right – Russell Powell, Ben Taylor, Dick Redding, Bingo DeMoss, Morten Clark, Dan Kennard. Middle row left to right – Oscar Charleston, Louis “Dicta” Johnson, C.I. Taylor, Jimmie Lyons and Todd Allen.

Front row left to right - George Shively and James Jefferies. Dave Malarcher not pictured)

Indianapolis Wins a World Championship

In October of 1916 the Indianapolis ABCs met Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants in a five game series to see which team would be crowned “Colored World’s Champion.” The first five games of the series were played in Indianapolis, giving the ABC’s a real home field advantage from the outset. Chicago took game one by a score of 5-3 on a winning base hit by Pete Hill. The Indianapolis ABC’s shut out the Chicago American Giants in games two and three by the identical scores of 1-0 in both contests. Indianapolis continued to dominate Chicago and won game four by a score of 8-2 behind the pitching of Dizzy Dismukes. Moving the series to Chicago didn’t help the American Giants as they were blown out of game five by a score of 12-8. Behind

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the brilliant pitching of Dizzy Dismukes who won all three of the games he started, the Indianapolis ABC’s easily defeated the Chicago American Giants four games to one to claim the bragging rights of the best colored baseball team in the West. Even after having been soundly defeated, Rube Foster protested the outcome and was not willing to acknowledge Indianapolis as the champion. Foster’s position was that the series should have been a twelve game series with the champion needing to win seven games. Foster’s position was irrelevant to Indianapolis and the ABCs celebrated as being the “Colored Champions of the West.” After their championship the players went to their off-season jobs and Dave Malarcher returned to school at New Orleans University. A summary of the Indianapolis-Chicago championship series is as follows:

Winning Loosing

Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Indianapolis Oct 21st Chicago 5-3 Tom Johnson Dicta Johnson 2 Indianapolis Oct 22nd Indianapolis 1-0 Dizzy Dismukes Frank Wickware 3 Indianapolis Oct 24th Indianapolis 1-0 Dicta Johnson Tom Johnson 4 Indianapolis Oct 26th Indianapolis 8-2 Dizzy Dismukes Tom Johnson 5 Chicago Oct 29th Indianapolis 12-8 Dizzy Dismukes Ruby Tyree

No championship series between teams from the East and West was played in 1916.

In January of 1917 Federal League Park which had only been constructed less than three years earlier was torn down. This left the Indianapolis ABCs without a home field. C.I. Taylor resolved the issue by leasing Washington Park when the Indianapolis Indians (AAA minor league team) were not in town. The Indianapolis ABCs conducted their spring training in West Baden-French Lick to prepare for the 1917 season. When the Indianapolis ABC’s season got underway, C.I. Taylor returned all of his starters from his championship team except Bingo De Moss who had joined the Chicago American Giants.

Indianapolis ABCs (1917)

(Oscar Charleston - eighth from right and Dave Malarcher - second from right)

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Starting off the season, one major change had been made to the starting line-up and that was second year player Dave Malarcher was promoted to the starting right fielder position. Over the course of the season, however, Dave played almost every position on the field. He even caught in several games in September when both catchers (Powell and Cobb) went down with injuries. The team took two games from the Chicago Union Giants to start the season and then hit a rough patch that lasted until the third week of June. Indianapolis had a disappointing record of 13-13-1 (.500) at mid-season. The Cuban Stars were the primary reason for their disappointing won-loss record. The ABCs had played the Cuban Stars twelve times and lost seven of these games. After July 4th C.I. Taylor and Rube Foster decided to schedule a series between their two teams throughout the Midwest. The games were all played at neutral sites. The highlight of the series for Indianapolis was Andrew “String Bean” Williams pitching a 26 inning 8-4 victory over Chicago. The series was disastrous for Taylor as his team went 2-7-1 in the ten games played. As a team, the Indianapolis struggled at the plate the entire season. No starting position player hit over .300 for the season. Ben Taylor (.294), Oscar Charleston (.292) and Dave Malarcher (.281) were the team’s best hitters in 1917. The starting pitching rotation for Indianapolis was made up of Andrew “String Bean” Williams (9-3), Bill Gatewood (7-9), Jim Jefferies (4-3) and Dicta Johnson (3-4). Indianapolis had started the 1917 season as the “Colored World Champions” but unfortunately they didn’t live up to everyone’s high expectations during the season. The Indianapolis ABCs did rebound somewhat during the second half of the season. According to Negro League researcher Paul Debono who has done the most in-depth research on the team, Taylor’s squad finished the season with a record of 36-25-3. By the end of the 1917 season, however, the Chicago American Giants had displaced them as the “Colored World Champions.” In September the ABCs played a two game series in Indianapolis against the Indianapolis Indians who were the best minor league team in baseball that season. The ABCs went into the series significantly undermanned because Oscar Charleston, Dave Malarcher, Paul Powell and Johnny Taylor were all hampered by injuries. The Indians won both games by the scores of 13-6 and 7-2. The Indianapolis ABCs also played a three game exhibition series against Big League opponents after the regular season. First, they played Dolan’s Indianapolis All-Pros in a doubleheader in Indianapolis on October 7th. The ABCs took the opening game and the All-Pros won the second. Then on October 14th Indianapolis beat Ownie Bush’s All Stars by a score of 2-1. Only one complete box score has been found for this series and Dave Malarcher collected one hit in four at bats.

Malarcher Heads out West After the conclusion of the regular 1917 baseball season, Dave Malarcher traveled to California to play for the Los Angeles White Sox. Winter baseball gave players an excellent source of income during the off season. During the winter of 1917-18 there were several leagues that fielded a winter schedule on the West Coast. Some of these leagues were the California Winter League, the All-Professional League, the County League and the Valley League. The Los Angeles White Sox were owned by Charlie

White Sox Park Anderson. Los Angeles played in the California Los Angeles, CA Winter League. There were as many as fifteen

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different teams that played in the California Winter League during the winter of 1917-18. Some of these teams besides the Los Angeles White Sox were the Pasadena Merchants, San Pedro, Submarine Base, Army, Navy, Vernon, Camp Kearney, Standard-Murphy and Pacific Electric. George “Tank” Carr, John Donaldson, Jose Mendez and Smokey Joe Williams also played for the Los Angeles White Sox during the 1917-18 season. Most of the White Sox team appears to have been made up of local ball players. Donaldson and Malarcher ended their season when they suddenly returned home. It is speculated that Anderson had trouble paying the players. Lack of newspaper coverage provides very little detailed information about the season. Only one box score has been found for the Los Angeles White Sox and they defeated the

Chicago Defender Pasadena Merchants by a score of 5-3 in that 12-11-17 game.

Malarcher Goes to War

Dave Malarcher was back with Indianapolis for the start of the 1918 season. As the team’s manager and owner, C.I. Taylor’s goal going into the season was to get the ABCs back on track to becoming a championship ball club again. This, however, proved to be a much more difficult task than he originally anticipated because before the season started several ABCs players got notification that they were going to be drafted. The end result for Taylor was that he would lose several key players to military service in World War I. This trend of losing ball players to the United States military continued throughout the season. Before and during the 1918 season Indianapolis lost the following players to the war effort: Oscar Charleston, Morten Clark, Dizzy Dismukes, Dicta Johnson, Jimmie Lyons, Dave Malarcher and Dick “Cannonball” Redding. The ABCs were hit harder than any other African American baseball team in the loss of front-line players to the war effort. The draft notifications had also caused C.I. Taylor to cancel his plans of taking the team to Cuba to play winter ball. Even with all the pending roster problems that would result from players being drafted, C.I. Taylor and his entire team were very determined to turn their fortunes around. C.I.’s brother, Candy Jim Taylor, was the manager of Indianapolis for the 1918 season. Everyone on the team responded with outstanding hitting and were backed up by solid pitching all season long. Leading the hitting attack for Indianapolis during the 1918 season were Oscar Charleston (.381), George Shively (.338), Frank Warfield (.333) and Ben Taylor (.320). Prior to the start of the season, Taylor made a significant investment in signing John Donaldson. An article that appeared in the Freeman (Indianapolis newspaper) said that Donaldson’s contract “gave him the highest salary known in the history of colored baseball.” Donaldson pitched well for the ABCs, but Jim Jefferies (7-2) emerged as the ace of the pitching staff during the season. Andrew “String Bean” Williams (6-4), Dizzy Dismukes (4-5) and John Donaldson (3-1) rounded out the starting rotation. For Dave Malarcher the 1918 season would mean a change in position as he moved from the outfield to third base. Dave handled the change well and in 23 games for which complete box scores have been located with Dave playing third base, he only made 5 errors in 127 chances for a .961 fielding percentage. Malarcher played in 23 games for the ABCs before being called up to

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join the military. He went 25 for 79 for a .316 batting average. He also had 22 walks, 20 runs scored and 13 RBIs for the 23 games in which he appeared.

By mid-summer Dave Malarcher received orders to report to Camp Dodge (Iowa) to be inducted into the United States Army and by August he was on his way to Europe. Dave arrived in Europe just before Armistice Day and stayed into the next year (1919). While in France he played baseball for the 809th Pioneer Infantry baseball team in the American Expeditionary Force League.

Even with all the problems they were faced with during the season, the Indianapolis ABCs finished the season with a very respectable record of 23-18-3 (.561). With all the adversity of losing players to the draft, needing to make changes in the starting line-up throughout the season and all the other challenges of running a ball club, C.I. Taylor really showed his exceptional ability to manage.

Malarcher Returns Home While he was still in the military and stationed in St. Luce (France), Malarcher got a letter from Rube Foster inviting him to join the Chicago American Giants when he returned home. When Dave was discharged from the U.S. Army, he was given $ 60 and returned to Indianapolis. Being back in the United States the first thing Dave wanted to do was go home to visit his mother and girlfriend in Louisiana. Not having enough money to make the trip, he went to C.I. Taylor (owner of the Indianapolis ABCs) and asked him for a loan of $ 75 against his salary so he could go back home to Louisiana. According to Malarcher, Taylor hesitated and Dave left the meeting empty handed. The next morning Dave took the train to Chicago to meet with Rube Foster. According to Malarcher when he asked Foster for the loan “he just rolled up the top of that desk and reached in the drawer.” Foster’s response according to Malarcher was simply “There it is.” Dave Malarcher was now on his way to becoming a Chicago American Giant. During the winter of 1918, he received a letter from Rube Foster offering him a contract paying $ 150 per month for the upcoming season. Instead of joining the Chicago American Giants at the start of the 1919 season, Rube Foster sent Dave to Detroit to join Tenney Blount’s Detroit Stars. Foster had backed Blount to establish the team and had a vested interest in Detroit’s success. The Detroit Stars were managed by Pete Hill and played their home games in Mack Park. With Rube Foster’s help, Tenney Blount had put together an outstanding team for the 1919 season. Pete Hill (.396) and Edgar Wesley (.322) led the team in hitting. Only 8 games have been found with Dave Malarcher playing for the Detroit Stars against top level competition. In those 8 games he went 11 for 31 for a .355 batting average. He made extremely good use of his 11 hits, driving in 9 runs. Malarcher played all eight of his games at third base and only made one error in 31 chances for a .968 fielding percentage. Sam Crawford (10-4) was the ace of Detroit’s pitching staff. The Stars also got good pitching during the season from Dicta Johnson (5-5), John Donaldson (5-5) Jose Mendez (3-0) and Frank “The Red Ant” Wickware (3-2). The Detroit Stars had an excellent season and were considered the top team in the West. The Detroit Stars posted a record of 27-14 (.659) for the 1919 season in games against top level teams. Dave Malarcher was returned to the Chicago American Giants before the start of the 1920 baseball season. Before joining the American Giants, Malarcher played baseball for the Caulfield Ads (New Orleans’ City Negro Champions) in a three game series against the Leland Giants. The games were played at Heineman’s Park (Southern League Park) in New Orleans. Malarcher’s hitting and fielding were both highlighted in the local newspapers. Leland’s took two of the three games played.

