Fewer flowers to the dead, and a little more charity to the living would help some.
-Bud Fowler in Sporting Life, September 26, 1908
I have covered baseball’s first Black ‘professional’ Bud Fowler here before (nudge, nudge). For the ‘too long, didn’t read’ version of the story, here you go:
In 1896, he formed the all-Black Muncie Londons in Muncie, Indiana after he procured a sponsorship from the London Clothing Company. Though the experience was an absolute disaster, it opened a window to the struggles that Fowler ostensibly faced his entire career playing, managing, organizing, and advocating for the game of baseball – particularly Black baseball. His team was arrested, stiffed of gate receipts, and hosed on numerous close calls by the umpires. During an away game against the minor league Fort Wayne Farmers, they endured such intense abuse from their opposition the home crowd actually began to cheer for them. The London's own home games in Muncie were so sparsely attended that a local paper wondered aloud if it was due to the team's racial makeup. Fowler ultimately had to skip town.
That was all in less than three weeks.
I suppose now that Fowler was recently named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2022, I don’t necessarily have to give him a full introduction (though I tried here - nudge again!), his induction came through the diligent work and final vote of the Early Baseball Committee.
Fowler kicked around the Hoosier State often during his career - for better and worse. Even predating the Muncie episode, he was signed to a minor league contract with a Lafayette team in 1888. When he showed up to work the first day, he was promptly released on account that the manager didn't know he had signed a Black man (he said he preferred 'strawberry blondes). In 1901, he organized an all-Black club in Monrovia, Indiana. He formed the Eastern Colored-Stars, based in Indianapolis, ahead of the 1902 season.
It was from his home base in Monrovia that his scouting reports on prospects were also frequently published in the Sporting Life newspaper. Needless to say, this was a rarity in the grand scheme of the segregated national game.
It was in 1902, six years after the Muncie debacle that Bud lent his talents to a new enterprise in Indianapolis – the formation of an all-Black baseball league in the city. Often obscured by the annals of history is the fact that there were multiple (but sadly ill-fated) attempts at Blackball leagues before the ultimate (and successful) founding of the Negro National League in 1920.
Two early efforts include the 1886 founding of the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists. The league lasted a couple months. The National Colored Base Ball League followed in 1887, but folded after less than three weeks. Of note, Bud tried unsuccessfully to enter a Cincinnati-based team in the 1887 effort
Bud was on the right track; beginning in the early years of the 20th century, there would be several attempts at ‘amateur regional Black leagues’, according to baseball historian Neil Lanctot. Those listed in his book Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932 include: the Ohio State Colored League, the Missouri-Illinois League, the Presbyterian Base Ball League of Chicago, the Greater Boston Colored League, the New England Colored League, the Texas Colored League, and the District of Columbia League.
Interestingly, no mention of a league from Indianapolis. Lanctot does exhaustive work and it’s likely the league never crossed his purview at the time – for it would have most certainly garnered a mention. Above and beyond the recently inducted Hall of Famer’s involvement, it becomes more significant when considering the league’s membership (more on that in a moment!).
In bringing a Black baseball league to the Circle City, Bud Fowler and his associates would try something that had not only rarely been attempted, but had never found long-term sustainability.
…and the effort may have cost Fowler years of his life.
Around June 24, 1902, the Indianapolis Colored Baseball League was formed and officially announced the following day. Over the life of the league, the weekly Indianapolis Recorder (one of the city's largest African American newspapers) would dedicate the most ink to the league.
The circuit would be commonly referred to as the ‘Colored Base Ball League’ in the Recorder and other local papers. Four teams were soon announced as members, including the Vendomes (ostensibly sponsored by the local Vendome Hotel), the Herculeans, Fowler’s own Eastern Colored-Stars, and a brand-new outfit around town called the ABC’s.
Two quick things - the ABC’s would remain in Indianapolis, in some form or another, through the 1940s. They are easily the most important of the Black Indianapolis teams (even more so than the Clowns, in my opinion), and a staple of the Negro Leagues. Second, it is far from common knowledge, even among diehards, that the ABC’s first documented games were those played in an obscured Blackball league.
