Pipestone Black Sox

THE PIPESTONE BLACK SOX

Alan Muchlinski and David Muchlinski

The decade of the roaring twenties was a fantastic decade for baseball in rural Minnesota. Barnstorming teams, salaried players, large crowds at the local park for a Sunday afternoon or weekday evening game, and fervent support of the local baseball team by even the smallest of towns; these were all part of the golden era of baseball in the 1920s. Probably no other decade before or after produced as high an interest in baseball for people living in villages or on small farms in a land that saw its first European settlers just a short time earlier. One baseball team that played out of Pipestone Minnesota for a short time in 1926 certainly exemplified the great interest at that time for baseball in small rural towns. The Pipestone Black Sox were an all black player baseball team that played its first game in Pipestone on May 16, 1926. On August 10, 1926, according to the Pipestone Leader, or on July 25 of 1926 according to the Marcus Iowa News, the team moved to Marcus Iowa, never playing back in Pipestone Minnesota. Very little is known about the Pipestone Minnesota and Marcus Iowa Black Sox and no pictures of the team have been located. However, the Pipestone Leader along with the Pipestone County Star and the Marcus News of 1926 did extensively cover the Black Sox and this source of information, along with articles from other small town newspapers and reference books on the history of Negro League baseball allowed us to piece together this story of a unique baseball team. We found records that indicate the Black Sox played 79 games against teams from Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota during the summer of 1926. The overall won / loss record was 50 and 24 for a .676 winning percentage (the results of 5 scheduled games cannot be accounted for at this time).

The Players

The April 22, 1926, Pipestone Leader reported that the Sioux Falls South Dakota Black Sox defeated the Pipestone "Original" Philadelphia League of Nations baseball team 2 to 1 in a game played at Wall Lake South Dakota. The next report by the newspaper on May 6 reported that Frank Whitfield of Pipestone had taken over the Sioux Falls Black Sox team and the team was moving its headquarters to Pipestone. Herbert Whitfield (relation to Frank Whitfield unknown) was reported to have left for Kansas City to find additional players and the team had secured a large Hudson bus for traveling to games in the surrounding area.

Frank Whitfield was reported by the Leader to be the team manager and a player named Whitfield was listed in numerous box scores as a catcher for the team (the player was Frank Whitfield according to personal communications with David Kemp of Sioux Falls, a researcher of area black baseball players). Only last names were ever listed for most of the other Black Sox players. Williams was a pitcher who had previously played for the Negro League Indianapolis ABCs in 1920 and 1921. Lightner (a.k.a. Linder), another pitcher for the Black Sox, had pitched in prior years for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs (1920, 21, 22). He later played for Coles American Giants in 1932, the year they won the Negro Southern League pennant. James A. Riley in his 1994 Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues indicated that it was not known where Lightner played between 1922 and 1932. Wingfield (a.k.a. Winfield), who pitched and played second base, shortstop, and outfield for the Black Sox, had seen previous action with various Negro League teams including the Dayton Marcos in 1920, the Columbus Buckeyes and Detroit Stars in 1921, and the Toledo Tigers in 1923; he later saw action with the Memphis Red Sox in 1931. Other players included Blackwax (pitcher), Palmer (catcher, right field), Scotty Henderson (pitcher, right field), Smith (catcher, second base), Ewing (pitcher), Grayson (second base), Joseph (third base), Hilton (shortstop), Wright (center field), Licks (first base), Green (left field), and "Lefty" Wilson (pitcher).

James A. Riley indicates in his Biographical Encyclopedia that the name "Lefty" Wilson was really an alias used by Dave "Lefty" Brown who pitched for the Chicago American Giants from 1918 to 1922 under manager Rube Foster and the New York Lincoln Giants in 1923 and 1924. Riley reports that Brown compiled regular season records of 10 - 2 in 1920, 11 - 3 in 1921, and 8 - 3 in 1922 while pitching the American Giants to the first three Negro National League championships. Playing for the Santa Clara team of the Cuban winter league in 1923-24 Brown posted a 7 - 3 record for what Riley states some consider the greatest Cuban team of all time. Dave Brown left New York just before the start of the 1925 season after becoming involved in an argument over cocaine and allegedly murdering a man during a barroom fight. With the FBI searching for him, Dave "Lefty" Brown came to the Minnesota - Iowa - South Dakota area where he went by the alias of "Lefty" Wilson and plied his trade as a pitcher for hire to any team able to pay the price.