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Chicago American Giants (1919)

(Back row left to right - Bingo DeMoss, Leroy Grant, Dave Brown, Rube Foster, Oscar Charleston and Dick Whitworth. Middle row left to right – Dave Malarcher, Bobby Williams, unidentified and John Reese.

Front row left to right – Unidentified, Jimmie Lyons, Bill Francis, unidentified and unidentified.)

Founding of the Negro National League

In February of 1920 Rube Foster, the owner of the Chicago American Giants, formed the Negro National League. Some of the owners and executives who were at this historic meeting that was held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City were John “Tenny” Blount (Detroit Stars), Lorenzo Cobb (St. Louis Giants), Rube Foster (Chicago American Giants), Joe Green (Chicago Giants), C. I. Taylor (Indianapolis ABCs) and J.L. Wilkinson (Kansas City Monarchs). Each team paid a $ 500 franchise fee to join the Negro National League. Foster’s “league” finally brought formal organization to baseball in the West. Rube Foster was elected the President of the Negro National League at the meeting. In addition, Rube Foster handled the booking of games for the “league” and collected 5 % for himself. The media presented the following assessment of how the Negro National League was going to operate – “there was no democracy, Rube was in charge.” The eight teams that played in the Negro National League in their inaugural season and their final league standings were as follows:

Negro National League (1920)

Team Games Record Pct. Standing Chicago American Giants 45 32-13 .711 1st Detroit Stars 58 35-23 .603 2nd Kansas City Monarchs 70 41-29 .586 3rd Indianapolis ABC’s 74 39-35 .527 4th Cuban Stars 45 21-24 .467 5th St. Louis Giants 57 25-32 .439 6th Dayton Marcos 26 8-18 .308 7th

Chicago Giants 28 4-24 .143 8th

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Chicago American Giants (1920)

(Standing left to right - Cristobal Torriente, Tom Johnson, Unknown, Unknown, Rube Foster, Bingo DeMoss, Leroy Grant, Tom Williams, and Jack Marshall. Kneeling – Jim Brown, Otis Starks, George Dixon,

Dave Malarcher, Dave Brown, Unknown and John Reese).

In addition to being the President of the Negro National League, Rube Foster also owned and managed the Chicago American Giants. The team played their home games at South Side Park (aka Schorling Park) which was located at 39th (Pershing) and Wentworth. Several changes to the team’s roster were made by Foster before the start of the season. Dave Malarcher had been brought back from Detroit to play third base. Tom Williams had returned to the team after an absence and Oscar Charleston went back to the Indianapolis ABCs (Indianapolis did not field a team in 1919). Rube Foster was determined to win the Negro National League championship in the inaugural season of his new “league.” The Chicago American Giants fielded an impressive starting line-up for the inaugural season of the Negro National League that included Leroy Grant (1B), Bingo De Moss (2B), Bobby Williams (SS), Dave Malarcher (3B) and George “Tubby” Dixon and Jim Brown shared the catching dues. The outfield was comprised of Cristobal Torriente, Jude Gans and Floyd “Jelly” Taylor. Cristobal Torriente from Cuba was the American Giants best hitter. During the 1920 season he batted .411 with a .606 slugging percentage. After Torriente, Chicago was only an average hitting team. Only two other starters, George Dixon (.324) and Bingo De Moss (.314), hit over .300 for the season. Dave lost several games early in the season after suffering a severe hand wound and several more games in July when he hurt his ankle. Malarcher was the team’s starting third baseman and hit .290 (49 for 169) in 43 “league” games during the 1920 season. He also had 39 runs scored and 19 runs batted in. The pitching staff for the American Giants was considered the best in black baseball. They had three starting pitchers any one of which could have been the ace of any pitching staff in baseball. These pitchers were Dave Brown (13-3), Tom Williams (12-4) and Tom Johnson (11-0). Jack Marshall (6-7) and Frank Wickware (5-3) rounded out the pitching staff for Rube Foster.

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During spring training Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League by a score of 8-1. The game was played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Being beaten on their own home field made it even more difficult for the big leaguers. The Negro National League season opened on May 2nd at Washington Park in Indianapolis with a game between the Chicago Giants and Indianapolis ABCs. The American Giants opened their season on May 9th with a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Giants. Chicago rebounded from their opening day loss and played excellent team baseball all season. Fans responded to the Negro National League. It was reported that the “league” drew over one million fans to the ball park during the season. The Chicago American Giants won the Negro National League title with a record of 32-13 (.711). Overall they posted a record of 49-21-2 (.700) in games against all levels of competition.

Foster Takes His Team to Florida

In January of 1921 after Rube Foster had returned from his vacation in Hot Springs (AR) “taking the water cure,” he took his team to Palm Beach, Florida. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. First, it enabled his players to play competitive baseball and start getting in shape for the 1921 Negro National League season and second, it provided the players with a good source of winter income. Once in Florida, Foster and his players represented the Royal Poinciana Hotel in the Florida Hotel League. Games were generally played in January and February before the players returned north to prepare for the regular season. The owners of the top resorts found that bringing Negro League ball players to Florida for the winter provided them a good labor force for jobs like bellmen, porters, and waiters. In addition the players could play on a company team representing the hotel. Games between rival hotels were found to be an excellent source of entertainment for the resort guests.

Royal Poinciana Hotel Palm Beach, Florida

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John Beckwith (OF), Bingo De Moss (2B), Jelly Gardner (OF), Jimmie Lyons (OF) and Dave Malarcher (3B) were some of the key position players for Rube Foster’s Royal Poinciana team. Rube’s pitching staff included Dave Brown, Ping Gardner, Jack Marshall and Tom Williams. The main competition for the Royal Poinciana was the Breakers Hotel. John Henry “Pop” Lloyd was the player-manager for the Breakers team. Lloyd’s team included Eddie Douglas (1B), Bill Francis (3B/2B), Blainey Hall (OF) and Louis Santop (C). Smokey Joe Williams, Phil Cockrell and Roy Roberts were the top three pitchers for the Breakers. Newspaper accounts of Florida Hotel League games are not easily found. One game box score has been found for the 1921 season with Malarcher playing for the Royal Poinciana. Dave went two for four and scored one run in the game.

American Giants Repeat as Negro National League Champions

The Chicago American Giants started the 1921 Negro National League season just like they ended the season before; they won ball games. Foster’s success during the season was achieved by playing team baseball that emphasized team speed, defense, excellent pitching and his exemplary management skills. On offensive the only major change in the line-up was that Jude Gans returned to the Lincoln Giants and was replaced by Jimmie Lyons. The team struggled with their hitting all season, so Foster had to rely on manufacturing runs with team speed and smart baseball strategy. Only Cristobal Torriente who hit .321 (down 90 points from .411 the season before) and Jimmie Lyons (.299) had half way decent seasons. At the bottom of the team in hitting were Dave Malarcher (.209) and Bobby Williams (.170). Malarcher did have 15 stolen bases, 47 runs scored and had 30 runs batted in. Fortunately for Rube Foster he had an excellent pitching staff. Chicago American Giants’ pitchers responded to their lack of run support by allowing their opponents even fewer base hits and runs. Dave Brown (.206) and Jack Marshall (.215) had the two lowest opponent batting averages in the “league” during the 1921 season. The pitching staff for Rube Foster’s American Giants included Tom Williams (15-7), Dave Brown (11-3), Jack Marshall (8-3) and Tom Johnson (7-7). Cristobal Torriente was also a spot starter and compiled a pitching won-loss record of 6-1 for the season. At the end of the regular season, the Chicago American Giants had repeated as Negro National League champions. The final Negro National League standings for the 1921 season were as follows:

Negro National League (1921)

Games Record Pct. Chicago American Giants 64 42-22 .656 Kansas City Monarchs 81 50-31 .617 St. Louis Giants 68 40-28 .588 Detroit Stars 64 32-32 .500 Indianapolis ABCs 73 35-38 .479 Cincinnati Cubans 68 29-39 .426 Columbus Buckeyes 63 25-38 .397 Chicago Giants 42 10-32 .238 Bacharach Giants 45 26-19 .578 (Associate Member)

Negro League researchers differ on the Chicago American Giants won-loss record for the 1921 season. The records presented above represent the research of Larry Lester and Dick Clark. Research by Gary Ashwill and Patrick Rock credits the Chicago American Giants with a record

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of 44-22-2 (.662) in games against Negro National League opponents and 55-28-4 (.655) in games against all levels of competition. According to research by John Holway the Chicago American Giants had a won-loss record of 50-27 (.650) for the 1921 season and Paul Debono credits Chicago with a 57-29-1 (.663) record. It is important to note that Holway and Debono include games against all levels of competition in their records.

Chicago American Giants (1921)

(Left to right – John Reese, Otis Starks, Poindexter Williams, Floyd “Jelly” Gardner, George Dixon, Jimmie Lyons, Dave Malarcher, Cristobal Torriente, Jack Marshall, Jim Brown, Bingo DeMoss, Tom Williams,

Dave Brown, Leroy Grant and Tom Johnson.) After the regular season Rube Foster took his Chicago American Giants team back East in late September to play a championship series against the two top teams (Atlantic City Bacharach Giants and Hilldale) in the East. The Chicago American Giants opened their first series against the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants on September 30th in New York City. A summary of these two series is as follows:

Chicago American Giants vs Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (1921)

Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 New York City Sept 30th Tie 1-1 - - 2 Harrison (NJ) Oct 1st Atlantic City 4-0 Nip Winters Tom Williams 3 New York City Oct 2nd Chicago 3-1 Dave Brown Dick Redding 4 New York City Oct 16th Chicago 6-3 Dave Brown Dick Redding Chicago won the series two games to one for Atlantic City with one game being tied.

Chicago American Giants vs Hilldale (1921)

Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Philadelphia Oct 4th Chicago 5-2 Bill Holland Pud Flournoy 2 Philadelphia Oct 5th Hilldale 4-3 Phil Cockrell Dave Brown 3 Wilmington (DE) Oct 10th Chicago 5-2 Bill Holland Dick Whitworth 4 Philadelphia Oct 12th Tie 5-5 - - 5 Philadelphia Oct 13th Hilldale 15-5 Phil Cockrell Dave Brown 6 Philadelphia Oct 18th Hilldale 7-1 Dick Whitworth Bill Holland

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Hilldale won their series with Chicago three games to two for the American Giants with one game ending in a tie. Hilldale was crowned the “Colored Champion.”

The Chicago American Giants also traveled to New Orleans in the post season to play the New Orleans Crescent Stars for a series that was billed as the “Colored Championship of the South.” The American Giants prevailed in the series.

