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Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Once Upon A Summer 9/14/1918: Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Tietjen and Lang Club; John Donaldson and the Backdrop of WWI

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS & THE DONALDSON NETWORK



On Saturday, September 14, 1918, the Brooklyn Royal Giants played the Tietjen and Lang Shipbuilders team.  This was a return match for John Donaldson, who, on Sunday, August 18, took the loss in a 5-2 contest at Nurge's Field.  Unfortunately, a full account of this game is yet to be found.  The Friday, September 20, 1918, edition of the Jersey Journal, Jersey City, reports the Royal Giants defeated the Tietjen and Lang club but no score is provided.


The backdrop to the 1918 season is, of course, the World War raging in Europe.  Major League baseball played an abbreviated season.  The Brooklyn Dodgers ended their 126 game season on September 2 at Philadelphia.  The Yankees managed 123 games.  

Due to the government's edict of Work of Fight, many industrial aggregations, such as the New York Ship League Team, Bethlehem Steel, Morse Dry Dock, and the Tietjen and Lang team, were very well fortified with major league talent.  In fact, in a similar situation, it was the Brooklyn Royal Giants who handed the Camp Mills Soldiers their first defeat this season.  Otherwise, some players, like St. Louis' first baseman George Sisler, elected instead to fight.

As noted in the above news clip, the Tietjen and Lang club this day would have featured former Yankee Hal Chase, New York Giant George Burns, and Ollie O'Mara from the Dodgers.  When Tietjen and Lang last played the Royal Giants, they featured from the Yankees pitchers Hank Thormahlen and  
Ray Caldwell, and outfielders Ping Bodie from the White Sox and Paul Smith, formerly with Cincinnati.

Beyond the realm of Negro teams and their respective stars and future Hall of Famers and the strong local semipros, this further attests to a discernible and representative level of professional competition the 27-year old John Donaldson faced during is his only venture East.

Before he arrived in Brooklyn, John Donaldson had authored no less than eight no-hitters, his most recent coming on July 16, 1917, at Julesburg, Colorado.  Among other teams, Donaldson most notably played for J.L. Wilkinson's All-Nations, Kansas City Colts, the winter league Los Angeles White Sox, and Indianapolis ABCs. 


On Sunday, September 15, the Brooklyn Royal Giants return to Dexter Park.  They will play a twin bill against Bushwick, who will feature former major league pitcher Lefty Russell, joined by the aforementioned Ollie O'Mara, shortstop Babe Ellison formerly of Detroit, and Casey Stengel of the Pirates.




ONCE UPON A SUMMER, 1918: JOHN DONALDSON'S LONE SEASON WITH THE BROOKLYN ROYAL GIANTS

LHP - JOHN DONALDSON'S PITCHING RECORD w/ BROOKLYN:
  1. 6/30/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 W, 2 K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
  2. 7/4/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 0 RUNS, 5 hits, 1 W, 6 K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
  3. 7/7/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 2 W, 2 K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
  4. 7/14/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 1 W, 5 K (Bushwick; Dexter Park)
  5. 7/16/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 4 runs, 14 hits, (?) W, 6 K* (Atlantic City; Bacharach Park, N.J.)
  6. 7/21/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits, 4 W, 1 K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
  7. 7/28/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 9 runs, 16 hits, 2 W, 3 K (Silk Sox; Doherty's Oval, N.J.)
  8. 8/11/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 2 runs, 13 hits, (?) W, (?) K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
  9. 8/18/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, (?) W, 4 K (Tietjen & Lang; Nurge's Field, N.J.)
  10. 8/24/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 8 runs, 19 hits, 1 W, 2 K (Morse Dry Dock; Brooklyn)
  11. 9/1/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 4 runs, 14 hits, (?) W, (?) K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
  12. 9/2/1918 - (L) 2 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 W, 1 K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
  13. 9/4/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 6 runs, 7 hits, (?) W, (?) K (Camp Mills, Garden City, NY)
  14. 9/14/1918 - (W) No account vs. Teitjen and Lang Ship Club (Nurge's Field, N.J.)
  • LINE: 110 innings, 51 runs, 128 hits13 walks, 31 strikeouts, 4.17 ERA 
BEDFORD & SULLIVAN PODCAST:
Restoring Baseball Great John Donaldson's Lost Legacy With Negro Leagues Historian and Founder of The Donaldson Network, Peter Gorton.

Minnesota native Peter Gorton leads a group of historians dedicated to discovering the lost legacy of John Wesley Donaldson.  In this episode, we discuss the man, baseball career, and life of one of the more incredible and inspiring athletes to ever play the game, and how his amazing legacy became lost to a nation, most particularly Baseball's Hall of Fame.  

Original airdate: March 13, 2021




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