Bismarck Churchills

Last updated
Bismarcks
Information
League
  • Independent
Location Bismarck, North Dakota
Year established1930s
Year disbanded1930s

The Bismarck team was an integrated semi-professional baseball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota, in the 1930s. The team played independently of any league because its mixed-race roster was a problem in a period of segregation, and because there were no formal leagues at the semi-professional level in North Dakota in the 1930s. The team was owned by Neil Churchill, a local car dealer who owned the city's Chrysler dealership, and regularly played against Valley City, Jamestown, and other teams across North Dakota and Manitoba.

The club won the 1935 National Baseball Conference semi-pro baseball tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Churchill raided other teams of their top players and stockpiled a team of Negro league and minor league all-stars. Hall of Fame Negro leaguers Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith led the team, along with Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe and, of the white Sioux City Cowboys, Vernon "Moose" Johnson. [1]

Although the club is erroneously recalled as the "Churchills" today, the team was not formally named in the 1930s, as North Dakota newspapers such as the Bismarck Tribune simply referred to the club as the "Bismarcks" in 1935.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satchel Paige</span> American baseball player and coach (1906–1982)

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cool Papa Bell</span> American baseball player

James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game. Stories demonstrating Bell's speed are still widely circulated. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He ranked 66th on a list of the greatest baseball players published by The Sporting News in 1999.

The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team, previously known as the Crawford Colored Giants, was named after the Crawford Bath House, a recreation center in the Crawford neighborhood of Pittsburgh's Hill District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Monarchs</span> Negro League baseball team in Kansas City, Missouri

The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J. L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any major league team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro League World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season in which they did not have a winning record. The team produced more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was disbanded in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilton Smith</span> American baseball player

Hilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Radcliffe</span> Baseball player

Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe was a professional baseball player in the Negro leagues. An accomplished two-way player, he played as a pitcher and a catcher, became a manager, and in his old age became a popular ambassador for the game. He is one of only a handful of professional baseball players who lived past their 100th birthdays, next to Red Hoff and fellow Negro leaguer Silas Simmons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Robinson (baseball)</span> American baseball player

William L. "Bobby" Robinson was an American Negro league baseball player. He was known as the "Human Vacuum Cleaner" because of his fielding ability at third base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East–West All-Star Game</span>

The East–West All-Star Game was an annual all-star game for Negro league baseball players. The game was the brainchild of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1933 he decided to emulate the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, using Negro league players. Newspaper balloting was set up to allow the fans to choose the starting lineups for that first game, a tradition that continued through the series' end in 1962. Unlike the white All-Star game which is played near the middle of the season, the Negro All-Star game was held toward the end of the season.

The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and joined the Negro National League in 1936, and remained in the league through 1948.

The Jamestown Red Sox were an integrated semi-professional baseball team based in Jamestown, North Dakota, in the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Churchill</span> American baseball executive and mayor

Neil O. Churchill was a car dealer in Bismarck, North Dakota who funded an integrated baseball team in the mid-thirties more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia Stars (baseball)</span> Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.

The Mineola Black Spiders, also called the Texas Black Spiders, were an independent, generally all-black baseball team. They originated in and were loosely based from Mineola, Texas.

The Manitoba-Dakota League was an independent baseball league based in Manitoba and North Dakota that was founded in 1950. It became the home for many African-American and Latino players. The league lasted through the 1957 season. It was known informally as the Mandak League or Man-Dak League. The league originated as the Manitoba Senior Baseball League founded in 1948, with Jimmy Dunn as its president.

The Mobile Tigers, a semi-professional baseball team composed entirely of African-American players based in Mobile, Alabama. It was one of several Black baseball teams based in Mobile during the same period and was a training ground for at least three players who later joined the Negro leagues.

Bismarck Municipal Stadium is a baseball stadium in Bismarck, North Dakota. Built in 1921, the stadium was reconfigured in 1992 and renovated again in 2014.

The Bismarck-Mandan Pards were a minor league baseball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota in partnership with neighboring Mandan, North Dakota. The Bismarck–Mandan Pards played as members of the Northern League from 1962 to 1964 and in 1966. Previous Bismarck minor league teams played as members of the 1922 Dakota League, 1923 North Dakota League and the Manitoba-Dakota League from 1955 to 1957. The Bismarck–Mandan Pards were a minor league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins from 1962 to 1964 and Houston Astros in 1966. Bismarck hosted home minor league games at the Bismarck Municipal Ballpark

The Minot Mallards were a minor league baseball team based in Minot, North Dakota. Earlier Minot teams preceded the Mallards and played as members of the 1917 Northern League and 1923 North Dakota League. Beginning play in 1950, the Mallards played as members of the Manitoba-Dakota League (1950–1957), Northern League and Prairie League (1995–1997), winning seven league championships in their history. The Mallards hosted minor league home games at Corbett Field and were a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians from 1958 to 1960 and Kansas City Athletics in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannonball Berry</span> American baseball player

Timothy Mike "Cannonball" Berry, also nicknamed "Showboat Mike", was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues.

References

  1. Eriksmoen, Curt (20 January 2007). "1935 Bismarck team was one of the best". The Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved 31 May 2020.