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Ike Affy

Eisenhower, Wilson, and Professional Baseball in Kansas

Ike Affy

Mark E. Eberle

Eisenhower, Wilson, and Professional Baseball in Kansas © 2017 by Mark E. Eberle

Published at Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas

Recommended citation: Eberle, Mark E. 2017. Eisenhower, Wilson, and Professional Baseball in Kansas. Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas. vi + 34 pages.

When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a river bank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he’d like to be president of the . Neither of us got our wish. Dwight D. Eisenhower 1

A meeting to consider the advisability of having Abilene enter a baseball team in the was held at Shearer’s shoe store last evening and was attended by a large number of enthusiastic fans. … This is a patriotic movement to give Abilene baseball and thus help the city to keep in line with other progressive towns. … For a general city benefit there is nothing in the way of amusement that equals baseball, and it is a thoroughly sensible investment. … Are we forever to sit by and do nothing but work, work, work, and have nothing in the way of diversion or amusement? What are we living for, anyhow? Abilene Daily Chronicle, 14

One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Chapter 17, Cut-offs and Stephen, 1883

The 1908 Abilene High School baseball team. Dwight David Eisenhower (“Ike”) is in the back row, third from the left. Published in the Abilene High School yearbook and the Abilene Daily Reflector, 28 May 1908. Image courtesy of the Audiovisual Collections (66– 483), Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.

The 1911 Junction City Soldiers of the Central Kansas League (Class D Minor League). Robert Franklin Wilson (“Affy”) is in the back row, third from the left. Published in the Topeka Daily Capital, 1 . Image courtesy of the Kansas Collection, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence (Joseph J. Pennell Photography Collection, RH PH Pennell, Print 2420, Box 51, Pennell number 3787G).

City

Kansas

Iola

100 miles

Junction City Junction

Manhattan

Abilene

Wichita

Beloit

Hutchinson

GreatBend Approximate locations of selected cities of inmentioned selected Approximate text. the locations Eisenhower, Wilson, and Professional Baseball in Kansas Mark E. Eberle Kansas has never fielded a major league baseball team, yet it has a rich baseball history that begins in the state’s earliest days following the Civil War. In addition to the local game played on hundreds of ballfields throughout Kansas, two of the state’s native sons—Walter Johnson and Joe Tinker—have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, .2 Among the other well-known personalities associated with the sport in Kansas is a young Dwight David Eisenhower—Ike—who grew up in Abilene. His time on the field was brief and never included a trip to the major leagues, but because of his later fame as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II and President of the United States, his story is sometimes magnified to an extraordinary extent. In 1945, General Eisenhower mentioned that he had played professional baseball under the pseudonym Wilson sometime after his 1909 graduation from Abilene High School, but he offered few details.3 Ever since, there have been attempts to document this assertion. If true, it has been speculated this would have made him ineligible for intercollegiate competition in 1911–1915 while he attended the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he played on the football team.4 Thus, interest in his apparently brief career in professional baseball continues more than 70 years after he first mentioned it and more than a century after he played.5 Newspaper accounts of baseball in Abilene and nearby towns during this period mention a professional baseballist named Wilson, who went by the nickname Affy. As was typical during this era, however, newspaper box scores and game summaries usually gave only the last names of players. During the summers of 1909 and 1910, Wilson was a member of the team in Abilene. It was during this time that the recently graduated Eisenhower waited in Abilene, looking for opportunities to earn money that would help pay for a college education. Superficial research into the relevant histories of Ike, Affy, and professional baseball around Abilene at this time has led to speculation that this ballplayer named Wilson, at least in some instances, was actually Dwight Eisenhower.6 However, it is impractical to try making sense of Eisenhower’s sparse comments about his baseball career without a more thorough consideration of the historical context. Early Kansas Minor Leagues In the late 1800s and early , baseball teams in Abilene and elsewhere in the state consisted primarily of amateur or semiprofessional teams composed mostly or entirely of local players. These teams arranged schedules with teams from nearby towns as well as they could, often without the structure of formal leagues.7 There were also attempts to organize minor league teams of professional players, but salary costs meant that many of these teams seldom survived more than a year or two, especially outside larger cities.8 In the years leading up to World War I, however, there was a surge in the number of minor leagues in Kansas.9 Table 1—Years in which the and Central Kansas League were active between 1905 and 1914.10 Seasons were scheduled for 70–90 games. The organizers of the Central Kansas League assumed the vacated name Kansas State League in 1913.

1905 Kansas State League 1906 Kansas State League 1907 1908 Central Kansas League 1909 Kansas State League Central Kansas League 1910 Kansas State League Central Kansas League 1911 Kansas State League Central Kansas League 1912 Central Kansas League 1913 Kansas State League 1914 Kansas State League

Among the seven minor leagues active from 1908 through 1914 that featured Kansas teams, there were two low-level leagues in the central part of the state (Table 1).10 The Central Kansas League got off to a late start in 1908. It was organized at the end of May, after the baseball season was already underway. Nevertheless, the existing teams in the six towns comprising the league were strengthened for league play, which began on June 22. Abilene and Enterprise (about 6 miles east of Abilene) were mentioned as possible members of the league, but neither joined.11 After the season ended, regional interest in minor league baseball remained strong. The Central Kansas League was reorganized with eight teams in early 1909. Part of its attraction for some towns was that they would not play games on Sundays, unlike the Kansas State League,12 which was being reorganized after a two-year hiatus (Table 1). Playing baseball on Sunday was a contentious issue, and it was at this same time the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that state law included no ban on Sunday baseball, leaving the decision to individual cities.13 The proposal for Abilene to enter the Central Kansas League during its second season was intended to keep the city on par with other “progressive towns” and provide local entertainment during the summer.14 Fielding a minor league team was a costly venture that required strong support from the business community. In Abilene, for example, a stock company was organized to raise $1,500 (equivalent to $40,789 in 2017). This would be accomplished through subscriptions from businesses and individuals, who paid for their shares in installments, a common practice at the time. In 1909, Abilene set the price at $25 per share ($680 in 2017), with each share earning the holder one season ticket.15 Within a month, the 60 shares had been subscribed and arrangements were being made for the team to lease the fairgrounds rather than constructing a new ballpark, as done in some towns.16 In addition to providing financial backing for the team through subscriptions, many businesses in Abilene agreed to close early on game days to encourage attendance and generate additional revenue from admissions charged to spectators.17 There was no night baseball at the time, so games often began in early evening, before businesses closed.18

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The Central Kansas League was granted protection as a Class D league, the lowest level at the time, through the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (today’s Minor League Baseball). This meant that a player who signed a contract provided by the National Association could not play for another protected minor league or major league team without the consent of the team holding his contract.19 In addition to Abilene’s league team, Dickinson County continued to support town teams in Chapman, Enterprise, Herington, Solomon, and elsewhere,20 as did other counties in the region. The financial success of minor league teams was tenuous, but support for amateur or semipro teams was strong and widespread. While the term amateur is straightforward, the term semipro was loosely applied. It could refer to a team on which only some of the players received a salary, perhaps only for certain games. It could also refer to a team on which each member received money, perhaps derived from a share of gate receipts or prize money, supplemented by income from other employment in the community. The term professional was typically applied to minor league or barnstorming teams, which usually featured players from outside the community.21 As the 1909 season was about to begin for the Central Kansas League, final rules were established, including a monthly salary cap for each team of $800 ($21,574 in 2017).22 Salary caps were widely used in attempts to balance competition within a league without imposing heavy financial burdens on towns that would prevent them from supporting their teams the entire season. To make the most of the salary pool, team rosters were minimal, perhaps a dozen players. Among the other costs borne by the local organizing committee were uniforms, equipment, ballfield lease or upkeep, and travel expenses. Early minor league teams usually traveled by train, which was more practical than traveling on unpaved roads in early automobiles. However, town teams, which typically traveled shorter distances, sometimes braved the primitive road network.23 This general scenario of financial considerations would apply to teams in both the Central Kansas League and Kansas State League during this period. From 1909 through 1911, the two leagues were sometimes viewed as competitors, but there were clear distinctions. The 1908 Central Kansas League consisted of teams in six towns—three in north-central Kansas and three in south-central Kansas. The number of minor league teams in the region expanded in 1909, as the two leagues each fielded eight teams. The towns represented in the Central Kansas League were clustered in north- central Kansas, while towns in the Kansas State League were concentrated in south- central Kansas. This suggests that minimizing travel costs was on organizers’ minds, in addition to the unwillingness of some towns in the Central Kansas League to play on Sundays. The same general arrangement of eight towns in each league held for the 1910 season, but changes came in 1911. The Central Kansas League dropped to only four teams, and the Kansas State League disbanded in July. Tough economic conditions were blamed for troubles among leagues around the country that year. This was compounded by local issues, such as charges of failure to comply with salary limits.24 In 1912, the Central Kansas League emerged from this collapse with six teams, consisting of three towns from each of the two 1911 leagues—three from the north and three from the south—similar to the 1908 league. Some teams moved to other towns, but

3 a similar arrangement carried over into 1913, when the league adopted the vacated name Kansas State League, which would convey more prestige to potential players and supporters than a regional name. Nevertheless, two teams (Junction City and Manhattan) folded during the season. In 1914, four teams again tried to keep the new Kansas State League alive, but it was the league’s final year.25 Embedded within these events, the Abilene Red Sox of 1909 became the Abilene Reds in 1910 (they switched to maroon uniforms with blue socks and caps). Both teams were members of the Central Kansas League, and both placed third among the eight teams. Then Abilene’s experiment with minor league baseball ended. The reason given was that the cashier at the Abilene State Bank had embezzled $1,250 ($32,777 in 2017) of the baseball association’s funds, along with about $20,000 ($524,429 in 2017) belonging to other depositors. However, the cashier’s home and property were seized, and the misappropriated funds were restored. Fatigue among baseball investors and decreased attendance, sometimes associated with economic downturns, were threats to many teams and were likely important factors in Abilene’s decision. The Reds uniforms found a new home when they were donated to the high school team in 1911. Similarly, Abilene’s players found new homes on other teams, including the Great Bend Millers in the Kansas State League. The Millers continued league play through 1914, the final year for either league. They placed first in three of their six years in the leagues—1911, 1912, and 1913.26 What the Abilene teams of 1909–1910 and the Great Bend teams of 1911–1914 had in common was their manager, first baseman, and occasional outfielder—Affy Wilson— who did, in fact, have a connection with Dwight Eisenhower on the baseball field. Ike and Baseball In addition to the minor league team in Abilene, there was an Abilene High School team, which scheduled about a dozen games in the early spring. In 1908 and 1909, during their junior and senior years, Dwight Eisenhower played center field for the high school, and his older brother, Edgar, played first base. The students organized the team through their Athletic Association; the students, not the school, ran the baseball and football programs. In 1908, Edgar was elected captain and manager of the baseball team, and catcher Herbert Sommers was elected to the position in 1909. Dwight served as president of the association his senior year. To supplement the dues paid by the student members in 1909, the baseball team sold season tickets for $1 ($27 in 2017) to six scheduled home games, and they planned to travel out of town for six additional games.27 The 1909 team won seven of nine games (three others were canceled due to weather). One loss was in Lawrence to the freshman team at the University of Kansas (4–1). The other loss was to the Junction City High School team (4–3), which allegedly imported a semipro infielder from Kansas City. Abilene achieved their good record despite having a weak hitting team. In a yearend summary, an unidentified player was reported to have the team’s highest batting average of only .241. Examining game summaries, Bill Swank determined this player was likely Dwight Eisenhower. Despite their weak hitting, Abilene had a good young pitcher—John “Six” McDonnell—and they played defense with abandon. During a game against Dickinson County High School, “Dwight

