A special presentation by a notable author on the historic Kansas City Monarchs baseball team and how they revolutionized baseball as founding members of the National Black League will be an event to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Hiawatha.
Celebrated author and historian Phil S. Dixon will talk about the Kansas City monarchs during a special presentation at 6 p.m. on Monday, January 17 at the Fisher Community Center in Hiawatha. It will spotlight great players such as Wilbur “Bullet” Rogan, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson – connecting the spirit of the Monarchs to the many Kansas communities in which they have played.
The event is co-sponsored by the Morrill Public Library, Brown County United and McPeak Optometry. Masks will be required at this event, which will also be broadcast live.
Dixon interviewed over 500 players, wives and their offspring for a unique perspective on the American and Black League baseball experience. He is the recipient of an SABR MacMillan (Society of American Baseball Researchers) Award for excellence in historical research and is best known for his 7 non-fiction books which include “The Negro Baseball Leagues A Photographs History, 1867-1955 , “a Casey Award Winner for Best Baseball Book of the Year in 1992.
According to the Major League Baseball website archives, the Kansas City Monarchs were one of the most famous and successful clubs in the Black Leagues, winning an unprecedented 10 league pennants, in addition to several flags in the Black Leagues. black and American national leagues.
The Kansas City Monarchs, formed by white businessman JL Wilkinson in 1920 from his barnstorming All Nations team, have suffered only one losing season during their entire association with the Negro Leagues. The Monarchs were the first Black League ‘world champions’ after defeating Hillday in the organization’s first World Series in 1924 and won their second world championship with a victory over the Homestead Grays in the first edition of the World Series reestablished in 1942.
With the withdrawal of the First Black National League in the late 1920s, the Kansas City monarchs struggled to survive. Wilkinson mortgaged everything he owned to buy a portable lighting system that first introduced nighttime games to professional baseball. These nightly games helped the monarchs continue to function during the years of the Great Depression. Wilkinson also loaned the lighting system to other rival clubs, struggling to survive as well.
The KC Monarchs have visited the Midwest, West and even parts of Canada. The Monarchs were a founding member of the newly formed Black American League in 1937 and it was after this that the team signed superstar pitcher Satchel Paige. He was recovering from an arm injury that nearly ended his career and became the Monarchs’ top player in the early 1940s.
According to the MLB website, notable alumni besides Satchel Paige included James “Cool Papa” Bell, Turkey Stearnes, Newt Allen, Jesse Williams, Bonnie Serrell, Wilber Rogan and Buck O’Neil – all names whose fans baseball will fondly be remembered. . O’Neil became the first black coach in the big leagues. Kansas City has also produced other future Major League stars including Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks.
The Major League Baseball Black League Archives contributed to this article.