The Chicago American Giants conducted their spring training in New Orleans (LA) prior to the start of the 1922 season. During their spring training in New Orleans, they played seven games against the New Orleans Crescent Stars and only lost one game. They also played the Cuban Stars and went 4-3 against their Latin opponents. Dave Malarcher was back in the starting line-up at third base for the Chicago American Giants 1922 Negro National League season. Other than John Beckwith (.354) none of the other starting players had exceptionally good seasons at the plate. Even their super star hitter Cristobal Torriente fell off as he batted a mere .270 which was extremely poor for him. Dave Malarcher improved slightly in his hitting from the season before and raised his batting average from .209 to .241. Unfortunately for Dave his playing time was severely limited in 1922. First he received a leg injury in May and then later in the season suffered another injury that resulted in torn ligaments in the area of his heart. His doctors advised him not to play ball at all during the season, but he did appear in a limited number of games for the American Giants. Some of Chicago’s other starters during the 1922 season were George Dixon (.263), Jim Brown (.259), Jimmie Lyons (.254) and Jelly Gardner (.237).

Dave Brown (16-7) was the only starting pitcher who was carried over from the 1921 Giants’ championship team. Gone were Jack Marshall who went to Detroit, Tom Johnson who

Dave Malarcher could not play because of health issues and Tom Williams who Chicago American Giants went to the Lincoln Giants. New pitchers that Foster brought in for the 1922 season were Juan Padrone (14-11), Dick Whitworth (11-10), Huck Rile (9-4) and Aubrey Owens. The season started off very competitive. The Indianapolis ABCs went 11-1 in their first 12 games and showed they were going to be a force that would have to be reckoned with. By July it was a four team race with Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and Kansas City all in the race for the pennant. Like in years past, Rube Foster’s team won games with pitching, timely hitting and team speed. When it was all over, the Chicago American Giants won the Negro National League title for the third straight year. They finished the season with a record of 36-23 (.610) just ahead of the Indianapolis ABCs (46-33) and the Kansas City Monarchs (46-33). After the regular season, there was no doubt that the American Giants were the best team in the West and the Bacharach Giants of New York were considered the top team in the East. The two teams met in September to crown a “Colored World’s Champion.” New York got off to a fast start by taking the first two games of the series. Chicago came back behind the pitching of Dave

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Brown and won game three by a score of 3-2. Game four was classic Rube Foster baseball. With the American Giants down by a score of 3-2 in the seventh inning, Leroy Grant and Cristobal Torriente walked. The next batter up was pinch hitter Johnny Reese who beat out an infield hit to load the bases. Bingo De Moss then bunted the ball down the first base line and as Bacharach Giants pitcher was fielding the ball, two runs scored. Jimmie Lyons followed with another bunt that scored a run. In the eighth inning with runners on second and third, Bingo De Moss laid down a perfect bunt that allowed both runners to score. The American Giants scored five runs on three bunts to win the game by a score of 7-3 and tie the series. Game five of the series was without a doubt the most exciting game to have ever been played in “Colored Championship” or Negro League World Series history. Each team had back to back victories. New York had won games one and two, while Chicago won games three and four. Huck Rile took the mound for the American Giants and Harold Treadwell was the starting pitcher for the Bacharach Giants. Rile pitched six strong scoreless innings before giving way to Dave Brown in the seventh. Treadwell likewise had pitched six scoreless innings. The game was now in the hands of Brown and Treadwell. They hooked up for a pitching duel that went into the bottom of the 20th inning with neither team having scored a run. Treadwell had still been perfect on the mound and Dave Brown had pitched 14 innings of shutout innings in relief. In the bottom of the 20th inning, Torriente walked and was sacrificed to second by Bobby Williams. Dave Malarcher drove in Torriente with the only run of the day. After a 20 inning pitching battle, the Chicago American Giants had a 1-0 victory and another “Colored Championship.” A sad side note to the game is that New York pitcher Harold Treadwell had pitched 19 innings of shutout ball before giving up the lone run of the game in the 20th inning. Chicago had come from two down to win three straight and laid claim to the championship. Dave Malarcher had a good series against the Bacharach Giants of New York. He got up to bat 11 times and collected 4 hits for a .364 batting average. A summary of the 1922 “Colored Championship of the World” series is as follows:

Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Chicago Sept 12th New York 5-4 Nip Winters Juan Padrone 2 Chicago Sept 13th New York 3-2 Harold Treadwell Aubrey Owens 3 Chicago Sept 14th Chicago 3-2 Dave Brown Dick Redding 4 Chicago Sept 15th Chicago 7-3 Dick Whitworth Speedboy Roberts 5 Chicago Sept 16th Chicago 1-0 Dave Brown Harold Treadwell The Chicago American Giants also played an exhibition game during the 1922 post season against a Major League All Stars team that included Babe Ruth and Jack Quinn. Dave went 0 for 4 in the game. During the 1922 season like they had done for so many years in the past, the Chicago American Giants played a significant number of games against independent and semipro teams. These games were very lucrative for Negro League teams and without them they could not have financially survived. Some of the top “non-league” teams that the American Giants played in 1922 were House of David, Logan’s Square, Marquette Park, Pontiac and Rogers Park. Before the start of the 1923 season, Ed Bolden who owned the Hilldale team formed the Eastern Colored League. The “new” league dramatically impacted baseball in the West. Now with two formidable leagues, players had significantly greater options as to where they could play. Numerous players left their team in the West and headed east for more lucrative contracts. Some of the top players who jumped to the Eastern Colored League for higher salaries were Dave Brown, Oscar Charleston, Biz Mackey, Ben Taylor and Frank Warfield.

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After winning three Negro National League championships in a row and being the reigning “Colored World’s Champion,” there was no place for the Chicago American Giants to go but down. Before the start of the season, the American Giants changed dramatically. First they lost George Dixon who had been a main stay on offense for the previous six seasons. Also gone from the roster were three of their starting pitchers from their 1922 championship team. Dave Brown, Juan Padrone and Dick Whitworth did not return to Chicago for the 1923 season. Rube Foster got good hitting from Cristobal Torriente (.387), Henry Kenyon (.304), John Beckwith (.304) and Dave Malarcher (.304) during the 1923 season. This was Dave Malarcher’s first season as a starter that he hit over .300 for the season. His complete hitting statistics for the 1923 season were: Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1923 Chicago 78 270 53 82 14 3 3 41 14 .304 .411

The Chicago American Giants excelled in stealing bases in 1923. The team’s leaders in stolen bases for the season were Floyd “Jelly” Gardner (22), Dave Malarcher (14), Bingo De Moss (13), Jimmie Lyons (13) and Cristobal Torriente (12). Even though the starting pitchers had good won-loss records in 1923, Chicago’s pitching as an entire team which was usually the strength of the team was considered a glaring weakness. Ed “Huck” Rile was the only holdover starting pitcher from the 1922 team. The starting rotation for the 1923 season was Ed “Huck” Rile (15-7), Tom Williams (9-1), Aubrey Owens (8-3), Lewis Woolfolk (6-5) and Jack Marshall (2-6). Luther Farrell, George Harney, Harry Kenyon and Dicta Johnson also saw time on the mound for the American Giants in 1923. One of the highlights of the season for the American Giants was a game played in late May against the Kansas City Monarchs. The game drew 17,000 fans to

Cristobal Torriente witness the 5-4 victory for Chicago. Chicago American Giants When the 1923 Negro National League season reached its end, the Chicago American Giants had been dethroned by the Kansas City Monarchs. The Chicago American Giants finished the season in second place in the final “league” standings with a record of 41-29 (.586), while the Kansas City Monarchs went 57-33 (.633). The American Giants had a good season in 1923; however, the Monarchs just had a better one. Not only did the Chicago American Giants lose the Negro National League title, but they were defeated by Pyotts (“white” team that featured ex-Major Leaguer Dolly Gray) in the Chicago City Series championship. After the regular season the Chicago American Giants played a three game series against the Detroit Tigers of the American League. To bolster their hitting attack, Rube added Oscar Charleston to his team in the first two games of the series before Oscar went to Cuba with Cristobal Torriente to play winter ball. The series was played from October 20th to October 22nd. The first game ended in a 5-5 tie, the Tigers won the second game 7-1 and the American Giants won the final game 8-6. Dave had a good series going 4 for 11 for a .364 batting average.

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The Chicago American Giants conducted spring training in Houston (TX) before the start of the 1924 Negro National League season. While in Houston they played preseason games against the Houston Black Buffalos, Dallas Giants, Paul Quinn College, Texas College and Wiley University. The American Giants dominated their lower level opponents and went 17-0 in preseason. Dave Malarcher was back as the starting third baseman for the Chicago American Giants for the 1924 season. Rube Foster went with a veteran line-up for the 1924 season. Floyd “Jelly” Taylor who become a starter in 1920 was the newest member of the starting line-up. The top hitters for Chicago during the season were John Hines (.398), Cristobal Torriente (.348), Walter Davis (.329), Jelly Gardner (.319) and Dave Malarcher (.283). Malarcher also led the team in runs scored with 65 and had 45 runs batted in. Rube Foster as he had always done emphasized speed and stealing bases to manufacture runs. Everybody on the team could and did run. According to research by John Holway Dave Malarcher led the Negro National League in stolen bases with 20 steals. Other American Giants players who put up good stolen base numbers in 1924 were Bobby Williams (13), Jelly Gardner (12), Cristobal Torriente (11), Bingo De Moss (11) and Joe Hewitt (10). Going into the season the pitching staff was questionable, but they turned out to be very good and very deep as the season progressed. The starting pitchers for Chicago during the season were Juan Padrone (10-6 w/ 1.99 ERA), George Harney (10-3), Eddie Miller (9-2), Tom Williams (8-5), Willie Foster (6-1), Ed “Huck” Rile (5-1) and Aubrey Owens (5-4).

With clutch hitting, playing for the one run lead, team speed and an incredibly deep pitching staff, the Chicago American Giants had a good season in 1924. According to the research of Larry Lester and Dick Clark, Chicago had a record of 49-24 (.671) which left them in second place in the final Negro National League standings right behind the Kansas City Monarchs who were 55-22 (.714). Like the season before the American Giants were a very good team; however, the Monarchs were just a little bit better in Negro National League play. Research by Paul Debono credits Chicago with a won-loss record of 75-23-1 (.765) in 1924 in games against all levels of competition.

Rube Foster was tired of losing to the Kansas City Monarchs and knew that major changes would be required if his team were going to be back on the top of the Negro National League and the majority of those changes involved the roster. One of the first moves that Rube made was sending Huck Rile and Harold Treadwell to the Indianapolis ABCs. Then he released the following players: George “Tubby” Dixon, Leroy Grant, Jack Marshall, Dick Whitworth and Tom Williams. The major pickup that he made to the roster

Juan Padrone was signing John Hines out of Wiley College in Texas. Chicago American Giants Sam Crawford and Webster McDonald were signed to fill holes in the pitching staff. Foster decided to forego leaving Chicago to conduct spring training before the start of the 1925 baseball season. Financial considerations like player salaries and travel expenses led to this decision. Workouts were held at Schorling Park in Chicago. Prior to the start of the 1925 season

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the Chicago American Giants played a game against the Chicago Blues and defeated them by a score of 5-3. Rube then took the team to Birmingham (AL) where they played a four game series at Rickwood Field. Chicago won all four games in the series.