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Eisenhower, in an attempt to catch a fly, ran into a fence and secured several bad cuts on his face.”28 Late in life, Dwight explained in a letter to his grandson, David Eisenhower, how he came to play center field. “Incidentally, in my early teens, I used to alternate between pitching and catching. Then, one day (I guess I was about 14) a cow knocked me down … and one of her feet struck my right shoulder blade. My arm was never the same again. For a long time, I could not throw at all—more than a year—but I persisted … so that finally I could throw, but not often in a single game. That’s the reason I went to the outfield.”29 Following high school, Dwight and Edgar both wanted to attend college to pursue their educations and their interests in sports, but the costs would be a challenge for their family. Dwight proposed an arrangement in which his brother, who was two years older, would attend the University of , supported in part by money Dwight earned in various jobs. Then Edgar would take a break and help Dwight get started in college. The plan was initiated in 1909, as Dwight returned to work at the Belle Springs Creamery, where he had worked during the summers of 1906 and 1908 in the ice plant (Table 2). He again started as an iceman in 1909, hauling large blocks of ice, and then became a fireman, stoking a boiler. Dwight was always on the lookout for a better paying job, and a lumber company that built storage bins for grain and water tanks for cattle from galvanized metal offered him more money than he was earning at the creamery, so Dwight worked there during the summer of 1910 (Table 2). That autumn, he returned to the creamery as the second engineer in the ice plant, which required him to work the night shift from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m., seven days a week.30 Dwight recalled earning $90 per month ($2,360 in 2017), but creamery records for 1910 indicated his salary was $60 (Table 2). From his earnings, Dwight sent Edgar $200 ($5,244 in 2017), which was never repaid. Later, when asked why, Edgar explained, “Dwight hasn’t asked for it.”31 All of this work did not keep Dwight and his classmates away from the baseball field. After graduating in , Herbert Sommers joined the team in Ellsworth, about 60 miles west of Abilene. Ellsworth was a member of the Central Kansas League. The following year, he played for Ellsworth, Clay Center, and Abilene.32 Thus, a member of Eisenhower’s graduating class openly played professional baseball in 1909–1910. Other high school players and recent graduates, including Dwight and Six McDonnell (Edgar broke his collarbone in June), played during the summer of 1909 as amateurs on a baseball team representing the Abilene lodge of the Knights of Honor, a fraternal order.33 In the spring of 1910, Dwight served as scorekeeper for the Abilene High School team.34 That August, the “Tank Factory,” where Eisenhower built grain bins and water tanks, organized a baseball team that played at least one game in which he was part of the team’s battery—pitcher and catcher. It was not mentioned which position he played, but Six McDonnell apparently pitched for the team representing local printers, who won the contest.35 McDonnell continued to work in print shops until he retired, except when he was pitching in the minor leagues. In fact, earlier in the summer of 1910, between his junior and senior years in high school, McDonnell pitched for Seneca in the (Class D). He used the pseudonym Lefty McDaniel to protect his final year of eligibility on the high school team.36

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Table 2—Dwight Eisenhower’s employment in Abilene at the Belle Springs Creamery and a local lumber company that built metal storage bins for grain and water tanks for cattle (the “tank factory”).30 He graduated from high school in May 1909 and departed for the US Military Academy at West Point in .

Monthly Month Employer Salary June 1906 Belle Springs Creamery $32.50 July 1906 $38.13 August 1906 $37.75 July 1908 $33.00 August 1908 $23.00 September 1908 $23.00 $45.50 $47.25 August 1909 $47.25 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $55.00 $55.00 $53.00

July 1910 Lumber Company — (“tank factory”) — —

October 1910 Belle Springs Creamery $60.00 $60.00 $60.00

Eisenhower also played on teams to raise funds for the baseball association organized to support the Abilene Reds. Minor league games under permanent lights did not begin until 1930,37 but in June 1910, Ike played center field on an “amateur team” of local men in what was apparently the first in Abilene. Their opponent was a professional barnstorming team of Cherokee Indians, who traveled with a set of “20 common gas lamps and not … strong acetylene lights.” To facilitate playing in the dim light, the baseball was bright white and 10 inches in circumference, an inch larger than the baseball normally used. Despite the novelty of a night game, a relatively small crowd of about 250 people attended the game, which Abilene lost 5–3. One local newspaper postulated that “had the locals been used to the lights the score would have undoubtedly been vice versa.” Based on his performance, Ike was among a few Abilene players commended as “a great night owl.”38 A second benefit game featuring a picked nine from

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Abilene, with Eisenhower in his customary center field, was played in August, at the close of the minor league season. In this game, Eisenhower took the field against the Abilene Reds and Affy Wilson, who defeated the locals in another close game, 5–2.39 Other exhibition games involving minor league teams at this time included an August 1908 game between the Abilene Knights of Honor (with pitcher Six McDonnell) and the team from Clay Center in the Kansas State League. In June 1910, the town team from Chapman, about 12 miles east of Abilene, played the Central Kansas League team from Salina.40 It is not known if Ike played for either the Knights or Chapman teams in these games. Likewise, it is unknown if he played on a “pickup team from Abilene” that defeated the town team in Solomon in June 1910. Reportedly, five of the Abilene players were among those trying out for the Abilene minor league team.41 In 1911, the plan agreed to by Dwight and Edgar for working their way through college came to an end. Dwight was accepted for admission to West Point, where tuition was covered. To help prepare for the entrance exams in early 1911, he had returned to Abilene High School during the autumn of 1910. It was not all studying, though. Loose rules on eligibility meant he could play football for the high school team. He “badly wrenched” his knee in a game against Chapman but was able to play in subsequent games.42 Ike did not play for the high school baseball team in 1911, but he umpired a game between Abilene High School and the B team from Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, in which Six McDonnell threw a no- shutout (1–0), with 15 .43 Eisenhower departed for West Point in June 1911 and returned home only once before graduating in 1915. He received a ten-week furlough from late June through . Ike looked forward to “rejoining old companions on the baseball field and dazzling spectators at every game.”44 The previous winter, however, he had injured his knee during a football game between Army and Tufts University. The injury was aggravated during a cavalry maneuver known as the “monkey drill,” in which Eisenhower “leaped off my horse to vault over him as he jumped a low hurdle. … The landing shock to my injured knee was more than it could take.” The damage was serious. It kept Ike in the Academy dispensary (hospital) for extended periods at the end of 1912 and ended his chances of playing football or baseball his final two years at West Point. In fact, it almost kept him from being commissioned as a second lieutenant at graduation.45 Eisenhower wrote in 1967 that during his 1913 furlough, “The leg injury was so severe that I couldn’t play in the informal baseball league made up of such towns as Chapman, Herington, Junction City, and Salina. Abilene did ask me to umpire and this chore I could perform without injury to myself, no matter what my decisions and calls may have done to others.” He recalled being paid $15 per game ($371 in 2017), but like his recollection of his salary at the creamery, this seems generous.46 In 1909, the Central Kansas League paid umpires $80 per month ($2,175 in 2017), which was about $3 per game, plus expenses.47 Newspapers reported Ike umpiring games during the summer of 1913 in Abilene’s Sunday School Baseball League, composed of eight teams representing various churches. Although baseball in the major and minor leagues was segregated at the time, the Abilene Sunday school league was not. One team represented “the two colored Sunday Schools.” Eisenhower umpired some of the integrated baseball games.48

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Dwight Eisenhower and an unidentified baseball player in his pinstripe uniform. The circumstances surrounding this photograph are unknown, but it fits events in 1915 associated with Ike being driven from Abilene to Chapman to umpire a game between the Abilene and Chapman town teams. Image courtesy of the Audiovisual Collections (66–62), Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.

As the Sunday school league ended its season in mid-August, a picked team of its white players planned to challenge teams from nearby towns during what remained of the summer. They arranged a practice game, not against a second nine picked from the white teams, but against the African American team. The lineup for the “Union Sunday School” team published the day before the game listed Eisenhower as the center fielder, which would allow him to once again play alongside some of his former high school teammates. Box scores were published for many of the Sunday school league games, but none was published for this exhibition game.49 Although Eisenhower maintained a deep love of baseball the rest of his life, that August game against a local African American team shortly before he returned to West Point was possibly his last time to take the field as a baseball player in Kansas. Eisenhower spent one final summer in Abilene before beginning active duty as an officer in the US Army. He returned home on leave for three months after graduating from West Point in June 1915. Ike spent the summer visiting family and friends—and umpiring baseball games. An Abilene town team was formally organized in late July and played a few games against teams from other towns, such as Chapman, Junction City, and Manhattan. Eisenhower apparently did not play for this Abilene team, but he

8 umpired games in Abilene. He was also asked to umpire two games in Chapman by the Chapman manager, who sent a car to pick him up. Typically, a local person was chosen by the home team to umpire a town team game, but the Chapman manager trusted the young West Point graduate to be a fair arbiter. “Lieut. Eisenhower” umpired his final game at the celebration in Chapman. Four days later, he headed to as a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the Nineteenth US Infantry.50 Affy and Baseball Born in in 1879, Robert Franklin Wilson was usually referred to simply as R. F. Wilson and occasionally as Frank. In the 1880 census from Ohio, he was listed as Frankie. On the baseball field, however, he was widely known as Affy or Affie. It was a verbal nickname, so the spelling varied, with Affy being used more frequently in newspapers. One newspaper attributed the nickname to his affable nature. While playing in Arizona in 1909, he was referred to as “Teddy Bear” Wilson.51 The reason for this is unknown, but perhaps it was also a reference to his personality. Affy played professional baseball at least as early as 1900, beginning with the Pocatello Indians of the Utah–Idaho League. In 1907, a Kansas newspaper reported that he had played earlier in “Arkansaw,” but additional information is lacking. From 1902 through 1914, Affy played and managed teams in low-level minor leagues in Kansas, Oklahoma, , and (Table 3).52 He enjoyed his first taste of success in 1904, when he played center field for the Iola Gasbags in southeastern Kansas, who won the championship of the Class C Missouri Valley League.53 For the next four years, Affy played for average teams in the Class C , and he played winter baseball in Bisbee, Arizona.54 In 1907, the Wichita Jobbers of the Western Association owned his contract. They had no immediate need for another outfielder, so he was “loaned” to the Hutchinson Salt Packers in the same league. Affy was popular in Hutchinson, but the Salt Packers were not allowed to retain him the following year. The situation did not sit well with Affy, and “he declared that he would not play with Wichita under any circumstances.” Instead, he remained in Bisbee, where he played at the end of 1907 and then took a job with a mining company. Eventually, Affy’s contract was sold to the Springfield (Missouri) Midgets, also in the Western Association, and he returned in 1908 to lead the league in batting (.322).55 During the final six years of his professional career, Affy played with Class D teams, the lowest minor league level at the time, primarily in Abilene and Great Bend (Table 3).56 Yet instead of viewing this as a demotion, Affy seemed to embrace an important, if often underappreciated, role in organized baseball—the development of young players. In 1909, Affy was hired a week into the season to take over as manager of the Abilene Red Sox. They were in eighth place with a record of 0–5, but Affy rebuilt the team, and it rose to a third-place finish.57 The following year, he managed the Abilene Reds from the beginning, and the team again finished in third place among the eight teams.58 During both seasons, Affy was the regular first baseman, and he compiled an excellent batting average of .318 in his two years with Abilene. There was no fence around Abilene’s field within the fairgrounds, and Affy was among the players who occasionally hit balls into

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Table 3—Teams on which Robert Franklin “Affy” Wilson played professional baseball.52 League champions are in italics. He also managed several teams (*). Wilson played for other minor league teams in 1911 and 1912 without violating his contract, because the Great Bend Millers had completed their seasons.