Okay...three things. It is not conclusive how the ABC’s got their name. The most common explanation is a sponsorship by way of the American Brewing Company. This actually makes sense as the mustachioed, cigar chomping team owner Randolph ‘Ran’ Butler owned a saloon. But, others have offered that the team name served as an acronym for the powerbrokers of club including George Abrams, who served as a coach and Butler’s assistant, Butler himself, and finally another co-manager named Conoyer. Though the 1905 team photograph was taken near an ABC Beer sign, which puts a dent in the Abrams-Butler-Conoyer theory, team historian Paul Debono also cops to the fact that it’s possible the beer company emerged as a sponsor after the team name had already been settled on.
The officers of the new league were also included the Recorder’s announcement:
President: Charles Stewart
Secretary: Bud Fowler
Treasurer: Randolph Butler
Stewart was a printer and the older brother of the newspaper’s founder, George P. Stewart. In addition, representatives from three of the teams comprised the board of directors. The league sprang into action, with the ABC’s and the Vendomes scheduled to square off on July 4 at the Newby Oval. Believe it or not, the Newby Oval, built just a few years before in 1898, served as the predecessor to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Baseball games could be pitched on the infield grass inside the quarter-mile bicycle track.
Nothing I have read on the subject of Newby Oval (which was torn down four months later in November) mentions the pioneering Blackball league. It is of note that there is a historical marker on the former site of the facility today.
The ABC’s defeated the Vendomes 15-4 in the league’s first game at the Oval. The tilt also represented the first recorded game in the history of the ABC’s. According to the Recorder, attendance was reportedly ‘fair’.
Of note, the first roster of the ABCs, published in August, sheds ample light on the squad Butler fielded in the league. Catcher William ‘Shinny’ Prim (or Primm), first baseman George Board (who served as field captain), infielder John Henry Lolla, right fielder James Shawler, and pitcher Frank Talbott would all play major roles for the ABCs for the next several seasons and beyond.
In addition to leasing the Newby Oval (sometimes referred to as ‘Driving Park’), the league also used Brighton Beach for some games. Like the Oval, Brighton Beach was also originally intended for use as a racetrack.
The Indianapolis Recorder faithfully reported as much of the baseball action as possible in their weekly edition. Recognizing that the teams played contests outside league play, the Recorder attempted to employ crowdsourcing (though the term wouldn’t be coined for another century) to ensure all games were covered, writing on July 26, 1902:
We wish to state, that all news concerning non-league baseball teams, if brought or made known to us will be cheerfully published, as we are desirous of having a non-league percentage column.
Fowler, who was 44-years-old during the 1902 season continued to both coach and suit up for his Eastern Colored-Stars. Almost nothing could stop the indomitable Fowler, perhaps the most-traveled ballplayer in the 19th century. According to information cited by baseball historian Lawrence Hogan, researchers found nearly 500 box scores of games Bud Fowler participated in between 1878 and 1895. They reveal Bud to be a .300+ hitter with speed to spare, if not much power.
Sadly, much like the efforts that preceded the Indianapolis Colored Baseball League, the circuit didn’t last long. In their August 2 issue, the Recorder relayed to their readers:
Rumors have reached our office, that the league has about broken up. As we think that the public has shown more interest than ever in base-ball affairs, this year, we hope that the rumors are untrue.
That was the last reporting on the league. It lasted less than a month, and the modern-day researcher can find eight confirmed league games. The Indianapolis ABC’s, soon to be an institution of the national Black baseball scene, participated in six games, winning all six by outscoring their opponents by a 59-20 margin.
Date | Result (if known) |
July 4, 1902 | ABC's 15 Vendomes 4 |
July 11, 1902 | ABC's 7 Herculeans 1 |
July 11, 1902 | ABC's 13 Herculeans 9 |
Unknown | Vendomes defeated the Eastern Colored-Stars |
July 19, 1902 | Vendomes 13 Herculeans 5 |
July 19, 1902 | ABC's 7 Eastern Colored Stars 6 |
July 26, 1902 | ABC's 9 Vendomes 0 |
July 19, 1902 | ABC's 8 Eastern Colored Stars 0 |
While the league may have folded up, the ABC’s, the Herculeans, and the Vendomes continued play.