Schorling Park (1925) Chicago, Illinois

The 1925 season opened on an encouraging note for the Chicago American Giants. In their home opener Juan Padrone pitched a 1-0 shutout win over the Kansas City Monarchs. Then in the second game of the season with a record breaking crowd of 18,000 fans piled into South Side Park the American Giants took a 3-2 win over the Memphis Red Sox. Over the course of the season the American Giants were up and down in the Negro National League standings. The 1925 season would see most of the Chicago American Giants struggle at the plate all season. Slipping the farthest in hitting was Cristobal Torriente who went from hitting .348 in 1925 to hitting a mere .264. Only Dave Malarcher who batted .329 for the season and Floyd “Jelly” Gardner who hit .282 showed any consistent hitting during the year. Malarcher’s .329 batting average in 1925 would be the highest single season batting average of his career. His complete batting statistics for the 1925 season are as follows: Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1925 Chicago 88 319 57 105 12 0 2 31 20 .329 .386 Dave switched from playing third base to second base for most of the 1925 season. He also became the American Giants’ team captain in 1925. Juan Padrone (11-5) was still the ace of the pitching staff. Gone from the staff were Huck Rile, Jack Marshall and Tom Williams. They were replaced by Sam Crawford (5-9) and Webster McDonald (6-4). Also pitching for Chicago in 1925 were George Harney (7-5), Willie Foster (6-0), Bill McCall (6-6), Eddie Miller (4-8), Aubrey Owens (3-6) and “Big” George Mitchell (1-7). The Chicago American Giants didn’t consistently play up to Rube Foster’s standards during the season. They did post a winning record of 54-40 (.574) but it wasn’t the kind of season that American Giants fans had come to expect out of a Rube Foster team. At the end of the season, the Kansas City Monarchs (62-23), St. Louis Stars (71-27) and Detroit Stars (57-41) all finished ahead of Chicago in the final “league” standings. After their lowest (fourth place in 1925) finish since the inception of the Negro National League in 1920 and Rube Foster’s changes made prior to the start of the 1925 season not working out, Rube was forced to seriously re-evaluate his entire roster. In a block buster trade that created quite a bit of controversy in Chicago, Cristobal Torriente was sent to the Kansas City Monarchs for pitcher Rube Currie and outfielder/second baseman George Sweatt. Further house cleaning sent Bingo DeMoss, Juan Padron and Bobby Williams to Indianapolis.

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The Chicago American Giants fielded a “new” line-up for opening day of the 1926 season. Some of the new faces and changes in Chicago’s line-up during the 1926 season included William Ware (1B), Dave Malarcher (2B/3B), Pythias Russ (SS/C), Charles Williams (SS), Stanford Jackson (3B/OF), John Shackelford (3B), George Sweatt (OF/2B), James “Sandy” Thompson (OF) and Jim Brown (C/1B/OF). Malarcher’s contract for the 1926 season called for him to be paid $ 225 per month with a $ 500 bonus at the end of the season. At times during the season, it seemed like a revolving door as players went in and out of the starting line-up. In an attempt to find the best combination on the field, players were asked to play multiple positions during the season. In short, there was no stability in the starting line-up during the season. Due to financial considerations there was no spring training for the American Giants before the start of the season. Workouts were held at South Side Park when weather permitted. With the exception of a series with the Kansas City Monarchs in late May and early June, the American Giants played solid baseball through the first two months of the season. Years of the stress and strain of running a baseball team had finally taken its toll on Rube. His mental health had been in question for some time but by late June everyone close to Rube urged him to take a break. Rube finally gave in and took a mid-season vacation from the team in late June. The Chicago American Giants were 26-15-1 (.634) when he turned the reigns of the team over to Dave Malarcher. The vacation did not have its desired effect on Rube as his mental health continued to deteriorate. In August an outburst at his apartment in Chicago led to Rube being arrested and then confined to a mental health facility. After eight days of in-clinic observation, Rube Foster was committed to the State Mental Hospital at Kankakee, Illinois. Dave started his tenure as manager of the American Giants by winning three out of four games from the Indianapolis ABCs and then Chicago took five games straight from the Dayton Marcos. During the Dayton series, Rube Currie threw a no-hitter against the Marcos. Dave finished the season as both captain and field manager for Chicago. His record managing the American Giants for the second half of the 1926 regular season was 32-8-1 (.800). Floyd “Jelly” Gardner (.313), John Hines (.311), Sandy Thompson Andrew “Rube” Foster (.305), Pythias Russ (.288), Jim Brown (.286), George Sweatt (.277), Chicago American Giants John Shackelford (.273) and Dave Malarcher (.262) led the team in hitting in 1926. Dave Malarcher also led the team in runs scored with 66 and in stolen bases with 16 for the season. Rube Currie quickly established himself as one of the team’s best pitchers and posted a 14-5 record for the year. Willie Foster (16-6) and George Harney (15-7) also had excellent seasons on the mound for Chicago in 1926. Rounding out the American Giants pitching staff were Webster McDonald (8-5), Roy Poindexter (7-2) Willie Powell (5-3) and Bill Tyler (2-3).

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Chicago American Giants (1926) Dave Malarcher’s Pitching Staff

(Webster McDonald, George Harney, Willie Foster, Rube Currie, Edward Miller and Willie Powell)

All the changes Rube Foster made to the roster paid huge dividends. The Chicago American Giants went 57-23 (.713) for the season and faced the Kansas City Monarchs (57-21) in a play-off series to crown a Negro National League champion. The series started on September 18th and concluded on September 28th. The Chicago American Giants defeated the Kansas City Monarchs five games to four to win the Negro National League title. Dave Malarcher had an excellent series against the Monarchs. He went 8 for 26 for a .308 batting average. After the Chicago-Kansas City play-off series, the two teams met in a post play-off series doubleheader on September 29th. Willie Foster defeated Bullet Rogan 1-0 in the first game and then came back to defeat Rogan again. The score was 5-0 in the second game.

Willie Foster Chicago American Giants

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By winning the Negro National League title, Chicago also won the right to play the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (Eastern Colored League champions) in the Negro League World Series. The series opened on October 1st in Atlantic City. Game one ended in a 3-3 tie. Game two was played the next day and Chicago took a 7-6 victory. The highlight of the series was game 3 in Baltimore when Claude “Red” Grier (Atlantic City Bacharach Giants) pitched the first no-hitter in the history of the Negro League World Series. The most amazing part of the feat was the fact that Grier had pitched the day before. He had been hit hard by Chicago and had been knocked out of the game in the sixth inning. Dave Malarcher was the hero of the game. With a small crowd of 2,398 in attendance, Dave singled and then stole second. A single by John Hines enabled him to score giving the American Giants a 5-4 win. The drama of the 1926 Negro League World Series came down to the 11th and final game (two games had ended in ties). The Chicago American Giants had come back from being down four games to two to force the 11th game. The final game of the series was a masterpiece with Chicago ace Bill Foster facing off against Hubert Lockhart. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning the game was still tied 0-0, when Jelly Gardner (Chicago) singled. Dave Malarcher sacrificed to move Gardner to second. The next batter up, Sam Thompson, lined a ball to centerfield that got away from Chaney White allowing Jelly Gardner to race home for the winning run and the World Series title for the Chicago American Giants. A sad commentary to the game was that only 1,089 fans attended the most exciting Negro League game of the entire season. A summary of the 1926 Negro League World Series is as follows:

Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Atlantic City Oct 1st Tie Game 3-3 - - 2 Atlantic City Oct 2nd Chicago 7-6 George Harney Red Grier 3 Baltimore Oct 3rd Atlantic City 10-0 Red Grier Webster McDonald 4 Philadelphia Oct 4th Tie Game 4-4 - - 5 Philadelphia Oct 5th Atlantic City 7-5 Hooks Mitchell Rube Currie 6 Atlantic City Oct 6th Atlantic City 6-4 Red Grier Willie Powell 7 Chicago Oct 9th Chicago 5-4 Willie Foster Hubert Lockhart 8 Chicago Oct 10th Atlantic City 3-0 Rats Henderson George Harney 9 Chicago Oct 11th Chicago 6-3 Rube Currie Red Grier 10 Chicago Oct 13th Chicago 13-0 Willie Powell Rats Henderson 11 Chicago Oct 14th Chicago 1-0 Willie Foster Hubert Lockhart Chicago American Giants (1927) Negro League World Series Champions

(Back row left to right- John Hines, George Harney, Charles Williams, James Gurley, Jim Brown and George Kobek. Middle row left to right – George Sweatt, Willie Foster, Sam Crawford, Rube Currie, Bill Robinson and Webster McDonald. Front row left to right – Nat Rogers, Larry Brown, Dave Malarcher, Willie Powell, Stanford Jackson and Eddie Miller.)

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Going into the 1927 season, the Chicago American Giants had a new look. Dave Malarcher was now the permanent manager of the team and they were the reigning Negro League World Series champion. After the start of the second half of the season got underway. John Schorling who owned Schorling Park (home of the American Giants) and was Rube Foster’s business partner quietly sold the team to a group of businessmen headed by William E. Trimble (Peoria race track owner and florist). No one in Chicago, most of all Malarcher, was pleased with the decision.

Chicago American Giants (1926-1927)

(Standing left to right – Dave Malarcher, Stanford Jackson, Willie Powell, Larry Brown, John Hines, Eddie Miller, James Bray, Nat Rogers, Charles Williams, James Gurley, Jim Brown, Webster McDonald, Willie Foster,

Walter Davis, Rube Currie, Sam Crawford and George Sweatt.) Dave returned a solid team for the 1927 season. Gone was Jelly Taylor who went to the Homestead Grays for more money. He was replaced by Steel Arm Davis. When John Hines broke his arm in July, Malarcher worked out a deal with the Memphis Red Sox that brought Larry Brown (C) and Nat Rogers (OF) to Chicago. Leading the team in hitting during the season were Walter “Steel Arm” Davis (.417), Pythias Russ (.365), Nat Rogers (.313), Jim Brown (.288) and James Bray (.283). Managing the team on a full time basis obviously took its toll on Malarcher’s batting average as he dipped to .244 for the year. During the season he did score 59 runs and stole 19 bases. Willie “Bill” Foster became the ace of the pitching staff under Malarcher. Foster was the best pitcher in the Negro National League during the 1927 season. According to research by John Holway, Willie Foster went 21-3 (.875) for the season. Rounding out the pitching staff for Gentleman Dave were Webster McDonald (10-5), Willie Powell (9-4), George Harney (8-9) and Rube Currie (4-5). The Chicago American Giants won the first half of the season and the Birmingham Black Barons won the second half. The two teams met in a play-off series in late September. Chicago took the series in four straight games. Dave had an excellent series against the Black Barons, going 5 for 15 for a .333 batting average. Chicago ended their 1927 Negro National League season with a record of 63-30 (.677) and an overall record of 79-38-2 (.678) in games against all levels of competition. In his first full season without Rube Foster, Gentleman Dave had risen to the challenge and brought another Negro National League championship to Chicago.