Year City, State League (Minor League Class) 1900 Pocatello (ID) Indians Utah–Idaho League 1901 ————— ————— 1902 Iola (KS) Gasbags Missouri Valley League (D) 1903 Iola (KS) Gaslighters Missouri Valley League (D) 1904 Iola (KS) Gasbags Missouri Valley League (C) 1905 (OK) Mets Western Association (C) 1906 Oklahoma City (OK) Mets Western Association (C) 1907 Hutchinson (KS) Salt Packers Western Association (C) Bisbee (AZ) Miners “Southwestern League” 1908 Springfield (MO) Midgets Western Association (C) 1909 Abilene (KS) Red Sox* Central Kansas League (D) Bisbee (AZ) Muckers* “Cactus League” 1910 Abilene (KS) Reds* Central Kansas League (D) 1911 Great Bend (KS) Millers* Kansas State League (D) Junction City (KS) Soldiers Central Kansas League (D) Nebraska City (NE) Forresters Missouri––Nebraska–Kansas League (D) 1912 Great Bend (KS) Millers* Central Kansas League (D) Columbus (NE) Discoverers* Nebraska State League (D) 1913 Great Bend (KS) Millers* Kansas State League (D) 1914 Great Bend (KS) Millers* Kansas State League (D)

the alfalfa, running for as many bases as they could. He was a better than average runner, even stealing home on occasion. He also struck out in one game but reached second base when the catcher missed the ball on the third swing and miss (a passed ball).59 After 1910, Abilene chose to forego the expense of a minor league team, so the Great Bend Millers hired Affy to manage their team in the Kansas State League. Great Bend is about 100 miles southwest of Abilene. The Millers had joined the league when it reorganized in 1909, and they lost about as many games as they won during their first two years. That changed with the arrival of Affy, who led the team to first place finishes in 1911, 1912, and 1913. Instead of returning to Arizona at the end of each season, Affy left Great Bend in 1911 to play for the Junction City Soldiers of the Central Kansas League and the Nebraska City Forresters of the Missouri–Iowa–Nebraska–Kansas (MINK) League. In 1912, Affy extended his season by managing the Columbus Discoverers in the Nebraska State League (Table 3). Baseball in Great Bend did not go as well in 1914, when the Millers finished in last place among the league’s four teams. They played their final doubleheader as a team representing , Kansas, on a neutral ballfield in Solomon, about 9 miles west of Abilene. Poor gate receipts led to financial difficulties for the organization, so the league assumed control of the team.60 With his team folding once again, Affy considered managing a proposed team in Ottawa, but the Kansas State League was unable to reorganize in 1915. His career in minor league baseball had ended.61

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During his time in the minor leagues, Affy Wilson was a well-respected manager and developer of young talent. He was popular with his players and the fans, even those in other league towns.62 After taking the Abilene Red Sox from eighth to third place in 1909, local boosters presented him with an engraved gold watch. After leading the Great Bend Millers to their third consecutive pennant in 1913, Affy was taken aback when local boosters gave him a diamond ring, “with a setting emblematic of the baseball profession. … The members of the team felt almost as proud over the fact that Affy was remembered in this fashion as though the present had been made to them.”63 Abilene newspapers noted Affy’s dedication to ensuring his players performed to their fullest potential. After taking over the Red Sox in 1909, he put “the boys through some stunts in workouts that they have not heretofore been used to.” The following year, on a day Abilene did not play, “Affy took the boys out and gave them some good, hard practice anyway.”64 His methods not only paid off in the on-field success of his players and teams, but also in the respect both earned across the region. At the close of the 1912 season, a newspaper in a competing league town observed, “The Junction City fans are glad to see the pennant go to Great Bend, for Wilson and his men were favorites here, gentlemen on and off the field, and they are ball players from the ground up.”65 In 1913, a Salina newspaper acknowledged Affy’s role in winning another pennant. “Wilson started the season with a very mediocre base ball team. … Wilson, however, stood nearly pat on his aggregation [that] opened the season and soon whipped the club into a pennant contender.”66 A Topeka newspaper also praised his coaching skills. “For three years Affie Wilson has sent numerous players to better [league] circuits. Time and again he has taken players seemingly without talent and within a year developed them into wonders.”67 Even after he moved on, fans in league towns where he played and managed fondly remembered Affy, and they sometimes visited him at his offseason home.68 According to census records from 1880 through 1920, Affy’s father, Charles, was a railroad employee, and Affy sometimes spent the offseason with his family in Kansas City, Kansas, near the railyards in the Argentine neighborhood.69 Argentine was a formerly independent city annexed by Kansas City in 1910 and was named for the local silver smelter (Latin argentum, silver), which operated from 1880 to 1901.70 After the 1914 season, Affy initially lived with his family in the Argentine neighborhood. On the 1915 Kansas census form, it appears that his occupation was listed as Base Ball, but over that was written the word Dealer. In January 1915, R. F. Wilson was granted a license to operate a pool hall on Silver Avenue. He operated the business until July 1918, when he was arrested, along with several other men, who were playing craps rather than billiards on one of the tables. Affy was released after paying a $10 fine, but his license was forfeited.71 His draft card, dated September 1918, listed him as still unemployed, but the following year, a newspaper reported that Affy was “proprietor of the Grand Hotel” on Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri.72 The 1930 federal census also recorded Affy living in Kansas City, Missouri, with his widowed mother, Sarah, and noted that he owned a “Retail Cigar Store.” Affy passed away in 1932, four years before his mother. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas. His grave is

11 marked with a simple stone engraved with three lines—“Dear Son, Robert F. Wilson, 1879 1932,” with the shield of the Modern Woodmen of America (MWA), a fraternal organization, placed between the years of his birth and death. “There Were Two Wilsons” May 8, 1945—VE Day—marked the end of World War II in Europe. In June, General Dwight Eisenhower attended a major league baseball game at the Polo Grounds in New York between the New York Giants and Boston Braves, where he chatted with the two managers. According to , “Mel Ott, manager of the Giants, asked him whether it was true that he had once played semipro baseball. The General admitted that as a youth he had done so under the assumed name of Wilson.” A Times story about the game in the same edition related the event in more detail. “As a student at college, he told [the two managers], he once played professional ball under the assumed name of ‘Wilson.’ It was in the Kansas State League, but when they asked him what position he played, he replied, ‘That’s my secret.’” The discussion “seemed to bring about a common bond of understanding among all three.” The news of Ike playing professional baseball was carried in newspapers across the country, often under its own headline among the numerous stories about his activities.73 Eisenhower commented further on his baseball experiences when he returned to Abilene a few days later. “I was a center fielder. I went into baseball deliberately to make money, and with no idea of making it a career. I wanted to go to college that fall, and we didn’t have much money. I took any job that offered me more money, because I needed money. But I wasn’t a very good center fielder, and didn’t do too well at it.”74 This version of the story differed from the first on two critical points. He mentioned his position, and instead of being “a student at college,” he played because he “wanted to go to college.” A few days after these stories were published, newspapers across the country ran a column by H. I. Phillips that used Ike’s presumed baseball career as a metaphor for his service in World War II.75 Fascination with the story had begun. The following year, an Eisenhower aide, Captain Harry C. Butcher, US Naval Reserve, published his diary, which recounted his time with the general during the war. Butcher wrote that Eisenhower spoke of being a “cowboy, boiler stoker in a creamery, and a semipro ballplayer.” (In addition to working at the creamery and tank factory, Ike had worked on the farm of “Mr. Bryan.”76) Eisenhower even had Butcher “get a couple of baseball gloves and a regulation $1.25 horsehide ball” to use for exercise.77 Another element in Ike’s baseball story occurred in 1948 but was not widely known until published by his grandson, David Eisenhower, in 2010.78 Ike was asked by Arthur “Red” Patterson, then with the Brooklyn Dodgers, “General, we have heard that you once played in the CKL [Central Kansas League] under the alias Wilson. Our records show there were two Wilsons who played in the league in 1909. I am wondering, which Wilson was Wilson and which was Eisenhower?” Eisenhower replied with a smile, “I was the Wilson who could hit,” but cautioned, “that’s between you and me.” Eisenhower is known to have made at least one reference to his baseball experiences prior to his statements during the 1940s. Tim Rives, Deputy Director of the Eisenhower

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Presidential Library, found the comment in Ike’s diary for April 10, 1930. “Up at 7:00 to get breakfast in Hutchinson. Played baseball in that city 21 years ago.”79 He did not mention the teams he played for and against, so it is unknown how he came to play here and whether or not he was paid. There was no player named Wilson on Hutchinson’s team in the Kansas State League. Their center fielder was Earl White.80 The story of Eisenhower’s experience as a professional baseball player persisted through the decades. In 1949, Henry W. Platt, Associate Editor of Coronet Magazine, asked if Ike had used the name Wilson to play 14 games as an outfielder with the Junction City team of the Kansas State League (actually the Central Kansas League in 1911). The telegram sent in response was succinct and unequivocal. “Replying to your query, the story is not, repeat not, correct. Dwight D. Eisenhower” (commas inserted for clarity).81 Ike’s longtime secretary, Ann C. Whitman, wrote what seemed to have become standard replies to letters asking Eisenhower about his professional baseball experience. “I can tell you he did not participate in major or minor league professional baseball. He was, however, a member of the Abilene High School Baseball Team in the years 1908 and 1909 and still enjoys watching the game.”82 A memo from Eisenhower’s longtime aide, Robert Schulz, stated that, “As of August 1961, DDE indicated inquiries should not be answered concerning his participation in professional baseball—as it would necessarily become too complicated” (underlined in the original). With it was a note from Ann Whitman: “DDE did play professional baseball one season to make money, he did make one trip under an assumed name (did not say whether Wilson or not). But, he says not to answer this because it gets ‘too complicated.’”83 Inquiries continued, including one from Dick Kaegel of the Sporting News on February 16, 1967. During Eisenhower’s final years, however, these requests for information were “turned aside” without responses.84 Yet the question of Eisenhower playing professional baseball before 1911 continues to be raised because he played for the Army football team until his knee injury in the autumn of 1912. At the heart of the question is whether or not Ike was eligible to play intercollegiate sports after being paid to play baseball. The assumption has been that he would not be eligible, but it is not as straightforward as has been assumed. However, this issue coincides with similar events surrounding Jim Thorpe’s performance at the 1912 Olympic Games. Six months after winning gold medals in outstanding performances in the pentathlon and decathlon, newspapers began to publish stories about Thorpe playing minor league baseball in in 1909 and 1910 under his own name. As a result, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) saw to it that Thorpe was stripped of his medals in 1913, in violation of Olympic rules limiting protests to 30 days after medals were awarded. His results—some being good enough to stand as Olympic records for several decades—were expunged. Dissent with the decision was widespread, and the definition of amateurism was hotly debated, but it was not until 1973 that the AAU restored Thorpe’s 1912 amateur status. It was not until 1983 that replicas of the medals were awarded posthumously. However, the results from his competition were not reentered into the official Olympic records.85 Interestingly, Jim Thorpe returned to the

13 football team at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the autumn of 1912 and played in a game against Army and Dwight Eisenhower.86 Both teams were members of the NCAA. It has been assumed that Eisenhower’s cryptic comments about his time playing professional baseball were based on concerns about his subsequent time playing intercollegiate football with Army, but there might have been another reason for his reticence to speak about the subject in detail, which will be presented later. The fact that he offered little information about his activities on the baseball field during his youth has certainly contributed to the confusion about what actually happened and why he refused to elaborate. This has been compounded by the similarly limited research into contemporary sources that would provide a fuller context with which to assess the historical events in light of the few facts available. Interpreting what Eisenhower said also must consider how accurate his memories were more than 30 years after the events, especially in the immediate aftermath of the mentally grueling tasks he performed during World War II. Our memories sometimes become a blend of what actually occurred, mixed with occasional errors in the narrative where we fill in details we do not remember clearly, often without realizing it. For example, in 1967 Eisenhower correctly recalled umpiring baseball games in Abilene in 1913 and 1915. He also referred to an informal league of town teams in 1913, which is incorrect. The central event—umpiring baseball games during his furlough—did occur, but the games were played by teams in an Abilene Sunday school league, a less important aspect of the story. It was during his graduation leave in 1915 that he umpired intercity games after Abilene organized a town team in late July. Similarly, being paid to play baseball under a pseudonym would be the central event well remembered, while other details are less important to the story, and memories of the various teams and leagues would be easy to conflate or confuse decades later. Late in life, Eisenhower acknowledged the challenges of recalling events accurately. “When accuracy is all important, memory is an untrustworthy crutch on which to lean. Witnesses of an accident often give, under oath, contradictory testimony concerning its details only hours later. How, then, can we expect two or more individuals, participants in the same dramatic occurrence of years past, to give identical accounts of the event?”87 There is no known evidence documenting the assertion that Eisenhower was paid to play baseball before attending West Point, and someone playing under a pseudonym would certainly have seen that as the desired outcome, whatever his reason for doing so. However, a more thorough understanding of the context in which he might have done this reduces the number of possible circumstances in which the event might have occurred. A summary of Eisenhower’s statements reported in newspapers and by his staff broadly suggests two possible events.88 In one scenario, he played center field, perhaps under the pseudonym Wilson, during one season of professional or semiprofessional baseball as a means to make money to pay for college. This was apparently before he learned early in 1911 that he would be departing for West Point in June. In the other scenario, Eisenhower made one trip to play baseball under the pseudonym Wilson on a professional team, perhaps in Hutchinson, either before he left for West Point or during