The Pipestone papers referred to "Lefty" Wilson as "the greatest colored south paw pitcher in the west" and the Black Sox decisively won all three games in which Wilson was reported to have been the starting pitcher. The Sox won 10 to 0 on 2 hits allowed and 14 strike outs against Granite Falls Minnesota, 14 to 0 on 1 hit allowed and 16 strike outs against Matlock Iowa, and 7 to 2 against Le Mars Iowa. In the game against Granite Falls, when Wilson's teammates reportedly asked him to bear down just for fun, he struck out the side on nine straight strikes without even a foul ball. In most other games the other Black Sox pitchers managed less than 10 strikeouts. "Lefty" Wilson was also reported by newspaper articles to have pitched some games for Ivanhoe Minnesota and the Tennessee Rats in 1926 and Riley's Encyclopedia lists "Lefty" Wilson as touring with Gilkerson's Union Giants out of Chicago in 1926. Gilkerson's team did barnstorm throughout the midwest in 1926 and a report from the Lismore Minnesota newspaper of July 9, 1926, indicates that "Lefty" Wilson pitched for the Union Giants against Lismore in a July 3 game played at Fairmont (John Donaldson pitched part of the game for Lismore and 5000 people attended the game). It seems that Wilson left the Union Giants soon after the Lismore game and remained in the area to play with various teams in 1926. In 1927 "Lefty" Wilson played for the Wanda Minnesota baseball team and a June 21, 1927, Pipestone County Star newspaper article, regarding a game to be played by Wanda against Tracy at Pipestone, highlighted "Lefty" Wilson as the "great colored twirler who pitched a couple of games (for Pipestone) last year".

How the Team Formed

Why an all black player baseball team would make Pipestone Minnesota its home in 1926 is certainly an interesting question and the reason for the establishment of the Pipestone Black Sox probably resides with the Pipestone Independent baseball team of 1925. The box score for a June 29, 1925, baseball game between the Pipestone Independents and a semi-pro team from Flandreau South Dakota indicates that Whitfield caught the game for the Pipestone team. On July 1 of 1925 work started on a new baseball field in Pipestone located south of the fairgrounds in a field adjoining the King of Trails highway (now Highway 75) and Highway 47 (now Highway 30) that leads to Lake Wilson. This field was ready in time for another game between the Independents and Flandreau on July 4 that ended after seven innings in a 13 to 13 tie when the Flandreau team had to leave for another game that day at Brookings South Dakota. Whitfield is again listed as the catcher for this game and Wright is listed as the shortstop. On July 14 the Pipestone Independents played a game at Pipestone against the Sioux City Ghosts; an all black player team according to the Marcus Iowa News, however, the Leader did not make a specific reference to this being a colored player team. Wingfield pitched for the Ghosts and Smith played center field. On Sunday, July 19 Scotty Henderson pitched for the Independents in a game played at Pipestone against an all-salaried team from Balaton Minnesota (the July 16 Leader noted that Scotty Henderson, formerly with the Trent South Dakota All Nations team and the Sioux City Iowa Ghosts, had been secured for the remainder of the season). By the July 26,1925 game versus Tracy Minnesota the Pipestone Independents roster included Henderson, Smith, Wright, and Whitfield (batting interestingly in the number 5,6,7, and 8 spots respectively).

The July 30 Pipestone Leader included an announcement of the upcoming week Independents baseball schedule by Manager Frank Whitfield. The last game recorded by the Leader for the Independents was September 18 when the Pipestone team lost 6 to 5 to the Sioux Falls Canaries in a game played at Pipestone. Whitfield and Wright appeared in the remaining box scores that were printed in the Leader (not all game reports contained box scores). Henderson and Smith apparently appeared in several additional games but probably did not remain with the team until the September 18 end of the season.

From all evidence the 1925 Pipestone Independent baseball team was certainly an integrated ball club. At least four black ballplayers joined up with variable cast of white ballplayers to form a team that ended the season with a record of 14 wins, 11 loses, and 2 ties. George BlueBird who pitched for both the Pipestone and Flandreau Native American ball teams was also involved in some games for the Independents. Some of the other teams that the Independents played in 1925 also had black ballplayers. For example, when the Independents played the Minneota team, Minneota fielded brothers James and John Donaldson. John Donaldson of course is famous for his play with the All Nations team before World War I and then he played for a number of Minnesota teams in the 1920s and 30s.