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The Chicago American Giants then squared off against the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (Eastern Colored League champions) in the 1927 Negro League World Series. Chicago took the first four games of the 1927 Negro League World Series by outscoring Atlantic City 33 runs to only 4 for the Bacharach Giants. The Bacharach Giants made a series of it by taking three of the next four games (game 6 ended in a 1-1 tie). The highlight of the series for Atlantic City was a no-hitter thrown by Luther Farrell on October 8th. Farrell beat Willie Foster and the American Giants by a score of 3-2. Behind homeruns by Steel Arm Davis, Pythias Russ and Larry Brown, Chicago closed the World Series out in

Luther Farrell No Hits Chicago game 9 by a score of 11-4. Chicago had won its second Chester Times straight Negro League World Series. 10-08-27 Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Chicago Oct 2nd Chicago 6-2 Bill Foster Red Farrell 2 Chicago Oct 3rd Chicago 11-1 Willie Powell Jesse Hubbard 3 Chicago Oct 4th Chicago 7-0 George Harney Jesse Hubbard 4 Chicago Oct 5th Chicago 9-1 Webster Mc Donald Red Farrell 5 Atlantic City Oct 8th Atlantic City 3-2 Red Farrell Bill Foster 6 Atlantic City Oct 10th Tie Game 1-1 - - 7 Atlantic City Oct 11th Atlantic City 8-1 Red Farrell George Harney 8 Atlantic City Oct 12th Atlantic City 6-5 Jesse Hubbard Bill Foster 9 Atlantic City Oct 13th Chicago 11-4 Bill Foster Hubert Lockhart

Chicago Defender 10-29-27

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The 1928 season would prove to be one of significant challenges all season for Gentleman Dave. Several of the issues he faced before and during the season were as follows:

1. Before the season even got started, the Negro National League reduced team rosters to a maximum of 14 players.

2. Chicago American Giants’ management chose to conduct workouts at Schorling Park rather than go south for spring training. Cold weather, sleet and snow hampered workouts the entire preseason.

3. “New” team owner William E. Trimble didn’t present himself as being interested in the team. One example of this was evident when he did not attend “league” meetings.

4. Several players didn’t sign before the start of the season or jumped the team during the season. (George Sweatt didn’t sign because he was making more money working at the post office. James Bray also went to work for the post office. Rube Currie refused to sign and went to Detroit. Webster McDonald jumped the team and went to play for a team in Little Falls, MN. Jelly Gardner jumped to the Homestead Grays in August.)

5. Willie Foster reported late because he was still in school in Mississippi. If financial problems, owner mismanagement and player disloyalty weren’t enough, the team was hit hard by injuries from the very start of the season. Dave Malarcher (3B) broke a bone in his shoulder in May. Jim Brown (C) went out for surgery in June. Walter “Steel Arm” Davis (OF/1B) went down with a serious ankle injury in early June. Charles Williams (2B) broke his sternum. Dave patched some of the holes in his roster by signing Lem Hawkins (Kansas City Monarchs), Reuben Jones (Birmingham Black Barons) and Sandy Thompson (Birmingham Black Barons). Pythias Russ (.346), Sandy Thompson (.322), Walter “Steel Arm” Davis, Reuben Jones (.312) and John Hines (.289) led the team in hitting in 1928. In addition to his managerial duties, Dave played in 40 games during the 1928 season and hit .250 for the year. Bill Foster (15-10), George Harney (10-5), Willie Powell (10-9) and Harold Treadwell (6-5) made up the starting pitching rotation for the 1928 American Giants. The Chicago American Giants opened their season in late April with a 6-0 victory over Litsingers. With all the adversity he was faced with, Dave Malarcher kept the Chicago American Giants competitive all season. They played decent ball at the first of the season and then came on as the second half of the season got underway. The St. Louis Stars (66-26) won the first half of the season and the Chicago American Giants (54-37) won the second half of the season. The two teams faced off in a nine game championship series to crown a Negro National League champion. The series was played from September 22nd to October 5th. St. Louis defeated Chicago five games to four for Chicago to win the 1928 Negro National League title. There was no Negro League World Series played after the 1928 season. After the Negro National League Championship Series, the American Giants played two games each against Jimmy Hutton’s All Stars and Duffy Florals with Buck Weaver and Hippo Vaughn. Chicago won all four games. According to Paul Debono in his book The Chicago American Giants, Chicago finished the 1928 season with a record of 71-46-1 (.607) in games against all levels of competition. It is important to note that Debono’s record is supported by box and line scores taken from the Chicago Defender.

Winning the 1926 and 1927 Negro National League and Negro League World Series were great accomplishments, but how Gentleman Dave Malarcher dealt with all the adversities of the 1928 season and still had the team finish with the record that they did was a real testament to his managerial skills.

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Going into the 1929 season, Dave Malarcher was officially still a member of the Chicago American Giants. Since the time when team owner William Trimble first bought the club during the second half of the 1927season, Dave was never given a contract as the “manager” of the team. He was the “captain” and was expected to assume the managerial duties for the team. In addition Trimble had never compensated Dave for the additional duties he was performing for the team. During the winter of 1928-29, Trimble seemed to pay very little interest in the operation of his club. According to Malarcher Trimble was more interested in vacationing in Florida and his other business interests. Unsure of where things were going with his employment by the Chicago American Giants, Dave made plans to concentrate his full time effort on his insurance and real estate business in Chicago and even possibly operate his own semi-professional club if things couldn’t be worked out satisfactorily with the team owner.

In an effort to bring resolution to the issues that were concerning him, Dave and fellow Chicago American Giant player Bobby Williams met with Mr. Trimble. The meeting evidently didn’t accomplish anything and Dave Malarcher made good on his threats to resign and leave the team. Trimble’s response was to name Jim Brown as the team captain and had him assume the managerial duties.

Afro American 04-29-29

During the 1929 baseball season, Dave Malarcher mainly concentrated his efforts on running his insurance and real estate business. Malarcher, however, did form his own team called the “American Eagles” and scheduled games in the greater Chicago area. Malarcher’s roster included local players and former members of the Chicago American Giants who had also become disillusioned with the team owner. Malarcher managed the club and from newspaper reports they appeared to have been very competitive and had a good season.

Chicago Defender 04-13-29

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Dave Malarcher also managed a team that just went by the name of the “All Stars” during the 1929 season. According to a newspaper article that appeared in the Chicago Defender on 08-03-29, when the All Stars defeated Logan’s Square by a score of 8-3 it was their seventeenth win of the summer. Former Chicago American Giants James Bray (C), George Harney (P) and George Sweatt (SS) also played for the All Stars. In their victory over Logan’s Square George Harney struck out 14 batters. Even though they were classified as a semipro team they drew big crowds whenever they played. Over twenty-five hundred fans attended the Logan’s Square game. The 1930 Chicago American Giants season opened with Dave Malarcher still absent from their roster. The line-up for the American Giants included a mixture of aging veterans (Jim Brown, Bill Foster and Jelly Gardner) and no notable young players. The team started the season slow and never got on track. Things got so bad for William Trimble that when replacing Jim Brown as the manager of the team with Bill Foster didn’t work out, he sold the club to Charles Bidwell. The American Giants suffered through an incredibly poor season that would see them finish in seventh place (next to last place) in the final Negro National League standings.

The Chicago American Giants’ poor showing on the field in 1930 and the fact that Chicago fans had the option to attend highly competitive semi-pro games resulted in a dramatic drop in attendance at South Side Park during the season. Newspapers report that by the end of the season there were often more white fans than black fans at the American Giants games.

At the top of the list of highly successful semipro teams in the Chicago area was Dave Malarcher’s team, the “Colored All Stars.” Malarcher’s team included former Chicago American Giants veteran players George Sweatt (OF), Rube Currie (P), James Bray (C) and George Harney (P).

Before the start of the 1931 baseball season, there were several dramatic events that impacted and changed Negro League baseball in Chicago. First, Rube Foster died on December 9, 1930. Even though he had been out of baseball for the past two

Chicago Defender years, his death was a major psychological blow to black 08-03-29 baseball all over the country and especially in Chicago. Secondly, Bill Foster left the Chicago American Giants and signed with the Homestead Grays. Upon his departure, he was quoted in a Chicago newspaper as making the following statement: “I cannot pitch baseball and manage a team as it should be managed.” Thirdly, Charles Bidwell did not field a Chicago American Giants team for the 1931 Negro National League season. Lastly, only a few weeks into the New Year, a new team was formed. They were called the “Chicago Independents.” The Chicago Independents team included Dave Malarcher as player-manager, Stanford Jackson (utility), Hallie Harding (2B), Nat Rogers (OF), Luther McDonald (P) and George Harney (P). The major problem facing the new team was that they couldn’t secure a lease on a home ball park

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and were forced to play all of their games on the road. The team only lasted during the months of April and May of 1932. Eight box scores have been found for the Chicago Independents and they posted a record of 6-2 (.750) in these games. In May of 1931 Dave Malarcher secured control of the team and renamed them the “Columbia American Giants.” The first thing Malarcher did before taking the team over was to secure a lease for South Side Stadium which was located at 39th Street and Wentworth. According to Malarcher his goal in owning the team was “to restore the team to its former luster and do away with unsportsmanlike conduct.” The Columbia American Giants started the season as an associate member of the 1931 Negro National League. They opened their season on Memorial Day at South Side Park against the Nashville Elite Giants. According to research by John Holway, the Columbia American Giants were led by the hitting of Hallie Harding (.356), Dave Malarcher (.340), Nat Rogers (.319) and Sandy Thompson (.304). Luther McDonald was the ace of the pitching staff with a record of 7-4. Other notable players on the roster included James Bray (C), Jim Brown (1B), Leon “Pepper” Daniels (C), Perry Hall (2B), George Harney (P), Frog Holsey (P), Stanford Jackson (OF), Jack Marshall (1B) and Charles Williams (SS). Achieving Malarcher’s lofty goals for the American Giants was extremely difficult because the country was still in the heights of the Great Depression (Oct 1929 until mid-1930’s). In addition, the Negro National League was on the verge of collapse. The “league” only played a shortened season in 1931 before it folded. The Negro National League was hampered by disorganization, no “real” regular schedule of games and no play-off system was in place for the “league.” With all the problems of the Negro National League, Malarcher dropped out of “league” play before its collapse and the Columbia American Giants spent the remainder of the season playing an independent schedule. Unfortunately for Malarcher, his goals for the team had to be set aside for the moment and his priorities became just keeping a team on the field. The Columbia American Giants struggled through their short season and posted a won-loss record of 12-11-1 (.522) in games against Negro National League and top level competition. The status of professional baseball in Chicago was very uncertain going into the 1932 season. J.L. Wilkinson, owner of the Kansas City Monarchs, was considering moving his team to Chicago but couldn’t agree with the owners of South Side Park on a long term lease. The stadium owners were trying to sell the ball park and the most they would offer Wilkinson was a two year lease. In addition to Wilkinson, both Abe Saperstein and Robert A. Cole had expressed an interest in owning a team in Chicago. Robert A. Cole, a successful black business man from Chicago, won out and put up the money to fund the team. Cole’s plan for bringing successful black baseball back to Chicago was as follows:

1. Secure a long term lease on South Side Park. Once his lease was in place, Cole went about renovating the stands, refurbishing the press box and installing a loud speaker system in the ball park.