14 his four years at the Academy (while a “student at college”), presumably during his furlough in 1913. The two scenarios are not mutually exclusive events. With the information provided by Eisenhower through newspaper reporters, his aides, or others, and allowing that he might have conflated or confused events, six hypotheses describing how Eisenhower might have been paid to play baseball are examined here (Figure 1). Each hypothesis was evaluated in light of Eisenhower’s statements, what is known about his activities at the time, and the history of baseball in Abilene and elsewhere. Some of these scenarios involve Eisenhower playing for a minor league team in the Central Kansas League or Kansas State League. He specifically mentioned the latter and Red Patterson mentioned the former, but which league it might have been is unimportant. They were essentially identical organizations and would have been easy to confuse in later memories. Thus, relevant information from both leagues was examined for this study. Six Hypotheses Hypothesis One: Eisenhower signed a contract under the pseudonym Wilson to play for a league team, and he played during the regular season. Some authors have assumed this hypothesis to be true. If correct, it presumably would be supported by official league records and other contemporary accounts published in newspapers. These records included four Wilsons between 1909 and 1914, plus one additional Wilson in the Central Kansas League who was omitted from the annual league summaries.89 Two Wilsons played in the Central Kansas League in 1912. Frank “Blackie” Wilson from was signed to manage the Lyons Lions.90 Occasionally, Blackie also played in the outfield and at second base for Lyons.91 The Lions played poorly and languished at the bottom of the standings, which led Blackie to step down at the end of June.92 After leaving the team, he served as a respected umpire for the Central Kansas League through much of July before returning to baseball teams in Illinois and Iowa.93 The other league player in 1912 was “Dude” Wilson (first name undetermined). He played shortstop in six games for the Manhattan Giants at the beginning of the season and then quit. Dude was sent a contract the following year, but there is no record of him playing in 1913.94 Little else is known about him. Given that both of these Wilsons played minor league baseball in Kansas only during the 1912 season, while Eisenhower was at West Point, it is clear that neither was actually Eisenhower playing under a false name. Three Wilsons played on minor league teams during 1909, all in the Central Kansas League. All three primarily played at first base, with only occasional turns in the outfield, which was Eisenhower’s usual position. Ernest Wilson played the entire season for the Manhattan Maroons. He was from adjacent Wabaunsee County and commuted to games from St. George, less than 10 miles east of Manhattan. In 1908, Ernest and his family purchased “a residence and lots” in St. George, where his brother Fred also lived and played second base for the town team. Ernest was in his fifth year of minor league baseball. Previously he played in the outfield,

15

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Eisenhower played before played Eisenhower the after or season. regular

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semipro town team. semipro

—

a minor league team. league minor a Eisenhower played forplayed Eisenhower

Eisenhower played forplayed Eisenhower a HypothesisSix

Figure Figure 1 which Dwight Eisenhower might have played professional baseball under a pseudonym (possibly Kansas in betweenMay 1909and September 1915. Thetwo hypotheses boxes in wereconsidered plausible.

Eisenhower played Eisenhower professionalbaseball.

16 but he started the 1909 season with Manhattan at first base. After committing several costly errors, he was moved to right field in late July, but he returned to first base in late August. He also pitched in a few games for Manhattan and the St. George town team on an off day. After the 1909 season, Ernest essentially retired from minor league baseball and took up farming. However, he occasionally played for local town teams and filled in a few times as an outfielder for Manhattan, where he had again signed a contract in 1910.95 Given the detailed information published about this local player in area newspapers, it is clear this was not Eisenhower playing under contract for Manhattan. As described earlier, Affy Wilson also played primarily at first base in 1909 and afterwards for teams in the Central Kansas League and then in the Kansas State League. The general problem with suggesting he was actually Eisenhower is that Affy was not just a player but also the manager for the Abilene Red Sox (1909), Abilene Reds (1910), and Great Bend Millers (1911–1914). In addition, he was a widely known and respected manager who would have been recognized in the other league towns. This was not Eisenhower signing a baseball contract under an assumed name. It has been suggested that Eisenhower played briefly for the Junction City Soldiers of the Central Kansas League in 1911 under the name Wilson.96 Affy Wilson left for Junction City in mid-July after playing for the Great Bend Millers of the Kansas State League. The league had disbanded early, so he was free to play elsewhere that summer. A summary of player statistics published in a Junction City Daily Union on July 26 showed that “Wilson” had played nine games for the Soldiers, but the team also played briefly after that date. Affy was included in a team photo taken at the end of the season and published in the Topeka Daily Capital, although that does not prove he played in any games.97 In addition to the fact that Affy was well known to baseball fans in Junction City, the critical problem with suggesting Eisenhower borrowed Wilson’s name to sign a contract with Junction City in July is that he reported to West Point in June. Published league records at the end of the 1909 season omitted a third Wilson, who played briefly for the Abilene Red Sox. Newspapers referred to him as T. Wilson in a few box scores and game summaries, and three times he was referred to as “Ted” Wilson; the newspaper used the quotation marks each time. It is not known where he came from, but he was an early signee who played first base during preseason exhibition games and the first week of the regular season in mid-June. Manager J. W. Young suffered a shoulder injury and then a broken finger, so he was released by the team. With tight budgets, managers were expected to play. On June 21, Affy Wilson arrived in Abilene to take over as the Red Sox manager. During the next day’s game, T. Wilson was again at first base, while Affy played in right field. Affy was listed as F. Wilson, an apparent reference to his middle name, Franklin (Frank). Two days later, Ted was released, and Affy took over at first base. Eventually, Affy released all but three of Abilene’s original position players as he rebuilt the team. On July 5, it was reported that former Abilene pitcher J. Mattson returned to his home in Vesper, about 65 miles west of Abilene, and he was accompanied by Ted Wilson. A local newspaper predicted Ted would join another team, but no additional information about him has been found.98

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Although the information about Ted Wilson is limited, he was not Eisenhower playing under a false name. Ted always played first base for Abilene, not center field, where Eisenhower typically played, and which he mentioned as his position in his 1945 comments. In addition, many preseason and regular season games in which Ted Wilson played were in Abilene, where a pseudonym would have been a poor shield for Eisenhower’s identity. Six McDonnell, Eisenhower’s high school friend and teammate, recounted years later that he was not aware of Ike playing on a minor league team, as did Ike’s former high school football coach and occasional baseball teammate, Orin Snyder.99 Perhaps most damning is the fact that Ted’s departure from Abilene for Vesper coincided with Eisenhower playing in a game for the Knights of Honor in Abilene on July 5.100 These five Wilsons are the only ones known to have played during the regular season for teams in the Central Kansas League or Kansas State League between 1909 and 1914. The information available supports a conclusion that none was Eisenhower playing during the regular season after signing a league contract under the pseudonym Wilson. Hypothesis Two: Eisenhower signed a contract under a name other than his own or Wilson to play center field for a league team during the regular season. Wilson was the only false name Eisenhower mentioned, but that does not preclude his use of another pseudonym. If he did use another name, however, evidence of this is unlikely to be documented. Low-level minor league teams tried out numerous players, some of whom did not play more than a few games, and there is insufficient information about most of them that would be helpful in determining whether or not any might have been Ike. So many players were released from the Abilene Red Sox in 1909 that they organized a team referred to as Murry’s Athletes, who played against a team of league tryouts in Junction City.101 The process of selecting players continued into the regular season. An examination of 10 box scores from June 1909 in the Abilene Daily Reflector shows that the Red Sox had at least eight people in center field during the first two weeks of the season, none of whom played more than two games at that position. One became the second baseman, one became the catcher, and the other six were released. On July 6, 1909, Roy “Muggsy” Monroe, became Abilene’s regular center fielder, and he recorded 146 putouts with no errors.102 Not surprisingly, Affy brought Muggsy back as his center fielder for the entire 1910 season. Muggsy’s full minor league career as a player and manager ran from 1904 through 1912, but he only played for Affy in 1909 and 1910.103 In May 1910, Muggsy and another player from the Abilene Reds umpired a baseball game between the Abilene and Dickinson County high schools. Eisenhower worked with them as the scorekeeper at that game.104 Clearly Ike did not sign a contract to play center field for the Abilene league teams under the name Monroe. It is also unlikely that Ike played center field under another pseudonym for Abilene in June 1909 given that Six McDonnell and Orin Snider were unaware of Eisenhower playing on a minor league team. It is equally unlikely that Ike played center field for one of the other 15 league teams, which typically played about six games per week and traveled extensively.105 This would have conflicted with Eisenhower’s work schedule in Abilene and his occasional presence on the local diamond in 1909 and 1910. Thus, the

18 available information indicates Eisenhower did not play center field during the regular season after signing a league contract under a pseudonym other than Wilson. Hypothesis Three: Eisenhower tried out for a minor league team but played only during the preseason. This would be similar to the situation described for Ted Wilson or the six center fielders released by Abilene in 1909, all of whom played only a few games. It is possible that Eisenhower signed a contract under the name Wilson or another pseudonym to play for a league team but only played in preseason exhibition games (and perhaps a couple of regular season games) before being cut. As Ike said in 1945, “I wasn’t a very good center fielder, and didn’t do too well at it.”106 Under these circumstances, Ike would have played for a league team, even though he might not have played with the team in official games, and there might not be any extant record of him playing. Newspaper reports of the tryouts who were released are often incomplete or lacking, but there were exceptions. In 1909, four players with the name Wilson, in addition to the three who played during the regular season, are known from the two leagues. Three were clearly not Eisenhower based on their reported hometowns, positions, or both. Infielder Fred Wilson from Pittsburg (Kansas) was invited to try out with the Junction City Soldiers, a pitcher named Wilson tried out for the Manhattan Maroons, and infielder Tom Wilson from Sedan (Kansas) tried out for the Dukes of Wellington (Kansas State League).107 A fourth player named Wilson tried out for the Central Kansas League team in Beloit, about 70 miles northwest of Abilene, but he left for his home in early June “after a few days’ stay.” His first name, position, and hometown were not mentioned.108 In 1910, there were two known Wilsons who tried out for league teams. The Arkansas City Grays of the Kansas State League signed second baseman Ed Wilson. A ground ball struck him in the eye, causing serious injury, so he returned to his hometown of Mulberry, Kansas.109 Beloit again had a “fielder” named Wilson, who was cut before the season began. Whether or not he was the same Wilson who tried out for the Beloit team in 1909 is unknown. He also might have been the Wilson listed as a second baseman in 1910 for Beloit’s independent team of “ex-leaguers.”110 Although most of these players were clearly not Eisenhower playing under the name Wilson, there is so little information about some of the tryouts that it is impossible to know if one of them was Eisenhower. In addition, there might have been other Wilsons. Given this uncertainty, it is plausible that Eisenhower tried out briefly for a league team under the name Wilson (or another name) but was cut before the season began, which would have allowed him to return to Abilene and other employment. Failing to make the team is also the sort of detail he could be expected to omit from his stories in 1945, especially as told to the major league managers. Hypothesis Four: Eisenhower substituted during one or more regular season games for a player who had signed a contract with a minor league team. As already described, there were only three Wilsons playing during the regular season in the two leagues while Eisenhower was in Kansas. Although it is possible that Eisenhower substituted for Affy Wilson or Ernest Wilson on occasion, it seems unlikely. It is not as if Ike would be substituting for an obscure player on these teams. They were

