An potentially astonishing integrated baseball find... tell me what you think!

[AstroJake09]

Hi all,

Bear with me as this story is somewhat lengthy and this whole post could be wishful thinking on my part but stick around and tell me what you think...

One of my favorite things to do is what I call "sleuthing." It's when I find an obscure historical item, photograph or game used item and try to identify or photo-match it. As I'm sure many of you have seen my recent posts regarding one of my favorite ball players, Quincy Trouppe. The reason why I am a fan of Trouppe is less known. That reason is because he was a member of the 1935 Bismarck Churchills. The Churchills were an integrated semi-pro team from Bismarck, North Dakota. The team was comprised of among others, stars from the Negro Leagues. Names such as Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, and Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe among others,

The Churchills gained fame by winning the inaugural National Baseball Congress Semi-Pro Championship in Wichita, Kansas and doing it with an integrated roster. It was said that the 1935 team was one of the best teams in the country and that included the talent within the Major Leagues. In fact the year prior in 1934 the Churchills barnstormed against the very best of the MLB's all-stars as they made their way across the country as they traveled to play in Japan. The Churchills playing as a combined team along with Jamestown and Valley City swept the big leaguers causing one player to remark "I knew there were a lot of good colored players. I just didn't know they were all in Bismarck!"

Having family ties to North Dakota and visiting there often during the summers as a kid, I knew the tale of the time that Satchel Paige pitched for a local team. It wasn't until I got to college that I had to write a research paper for a history class and chose Paige's mythical North Dakota squad, the 1935 Bismarck Churchills, as my topic, that I learned more about them, their success and significance. After I soaked up all I could on the team and had written my paper I began to search for cards and memorabilia related to the team. However my searches were often as dry as the dust bowl from which the Churchills emerged. Outside of the stars with a huge following like Paige, there wasn't much out there. That is until I stumbled across something recently...

Every once in a while I will do a quick search on eBay with the key words being "1935 National Baseball Congress" or "1935 semi-pro baseball" in the hopes that a ticket or a program might pop up relating to the Churchills. There is a ton of memorabilia from the tournament dating from the 40s and 50s but hardly any from the 30s, so it's often a crap shoot. However, I recently came across a photo (Type-1 I believe) from The Sporting News archives described as being from the tournament and as being taken at Maluta Municipal Stadium. Immediately I began to search online for other photographs of the stadium where the tournament was played in 1935 and it turns out that it had been played at Lawrence Dumont Stadium in Wichita, Kansas every year from 1935 until 2018 when the stadium was torn down. After looking at various period photographs of Lawrence Dumont stadium I was able to see some similarities with the main one being the roof. That is when I stumbled upon a 1940s postcard showing the stadium. On the postcard I could make out distinct on field light towers as well as smaller lights on the roof as well as spaced between each section along the bleachers of the 3rd base side. In addition, I looked at the cursive description on the reverse side of the photo in question and discovered that "Maluta" was in fact "Wichita," so there was another correct aspect. The listing had simply been mislabeled. With this evidence I knew I had the right ballpark, now what about the team?

I zoomed in on the team in the dugout as the players at the plate looked to be ghosts (possible over exposure?) As I began to survey the men there, I noticed that the players on the left side of the dugout appeared to be African-American while the players on the right side appeared to be both African-American and white. An integrated team. Now, why the two teams shared a dugout or were so close to one another, I do not know, however it should also be noted that there were three all black teams that were also invited to the tournament as well. This new information gave me a likely opponent. I was blown away and began to get pretty excited. I then took a look at the uniforms and although grainy the uniforms of the team on the right side of the dugout are in the correct pattern of the Churchills grey jersey/pants set and black hats, even down to the white socks and black stirrups as well as the white sleeves on some of the players. I then went to a copy of the only known team photo taken just before the team left for the tournament in Wichita and counted eleven players.Two other players Ed Hendee and Chet Brewer are not pictured. Brewer was tabbed as a replacement and had traveled with the team but was not present in the photograph, while Hendee was kneeling out of frame, thus making it a total of thirteen players. In the photo that I discovered there are twelve players in matching uniforms and a batter at the plate. In the Bismarck team photo, team manager Neil Churchill can be seen wearing a white shirt and in the mystery photo towards the right side of the dugout there is a white man kneeling forward, observing the game and wearing a white shirt. The man in the dugout makes logical sense and looks to be the same build as Churchill.

Now nowhere does this photograph say that it is the 1935 Bismarck Churchills pictured or identify much outside of the year, location and tournament. However, Bismarck was the only integrated team at that tournament and after doing my research, I strongly believe in my own opinion that the photograph does show the 1935 Bismarck Churchills as they battled for the semi-pro tournament, whether it be earlier in the bracket or in the championship itself. As for the team they are playing, it certainly appears to be one of the all black teams, possibly the Denver White Elephants or Memphis Red Sox. Due to the limited number of players shown on the all black team, I believe that they are playing defense while the Churchills are at bat. Also, there is a man sitting in front of “Churchill” with a towel around his neck and appears to be holding a hat or glove in his hands. I think that there is a possibility that this might be Satchel Paige himself as he pitched a majority of the innings for Bismarck during the tournament and if the Churchills are at the plate, Paige would have been sitting at that moment.

At the very least, this photo shows Lawrence Dumont Stadium and a game of the inaugural NBC Tournament in 1935, which in itself is something I have found few, if any surviving photos of.

I am extremely excited to share this find and am curious to see what others think.

Jake