Tom "Circus" Mooney & the Yakima Giants (1922-26)

Tom "Circus" Mooney was an African American right handed pitcher on the West Coast for more than a decade. He pitched for quite a few teams, the Salt Lake Occidentals and Los Angeles White Sox of the California Winter League, before he moved to Yakima, Washington in the early 1920's.

He integrated the Yakima Police Department nine in the cities' six team Twilight Commercial League in 1922. The league also had as segregated team, the Yakima Giants, but he did not pitch for them until 1923, and only did so as a consequence of the following incident:

“Tom Mooney, Pitcher on the Police Department’s Team, Is Caught Gambling by Police Chief. Tom Mooney, dark twirler for the police baseball nine, forfeited bond of $25 in police court this morning rather than face his teammates and plead against a charge of gambling…. The fact that the police team’s one and only pitcher was himself in the very act of playing the ‘bones’ was the true tragedy. The police nevertheless plan to play him in their next game, which is against the Colored Giants, a colored team.” 6-29-22, Yakima Daily Republic

Up-and-down the West Coast many examples of pre-Robinson integration can be found in city leagues, industrial leagues, and even minor league baseball. Was the West Coast more progressive towards integration, or was this phenomena not regionally specific, and why? Please discuss, all reasonable opinions welcomed, thank you.

[btcarfagno]

Don't forget the Bismarck North Dakota teams of the early to mid 1930's. Possibly the greatest pre-Robinson integrated team in history.

Tom C

Great point Tom, I am not familiar with the Bismarck team. Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming also had some integrated teams. I probably should have said "west of the Mississippi" to include the Great Plains/Rockies states.

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by pariah1107

Great point Tom, I am not familiar with the Bismarck team. Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming also had some integrated teams. I probably should have said "west of the Mississippi" to include the Great Plains/Rockies states.

Quincy Trouppe
Double Duty Radcliffe
Hilton Smith (for a little while)

And a pitcher who went by the name of Satchel.

Tom C

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Quincy Trouppe
Double Duty Radcliffe
Hilton Smith (for a little while)

And a pitcher who went by the name of Satchel.

Tom C

WOW! Nice lineup! I love this site, that helped me out on a couple fronts. I had previously assumed the only catcher to be a battery mate of Satchel Paige and Jimmy Claxton was Smiley Clayton, but I'll add Double Duty Radcliffe to the list as well (Claxton/Radcliffe were teammates on the 1931 Chicago Union Giants). Thank you Tom.

While not nearly as impressive as the Bismarck nine, another example in the Western United States was the 1938 Reno Brewery Sudsmakers of the Western Nevada League; seven black ballplayers on the 18 man roster; Jimmy Claxton, Smiley Clayton, Foy Scott, Douglas Thompson, John Dewberry, Eddie Claxton, and Jack Tanner. More examples?

Jackie Robinson has been put on a pedestal. It's too simplistic to say he integrated baseball alone. There are tens of examples of players who integrated the game, even professional baseball, well before his time on both coasts. Unfortunately they are ignored, and one man has monopolized the accolades. To say Jackie Robinson was the first to integrate professional baseball is moronic, might as well say Christopher Columbus "discovered" America.