19 both well known locally, and Affy was also the manager. Ted Wilson only played one week, so it seems unlikely anyone would have substituted for him while he was trying to retain his place on the team. The same would be true for any of the other tryouts who were cut before or immediately after the season began. In addition to the challenge of surreptitiously replacing a well-known player, doing so in an official league game could have had serious consequences for the team. To be eligible to play on league teams, the players had to sign contracts provided by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. If a league team was caught using an ineligible substitute for someone who had signed the contract (for example, Ike playing for Affy), the team would likely have to forfeit any games won in which the ineligible player participated. As an example, the 1911 Concordia Travelers had to forfeit a victory in the seven-game championship series of the Central Kansas League with the Junction City Soldiers because they used an ineligible player. He had recently left the team, and the Travelers received special permission to sign a replacement player after the signing deadline. Yet the two men later appeared together in a game.111 Given the tenuous nature of minor league teams in this era, it seems unlikely that any of the teams in either league would have risked their victories and finances in such a reckless fashion by replacing a contracted player with an unsigned substitute. Thus, the combination of the difficulties in surreptitiously replacing a well-known player during an official game and the potential consequences to the team, if caught, make it highly unlikely that Eisenhower substituted for a player who signed a minor league contract. Hypothesis Five: Eisenhower played on a team of minor league players in postseason exhibition games. It was shown earlier that Eisenhower did not play for the Junction City Soldiers in because he was already at West Point. The same would be true for exhibition games played at the close of that season, in which the manager of the Soldiers and six players, supplemented by other league players, arranged to play seven games in Wyoming and Colorado. Affy went to Nebraska City, home of Arbor Day, to play for the minor league Forresters.112 However, the Soldiers’ trip was not the only postseason trip conducted as a way for the players to earn extra money before finding other employment during the offseason. The 1961 note from Eisenhower’s secretary stating that he made one trip with a team might refer to this type of postseason tour. If Eisenhower participated in postseason exhibition games in 1909 or 1910, it likely would have been with members of the Abilene teams—players he knew and who knew him. However, in both years, the Abilene minor league teams simply disbanded when the seasons closed, with some players joining teams elsewhere.113 Thus, Eisenhower apparently had no opportunity to play in exhibition games with minor league players from Abilene in 1909 or 1910, prior to his departure for West Point in June 1911. During Eisenhower’s summer furlough in 1913, however, Affy organized a team composed of several Great Bend players supplemented by players from other league teams to play postseason exhibition games. Thus, it was the only league team to do so that year. This occurred in mid-August, immediately after the close of the Kansas State League season and shortly before Eisenhower returned to West Point. Playing under the

20 name of their championship team—the Great Bend Millers—Affy scheduled a series of three games in Hutchinson and three in Emporia, both of which would join Great Bend in the league the following year.114 If Ike played on this team for the former manager of his hometown team, it could support his claim of playing professionally for a league team and making one trip under a pseudonym. Because these were exhibition games, Eisenhower would have done so without the stigma of violating a league contract by substituting for a contracted player. At this time, Affy’s playing career was nearing its end, and he played less frequently.115 Perhaps he would have been open to someone, such as a West Point cadet he knew from Abilene, playing in his place in the 1913 postseason exhibition games. As the team’s manager, Affy presumably would have still received his share of the $50 per game the team expected to earn ($1,236 in 2017).116 However, Wilson only played in the first game of the tour in Hutchinson, and that was at first base. Guy Featherhoff of Lyons played center field in all six games.117 In addition, Eisenhower’s reference in his 1930 diary to playing in Hutchinson was for 1909, not 1913. Thus, there seems to have been no realistic possibility of Eisenhower playing in postseason games with league players in 1909, 1910, or 1913, the only years he was in Kansas at the close of the baseball seasons. The leagues were not active in 1915, while Eisenhower was in Abilene following his graduation. Hypothesis Six: Eisenhower was paid to play for a semipro town team. Semipro town teams, including those around Abilene, could field players for a full season or only occasional games. It would have been possible for Eisenhower to hold some of his regular jobs during 1909 and 1910 while playing for a nearby semipro team, which played fewer games and traveled shorter distances for games than minor league teams. He might have done so under a pseudonym to retain the option of playing at college, as was widely done (explained in the next section). Unfortunately, details about players on semipro teams around Abilene at the time are poorly documented, and no newspaper references to Eisenhower or Wilson were found in 1909 or 1910 for teams in Chapman, Enterprise, Herington, or Solomon. Oftentimes, newspapers listed only the pitchers and catchers, and sometimes not even them, although there were exceptions.118 For example, the team from Niles, an unincorporated town about 15 miles northwest of Abilene, had a center fielder named Wilson on their amateur team in 1910.119 Men from Abilene, such as pitcher Six McDonnell, occasionally played for teams in other towns. So did some members of the Abilene Sunday school league in 1913, which resulted in fines being levied against their teams because they played on Sundays, which was forbidden by league rules.120 In addition to the possibility of Ike playing semipro baseball during 1909 or 1910, he might also have made “one trip,” as his secretary noted, to play baseball in another town during his 1913 or 1915 furloughs. In the absence of information to directly support or refute the hypothesis that Eisenhower played semipro baseball, occasionally or for a full season, it is a plausible explanation for most of his statements, and it conforms to Ann Whitman’s statements in letters and the 1961 memo, which stated that Ike used a pseudonym and played professionally, but not for minor or major league teams.

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NCAA Eligibility Rules and “Summer Baseball” The question of Eisenhower playing on the Army football team after playing as a professional athlete in violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules—and hiding this fact—has been the principal impetus for several stories written about Ike’s assertion that he played professional baseball before or during his time at West Point. However, this aspect of the story is no less ambiguous than the question of whether or not Eisenhower was paid to play baseball. The NCAA held its first annual meeting in December 1906, under its original name— the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). The current name was adopted in 1910. The first president was Captain Palmer E. Pierce of the US Military Academy at West Point, and he served as president in 1905–1913 and 1918–1929. The Association was founded to deal principally with football issues, such as the alarming number of serious injuries and deaths and the use of players paid through cash or concessions.121 The use of nonstudent professionals in college football (and other sports) was an open secret that served as the central theme of the Marx Brothers’ 1932 comedy Horse Feathers. Association representatives took the issue more seriously. At the 1906 meeting, the IAAUS attempted to define amateurism and recommended eligibility rules. The Association was trying to establish a national presence by attracting more member schools, so it began cautiously by not forcing eligibility rules on all members. Instead, it sought “to enunciate clearly in the Constitution the principles of amateur athletic sports, and to oblige all institutions joining the Association to the enforcement of these principles in such a manner as the [college] faculties might deem best.”122 Students playing “summer baseball” were also on the minds of Association members, who referred the matter of “preparing rules governing summer baseball in its relation to amateur eligibility” to the Executive Committee,123 but the issue was not easily resolved. The relevant sections of the Association by-laws written in 1906 and still in place at the time of Eisenhower’s entrance into the Academy included Article VI, Principles of Amateur Sport, which dealt with prohibitions on inappropriate recruitment of athletes, use of nonstudents as athletes, unsportsmanlike conduct, and the “playing of those ineligible as amateurs.” To comply with this article, “Each institution which is a member of this Association agrees to enact and enforce such measures as may be necessary to prevent violations of the principles of amateur sports.” Schools were allowed to choose how they would ensure the appropriate amateur status of their student athletes, as explained in Article VII, Eligibility Rules. “The acceptance of a definite statement of eligibility rules shall not be a requirement of membership in this Association. The constituted authorities of each institution shall decide on methods of preventing the violation of the principles laid down in Article VI.” The seven rules listed were “suggested as a minimum,”124 and two are relevant here. Eligibility Rule 2 stated, “No student shall represent a College or University in any intercollegiate game or contest who has at any time received, either directly or indirectly, money, or any other consideration to play on any team, or for his athletic services as a

22 college trainer, athletic or gymnasium instructor, or who has competed for a money prize or portion of gate money in any contest, or who has competed for any prize against a professional.” However, the rule included an important stipulation. “In applying this rule the constituted authorities shall discriminate between the deliberate use of athletic skill as a means to a livelihood, and technical, unintentional, or youthful infractions of the rule.”125 Given the likelihood that Eisenhower only played semipro town team baseball or tried out unsuccessfully for a minor league team, “with no idea of making it a career,” this exception could reasonably be applied to his situation. Other authors have mentioned the “eligibility card” signed by student athletes, although none apparently still exists for Eisenhower.126 Eligibility Rule 7 of Article VII in the by-laws listed information that should be collected on this card. In addition to items such as the name, age, and weight of the player, along with the sport, the student athlete was asked to answer 15 questions. Two questions apply to Eligibility Rule 2. Question 2: “Have you ever at any time competed for a money prize, or against a professional for any kind of prize?” Question 3: “Have you ever received money or any other compensation or concession for your athletic services, directly or indirectly, either as a player or in any other capacity?” After completing the form, the student athlete signed his name below the statement, “On my honor as a gentleman I state that the above answers contain the whole truth, without any mental reservation.”127 The card was simply a matter of record used to support decisions made by the school to uphold the four principles in Article VI, and, as already mentioned, truthful answers by Eisenhower would not necessarily have been grounds for denying him the opportunity to play intercollegiate sports for Army, given the stipulation regarding the interpretation of Eligibility Rule 2. For the NCAA, the various opinions and levels of enforcement regarding eligibility and summer baseball continued to be a topic of discussion through the years of concern here.128 At the third annual meeting in January 1909, a formal debate was held on the question “Should any student in good collegiate standing be permitted to play in intercollegiate contests?” The primary concern was whether professional baseball players who were not legitimate students could be effectively prevented from playing on college teams if all people paid to play, even solely as a means to earn money to attend college, were not banned. There were strongly held opinions on both sides.129 Of the unidentified schools responding to an Association survey reported in December 1910 at the fifth annual meeting, 29 allowed summer baseball and 23 forbade it (at least if the student was paid). One unnamed college dropped baseball out of frustration that “summer baseball and professionalism could not be eliminated.”130 The essential point is that eligibility standards were in the early stages of being formalized and opinions varied. They were certainly viewed differently in the early 1900s than they are today, not only in college, but also in high school. Recall that Junction City High School brought in a semipro infielder to play against Abilene in 1909, and Eisenhower was allowed to play on the Abilene High School football team in 1910 while he took additional courses during the autumn after he graduated. In terms of amateurism and eligibility for intercollegiate sports, summer baseball presented a longstanding challenge to the Association.

