The Humble Beginnings, Glorious Peak, and Slow Death of the Ethiopian Clowns
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ABSTRACT ALL THE WORLD LOVES A CLOWN: THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, GLORIOUS PEAK, AND SLOW DEATH OF THE ETHIOPIAN CLOWNS The Ethiopian Clowns were founded by a white theater producer, Syd Pollock, in the early 1930s. During the segregation years, there was significant pressure placed on these black baseball clubs to carry themselves in a serious and business-like fashion. Pollock stressed individuality among his ballplayers. He sold his team to black and white audiences alike not only through the talent on the field, but also through creative sideshows which were racially insensitive at times. Drawing from his forerunners, the House of David and the Zulu Cannibal Giants, Pollock established a baseball product that drew fans to the field with tremendous success. He effectively balanced the sideshows with baseball where one did not distract or undermine the other. For Pollock’s critics in the black sports press, however, they saw malice in Pollock’s business model. Black players as “clowns” were a threat to their ultimate goal, the integration of white, organized baseball. The Clowns, who spent much of their first two decades of existence as an independent outfit, were granted entrance into the Negro American League in 1943 and won the league championship in 1950. They were possibly the longest surviving black baseball team, operating as a strictly black team into the 1960s, long after the organized Negro Leagues had dissolved along with the highly respected ballclubs in that industry. However, the Clowns have received little notice from baseball historians and its legacy has rarely been discussed with the seriousness that the ballclub deserves. John Dominic T. M. Migliaccio May 2020 ALL THE WORLD LOVES A CLOWN: THE HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, GLORIOUS PEAK, AND SLOW DEATH OF THE ETHIOPIAN CLOWNS by John Dominic T. M. Migliaccio A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History in the College of Social Sciences California State University, Fresno May 2020 Copyright © 2020 John Dominic T. M. Migliaccio APPROVED For the Department of History: We, the undersigned, certify that the thesis of the following student meets the required standards of scholarship, format, and style of the university and the student's graduate degree program for the awarding of the master's degree. John Dominic T. M. Migliaccio Thesis Author Blain Roberts (Chair) History Lori Clune History Julia Shatz History For the University Graduate Committee: Dean, Division of Graduate Studies AUTHORIZATION FOR REPRODUCTION OF MASTER’S THESIS X I grant permission for the reproduction of this thesis in part or in its entirety without further authorization from me, on the condition that the person or agency requesting reproduction absorbs the cost and provides proper acknowledgment of authorship. Permission to reproduce this thesis in part or in its entirety must be obtained from me. Signature of thesis author: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My initial thanks must go to my parents, Anthony and Jane Migliaccio. We have not always agreed on everything, but they have never wavered in their support of me. This thesis and my degree would have been impossible without them. I think about you often and I thank you for everything. The good Lord was very wise by placing those two in my corner. Dr. Blain Roberts has been my advisor since this thesis was nothing more than a poorly written B.A. thesis project from a previous institution. She has read and provided feedback on more drafts of my work than I can count. She is the most brilliant historian that I have ever been around and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from her. My other committee members, Dr. Lori Clune and Dr. Julia Shatz, have also been particularly helpful with their feedback and general advice. Additionally, thank you to Dr. Brad Jones for giving me my first job in history and for lending me his wisdom during that time. Cassidy Lent, the Manager of Reference Services at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, was of significant help when I conducted research there over the summer. I also have to thank my fellow graduate students in the History Department, particularly Chase Jensen, Emily Rivas, Patricia Brito, and Kurtis Sawtell for helping me relieve the stress of graduate school. I will always cherish the many memories of us sharing a drink at Mad Duck. Finally, Simon Coderre, Kari Nelson, and Jen Wyatt, three friends of mine who are very dear to my heart deserve a special thanks. I cannot successfully thank you with mere words, but I can say that this thesis is as much your success as it is mine. You have been my rocks and your friendship has enriched my life on a scale of immeasurable value. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: THE RISE OF BARNSTORMING BASEBALL ....................................... 10 CHAPTER 3: THE ADMIRATION AND CONDEMNATION OF THE ETHIOPIAN CLOWNS ............................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER 4: THE BATTLE FOR BLACK BASEBALL’S SOUL ................................. 44 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 52 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. A 1928 advertisement for a House of David game in Galax, Virginia. Located in the Dizzy Dean Scrapbook, Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and Museum (Cooperstown, NY) .... 11 Figure 2. Effa Manley with one of her ballplayers. Photo from The New York Post, May 14, 1938. Found in the Effa Manley Scrapbook, Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and Museum (Cooperstown, NY) .............................................................................................. 36 Figure 3. Article from The New York Daily News, February 4, 1935. Located in the Effa Manley Scrapbook, Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Cooperstown, NY). ........................................................ 40 Figure 4. Rendering of Ed Davis (“Peanut Nyasses”) as depicted in The Chicago Defender, May 30, 1942. Found in the Dr. Lawrence Hogan Research Papers, Box 2, Folder 12, Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and Museum (Cooperstown, New York). ....................... 42 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION “Baseball is not the stuff upon which successful careers in history are normally made.” -Jules Tygiel1 The success and appeal of American baseball were built on the shoulders of barnstorming baseball clubs. Whereas the New York Yankees had a tremendous impact on growing baseball in urban areas, the hundreds of barnstorming ballclubs that existed in the first half of the twentieth century had a similar impact on rural America. Barnstorming teams operated as a type of traveling troupe that entered many rural communities across the country and competed against the various local and often semi- professional teams in those communities. It was a benefit for all parties involved. The barnstorming teams pulled in most of their revenue from the gate receipts and also built their own pedigree. For the fans in these rural communities, this was their chance to see their local outfit compete against an honest professional baseball organization. On the occasional instance that their local team triumphed over the barnstorming club, that achievement became a point of pride. In the years before white organized baseball’s integration, the segregated Negro Leagues thrived as barnstormers. In 1985, nearly four decades after the integration of Major League Baseball, the historically all-black Indianapolis Clowns were doing all they could to keep the tradition of barnstorming baseball alive. Firmly in their twilight years (they dissolved in 1989), the Clowns continued as they had for over half a century. The team continued to travel by bus, playing games wherever they went, although the attention they received was nowhere near where it was prior to Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in 1947. The team was more of a baseball academy than a professional outfit. Players 1 Jules Tygiel, Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), viii. 2 2 received money for travel expenses rather than paid salaries. The Clowns had integrated with the rest of major league baseball. By 1985, survival was the main goal, but their status was that of a slow death. As columnist Dan Carpenter noted, their average attendance numbers had dwindled to between 500 to 1,000 spectators each game.2 They outlasted all of the black and white barnstorming teams that came before them, but their triumph was a hollow one which doomed them to die in obscurity. What had worked in the past no longer worked in the final two or three decades of their existence. From the 1930s to the early 1950s, the Ethiopian Clowns, as they were originally named, thrived on their ability to splendidly mix sideshows with baseball. The result was a goofy but competitive ballclub that rarely failed to put up a great fight against the best in barnstorming baseball. They presented themselves as care-free clowns, but the product on the field was as competitive and professional as any other black professional or barnstorming ballclub.