The 1926 Team

At the start of the 1926 season the Pipestone Independents changed their name to the "Original" Philadelphia League of Nations. George BlueBird was on the mound for the opening game against the Sioux Falls Black Sox and Whitfield was the catcher for the Pipestone team. Blackwax, Wingfield and Williams did the pitching for the Sioux Falls team. The May 6 Pipestone Leader then reported that "Frank Whitfield has taken over the Sioux Falls Black Sox, a colored team, who will report for action in this city Monday and will make their headquarters here, according to a statement made yesterday by Mr. Whitfield". So the Black Sox came to Pipestone because a black player who had played with the Pipestone Independents the year before essentially took over an existing black player team and moved them to Pipestone, an area presumably with which he was familiar in terms of baseball teams that his "new" team could play and hopefully make money. On May 16 the Pipestone Black Sox played their first game on the Independent Ball Field built the pervious year.

The Pipestone Leader indicated that the Black Sox moved to Marcus Iowa on August 10 however the Marcus News reported that H. F. Treinen and James Collins Jr. "purchased" the Pipestone Black Sox on July 27, and that the Marcus Black Sox played their first game on July 29. Apparently there was some confusion in mid August about where the team was from because the August 19, 1926, Spencer Iowa News Herald indicated that the Spencer team "defeated the Marcus or Pipestone Black Sox .... Sunday" and the August 19, 1926, Kingsley Iowa News reported that the Kingsley team played the Pipestone Black Sox on August 11. There may have been a third move for the team, or a consolidation of teams, very late in the season in September. The Cherokee Evening Times of September 15 in a report on a game against the Cherokee Cardinals called the team the "Marcus-Pipestone-Lone Rock, etc., Black Sox possibly indicating that there was an exchange of players between the Black Sox and "Chip's" All Stars from Lone Rock Iowa.

The July 16, 1926, Pipestone County Star reported that Frank Whitfield had sold his shoe shining parlor in Pipestone and "Whitfield is now giving his entire time in the management of the Black Sox baseball team". The player named Whitfield only appears in one box score for the team (the August 11 game against Kingsley Iowa) after the move to Marcus and the box score indicated that Whitfield played first base, not catcher in this game. Whitfield's name is not recorded in the box score of the September 1926 game against Ivanhoe and manager Frank Whitfield is never mentioned in regard to the Marcus Black Sox. Maybe Mr. Whitfield had a difficult time paying his players and this could be the reason the Black Sox were "purchased" and moved to Marcus with another "owner". Frank Whitfield may have stayed with the Black Sox for a short time following the move to Marcus but it seems that he left the team long before the end of the 1926 season. Scotty Henderson, Blackwax, "Lefty" Wilson, and Lightner were other Pipestone players who did not make the move to Marcus.

Merle Treinen, a nephew of H.F. Treinen indicated in an interview that the Black Sox were a team that "could really play baseball". Merle indicated that he and other kids would watch the Black Sox practice and the kids would stand there "with their mouths wide open" watching the good play of the Black Sox. The Black Sox were only in Marcus until the end of the 1926 season. They played on a field located on the farm of H.F. Treinen's mother that was just across the railroad tracks on the north end of Marcus. Merle Treinen remembered that the players hung out at his father's Overland car dealership (his father was team treasurer), they probably stayed at one of the hotels in town and that there were no race problems.

Floyd Muchlinski played for Ivanhoe Minnesota beginning in 1927 but traveled with the team in 1926. Floyd indicated in an interview that "the Black Sox were an excellent baseball team and opposing teams often brought in special talent when scheduled to play the Black Sox". Floyd indicated that some of the players also put on somewhat of a show (for example, the first baseman would sometimes wear a shoe with a 1 or 2 foot long toe so he could touch first base from some distance away and Grayson carried the nickname "the baseball comedian"). Floyd also noted that black baseball players in general and black teams in particular drew large crowds to games and teams like the Black Sox were always in demand for games at celebrations and county fairs. Over 1000 people attended a Black Sox game versus "Chips" All Stars in Flandreau South Dakota, a crowd of 1500 saw the Black Sox play Cherokee Iowa at the Plowing Match Celebration, and 2200 spectators were present at a Black Sox game against John Donaldson and the Lismore Gophers at Jasper Minnesota.

The Ivanhoe Times newspaper reported "the Sox club is one of the strongest aggregations playing baseball in this section this season. They make baseball a business and their ability to handle the sphere and willow is their means of livelihood. Therefore it is expected that they might master the average team hereabout." Ivanhoe Minnesota played the Black Sox four times while the team operated out of Pipestone and again played a team that called itself the Pipestone Black Sox on either September 16 or 23, 1926 in a game played at the Hospital Benefit Day in Hendricks Minnesota but this later Pipestone team was composed of at least three Caucasian players from Westbrook Minnesota. Blackwax pitched and Scotty Henderson played right field for the Black Sox during the September game and some of the other Black Sox were probably black players but they were not part of the original Pipestone or Marcus Black Sox.

