The 1920s

11 clippings from the 1920s.

Boxed advertisement reading Base Ball, Today and Labor Day, Athletic Field, 3:30 p.m., Pine Bluff White Sox vs. Little Rock All Star, with the closing line: The baseball season ends soon.

The baseball season ends soon

Pine Bluff White Sox
Pine Bluff, Arkansas · 1920

Game story headed Witches Beaten by Indians 9 to 7, with the subhead Ump Flood Is Almost Mobbed, Omaha Beats Boosters. The report from Wichita says Oklahoma City got an early lead of six runs and won a wild ball game, and that Umpire Flood was almost mobbed by local fans for calling Gregory's hit into left field an infield fly, checking a big Wichita rally in the eighth. Full box scores for Oklahoma City and Wichita follow with a long summary ending Umpires Flood and Wilson, time 2:00.

Witches Beaten by Indians 9 to 7

Wichita Witches
Wichita, Kansas · 1920

Column item reporting a base ball meeting in Kansas City that formed the Western Circuit of Negro Base Ball League, listing the Chicago American Giants, the Indianapolis A. B. C. Club, the Detroit Stars, the St. Louis Giants and the Kansas City Monarchs, with a booking agency handled by Andrew Rube Foster of Chicago and a first game to be played at Association Park.

Some of the biggest base ball men in the country

Kansas City Monarchs
Kansas City, Missouri · 1920

Newspaper poem headed Play Cat, credited to James Dempsey Bullock, reading Heavy are the hearts in Wilson, bowed each head in shame. Our base ball club is losing almost every game. The rabbit foot long ago has lost its magic power, and the Ouija board no solace gives, in this dark and trying hour. Be still sad heart and cease repining. For every cloud has a silver lining, and every one is good for something, we are sure of that. And while they can't play ball perhaps they can play Cat.

Play Cat

The Daily Times
Wilson, North Carolina · 1921

Story headed The Big Doings at Brookfield, Mo., previewing an October 5, 1921 game between the American League All Stars, led by John Tobin of the St. Louis Browns, and the Brookfield Buicks, with out of town umpires and seats reserved through the Community club.

The biggest sporting event in the history of north Missouri

Brookfield Buicks
Brookfield, Missouri · 1921

Small boxed advertisement reading Base Ball Today, Thursday, May 4, Omaha vs. Wichita, game called at 3:45 p.m., children free, ladies 10 cents, tickets for sale at United Cigar Store, 16th and Farnam.

Base Ball Today: Omaha vs. Wichita

Omaha Buffaloes
Omaha, Nebraska · 1922

Sports column with a hand-lettered heading reading Scrambled Sports by Wag, with a small photo of a ballplayer captioned Mee. Items report that shortstop Julia Mee and pitcher Harry Baumgartner of the Omaha Buffalo herd have been released, that yesterday was house cleaning day in the Western league with a 16 player roster limit, notes on the Wichita club, boxing gossip, the observation that rainy days let players sit around and win conversational pennants, and a closing item saying the Wichita club's nicknames are Witches and Izzies but the latest is Isbergs in honor of Owner Isbell.

Scrambled Sports

Omaha Buffaloes
Omaha, Nebraska · 1922

Front page editorial headed What About a Ball Park?, arguing that Farmington should build a base ball park and grandstand in the spring, that good ball games are a real asset to a town and that Sunday baseball is no more harmful than autoing.

What About a Ball Park?

The Farmington Times
Farmington, Missouri · 1922

Short news item headed Base Ball Game Tonight, reading: Tonight in Eagle Hall the third and deciding championship base ball game will be held between the Army and Navy and Nome All Stars. The game will start promptly at 8:30 p.m. and after the game a public dance will be given.

Base Ball Game Tonight

Nome All Stars
Nome, Alaska · 1922

Newspaper cartoon and story headed Believers In Signs Bet On Sure Things. In the top panel three grinning men in hats trade shouts of fifty bucks he walks the next batter and let me have part of that bet. In the lower panel a pitcher winds up while a hand in the grandstand tips a hat, over the caption a baseball scandal was once started by pitchers and gamblers working together with the aid of a set of signs, signed Al Demaree. Below, a story by Al Demaree recounts the Pacific Coast league gambling scandal after 1919, in which pitchers colluded with gamblers in the grandstand over whether the batter would reach first base, signaling with a removed hat or crossed legs, until one pitcher missed the signs and the gamblers squealed.

Believers in Signs Bet on Sure Things

The Montgomery Advertiser
Montgomery, Alabama · 1927

Tall newspaper column headed Jax Goes Seven Frames Without Hit Off M'Phaul, Brewton Schoolboy Crumples In Eighth And Visitors Start Scoring, reporting the Jacksonville Tars' 4 to 3 ninth-inning win over the Montgomery Lions in the Southeastern League, with T. D. McPhaul holding the Tars hitless for seven innings before crumpling, Bear Cat Cantwell surviving seven bingles, subheads Narlesky Shines Afield and Start Fine, homers by Danny Seremba and doubles by Shorty Long and Butch Simons, and a final frame in which Goat Walker and Joe Untz collided trying to field a bunt, closing with a note that the Saintly crew from St. Augustine arrives next.

Jax Goes Seven Frames Without Hit Off M'Phaul

The Montgomery Advertiser
Montgomery, Alabama · 1927