2. Hire Dave Malarcher and bring him back as the team’s manager. 3. Bring in Horace G. Hall who had an excellent reputation as a businessman to run the

financial aspects of the team. 4. Sign Willie Foster and Norman “Turkey” Stearnes to anchor the team’s pitching and

hitting. 5. Sign Melvin “Putt” Powell and Willie Powell to strengthen the pitching staff. 6. Sign players like Joe Lillard, Alec Radcliffe and “Boise” Jack Marshall to provide more

depth to the roster. 7. Cole and Malarcher also attempted to sign Newt Allen, John Beckwith, Larry Brown,

Mule Suttles and Willie Wells. Unfortunately they were unable to sign these players. Cole had made a commitment to the team and showed he was willing to go after “big name” talent.

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Cole’s American Giants Head South

Chicago Defender 02-27-32 The Chicago Defender newspaper sponsored a contest to choose a name for the team. After much deliberation, it was decided that the team would play under the name “Cole’s American Giants.” By the time the season started, Cole and Malarcher had put together one of the best black baseball teams in the country. The main key to their success was that they trusted and respected each other. Nat Rogers (.321), Walter Davis (.305), Norman “Turkey” Stearns (.305), Sandy Thompson (.293), E.C. “Pop” Turner (.283) and Johnny Hines (.280) led the American Giants in hitting. Dave concentrated on managing the ball club and played very little in the field during the 1932 season. Veteran Bill Foster (10-6), Melvin “Putt” Powell (8-3) and Willie Powell (6-2) anchored Dave Malarcher’s pitching staff. According to research by John Holway in games against all levels of competition, the pitching staff for the American Giants compiled the following individual won-loss records: Bill Foster (19-8), Willie Powell (14-6), Melvin “Putt” (14-7) and Joe Lillard (5-6). With the Negro National League gone from the face of baseball, Cole’s American Giants chose to play in the Negro Southern League during the 1932 season. This is the only year that the Negro Southern League was considered a “Major Negro League.” At the Negro Southern League meetings prior to the start of the season, Robert A. Cole was elected as the Vice President of the “league.”

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The teams that played in the 1932 Negro Southern League and their final order of standings were as follows:

Negro Southern League (1932)

Games Record Pct. Cole’s Chicago American Giants 41 34-7 .829 Monroe Monarchs 40 33-7 .825 Nashville Elite Giants 39 24-15 .615 Montgomery Grey Sox 40 22-18 .550 Memphis Red Sox 46 24-22 .522 Little Rock Black Travelers 6 3-3 .500 Louisville Black Caps 30 13-17 .433 Indianapolis ABCs 33 14-19 .424 Birmingham Black Barons 19 8-11 .421 Atlanta Black Crackers 8 1-7 .125 Cleveland Cubs 5 0-5 .000

Columbus Turfs No records found

Kansas City Monarchs (Associate Member) 14 9-5 .643

(Note: The Louisville Black Caps dropped out of the league about midseason and were replaced by the Columbus Turfs.) The American Giants started the Negro Southern League season strong by taking four games out of a five game series against the Monroe Monarchs. Willie Foster won two games and saved another during the Monroe series. Malarcher’s team played outstanding ball all season Cole’s American Giants won the first half of the season and played the Nashville Elite Giants (winners of the second half of the season) in a seven game play-off series to crown a “league” champion. During the Negro Southern League championship series, the American Giants also played a three game series against the Homestead Grays. Chicago took all three games by the scores of 2-1, 4-3 and 5-4. The first game of the Southern League series was played in Chicago on September 4th. In a hard fought battle that went down to the last game of the series which was played on October 6th, the American Giants defeated the Elite Giants four games to three to claim the Negro Southern League title. In their very first year of operation, Cole’s American Giants had gone from a start-up team to a Negro League championship. The combination of Robert A. Cole and Dave Malarcher had worked a minor miracle. Cole’s American Giants according to research by Paul Debono went 53-25 (.680) in 1932 in games against all levels of competition. Expectations were high for Cole’s American Giants going into the 1933 season. They were the reigning “Negro League World’s Champions.” Dave Malarcher returned to manage the team and the team’s two biggest stars (Willie “Bill” Foster and Turkey Stearnes) were also signed to contracts. The American Giants started the 1933 season by conducting spring training in New Orleans, Louisiana. Unfortunately, before the regular season even got started the American Giants were dealt a major set-back when they were kicked out of their home stadium at South Side Park. A group of Chicago businessmen (gamblers) had purchased the ball park and were going to convert it to a dog racing track.

Norman “Turkey” Stearnes

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Cole’s first attempt to relocate the team was to play a couple of games at Mills Stadium which was located on the West Side of Chicago. The temporary move was a financial disaster. Cole and Malarcher then came up with a plan to move the team to Perry Stadium (also known as Bush Stadium and Victory Field) in Indianapolis, Indiana. The move worked reasonably well and Indianapolis became the home of the American Giants during the 1933 season. Malarcher fielded a solid team during the 1933 season. In addition to the return of Foster and Stearnes, Cole signed Larry Brown, George “Mule” Suttles, Quincy Trouppe and Willie Wells. This gave the American Giants one of the best hitting attacks in black baseball. Turkey Stearns (.346), Nat Rogers (.331), Alec Radcliff (.313), Quincy Trouppe (.289) and Willie Wells (.284)

Indianapolis Record led the team in hitting during the season. Stearnes was 07-01-33 the team’s leading hitter and already had 41 home runs

by August 19th according to newspaper reports The team was dealt a blow offensively during the summer when Trouppe left the team to join a club in Bismarck, North Dakota. Dave only played a couple of games at third base during the season. The starting rotation for Malarcher during the season included Willie Foster (10-5), Melvin “Putt” Powell (6-0), William “Sug” Cornelius (5-3), Joe Lillard (4-0) and Willie Powell (4-6).

Behind the efforts of Gus Greenlee who owned the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Negro National League was reformed for the 1933 season. The decision for Cole and Malarcher as to where to play ball in 1933 was easy for them and they joined the Negro National League. The teams that played in the “league” and their final standings for the season are as follows:

Negro National League (1933)

Games Record Pct.

Cole’s American Giants 51 37-14 .725 Pittsburgh Crawfords 55 38-17 .691 Nashville Elite Giants 49 27-22 .551 Homestead Grays 20 11-9 .550 Baltimore Black Sox 22 11-11 .500 Detroit Stars 49 19-30 .388 Columbus Blue Birds 42 16-26 .381

Akron Tyrites 11 2-9 .182 Cleveland Giants 16 2-14 .125

The Birmingham Black Barons (2-2), Brooklyn Royal Giants, Hilldale Daisies (14-8) and Newark Dodgers (12-9) were all Associate Members of the Negro National League. The Homestead Grays were expelled from the league during the summer for using a player who was under contract with another team. The Cleveland Giants dropped out of the league before the end of the season and were replaced by the Columbus Blue Birds in August of that year. With a talent loaded line-up, the American Giants played excellent baseball all season. During the summer they put together a 25 game winning streak that included both “league” and “non-league” games.

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There seems to be some question as to whether or not the full schedule of games was ever completed for the 1933 Negro National League season. Cole’s American Giants had the best won-loss record in the Negro National League and based on that fact thought they had won the “league” title. They even went on to play and defeat the New Orleans Crescent Stars (Negro Southern League champions) in what was billed as a “championship series.” Later Robert Cole found out his team did not win the Negro National League title because Gus Greenlee, who also owned the Pittsburgh Crawfords, had awarded the pennant to his team.

Cole’s American Giants (1933)

(Left to right – Quincy Trouppe, George “Mule” Suttles, Willie Foster, Norman “Turkey” Stearns, Alec Radcliff, Unidentified, Nat Rogers, Willie Wells and Unidentified)

The plan to turn South Side Park into a dog racing track in 1933 turned into a major failure when Illinois governor Henry Horner refused to allow betting on the races. When the announcement was made public, Robert Cole immediately worked out a plan for returning his team to Chicago for the 1934 season. The only obstacle for Cole was that he had to convert the dog track back into a baseball stadium. To help Cole bring the team back to the Windy City, Cole signed Malarcher to manage the team. Cole’s American Giants conducted spring training in New Orleans to prepare for the 1934 season. After a successful spring training in New Orleans where they took the majority of games they played against the Caulfield Ads and New Orleans Crescents, the American Giants headed to Memphis to play a series against the Red Sox before returning home to Chicago to open the season against the Mills club. Besides the return of Gentleman Dave, Cole’s American Giants also returned the following key position players: Turkey Stearns, Mule Suttles, Alec Radcliff and Willie Wells. Malarcher’s starting pitching rotation for the 1934 season included Willie “Bill” Foster, Willie “Sug” Cornelius and Ted Trent. Research by John Holway identified Turkey Stearnes (.398), Larry Brown (.380), Alec Radcliff (.316), Johnny Hines (.312) and Mule Suttles (.254) as the leading hitters for the team during the season. The team’s starting rotation for the American Giants included Ted Trent (12-6), Melvin Powell (6-4), Bill Foster (6-5) and Sug Corneluis (5-12).

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Cole’s American Giants once again played in the Negro National League (NNL). Under the leadership of Dave Malarcher, the American Giants played solid baseball the entire season. They finished the Negro National League season with a record of 28-15 (.651) in “league” games. On August 26, 1934 Dave Malarcher managed the West squad in the second ever East-West All Star game. The game was played in Comiskey Park in Chicago with approximately 30,000 fans in attendance. In a pitching duel, the East took a 1-0 victory over the West. Satchel Paige picked up the victory and Willie Foster took the loss. Cole’s American Giants won the first half of the season and the Philadelphia Stars won the second half. The two teams were to meet in a play-off series for the Negro National League title, but before the series started Cole was summoned to New York City for a special meeting with NNL President Gus Greenlee. Greenlee’s plan was to stage a four team double header in New York City on September 9th just three days before the series was to begin on September 12th. Greenlee’s argument was that the double header would be extremely profitable for all the teams and provide good publicity for the “championship series.” The four team doubleheader was to include Cole’s American Giants, Philadelphia Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords (Gus Greenlee just happened to own the team) and the New York Black Yankees. With 30,000 fans in attendance at Yankee Stadium, Cole’s American Giants behind the pitching of Ted Trent defeated the New York Black Yankees by a score of 4-3. The double header was so successful that a second date was planned for September 30th. Dave Malarcher Cole’s American Giants Cole’s American Giants and the Philadelphia Stars began their championship series in Philadelphia on September 12th with the American Giants taking a 4-3 victory. The two teams split a doubleheader on September 16th. The following day the American Giants took game four to take a three games to one game lead in the series. Philadelphia came back to win games five and six and tie the series at three games all. Game seven was played in Philadelphia and ended in a 4-4 tie. The series ended in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Stars taking a 2-0 victory over the American Giants in the title game. During the eighth game of the series there were two situations that came up that in Malarcher’s mind affected the outcome of the game. Immediately following the game, Dave filed two protests with the “league.” Both protests were thrown out and Philadelphia was awarded the title. A summary of the 1934 play-off series between Cole’s American Giants and the Philadelphia Stars is as follows: Winning Loosing Game Location Date Winning Team Score Pitcher Pitcher 1 Philadelphia Sept 12th Cole’s 4-3 Bill Foster Rocky Ellis 2 Chicago Sept 16th Cole’s 3-0 Ted Trent Slim Jones 3 Chicago Sept 16th Philadelphia 5-3 Webster McDonald Bill Foster 4 Chicago Sept 17th Cole’s 2-1 Willie Powell Rocky Ellis 5 Philadelphia Sept 27th Philadelphia 1-0 Rocky Ellis Bill Foster 6 Philadelphia Sept 29th Philadelphia 4-1 Cliff Carter Ted Trent 7 Philadelphia Oct 11th Tie 4-4 - - 8 Philadelphia Oct 12th Philadelphia 2-0 Slim Jones Sug Cornelius

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The Chicago American Giants finished the 1934 season with a won-loss record of 35-22-1 (.614). The denied protest incident during the 1934 championship series was the last straw for Dave Malarcher. He had always stressed honesty and fair play. In his mind the game that he had learned under C.I. Taylor and Rube Foster had dramatically changed and not for the good. Before the start of the 1935 Negro National League, Gentleman Dave graciously moved aside and retired from baseball. In a twelve page letter to Robert A. Cole, Malarcher tendered his resignation. Very reluctantly Cole out of respect for his manager accepted Malarcher’s resignation. When asked by the media as to why he was retiring, Malarcher was quoted as follows: “I like baseball and always will, but I think the time is here for me to step out.” After retiring Dave concentrated his full-time efforts on his insurance and real estate business.