There were many good baseball teams in the Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa area in 1926, many of them being all-salaried teams. In fact, four all black player teams were active in the southwestern Minnesota - northwestern Iowa area during 1926 and 12 of the Black Sox games were played against these other teams. In addition to the Black Sox of Pipestone and Marcus, the Tennessee Rats played out of Storm Lake Iowa, "Chip's All Stars played out of Lone Rock Iowa and the Ghosts played out of Sioux City Iowa. The Pipestone Black Sox recorded 8 wins and 3 losses against the three other all black player teams and the results of one scheduled game cannot be located.

The Pipestone Leader, the Pipestone County Star, and the Marcus News all gave the very strong impression that Pipestone and Marcus were very proud of the Black Sox. In fact it was very surprising to us that the Pipestone papers especially gave such detailed coverage to the Black Sox since the team only played 12 of it's 57 games at Pipestone when the team used Pipestone as a base. However, a winning baseball team was a strong source of pride for any community and it did not matter that the Black Sox team was composed of players from outside the community (many teams were composed of all salaried players from other towns or even states) or that the Black Sox were an all black player team. Pipestone, and later Marcus, had a winning baseball team and because of that team, other people knew about Pipestone and Marcus.

Two newspaper reports, one from Pipestone and the other from Lismore illustrate the local support given the Black Sox. The Lismore paper reporting on the August 4 game at Pipestone called the game a forfeit (9 to 0) for Lismore. The facts of the game are not disputed; with Lismore leading 2 to 1 in the bottom of the seventh inning and the bases loaded, a Black Sox player was hit by a pitched ball forcing in a run. A very vocal dispute followed with charges by the Lismore team that the batter had intentionally stepped into the pitch so that he would be hit by the ball. The batter was called out by the umpire and after a rather long argument that could not be settled, both teams as well as the spectators left the grounds. The Lismore paper stated "the Black Sox never did have a ball team and are the poorest bunch of sports in a ball game that can be found anywhere". The Pipestone County Star, on the other hand, supported the Black Sox stating "the dope on the game seemed to favor the Black Sox for a win Wednesday, and if the Gophers were anxious to keep their slate clean, it was lucky for them that the game closed when it did".

A list of the games played by the Pipestone Minnesota and Marcus Iowa Black Sox in 1926 is given below.