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Even prior to the founding of the IAAUS in 1906, regional conferences and individual schools were dealing with the issue of students using pseudonyms while playing professional summer baseball. For example, a pitcher from Detroit, Michigan—Ed Reulbach—played for the Sedalia Goldbugs of the Missouri Valley League in 1902–1904, the same league and seasons in which Affy Wilson played for the Iola Gasbags. While playing for Sedalia, Reulbach used the pseudonym Bob Lawson from , where he was also playing for the University of Notre Dame. Unlike Eisenhower, however, Reulbach’s goal was a career in professional baseball. In 1905, he moved up to the major leagues, where he played well for nearly 13 seasons (1905–1917). Reulbach pitched in 399 games (starting 300), with a record of 182 wins and 106 losses, and an earned average (ERA) of 2.28. On , 1908, he threw a doubleheader shutout, the only major league pitcher to accomplish this feat.131 Deception by college students playing summer baseball under pseudonyms was a troubling problem inherited by the Association. In a presentation at the fifth annual meeting held on December 29, 1910, NCAA President Pierce described the Association’s work during the year. He included the following paragraph about summer baseball and applying the rules of college eligibility less than six months before Eisenhower reported to West Point in June 1911. The summer baseball question is still with us. As shown by the investigation made under the direction of this Association some three years ago, this is a matter that calls for most serious thought and effort. This Association does not frown upon the playing of this game for money by students, but it does object to such students concealing the fact in order to take part in intercollegiate contests. It is better to permit the practice openly than to half-heartedly attempt to enforce the rules of amateurism, knowing that the attempt causes subterfuge and deception. The moral side of this issue is undoubtedly most serious because the temptation to conceal professionalism is so great and so prevalent.132 Thus, there was considerable uncertainty about how NCAA members should deal with summer baseball, and there was latitude granted in the Association by-laws for interpreting the eligibility rules, especially as they related to college students playing summer baseball to earn money as they would in any other temporary employment. In light of this information, it would be inappropriate to assume that Ike would have felt compelled to lie on his eligibility card if there is no additional evidence to suggest he might have done so. If this assumption cannot be sustained, it renders moot the question of his potentially being expelled by a Vigilance Committee of cadets for violating the yet to be formalized Honor Code at West Point—“a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”133 Conclusions This fuller assessment of available information discredits some of the hypotheses postulated regarding Dwight Eisenhower playing baseball for a minor league team. He did not play during the regular season under the pseudonym Wilson for the Abilene Red Sox in 1909 or the Junction City Soldiers in late July 1911, as has been reported by others.

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In fact, the available evidence, in particular Eisenhower’s work schedule during 1909– 1910, suggests he did not sign a contract under the name Wilson or other pseudonym and play official games for any teams in the Central Kansas League or Kansas State League in 1909–1911. This assessment also rejects the hypotheses that Eisenhower played professional baseball with minor league players in postseason exhibition games or as an unsigned substitute during the regular season. Despite rejecting several hypotheses stipulating that Eisenhower played with a minor league team, this assessment does not provide a clear answer to the basic question of whether or not he played professionally. Ike loved to play baseball. He lamented, “Not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life,” and he dreamed as a youth of playing in the major leagues.134 Perhaps Eisenhower embellished his amateur baseball experiences for the two major league managers in 1945, which, according to the newspaper reporter, “seemed to bring about a common bond of understanding among all three.”135 Yet, he privately mentioned being a semipro ballplayer to Captain Butcher in Algiers in 1943, suggesting there is truth behind the story.136 If the general premise derived from Eisenhower’s statements that he was paid to play baseball as a young man is credible, perhaps the details of where and when he played are now beyond our knowing, as are the answers he wrote on his NCAA eligibility card. However, if we accept that general premise, this assessment offers two plausible scenarios in which this might have occurred. Perhaps Ike tried out for a minor league team but failed to survive the evaluation conducted through the preseason games (and possibly a few regular season games). Or perhaps he played on a local semipro team for a full season or on occasion. Perhaps he did both; they are not mutually exclusive. These events most likely occurred in the summer of 1909 or 1910 (or both), while he worked at the creamery or tank factory, prior to his departure for West Point in 1911 and before his serious knee injury in 1912. The statement in his diary in 1930 about playing in Hutchinson in 1909 is especially intriguing. However, receiving money to play a game or two during his 1913 summer furlough cannot be ruled out. Yet none of this would be easy or perhaps even possible to ascertain. If these scenarios are true, perhaps Eisenhower embellished or simply allowed people to assume what they wanted about his professional baseball experience and the minor leagues. He did play against a minor league team in the 1910 exhibition game, as did the 1908 Abilene Knights of Honor team and the 1910 Chapman town team. Perhaps when Eisenhower made his statements in 1945, he was caught up in the moment at a major league baseball game, enjoying a setting cherished from his youth after years of making extremely stressful decisions about so many people’s lives. If he only played against a minor league team or had an unsuccessful tryout, this might be why he was reticent to provide further details, rather than concern about discovery of a violation of NCAA rules or the Honor Code at West Point. The available information suggests the scenarios considered plausible in this study would not necessarily have excluded him from playing intercollegiate sports and led him to lie on his NCAA eligibility card, so other explanations as to why clarifying his professional experience would be “complicated” should be considered.

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While much focus has been devoted to this single aspect of Eisenhower’s baseball experiences, other details of his baseball activities in Kansas have largely been ignored by authors of the last 70 years. He was regarded as a capable and impartial umpire in games for the high school, Sunday school league, and town team in Abilene, including a no- hitter and games between local white and African American teams during the era of Jim Crow. He was an able center fielder for his high school and other local teams during the summer, playing with and against future minor league players, and against Abilene’s minor league team. He also played center field in two games that were uncommon at the time—a night game against a professional barnstorming team in 1910 and a game between segregated teams of local white and African American players in 1913. Without knowing the details of Eisenhower’s presumed experience playing professional baseball, we are also left to wonder why he would choose the pseudonym Wilson. Did he use it because Wilson was a relatively common name in the region that would not call attention to his pretense? Did he use it only in 1913, Woodrow Wilson’s first year as President of the United States? Or was it associated in some way with the successful and popular manager of his hometown minor league team, the professional baseballist widely respected for his ability to develop young talent, the gentleman known to everyone as Affy? Acknowledgments I view this article as a sort of addendum to the book Kansas Baseball, 1858–1941, published by the University Press of Kansas in April 2017. There was insufficient room for many great stories in the book, yet this story about Ike and Affy was worth telling. I realize some people would prefer the answer to the question—Did Dwight Eisenhower play professional baseball under an assumed name?—to be no more than a paragraph. Clearly, I am not one of those people. Devoting extensive time to determine the answer to a trivia question holds no interest for me. Telling a good story, on the other hand, is well worth the hours spent in research. I hope I have told a good (and accurate) story that does justice to the baseball legacies of Ike and Affy, at least as far as can be determined. I have no trouble taking Eisenhower at his word that he played baseball professionally, with understandable allowances for lapses in specific aspects of the memory. Yet I cannot document the specific circumstances under which he did so, and I am okay with that, too. However, I am reasonably confident they did not include regular season games with a minor league team, at least not beyond a possible tryout. As with all research, I had invaluable assistance. Bill Swank provided information and insight from his thorough research on Ike’s baseball experiences. Jan Johnson provided biographical information about Affy Wilson. Both also offered general discussions of the topics covered in this article that helped me sort through the mysteries. Tim Rives, Joe Tomelleri, and Jan Johnson graciously contributed their valuable time to critique the manuscript. While all of this generous input improved the manuscript, the quality of the assessments and conclusions, and any errors that remain, are solely my responsibility. The Printing Services staff at Fort Hays State University in Hays assisted with production of this monograph. Jennifer Sauer and Elizabeth Chance of the university’s

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Forsyth Library assisted with making this monograph available online. David Holbrook and Tim Rives at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene and Kathy Lafferty at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas in Lawrence assisted with research and provided digital copies of the photographs that give us a peek at Ike and Affy as they were during the period described here. Research was conducted at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene and the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka. Most newspapers were accessed online through newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/) and the TimesMachine archive of the New York Times (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/browser). Dollar equivalents were estimated with the formula at https://www.minneapolisfed.org/community/teaching- aids/cpi-calculator-information/consumer-price-index-1800 (accessed 3 July 2017). Thank you all. Sources Cited Abilene (KS) Daily Chronicle Manhattan (KS) Mercury Abilene (KS) Daily Reflector McPherson (KS) Daily Republican Alma (KS) Enterprise Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln) Alma (KS) Signal New York Times Amarillo (TX) Daily News Newton (KS) Evening Kansan-Republican Arkansas City (KS) Daily Traveler Oakland (CA) Tribune Barton County (KS) Democrat Ottawa (KS) Herald Beloit (KS) Daily Call Phoenix Arizona Republic Bisbee (AZ) Daily Review Salem (OR) Daily Capital Journal Chapman (KS) Advertiser Salina (KS) Daily Union Dickinson County (KS) News Salina (KS) Evening Journal El Dorado (KS) Republican Salt Lake City (UT) Herald Emporia (KS) Gazette Salt Lake City (UT) Deseret Evening News Enterprise Push and Enterprise Journal (KS) Sedalia (MO) Democrat Great Bend (KS) Tribune Sioux Falls (SD) Argus-Leader Hutchinson (KS) News Solomon (KS) Tribune Iola (KS) Register Topeka (KS) Daily Capital Joplin (MO) Globe Walnut Valley (KS) Times Junction City (KS) Daily Union Webb City (MO) Register Kansas City (KS) Gazette Globe Wellington (KS) Daily News Kansas City (KS) Kansan Wichita (KS) Eagle Los Angeles (CA) Times Wilkes-Barre (PA) Record Manhattan (KS) Daily Nationalist

Anderson, Lars. 2007. Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle. Random House, New York. Beschloss, Michael. 2014. “Eisenhower’s baseball secret.” New York Times, 18 July 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/upshot/eisenhowers-baseball-secret.html?_r=0 (accessed 31 May 2017). Blackie Wilson, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=wilson001bla (accessed 12 June 2017).

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Blitz, Matt. 2014. “How Dwight D. Eisenhower playing semi-pro baseball for a handful of games nearly changed American history.” http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/05/dwight-eisenhower-playing- semi-pro-baseball-changed-american-history/ (accessed 15 June 2017). Burke, Bill. 1971. “Shooting sports with BBs.” Salina Journal, 18 July 1971, p 22. Butcher, Harry C. 1946. My Three Years with Eisenhower: the Personal Diary of Captain Harry C. Butcher, USNR. Simon and Schuster, New York. Carter, W. Burlette. 2006. The age of innocence: The first 25 years of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1906 to 1931. Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law 8:211–291. http://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article= 1425&context=faculty_publications (accessed 14 July 2017). Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/bullpen/Central_Kansas_League (accessed 29 May 2017). Cieradkowski, Gary Joseph. 2015. Dwight David Eisenhower: AKA: Wilson, cf. Page 144 in The League of Outsider Baseball. Touchstone, New York. D’Este, Carlo. 2002. Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life. Henry Holt and Company, New York. Dunkel, Tom. 2013. Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Barrier. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/bullpen/Dwight_D._Eisenhower (accessed 31 May 2017). Eberle, Mark E. 2017. Kansas Baseball, 1858–1941. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. Ed Reulbach, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=reulba001edw (accessed 16 May 2017). Eisenhower, David, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower. 2010. Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961–1969. Simon and Schuster, New York. Eisenhower, Dwight D. 1967. At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends. Doubleday, Garden City, New York. Elias, Robert. 2010. The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad. New Press, New York. Ernest Wilson, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=wilson001ern (accessed 10 June 2017). Gagon, Cappy. 2017. Ed Reulbach. Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Bio Project, http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/5aceecce (accessed 18 May 2017). Great Bend, Kansas, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/bullpen/Great_Bend,_KS (accessed 11 June 2017). Hagerty, Tim. 2015. “Did President Dwight Eisenhower play professional baseball under a false name?” Sporting News, 28 February 2015, http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/ news/president-dwight-eisenhower-player-professional-baseball-junction-city- kansas/1ky2tv2ffr68z1hhzwsiiydxma (accessed 31 May 2017). Hall, Tony. 2014. Home, Home Plate on the Range. Spiritheart Publishing, Emporia, Kansas.