Life after Baseball

When Dave retired from baseball he concentrated his time on developing his insurance and real estate business in Chicago. He never quit learning and attended night school on a regular basis.

In 1940 Dave returned to the Chicago American Giants as the team’s business manager. His responsibilities included full control over the ball park and all the financial matters of the team. Dave immediately renovated the stadium making repairs to the grand stands and fences. Gentleman Dave’s tenure as Chicago’s business manager lasted only one year.

Malarcher did remain active in baseball in Chicago by conducting baseball clinics for the youth of Chicago and local amateur baseball players. These clinics were often sponsored by the Chicago Defender newspaper.

On a side note, Dave’s wife was an accomplished singer and would sing the National Anthem at Chicago American Giants’ home games.

Malarcher was also nationally known as a poet and scholar. In 1946 after the death of his wife Mabel, he wrote a book length poem to her about his feelings of love and loss. A copy of the poem can be found in the library archives at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Chicago Defender 05-18-40 During his life Dave Malarcher was considered as a “race man.” The term “race man” refers to those individuals who look to uplift their race through education, tolerance and equal opportunity. Many of Dave’s poems examined the issue of race in America.

Passing of a Legend

David Julius Malarcher resided in the same house he had built in 1927 when he passed away on May 11, 1982 in Chicago (Cook County), Illinois. He was 87 years old. Gentleman Dave was laid to rest in Saint James Methodist Cemetery located in Covent (St. James Parrish), Louisiana.

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Assessing Dave Malarcher’s Playing Career

• Dave Malarcher was an above average hitter during his professional baseball career. The following chart identifies his yearly and career batting averages as compiled by six Negro League researchers. Larry

Lester & Dick Clark

Baseball Reference

Seamheads

John Holway

James Riley

MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia

1916 .333 .275 .275 .325 .309 .250 1917 .250 .233 .233 .258 .240 .200 1918 .316 .250 .250 .286 .227 .240 1919 .500 .355 .355 - - - 1920 .290 .284 .259 .255 .344 .272 1921 .201 .175 .209 .196 .235 .221 1922 .235 .257 .241 .181 - .160 1923 .304 .304 .304 - .295 .295 1924 .283 .276 .279 .298 .293 .293 1925 .329 .327 - .325 .330 .330 1926 .262 .265 - .259 .256 .256 1927 .244 .226 - .266 .250 .257 1928 .246 .242 .248 - - .246 1931 .239 .250 - .340 - .273 Career Total

.270

.264

.256

-

-

.267

• Dave Malarcher’s athletic contributions to his team’s success went significantly

beyond his batting average. His clutch hitting, ability to move runners along with a base hit or sacrifice, steal a base when it was needed, his ability to bunt, get on base, score runs, his defensive skills and his overall intelligence contributed greatly to his team’s success. He fit in perfectly and was an integral part of Rube Foster’s small ball approach to baseball.

• Gentleman Dave’s leadership skills were extremely important to his team on the field, in the club house and in the community. He was a professional in every aspect and no one better exemplified a Negro League ball player and manager than David Malarcher.

• Even though he was not a great hitter, he always seemed to be able to deliver in the clutch when the game was on the line. Several examples of this are as follows.

1. In post season play-off and World Series play he scored 26 runs while collecting 26 hits. He led his team in runs scored in both the 1926 and 1927 Negro League World Series. While playing for Chicago in the Negro League World Series, he scored 16 runs while getting only 15 hits. Dave truly made his opportunities on base count.

2. On September 22, 1922 with 10,000 fans in attendance in Chicago, Dave Malarcher drove home Cristobal Torriente in the 20th inning to give the Chicago American Giants a 1-0 victory over the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants. The win also gave Chicago the title of “Colored Champions of the World.”

3. With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth inning of the seventh game of the 1926 Negro League World Series, Dave singled then he stole second base. Next, he took third base on a passed ball and moments later scored on John Hines two out single to give the American Giants the win.

4. In the ninth inning in the final game of the 1926 Negro League World Series with the score tied 0-0, Dave sacrificed Jelly Gardner into scoring position. Sandy Thompson then singled Gardner home for the winning run and the Negro League World Series title.

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5. In the 1927 Negro League World Series he scored the game winning run in two contests as the Chicago American Giants beat the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants for their second straight Negro League World Series championship.

• Malarcher was a winner. He played on four World Championship teams: one with the

Indianapolis ABC’s in 1916, two with the Chicago American Giants (1926 and 1927) and one with Cole’s American Giants (1932). He also played on the Chicago team that won the “Colored Championship of the South” in 1921.

• He had excellent speed that enhanced both his offensive and defensive abilities. Dave led or was always close to the lead of his team in stolen bases. Malarcher led the American Giants in four straight years (1923-1926) in stolen bases. Defensively his speed and quickness dramatically increased his range at third base.

• At third base, Malarcher had outstanding defensive skills. He has always been categorized as a smooth fielder and excellent at covering the hot corner. Dave was considered by many as the best third baseman of his day.

• In short he was a very good ball player who was always an integral part of every team he played for.

Peter’s Chicago Unions Giants vs Indianapolis ABCs (1917)

(C.I. Taylor – twelfth from left, Oscar Charleston – eighth from right, Candy Jim Taylor – fourth from right, Frank Warfield – third from right and Dave Malarcher second from right)

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Assessing Dave Malarcher’s Managerial Career

• Dave Malarcher was one of the greatest managers in Negro League baseball history. He compiled a won-loss record of 296-146-7 (.670) in Negro League games and an overall record of 361-160-8 (.693) in games against all levels of competition. He ranks fifth on the All Time Negro League Managers List (ranking by games won). The following chart is a listing of the top twenty-five (25) Negro League managers of all-time as compiled by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research (CNLBR).

All – Time Negro League Managers

Number of Won-Loss World Series Manager Seasons Record Pct. Pennants Wins 1. Candy Jim Taylor 30 907-809 .529 3 2 2. Oscar Charleston 24 529-446 .543 4 0 3. Vic Harris 12 400-231 .630 7 1 4. John “Buck” O’Neil 8 311-210 .597 3 0 5. Dave Malarcher 7 296-146 .670 3 2 6. Buster Haywood 7 288-261 .525 3 0 7. Andrew “Rube” Foster 7 283-168 .627 3 0 8. Dick Lundy 8 281-161 .636 3 0 9. Jose Mendez 5 275-107 .647 3 1 10. Frank Warfield 9 264-171 .607 3 1 11. Bullet Rogan 5 262-124 .679 1 0 12. Jose Maria Fernandez 11 210-210 .500 1 1 13. Winfield Welch 6 203-135 .601 3 0 14. Frank Duncan, Jr. 6 200-152 .568 2 1 15. Dizzy Dismukes 7 175-149 .540 2 0 16. John Henry Lloyd 7 166-136 .550 2 0 17. Quincy Trouppe 4 165-118 .583 2 1 18. Raleigh “Biz” Mackey 4 127-86 .596 1 1 19. John Reese 2 111-33 .762 2 0 20. Andy Cooper 4 108-50 .684 4 0 21. Lorenzo “Piper” Davis 2 107-67 .630 1 0 22. Ed Steele 3 89-67 .570 1 0 23. Webster McDonald 3 83-74 .529 1 0 24. Sam Bankhead 1 24-2 .923 1 0 25. Newt Allen 1 24-6 .800 1 0 Note: It is important to note that Rube Foster, C.I. Taylor and Sol White were also very successful managers but a good portion of their managerial career was before there was a Negro National League (1920).

• Dave Malarcher has the highest winning percentage (.670) of any of the top ten managers on the All-Time Negro League Managers list.

• Malarcher won three “league” pennants and two Negro League World Series

championships. Dave won the Negro National League titles in 1926 and 1927 and the Negro Southern League title in 1932. His Negro League World Series championships came in 1926 and 1927 while he was managing the Chicago American Giants. He also narrowly missed out on two more “league” titles in 1928 and 1934. Dave Malarcher’s Chicago American Giants also won the Chicago Semipro City Championship in 1927. In addition even though Cole’s American Giants had the best record in the Negro National League in 1933, League President Gus Greenlee awarded the “league” title to his own team, the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Cole’s American Giants did face and defeat the New Orleans Crescent Stars (winners of the Negro Southern League title) in what was billed in 1933 as a “Black World Series” or “Colored Championship.”

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• Of the top ten managers on the All-Time Negro League Managers list only Jose Mendez won more games per season that Dave Malarcher. Mendez averaged 55 wins a season and Malarcher averaged 45.54 Negro League wins a year. It is important to note that Dave only managed from July to October in 1926.

• Dave went 5-0 (1.000) in exhibition games against Major League all-star teams.

• Records for “non-league” games are very sporadic and need significantly more research. Currently seventy-nine (79) games have been found with Malarcher managing against “non-league” teams. His record against these lower levels teams was 64-14-1 (.821).

• He never had a losing season as a manager. In six years of “league” play he finished first three times, second twice and third once.

• Dave Malarcher’s managerial record speaks for itself. He was one of the greatest managers in the history of Negro League baseball.

Cole’s American Giants (1932)

(Top row left to right – Nat Rogers, Kermit Dial, Walter “Steel Arm” Davis, Willie “Bill” Foster, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, and Alex Radcliff. Middle row left to right – E.C. “Pops” Turner, Clarence “Spoony” Palm, James

“Sandy” Thompson, Dave Malarcher, Johnny Hines, John Dixon and Walter Harper. Bottom row left to right – Norman Cross, Jack Marshall, Willie Powell, Melvin “Putt” Powell, Jimmie Lyons and Luther McDonald.)