Bud Fowler stayed in the Midwest and resurrected one of his more popular efforts – his barnstorming ‘All-American Black Tourists’ team (a Fowler staple since the 1890s). Undeterred by the disappointment of the Indianapolis league, his Black Tourists were stationed out of Columbus, Ohio in 1903 and 1904, and Cincinnati in 1905.
As a prolific organizer, promoter, and player of the game, Fowler understood the importance of the shared resources and infrastructure of an organized league. For a nomad like Fowler, a sustained league could bring him the financial security he had never known in his decades in the game. His attempt in Indianapolis was just one of his tried to form an all-Black league. To this effect, on November 10, 1904 he shared with the Cincinnati Enquirer just that sentiment:
One of these days a few people with enough nerve to take the chance will form a colored league of about eight cities and pull off a barrel of money.
Ostensibly, Fowler experienced few pain-free days after the 1902 season with the Indianapolis Colored Baseball League. Fast-forwarding a bit, it was revealed in a September 1908 Sporting Life article that Fowler was completely destitute and dying of tuberculosis. He soon wrote back and explained that he was not dying of consumption but rather he was pained by an injury he suffered on the diamond:
‘Bud’ Fowler, the veteran colored player...writes us from his home in Frankfort, N.Y. that he has not consumption at all. An X-ray examination has revealed the fact that he has for six years (1902) been suffering from an injury sustained while stealing a base in Indianapolis. He broke the lower left rib, which bent inward, growing on the end hard flesh which pierced a kidney.
Taking Fowler at his word, he suffered the injury during a game played with his Eastern Colored-Stars in the Indianapolis Colored Baseball League.
The long-term effects of the injury contributed greatly to his cause of death of pernicious anemia (according to his death certificate), which is essentially renal (kidney) failure. It is probable that he was indeed also afflicted with tuberculosis – he cites the sickness in at least one piece of correspondence.
Bud’s final years were spent in poor health, poverty, and he lived much of them in his sister’s home in Frankfort, New York, trying to barber hair fast enough to support himself…and possibly afford adequate medical care.
The candid, silver-tongued Fowler, seeing no other recourse, began furiously writing letters to those he knew in baseball, asking for support. This group included Charles Comiskey, Connie Mack, and Ban Johnson. One such surviving letter was to James Lynch, then president of the National League, dated February 4, 1913.
Note: Letter accessed through baseball historian/author Scott Simkus's November 7, 2012 issue of his legendary newsletter, 'Outsider Baseball Bulletin'. Parts of the letter omitted and some grammatical errors fixed for clarity.
Dear Sir:
You have known me for years in the National Game until the color line was drawn for I played 28 years in the different minor leagues of note and during my career I was always and upright straight man and I am practically one of the fathers of the game…I am now down and out. That dreaded disease consumption is ebbing my life away and now I need some assistance. I have written to my old friends, Ban Johnson, Comiskey, Mr. Bancroft, Ebbets…Connie Mack, Clark Monfort Spink, and several others, and as I know you will assist me no matter how small it may be, it will help me to provide a few wants that I need while I remain on this earth. Several suggest they will help me but request me to write you and see what you could do for me in regard to a benefit...I considered I would make an appeal, the last request, hoping you will consider and that I may hear from you at once.
Yours truly,
Bud Fowler
Frankfort, N.Y.
Ex Colored League Player
Bud Fowler, the man who contemporary Black baseball historian Sol White had called ‘the celebrated promoter of colored ball clubs and base ball (sic) sage’, died less than three weeks shy of his fifty-fifth birthday on February 26, 1913 – three weeks after his desperate appeal to Lynch. He was buried in an unmarked plot until 1987 when the Society for American Baseball Research dedicated a stone for him.
His final resting place is less than thirty miles from where his likeness will be forever immortalized in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In reading his correspondence, it is refreshing to know that Bud knew his place in early baseball history as one of the most prolific evangelists of the game. Now, Bud Fowler will never be forgotten.
His time spent in Indianapolis in 1902 is just one very short chapter of a life immersed in the national game. Given the career Bud was forced to have, baseball fans have must examine the importance of his career in practically episodic fashion – and consider the sum of all its parts.
...It’s breathtaking, really. Good on you, Bud.
A special thank you to my pals Paul Debono and Scott Simkus, who, knowingly or unknowingly, greatly contributed to this work.