May 16 Bruce South Dakota at Bruce Won 3 to 0

May 19 Tennessee Rats at Pipestone Lost 7 to 2

May 20 Ghent Minnesota at Ghent Won 8 to 3

May 23 Tennessee Rats at Storm Lake Iowa Lost 10 to 9

May 25 Worthington Minnesota at Worthington Won 14 to 3

May 26 Larchwood South Dakota at Pipestone Won 8 to 7

May 30 Clarkfield Minnesota at Clarkfield Won 18 to 15

May 31 Clarkfield Minnesota at Clarkfield Won 14 to 11

June 2 Bruce South Dakota at Pipestone Won 20 to 4

June 6 Westbrook Minnesota at Valhalla Resort Won 4 to 3

June 8 Tracy Minnesota at Aurora South Dakota Won 15 to 13

June 9 Ivanhoe Minnesota at Astoria South Dakota Won 21 to 11

June 10 Milbank South Dakota at Milbank Won 17 to 5

June 12 US Nations at Pipestone Won 11 to 10

June 13 Sioux City Stock Yards Club at Pipestone Lost 6 to 0

June 16 Hadley Minnesota at Hadley Won 6 to 5

June 17 Westbrook Minnesota at Fulda Minnesota Won 6 to 2

June 19 Alvord Iowa at ??? Won 6 to 3

June 21 Sioux City Iowa Ghosts at Pipestone Won 9 to 8

June 23 Balaton Minnesota at Balaton Lost 6 to 2

June 24 Ivanhoe Minnesota at Hendricks Minnesota Won 5 to 0

June 25 US Natives at Pipestone Lost 2 to 1

June 27 Ivanhoe Minnesota at Valhalla Resort Lost 9 to 3

June 28 Sioux City Ghosts at Flandreau SD Won 7 to 4

June 29 Milbank South Dakota at Toronto SD Won 10 to 5

June 30 Minneota Minnesota at Minneota Won 15 to 9

July 1 Balaton Minnesota at Pipestone Won 3 to 2

July 2 Matlock Iowa at Pipestone Won 11 to 5

July 3 US Natives at Pipestone Won 7 to 3

July 4 Clarkfield Minnesota at Clarkfield Won 7 to 1

July 5 Lismore Minnesota at Jasper Minnesota Lost 16 to 5

July 6 "Chips" All Stars at Flandreau South Dakota Won 17 to 8

July 7 "Chips" All Stars at Pipestone Won 5 to 1

July 8 Lake Wilson Minnesota at Lake Wilson Lost 13 to 11

July 9 "Chips" All Stars at Fulda Minnesota Won 12 to 4

July 11 Lamberton Minnesota at Valhalla Resort Won 8 to 5

July 13 Adrian Minnesota at Adrian Won 19 to 3

July 14 Lismore Minnesota at White South Dakota Lost 16 to 0

July 16 Brookings South Dakota at Brookings Won 15 to 10

July 17 "Chips" All Stars at Worthington Minnesota Won 5 to 3

July 18 Granite Falls Minnesota at Granite Falls Won 10 to 0

July 22 Howard South Dakota at Howard Won 8 to 4

July 23 Ivanhoe Minnesota at Ruthton Minnesota Lost 1 to 0

July 24 Matlock Iowa at Pipestone Won 14 to 0

July 25 Balaton Minnesota at Valhalla Resort Won 7 to 3

July 27 Sioux City Ghosts at Marcus Iowa Scheduled but no results

July 28 Fernly All Stars at Lake Wilson Minnesota Won 14 to 6

July 29 "Chips" All Stars at Marcus Iowa Won 3 to 0

July 30 LeMars Iowa at LeMars Won 7 to 2

July 31 Leeds Iowa at Marcus Iowa Won 13 to 2

August 1 Sibley Iowa at Sibley Won 12 to 2

August 2 Sioux City Iowa Ghosts at Sioux City Won 5 to 2

August 4 Lismore Minnesota at Pipestone Lost 9 to 0

August 6 "Chips" All Stars at Sioux City IA Stock Yards Lost 9 to 4

August 7 Spencer Iowa at Spencer Lost 11 to 4

August 8 Spencer Iowa at Arnolds Park Iowa Lost 6 to 4

August 9 LeMars Iowa at Marcus Iowa Lost 6 to 4

August 11 Kingsley Iowa at Kingsley Won 5 to 0

August 13 LeMars Iowa at LeMars Lost 4 to 3

August 14 "Chips" All Stars at Marcus Iowa Scheduled but no results

August 15 Spencer Iowa at Arnolds Park Iowa Lost 6 to 5

August 22 Larchwood Iowa at Marcus Iowa Lost 4 to 2

August 23 "Chips" All Stars at ????? Lost 8 to 3

August 24 Paullina Iowa at Paullina Won 13 to 2

August 25 Spencer Iowa at Ida Grove Iowa Won 9 to 2

August 26 Tyndall South Dakota at Yankton SD Won 4 to 2

August 27 Kingsley Iowa at Kingsley Won 16 to 4

August 28 Tennessee Rats at Marcus Iowa Scheduled but no results

August 29 All Nations at Fort Dodge Iowa Scheduled but no results

August 30 Spencer Iowa at Spencer Lost 10 to 3

August 31 Spencer Iowa at Marcus Iowa Lost 8 to 5

September 1 Balaton Minnesota at Vermillion SD Won 9 to 7

September 2 Elk Point South Dakota at Vermillion SD Lost 7 to 0

September 3 Tyndall South Dakota at Vermillion SD Won 8 to 0

September 8 Cherokee Iowa at Cherokee Won 2 to 1

September 9 Cherokee Iowa at Plowing Match Lost 6 to 1

September 13 Cherokee Iowa at Cherokee Lost 12 to 4

September 14 Remsen Iowa at Marcus Won 3 to 0

September 19 Oto Iowa at Marcus Scheduled but no results

The Independent ball diamond no longer exists in Pipestone and surely the Black Sox players, and those who played against them, are almost all gone now. Even those who are still with us today like Floyd Muchlinski can only recall the faintest of details. But if you close your eyes maybe you can envision 2200 people watching a game in Jasper Minnesota (now a town of less than 800 people) featuring the famous John Donaldson and the Lismore Gophers against the Black Sox. You can bet that baseball and the Black Sox were something special.

If you or anyone you know has any information regarding the Pipestone Black Sox, please contact Alan Muchlinski by email at amuchli@calstatela.edu. Alan and David would be very interested in obtaining any additional information or artifacts related to the Black Sox.

Note: Floyd Muchlinski passed away on October 29, 2000. Without his memories and encouragement, this article would not have been possible.

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