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Hoffman, Paul D. 1975. Chronicle of the Belle Springs Creamery Company of Dickinson County, Kansas. Abilene Printing Company, Abilene, Kansas. Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). 1906. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting. https://archive.org/details/proceedingsannu14assogoog (accessed 14 July 2017). Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS). 1909. Proceedings of the Third Annual Meeting. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039707107; view=2up;seq=1 (accessed 27 July 2017). Jenkins, Sally. 2012. “Why are Jim Thorpe’s Olympic records still not recognized?” Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-are-jim-thorpes- olympic-records-still-not-recognized-130986336/ (accessed 5 July 2017). Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/bullpen/Kansas_State_League (accessed 29 May 2017). Koetting, Thomas B. 1992. “One strike on Ike: Secret of center field could have changed history.” Wichita Eagle, 3 May 1992, p 1, 10. [Also available as “Eisenhower was a real ‘pro’ even in college,” http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-06-28/sports/ 9202270217_1_football-and-baseball-baseball-fans-intercollegiate-athletics (accessed 31 May 2017).] Landers, Chris. 2017. “Discover the secret minor league career of a young Dwight Eisenhower.” MLB.com Cut4, 20 February 2017, http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/02/20/215884914/null (accessed 31 May 2017). Light, Jonathan Fraser. 2005. The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, second edition. McFarland and Company, Jefferson, North Carolina. McDonnell, John F., and J. Earl Endacott. 1970. Interview with John F. Six McDonnell by J. Earl Endacott, historian, on February 26, 1970. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas. https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/oral_histories/oral_history_ transcripts/McDonnell_John.pdf (accessed 12 July 2017). McDonnell, Larry. 2010. Six. Insider Enterprises, Charleston, . Mead, William B., and Paul Dickson. 1997. The president who almost wasn’t. Pages 93–106 in Baseball: The President’s Game. Walker and Company, New York. Mills, Dorothy Seymour, and Harold Seymour. 1990. Baseball: The People’s Game. Oxford University Press, New York. [Dorothy Seymour Mills was added as author in 2010.] National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 1910. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (formerly the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States), December 29, 1910. https://archive.org/details/proceedingsannu26assogoog (accessed 14 July 2017). Perret, Geoffrey. 1999. Eisenhower. Random House, New York. Roy Monroe, Baseball-Reference.com, http://www.baseball- reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=monroe002r-- (accessed 13 June 2017).

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Schutt, Edwin Dale, II. 1974. “Silver City,” a history of the Argentine community of Kansas City, Kansas. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas. https://esirc.emporia.edu/handle/123456789/2565 (accessed 31 May 2017). Snider, Orin, and Walter V. Barbash. 1964. Interview with Orin Snider on October 6, 1964 by Walter V. Barbash, oral historian. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas. https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/oral_histories/oral_history_ transcripts/Snider_Orin_6.pdf (accessed 12 July 2017). Sorley, Lewis. 2009. Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System. McGraw Hill, Boston, Massachusetts. Wheeler, Robert W. 1979. Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete, revised edition. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Endnotes 1 Mead and Dickson. 1997:95. 2 Eberle 2017. 3 Life, 2 July 1945, p 17.  Los Angeles Times, 23 June 1945, p 3.  New York Times, 20 June 1945, p 3, 18; 23 June 1945, p 5.  Wichita Eagle, 23 June 1945, p 2, 4. 4 Koetting 1992. 5 Anderson 2007:174–175.  Beschloss 2014.  Blitz 2014.  Cieradkowski 2015:144.  D’Este 2002:53.  Dunkel 2013:19.  Eisenhower and Eisenhower 2010:48–49.  Elias 2010:52, 161.  Hagerty 2015.  Hall 2014:11–13.  Koetting 1992.  Landers 2017.  Light 2005:746.  Mead and Dickson 1997:93– 100.  Mills and Seymour 1990:263. 6 Blitz 2014.  Cieradkowski 2015:144.  Hagerty 2015.  Koetting 1992.  Landers 2017. 7 Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 , p 4.  Eberle 2017:7–9. 8 Eberle 2017:82–88. 9 Eberle 2017:124–127. 10 Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com.  Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com. 11 McPherson Daily Republican, 20 May 1908, p 4; 29 May 1908, p 4. 12 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 8 January 1909, p 4. 13 Eberle 2017:36–42. 14 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 14 January 1909, p 4. 15 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 14 January 1909, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 14 January 1909, p 4. 16 Abilene Daily Reflector, 11 , p 3; 12 February 1909, p 3. 17 Abilene Daily Reflector, 12 June 1909, p 3. 18 Eberle 2017:133–136. 19 Abilene Daily Reflector, 30 , p 3. 20 Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 April 1909, p 4. 21 Eberle 2017:8. 22 Abilene Daily Reflector, 11 June 1909, p 3. 23 Eberle 2017: 155–157, 192–194. 24 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 29 April 1910, p 4.  Walnut Valley Times, 14 July 1911, p 2.  Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com.  Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com. 25 Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com.  Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com. 26 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 6 September 1910, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 11 April 1910, p 3; 6 September 1910, p 3; 10 , p 4; 13 February 1911, p 2; 18 February 1911, p 4, 30 , p 3; 13 June 1911, p 3.  Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com.  Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com.

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27 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 3 October 1908, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 28 May 1908, p 4; 27 March 1909, p 2.  Salina Evening Journal, 2 May 1908, p 3. 28 Abilene Daily Reflector, 3 May 1909, p 3; 22 May 1909, p 3; 24 May 1909, p 3; 27 May 1909, p 3; 29 May 1909, p 2. 29 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Post-Presidential Papers, 1961–1969, Secretary’s Series, Box 1, DDE Drafts (2). Draft letter to David Eisenhower, 18 April 1965. 30 Hoffman 1975:13.  McDonnell and Endacott 1970. 31 D’Este. 2002:51–58.  Eisenhower 1967:103–104.  Perret 1999:36–43. 32 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 20 June 1910, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 27 May 1909, p 3; 29 May 1909, p 2; 3 June 1909, p 2; 5 June 1909, p 3; 12 June 1909, p 3; 31 May 1910, p 3; 6 , p 3.  Junction City Daily Union, 24 May 1910, p 3; 25 June 1910, p 3.  Manhattan Mercury, 17 June 1910, p 1. 33 Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 June 1909, p 4; 6 July 1909, p 4. 34 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 25 April 1910, p 4; 13 May 1910, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 29 April 1910, p 5. 35 Abilene Daily Reflector, 10 August 1910, p 3.  Dickinson County News, 11 August 1910, p 1. 36 McDonnell 2010:59–89. 37 Eberle 2017:140–143. 38 Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 June 1910, p 3; 23 June 1910, p 4; 24 June 1910, p 3. 39 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 17 August 1910, p 4; 23 August 1910, p 4. 40 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 20 August 1908, p 4.  Chapman Advertiser, 23 June 1910, p 1. 41 Abilene Chronicle, 13 June 1910, p 4.  Dickinson County News, 16 June 1910, p 1.  Solomon Tribune, 16 June 1910, supplement. 42 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 1 November 1910, p 4; 5 November 1910, p 8; 12 November 1910, p 8; 23 November 1910, p 3.  D’Este. 2002:57. 43 Abilene Daily Reflector, 28 , p 5.  McDonnell 2010:60. 44 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 27 August 1913, p 3.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 19 , p 3; 28 May 1915, p 8.  D’Este. 2002:51–58.  Eisenhower 1967:21–22.  Perret 1999:36–43. 45 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 4 , p 4.  D’Este 2002:80–81.  Eisenhower 1967:14–15.  Perret 1999:49–50, 55–56. 46 Eisenhower 1967:21–22. 47 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 31 March 1909, p 3.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 17 April 1909, p 4. 48 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 21 , p 4; 4 June 1913, p 4; 9 June 1913, p 4; 11 June 1913, p 4; 25 June 1913, p 4; 26 June 1913, p 3; 2 , p 4; 9 July 1913, p 4; 25 July 1913, p 2; 29 July 1913, p 4; 6 August 1913, p 2.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 26 June 1913, p 4; 20 August 1913, p 2. 49 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 12 August 1913, p 4; 14 August 1913, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 12 August 1913, p 2; 14 August 1913, p 3. 50 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 6 July 1915, p 2; 29 July 1915, p 4; 21 August 1915, p 4; 23 August 1915, p 3; 4 September 1915, p 4; 7 September 1915, p 4; 10 September 1915, p 3.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 August 1915, p 3; 23 August 1915, p 3; 28 August 1915, p 3; 4 September 1915, p 3; 7 September 1915, p 3.  Eisenhower 1967:21–22. 51 Bisbee Daily Review, 14 September 1909, p 5; 23 September 1909, p 5.  Great Bend Tribune, 1 , p 1. 52 Abilene Daily Reflector, 25 June 1909, p 3; 15 June 1910, p 4.  Bisbee Daily Review, 1 October 1907, p 5; 14 September 1909, p 5; 23 September 1909, p 5.  Great Bend Tribune, 9 December 1910, p 7; 15 July 1911, p 3; 1 June 1912, p 1; 9 , p 4; 5 , p 2; 13 August 1913, p 3; 21 , p 1.  Hutchinson News, 10 April 1907, p 7.  Iola Register, 29 , p 8; 31 , p 4; 17 September 1904, p 2; 9 March 1905, p 6.  Junction City Daily Union, 31 July 1911, p 3; 1 August 1911, p 4; 18 August 1911, p 4.  Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News, 17 September 1900, p 7.  Topeka Daily Capital, 1 August 1911, p. 2.  Webb City Register, 2 July 1908, p 1. 53 Iola Register, 17 September 1904, p 2.

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54 Bisbee Daily Review, 1 October 1907, p 5; 14 September 1909, p 5; 23 September 1909, p 5.  Hutchinson News, 21 September 1907, p 9; 27 September 1907, p 6; 19 June 1908, p 4.  Iola Register, 17 September 1904, p 2; 30 November 1908, p 6.  Salt Lake City Herald, 23 , p 3; 3 September 1900, p 3. 55 Hutchinson News, 27 September 1907, p 6; 19 June 1908, p 4.  Wichita Eagle, 11 August 1907, p 3; 29 November 1908, p 7. 56 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 26 April 1910, p 3.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 June 1909, p 3; 22 June 1909, p 3.  Great Bend Tribune, 12 April 1911, p 1; 15 July 1911, p 3; 1 June 1912, p 1; 9 August 1912, p 4; 13 August 1913, p 3; 21 April 1914, p 1; 29 May 1915, p 1. 57 Abilene Daily Reflector, 21 June 1909, p 3; 22 June 1909, p 3; 24 June 1909, p 3; 29 June 1909, p 3; 26 August 1909, p 3. 58 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 18 March 1910, p 3; 22 August 1910, p 2. 59 Abilene Daily Reflector, 29 June 1909, p 3; 7 July 1909, p 3; 29 July 1909, p 3. 60 Great Bend Tribune, 13 August 1913, p 3; 31 , p 2.  Salina Evening Journal, 3 , p 5.  Central Kansas League, Baseball-Reference.com.  Great Bend, Kansas, Baseball-Reference.com.  Kansas State League, Baseball-Reference.com. 61 Great Bend Tribune, 29 May 1915, p 1.  Ottawa Herald, 22 February 1915, p 6. 62 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 1 September 1909, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 26 August 1909, p 3; 3 September 1909, p 3.  Hutchinson News, 27 September 1907, p 6; 9 July 1909, p 3.  Iola Register, 17 September 1904, p 2.  Junction City Daily Union, 9 August 1912, p 1.  Manhattan Mercury, 13 June 1913, p 4.  Salina Daily Union, 13 August 1913, p 4. 63 Abilene Daily Reflector, 3 September 1909, p 3.  Barton County Democrat, 15 August 1913, p 1.  Great Bend Tribune, 14 August 1913, p 2. 64 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 16 June 1910, p 4.  Dickinson County News, 24 June 1909, p 1. 65 Junction City Daily Union, 9 August 1912, p 1. 66 Salina Daily Union, 13 August 1913, p 4. 67 Topeka Daily Capital, 12 , p 2. 68 Great Bend Tribune, 29 May 1915, p 1; 21 October 1919, p 6.  Hutchinson News, 19 June 1908, p 4.  Iola Register, 12 October 1909, p 8. 69 Abilene Daily Reflector, 3 September 1909, p 3.  Great Bend Tribune, 6 October 1913, p 3.  Iola Register, 17 September 1904, p 2.  Salina Daily Union, 11 April 1911, p 3. 70 Schutt 1974:21, 28, 32–34. 71 Kansas City Gazette Globe, 5 January 1915, p 1.  Kansas City Kansan, 16 July 1918, p 1. 72 Great Bend Tribune, 21 October 1919, p 6. 73 Amarillo Daily News, 20 June 1945, p 4.  Joplin Globe, 20 June 1945, p 5.  New York Times, 20 June 1945, p 3, 18.  Oakland Tribune, 20 June 1945, p 11.  Phoenix Arizona Republic, 20 June 1945, p 10.  Salem Daily Capital Journal, 20 June 1945, p 3.  Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, 20 June 1945, p 9. 74 Los Angeles Times, 23 June 1945, p 3.  New York Times, 23 June 1945, p 5.  Wichita Eagle, 23 June 1945, p 2, 4. 75 Nebraska State Journal, 25 June 1945, p. 4.  Phoenix Arizona Republic, 24 June 1945, p 6.  Wilkes-Barre Record, 25 June 1945, p 6. 76 Eisenhower 1967:103. 77 Butcher 1946:251, 317. 78 Eisenhower and Eisenhower 2010:48–49. 79 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Pre-Presidential Papers, 1916–1952, Guayule Diary, Miscellaneous Series. 80 Hutchinson News, 7 May 1909, p 3; 23 June 1909, p 3; 10 July 1909, p 3; 21 July 1909, p 3; 16 August 1909, p 3.  Earl White, Baseball-Reference.com.