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Gentleman Dave Closes Out His Professional Baseball Career

Chicago Defender 02-09-35

Chicago Defender 02-16-35

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Playing and Managing Career Regular Season: Year Team League 1913-1916 New Orleans University College Baseball Team 1913-1916 New Orleans Black Eagles Independent 1915-1918 Indianapolis ABC’s Independent 1918-1919 Military Service 1918 809th Pioneer Infantry American Expeditionary Force League 1919 Detroit Stars Independent 1919 Chicago American Giants Independent 1920-1928 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 1929 American Eagles Semipro Club (Chicago, IL) 1929 All Stars (Chicago) Semipro Club (Chicago, IL) 1930 Colored All Stars Semipro Club (Chicago, IL) 1931 Chicago Independents Independent 1931 Columbia American Giants Negro National League (Associate Member) 1931 Columbia American Giants Independent 1932 Cole’s American Giants Negro Southern League 1933-1934 Cole’s American Giants Negro National League Winter Leagues and Post Season Play: Year Team League 1915 Indianapolis ABCs Two Game Series vs Minor League All Stars 1915 Indianapolis ABCs Two Game Series vs Ownie Bush’s All Stars 1916 Indianapolis ABCs Game vs Chinese University 1916 Indianapolis ABCs Exhibition Game vs All Pros w/ Art Nehf 1916 Indianapolis ABCs Colored World’s Championship Series vs Chicago 1916 Indianapolis ABCs Exhibition Game vs Major League All Stars 1917 Indianapolis ABCs Doubleheader vs Dolan’s Indianapolis All-Pros 1917 Indianapolis ABCs Exhibition game vs Ownie Bush’s All-Stars 1917 Indianapolis ABCs Two Exhibition Games vs Indianapolis (AA) 1917-18 Los Angeles White Sox California Winter League 1920 Caulfield Ads Three Exhibition Games vs Leland Giants 1920 Chicago American Giants Game vs Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 1921 Royal Poinciana Hotel Florida Hotel League 1921 Chicago American Giants Championship Series vs Atlantic City 1921 Chicago American Giants Championship Series vs Hilldale 1922 Chicago American Giants Colored Championship of World vs

Bacharach Giants of New York 1922 Chicago American Giants Exhibition Game vs Major League All Stars 1922 Chicago American Giants Exhibition Game vs Midwest League All Stars 1923 Chicago American Giants Three Game Series vs Detroit Tigers (AL) 1926 Chicago American Giants Play-Off Series vs Kansas City Monarchs 1926 Chicago American Giants Post Series Doubleheader vs Kansas City 1926 Chicago American Giants Negro League World Series vs Atlantic City 1927 Chicago American Giants Play-Off Series vs Birmingham Black Barons 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro League World Series vs Atlantic City 1928 Chicago American Giants Play-Off Series vs St. Louis Stars 1932 Cole’s American Giants Game against Hutton’s All Stars 1932 Cole’s American Giants Double Header vs Buck Weaver’s All Stars 1932 Cole’s American Giants Negro Southern League Play-Off vs Nashville 1932 Cole’s American Giants Game vs Major League All Stars w/ Leo Durocher 1933 Cole’s American Giants Championship Series vs New Orleans Crescent Stars 1933 Cole’s American Giants Game vs Shelvin’s Major League All Stars

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Career Statistics – Hitting (Regular Season – Negro Leagues) .

Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1916 Indianapolis 24 72 14 24 3 1 0 11 3 .333 .403 1917 Indianapolis 38 139 - 39 7 2 0 - 3 .281 .360 1918 Indianapolis 23 79 20 25 2 2 0 13 3 .316 .392 1919 Detroit 8 31 8 11 3 0 0 9 0 .355 .452 1920 Chicago 43 169 39 49 7 2 0 19 6 .290 .355 1921 Chicago 81 296 47 62 6 2 1 30 15 .209 .253 1922 Chicago 33 108 9 26 2 1 0 11 3 .241 .278 1923 Chicago 78 270 53 82 14 3 3 41 14 .304 .411 1924 Chicago 74 276 65 78 11 1 0 45 19 .283 .330 1925 Chicago 88 319 57 105 12 0 2 31 20 .329 .386 1926 Chicago 95 336 66 88 9 2 1 38 16 .262 .310 1927 Chicago 96 332 59 81 7 2 1 12 19 .244 .286 1928 Chicago 40 124 14 31 3 0 0 9 5 .250 .274 1931 Chicago - 44 1 11 0 0 0 3 1 .250 .250 1932 Chicago 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 1933 Chicago 2 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 1934 Chicago 5 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Total 730 2612 454 712 86 18 8 272 127 .273 .328

Career Statistics – Hitting (Colored Championship Series) Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1916 Indianapolis 5 18 - 5 - - - - 1 .278 - 1922 Chicago - 11 - 4 - - - - - .364 - Total - 29 - 9 - - - - 1 .310 -

Career Statistics – Hitting (Play-Off Series) Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1926 Chicago 7 25 - 8 0 1 0 - 2 .320 .400 1927 Chicago 4 14 - 5 - - - - 1 .357 - 1928 Chicago 7 19 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 .158 .158 Total 18 58 3 16 - 1 - - 4 .276 -

Career Statistics – Hitting (Negro League World Series) Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1926 Chicago 11 36 9 9 0 0 0 3 4 .250 .250 1927 Chicago 9 28 7 6 1 0 0 2 3 .214 .250 Total 20 64 16 15 1 0 0 5 7 .234 -

Career Statistics – Hitting (Non-League Games)

Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1917 Indianapolis 3 10 - 7 1 1 - - 1 .700 - 1919 Detroit 2 7 2 5 - 1 - - - .714 - 1920 Chicago 2 8 2 5 1 - - - - .625 - 1921 Chicago 5 15 5 6 1 - - - 2 .400 - 1924 Chicago 1 5 2 2 - - - - - .400 - 1927 Chicago 6 22 2 6 - - - - 2 .272 - 1928 Chicago 1 2 0 1 - - - - 1 .500 - 1929 All Stars 1 4 1 2 - - - - - .500 - Total 21 73 14 34 3 2 - - 6 .466 -

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Career Statistics – Hitting (Florida Hotel League) Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1921 Royal Poinciana 1 4 1 2 - - - - - .500 -

Career Statistics – Hitting (Exhibition Games vs Major Leaguers) Year Team Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG 1917 Indianapolis 3 8 - 3 1 1 0 - 1 .375 .750 1920 Chicago 1 4 - 0 - - - - - .000 - 1923 Chicago 3 10 - 4 - - - - - .400 - Total 7 22 - 7 1 1 - - - .318 -

Career Hitting Statistics (Totals)

Games AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI SB BA SLG Negro League 730 2612 454 712 86 18 8 272 127 .273 .328 Championship - 29 - 9 - - - - 1 .310 - Play-Offs 18 58 3 16 - 1 - - 4 .276 - World Series 20 64 16 15 1 0 0 5 7 .234 - Non-League 21 73 14 34 3 2 - - 6 .466 - Exhibition 7 22 - 7 1 1 - - - .318 - Florida Hotel League 1 4 1 2 - - - - - .500 - Total 797 2862 488 795 91 22 8 277 145 .278 -

Chicago American Giants (1927)

(left to right – Dave Malarcher, Stanford Jackson, Willie Powell, Larry Brown, John Hines, Eddie Miller, James Bray, Nat Rogers, Charles Williams, James Gurley, Jim Brown, Webster McDonald, Willie Foster, Walter Davis,

Rube Currie, Sam Crawford and George Sweatt.)

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Managerial Record Regular Season – League Games: Year Team League Record Pct. Place 1926 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 32-8-1 .800 1st 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 63-30 .677 1st 1928 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 54-37 .593 3rd 1931 Columbia American Giants Independent 12-11-1 .522 - 1932 Cole’s American Giants Negro Southern League 34-7 .829 1st 1933 Cole’s American Giants Negro National League 37-14 .725 2nd 1934 Cole’s American Giants Negro National League 28-15 .651 2nd Total 260-122-2 .675 - Negro League – Play-Offs Year Team League Record Pct. Place 1926 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 5-4 .556 Won 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 4-1 .800 Won 1928 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 4-5 .444 Lost 1932 Cole’s American Giants Negro Southern League 5-3 .625 Won 1934 Cole’s American Giants Negro National League 3-4-1 .375 Lost Total 21-17-1 .553 - Negro League World Series: Year Team League Record Pct. Place 1926 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 6-4-3 .600 Won 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 5-3-1 .625 Won Total 11-7-4 .611 - Exhibition vs Major Leaguers Year Team League Record Pct. Place 1928 Chicago American Giants Exhibition 2-0 1.000 - 1932 Cole’s American Giants Exhibition 3-0 1.000 - Total 5-0 1.000 - Regular Season – “Non-League” Games Year Team League Record Pct. Place 1927 Chicago American Giants Non-League 14-3 .824 - 1928 Chicago American Giants Non-League 8-3-1 .727 - 1929 American Eagles Non-League 17-0 1.000 - 1931 Columbia American Giants Non-League 3-1 .750 - 1932 Cole’s American Giants Non-League 7-2 .778 - 1933 Cole’s American Giants Non-League 10-2 .833 - 1934 Cole’s American Giants Non-League 5-3 .625 - Total 64-14-1 .821 -

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Managerial Career (Won-Loss Record)

Won-Loss Pct. Negro League (Regular Season) 260-122-2 .681 Negro League Play-Offs 21-17-1 .553 Negro League World Series 11-7-4 .611 Exhibition Games 5-0 1.000 Non-League 64-14-1 .821 Total 361-160-8 .693

Managerial Championships

Year Team League

1926 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 1926 Chicago American Giants Negro League World Series 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro National League 1927 Chicago American Giants Negro League World Series 1927 Chicago American Giants Chicago Semipro City Champions 1932 Cole’s American Giants Negro Southern League 1933 Cole’s American Giants Colored Champions

Chicago American Giants (1927) Negro League World Series Champions

(Malarcher – seated third from left)

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Baseball Greats Meet

Candy Jim Taylor, Dave Malarcher and Larry Brown

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Selected Career Highlights

• Dave Malarcher was one of the greatest managers in the history of Negro League baseball. In Negro League games he compiled a won-loss record of 296-146-7 (.670) and a record of 361-160-8 (.693) in games against all levels of competition.

• As a player compiled a career batting average of .278 and defensively considered the best third baseman of his day.

• During his career he batted over .300 in four different season 1916 (.333), 1918 (.316), 1923 (.304) and 1925 (.329).

• Member of the Indianapolis ABC team that were the Colored World Champions in 1916.

• Starting third baseman for the 1920, 1921 and 1922 Negro National League champion Chicago American Giants.

• Member of the Chicago American Giants team that won the “Colored Championship of the South” in 1921.

• Member of the 1922 Chicago American Giants team that defeated the Bacharach Giants of New York for the title of “Colored World’s Champion.”

• Led the Chicago American Giants in stolen bases for four straight years: 1923 (14), 1924 (19), 1925 (18) and 1926 (16).

• In 1925 he led the Chicago American Giants in hitting with a .329 batting average. This was the highest season batting average of Dave Malarcher’s career.

• As player-manager of the Chicago American Giants he led the team to the Negro National League championship in 1926 and 1927.

• As player-manager of the Chicago American Giants he led the team to back to back Negro League World Series championships in 1926 and 1927.

• Led the Chicago American Giants to the Chicago Semipro City Championship in 1927.

• Managed Cole’s American Giants to a Negro Southern League championship in 1932.

• In 1933 managed Cole’s American Giants to a series victory over the New Orleans Crescent Stars champions of the Negro Southern League in what was billed as a “Black World Series.”

• Managed the Cole’s American Giants to the Negro National League title for the first half of the season in 1934.

• Selected to manage the West team in the 1934 East-West All Star team.

• Ranks fourth on the All-Time List of Wins by a Negro League Manager in “league” games.

• Considered one of the greatest managers in the history of Negro League baseball.

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David Julius Malarcher Chicago American Giants