| French Lick Plutos | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| League |
|
| Location | French Lick, Indiana |
| Year established | 1912 |
| Year disbanded | 1914 |
The French Lick Plutos were an early independent Negro league baseball club, which was based in French Lick, Indiana, from 1912 to 1914. [1] They were alternately known as the Red Devils.
The Plutos were based in French Lick, Indiana, at the French Lick Springs Hotel and frequented the West Baden Springs Hotel in nearby West Baden Springs.
Their name derived from a bottled water produced at the Hotel. The Hotel bordered on a local salt lick and mineral spring and the minerals from the spring made the water act as an effective and marketable natural laxative. The product was branded as "Pluto Water" with an image of a red devil on the label. Their frequent rivals, the West Baden Sprudels, came from a hotel on that took water from the very same spring, and sold it as "Sprudel Water".
Throughout their history, the Plutos' roster included players such as Todd Allen, Mule Armstrong, Bingo Bingham, Sam Crow, Dizzy Dismukes, Bingo DeMoss, Henry Hannon, Dan Kennard and Harry Moore, among many others who would go on to become members of the Negro National League.
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West Baden Springs is a town in French Lick Township, Orange County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 574 at the 2010 census. It is well known for its West Baden Springs Hotel and for being the birthplace of Larry Bird.
Thomas Taggart was an Irish-American politician who was the political boss of the Democratic Party in Indiana for the first quarter of the twentieth century and remained an influential political figure in local, state, and national politics until his death. Taggart was elected auditor of Marion County, Indiana (1886–1894), and mayor of Indianapolis. His mayoral administration supported public improvements, most notably the formation of the city's park and boulevard system. He also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee (1900–1916) and as its chairman (1904–1908). Taggart was appointed to the U.S. Senate in March 1916, but lost the seat in the November election.
Pluto Water was a trademark for a strongly laxative natural water product which was marketed in the United States in the early 20th century. The water's laxative properties were from its high native content of mineral salts, with the active ingredient listed as sodium and magnesium sulfate, which are known as natural laxatives. The water's high native content of mineral salts generally made it effective within one hour of ingestion, a fact the company emphasized in their promotional literature. Company advertisements stated the laxative was effective from a half-hour to two hours after ingestion. In 1919, it took 450 railroad cars to transport the bottler’s output.
French Lick Resort is a resort complex in the Midwestern United States, located in the towns of West Baden Springs and French Lick, Indiana. The 3,000-acre (12 km2) complex includes two historic resort spa hotels, stables, a casino, and three golf courses that are all part of a $500 million restoration and development project.
The West Baden Springs Hotel, formerly known as the West Baden Inn, is part of the French Lick Resort and is a national historic landmark hotel in West Baden Springs, Orange County, Indiana. It is known for the 200-foot (61 m) dome covering its atrium. Prior to the completion of the Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1955, the hotel had the largest free-spanning dome in the United States. From 1902 to 1913 it was the largest dome in the world. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the hotel became a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and one of the hotels in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Historic Hotels of America program.
William S. Monroe was an American infielder in baseball's Negro leagues. He was also known by the nickname of "Money." During a 19-year career from 1896 to 1914, he played on many of the greatest teams in black baseball. He was a good hitter and slick fielding third base and second baseman who was compared to major league star Jimmy Collins. Monroe played all four infield positions, but spent his prime seasons at third base and second base.
William Augustus Bowles was a physician, landowner, and politician from French Lick, Orange County, Indiana. He is best remembered for establishing the first French Lick Springs Hotel, a mineral springs resort hotel in the 1840s, and platting the town of French Lick, Indiana, in 1857. Bowles, a Democrat, served two terms in the Indiana state legislature. During the Mexican–American War he became a colonel in the 2nd Indiana Volunteer Regiment and joined in the Battle of Buena Vista (1847). An outspoken advocate of slavery as an institution, Bowles was sympathetic to the South during the American Civil War. In 1863 Harrison H. Dodd, leader of the Order of Sons of Liberty (OSL) in Indiana, named Bowles a major general for one of four military districts in the state's secret society that opposed the war. Bowles also played a role in the Indianapolis treason trials in 1864, when he and three others were convicted of plotting to overthrow the federal government. Following his release from prison in 1866, Bowles returned to Orange County, Indiana, where his failing health continued to decline in the years prior to his death.
The French Lick Springs Hotel, a part of the French Lick Resort complex, is a major resort hotel in Orange County, Indiana. The historic hotel in the national historic district at French Lick was initially known as a mineral spring health spa and for its trademarked Pluto Water. During the period 1901 to 1946, when Thomas Taggart, a former mayor of Indianapolis, and his son, Thomas D. Taggart, were its owners and operators, the popular hotel attracted many fashionable, wealthy, and notable guests. The resort was a major employer of African-American labor, which mostly came from Kentucky.
John Boyce Taylor was the second-oldest of four baseball-playing brothers, the others being Charles, Benjamin, and James. Taylor was a pitcher and played in professional pre-league and Negro league baseball from 1903 to 1925.
The West Baden Sprudels were an early Negro league baseball team that played as an independent club owned by the Burnett-Pollard-Rogers Baseball Club Company, where Edward Rogers was the Chief Officer.
John "Sam" Crow was a pre-Negro leagues Infielder for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. He is often listed as the "Indian" on the All Nations baseball team, insinuating that Crow comes from Indigenous heritage.
Daniel Kennard was a Negro leagues catcher for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League, and in its first few seasons.
Lawrence Simpson was a Negro leagues pitcher for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. He pitched for the West Baden Sprudels, the Indianapolis ABCs, and the Chicago Union Giants.
Henry Mack McLaughlin was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1910s.
James Lynch was an American Negro league outfielder in the 1910s and 1920s.
Ted Kimbro was an American Negro league infielder in the 1910s.
Benjamin Jester Lyons was an American Negro league first baseman in the 1910s.
Jerome Ambrose Lewis was an American Negro league infielder who played in the 1910s.