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81 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Pre-Presidential Papers, 1916–1952, Principal File, Box 19, Corn–Courtn (Misc.), DDE telegram on 14 February 1949 to Henry W. Platt, Associate Editor, Coronet Magazine. 82 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Presidential Papers, 1953–1960, 1960, President’s Personal File, PPF 1–A–1, Box 6, Folder 1959–60, Ann C. Whitman letters responding to questions about DDE playing professional baseball. 83 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Post-Presidential Papers, 1961–1969, Convenience File, Box 1, DDE-Personals, Memorandum by Colonel Robert Schulz about DDE playing semi-pro baseball, 3 August 1961. 84 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Post-Presidential Papers, 1961–1969, 1967 Principal File, Box 33, PR-3-8 Requests for Information, Jan.–Mar. 1967 (1), John E. Wickham to Robert Schulz, 2 March 1967, regarding a letter from Dick Kaegel, Sporting News. 85 Jenkins 2012.  Koetting 1992.  Wheeler 1979:vii–viii, 78–80, 99–113, 141–152. 86 Anderson 2007. 87 Eisenhower Presidential Library, Post-Presidential Papers, 1961–1969, Augusta-Walter Reed Series, Writing a Memoir, 7, Folder: Writing a Memoir, Latest Draft Only. 88 Koetting 1992. 89 El Dorado Republican, 14 July 1911, p 1.  Salina Evening Journal, 18 August 1914, p 5.  Topeka Daily Capital, 27 August 1909, p 2; 26 September 1909, p 18; 23 September 1910, p 2; 22 , p 2; 15 August 1911, p 2; 11 , p 2; 27 August 1913, p 2. 90 Salina Daily Union, 13 , p 5. 91 Great Bend Tribune, 4 June 1912, p 4.  Junction City Daily Union, 19 June 1912, p 3.  Manhattan Mercury, 17 June 1912, p 2.  Salina Daily Union, 14 June 1912, p 7; 15 June 1912, p 7. 92 Junction City Daily Union, 26 June 1912, p 2. 93 Great Bend Tribune, 11 , p 4; 12 July 1912, p 4; 13 July 1912, p 4; 15 July 1912, p 4.  Junction City Daily Union, 17 July 1912, p 3.  Manhattan Daily Nationalist, 27 June 1912, p 1.  Newton Evening Kansan-Republican, 9 July 1912, p 3.  Salina Daily Union, 8 July 1912, p 5; 10 July 1912, p 7, 22 July 1912, p 5.  Salina Evening Journal, 4 July 1912, p 5; 5 July 1912, p 5.  Blackie Wilson, Baseball- Reference.com. 94 Junction City Daily Union, 9 , p 4.  Manhattan Daily Nationalist, 16 May 1912, p 2; 21 , p 1.  Manhattan Mercury, 9 May 1912, p 5; 13 May 1912, p 3; 16 May 1912, p 2.  Topeka Daily Capital, 11 September 1912, p 2. 95 Alma Enterprise, 25 December 1908, p 8; 23 July 1909, p 8; 28 January 1910, p 8; 8 , p 8.  Alma Signal, 17 April 1908, p 1; 5 September 1912, p 1; 24 July 1913, p 1.  Manhattan Daily Nationalist, 14 August 1909, p 1.  Manhattan Mercury, 9 June 1909, p 1; 15 June 1909, p 4; 16 June 1909, p 4; 17 June 1909, p 4; 18 June 1909, p 4; 19 June 1909, p 4; 23 June 1909, p 4; 24 June 1909, p 4; 25 June 1909, p 4; 26 June 1909, p 4; 28 June 1909, p 4; 29 June 1909, p 4; 30 June 1909, p 4; 1 July 1909, p 4; 5 July 1909, p 4; 6 July 1909, p 4; 9 July 1909, p 4; 12 July 1909, p 4; 14 July 1909, p 4; 15 July 1909, p 4; 16 July 1909, p 4; 17 July 1909, p 4; 19 July 1909, p 4; 20 July 1909, p 4; 21 July 1909, p 4; 22 July 1909, p 4; 23 July 1909, p 4; 26 July 1909, p 4 ; 27 July 1909, p 4; 28 July 1909, p 4; 29 July 1909, p 4; 11 August 1909, p 4; 12 August 1909, p 4; 13 August 1909, p 4; 14 August 1909, p 4; 17 August 1909, p 4; 19 August 1909, p 4; 20 August 1909, p 4; 21 August 1909, p 4; 23 August 1909, p 4; 24 August 1909, p 4; 25 August 1909, p 4; 27 August 1909, p 4; 28 August 1909, p 4; 24 May 1910, p 4; 25 May 1910, p 4.  Ernest Wilson, Baseball-Reference.com. 96 Blitz 2014.  Cieradkowski 2015:144.  Hagerty, 2015.  Hall 2014:11–13.  Landers, 2017.  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Baseball-Reference.com. 97 Great Bend Tribune, 15 July 1911, p 3.  Junction City Daily Union, 26 July 1911, p 3; 31 July 1911, p 3; 1 August 1911, p 4.  Topeka Daily Capital, 1 August 1911, p 2. 98 Abilene Daily Chronicle, 12 April 1909, p 4; 9 June 1909, p 4; 12 June 1909, p 4; 17 June 1909, 4; 21 June 1909, p 4; 24 June 1909, p 4.  Abilene Daily Reflector, 22 May 1909, p 3; 27 May 1909, p 3; 1 June 1909, p 2; 5 June 1909, p 3; 10 June 1909, p 3; 12 June 1909, p 3; 15 June 1909, p 3; 16 June 1909,

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p 3; 17 June 1909, p 3; 19 June 1909, p 3; 21 June 1909, p 3; 22 June 1909, p 3; 5 July 1909, p 3; 26 August 1909, p 3. 99 Burke 1971.  Snider and Barbash 1964 100 Abilene Daily Reflector, 5 July 1909, p 3; 6 July 1909, p 4. 101 Abilene Daily Reflector, 4 June 1909, p 3. 102 Abilene Daily Reflector, 7 July 1909, p 3; 24 September 1909, p 8. 103 Roy Monroe, Baseball-Reference.com. 104 Abilene Daily Reflector, 13 May 1910, p 4. 105 Arkansas City Daily Traveler, 19 April 1910, p 6.  Great Bend Tribune, 17 April 1909, p 4.  Salina Daily Union, 5 April 1909, p 7.  Salina Evening Journal, 19 April 1910, p 5. 106 Los Angeles Times, 23 June 1945, p 3.  New York Times, 23 June 1945, p 5.  Wichita Eagle, 23 June 1945, p 2, 4. 107 Junction City Daily Union, 13 March 1909, p 1.  Manhattan Mercury, 31 May 1909, p 1; 1 June 1909, p 4.  Wellington Daily News, 2 April 1909, p 1; 8 April 1909, p 1; 15 April 1909, p 1. 108 Beloit Daily Call, 7 June 1909, p 2. 109 Arkansas City Daily Traveler, 18 March 1910, p 7; 4 April 1910, p 6; 15 April 1910, p 6; 18 April 1910, p 6; 28 April 1910, p 6; 29 April 1910, p 7; 30 April 1910, p 6. 110 Beloit Daily Call, 30 April 1910, p 1; 10 June 1910, p 4. 111 Junction City Daily Union, 29 July 1911, p 1. 112 Junction City Daily Union, 31 July 1911, p 1; 18 August 1911, p 4.  Topeka Daily Capital, 1 August 1911, p 2. 113 Abilene Daily Reflector, 3 September 1909, p 3; 22 August 1910, p 3. 114 Great Bend Tribune, 14 August 1913, p 3. 115 Great Bend Tribune, 26 May 1914, p 2; 6 , p 1; 18 June 1914, p 1; 22 June 1914, p 2; 27 June 1914, p 2. 116 Emporia Gazette, 14 August 1913, p 5. 117 Emporia Gazette, 19 August 1913, p 2; 20 August 1913, p 2; 21 August 1913, p 2.  Hutchinson News, 16 August 1913, p 3; 18 August 1913, p 3. 118 The following newspapers in Dickinson County were checked for amateur or semipro teams on which Dwight Eisenhower or “Wilson” played: Abilene Daily Chronicle, Abilene Daily Reflector, Abilene Democrat, Chapman Advertiser, Dickinson County News, Enterprise Push and Enterprise Journal, Herington Sun, Herington Times, and Solomon Tribune. 119 Salina Evening Journal, 12 May 1910, p 5; 13 May 1910, p 7. 120 Abilene Daily Reflector, 18 June 1913, p 4.  Enterprise Push and Enterprise Journal, 24 June 1909, p 3. 121 Carter 2006:214–230.  IAAUS 1906:12. 122 Carter 2006:214–230.  IAAUS 1906:12. 123 IAAUS 1906:26–27. 124 Carter 2006:222–223.  IAAUS 1906:33–34.  NCAA 1910:67–68. 125 Carter 2006:222.  IAAUS 1906:34.  NCAA 1910:68. 126 Koetting 1992. 127 Carter 2006:223–224.  IAAUS 1906:35–36.  NCAA 1910:69–70. 128 NCAA 1910:9–24. 129 IAAUS 1909:53–72. 130 NCAA 1910:23–24. 131 Sedalia Democrat, 30 May 1902, p 8; 17 , p 1; 15 , p 9; 4 March 1904, p 1; 6 April 1905, p 5; 17 May 1905, p 8.  Ed Reulbach, Baseball-Reference.com.  Gagon 2017. 132 NCAA 1910:39. 133 Sorley 2009:7–57. 134 Mead and Dickson. 1997:95.  Mills and Seymour 1990:322. 135 New York Times, 20 June 1945, p 18. 136 Butcher 1946:317.

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You can learn more about the early history of baseball in Kansas in the book Kansas Baseball, 1858–1941, published in 2017 by the University Press of Kansas and available in paperback or e-book through bookstores and online retailers. The book answers many questions about the state’s place in baseball’s early days. Did an armed “Wild Bill” Hickok umpire a contentious 1866 ballgame between Kansas City and Atchison? What county first supported competition among women’s town teams in 1911, the same year the Kansas legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution granting universal suffrage to female voters? Which African American team from Wichita defeated a Ku Klux Klan team in 1925? What role did Kansas play in the advent of nighttime baseball in 1930? The book explores the early game played by hundreds of town teams, as well as teams of women, African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans. Also described are the Kansas minor leagues and the major league tours, along with the histories of nine towns still playing baseball in the state’s oldest ballparks constructed between 1924 and 1940.