J. L. Wilkinson

Wilkinson at the Negro National League annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, January 28, 1922

Owner

Born: May 14, 1878
Algona, Iowa

Died: August 21, 1964 (aged 86)
Kansas City, Missouri

Batted: unknown

Threw: unknown

Teams

All Nations (1912–1917)
Kansas City Monarchs (1920–1948) ^[1]

Career highlights and awards

Served as secretary of the Negro National League.
His Monarchs teams won ten league pennants and two Black World Series championships.
Organized the first night game in baseball history, played on April 29, 1930
Signed Jackie Robinson in 1945.

Member of the National

Baseball Hall of Fame

Inducted

2006

Election Method

Committee on African-American Baseball

James Leslie Wilkinson (May 14, 1878 - August 21, 1964) was an American sports executive who founded the barnstorming All Nations baseball club in 1912, and the Negro league baseball team Kansas City Monarchs in 1920.

Early life

Born in Algona, Iowa, Wilkinson was a promising pitcher until he hurt his throwing wrist. He turned to team ownership and management, parlaying a promotional flair into an association with the game that lasted more than 50 years.

Team ownership

In 1909, he developed a women's baseball team—possibly with a few men in drag—to draw up to 2,000 fans to a covered grandstand moved around the Midwest by train. A team band whipped up tunes for crowds, a male catcher wrestled all comers and a brown bulldog served as the mascot. Town teams throughout Iowa and surrounding states faced Wilkinson's gimmick-laden squad.

In 1912, he founded the multi-racial All Nations team in Des Moines, Iowa. The team consisted of whites, blacks, Polynesians, Asians, Native Americans and – at one time – a woman. As did Wilkinson's first venture, it also had a team band and a number of other promotions, but featured a number of athletes of major league calibre, including John Donaldson and José Méndez. He moved the team to Kansas City, Missouri in 1915, and the team continued to barnstorm in the upper Midwest for a few years after the Monarchs were born, still fulfilling its original role but also serving as a farm team for the Monarchs.

When the Negro National League was founded in February 1920, Wilkinson built the Monarchs from the best of the All Nations team, and from the 25th Infantry Wreckers, an all-black U.S. Army team that starred Bullet Rogan, having received a scouting tip about the team from fellow Kansas Citian Casey Stengel. Wilkinson was the only white team owner trusted by Rube Foster when the Negro National League was founded; Wilkinson became a trusted member of Foster's inner circle. Stories were told by his players that during the Depression, Wilkinson would bunk with his coaches and players when the team was on the road and hotels were short of rooms.

Wilkinson was the first owner in the league to secure the services of African American Umpires for the Negro National League and by 1923, at least six Umpires were non-white.^[1] During his ownership, the Monarchs won ten league titles and participated in four Negro League World Series, winning in 1924 and 1942.

In 1930, Wilkinson's Monarchs became the first professional team to play night baseball, using a portable set of lights. Wilkinson also signed Jackie Robinson to his first professional contract, in 1945.

Death and legacy

He sold the Monarchs in 1948, and died in poverty in a Kansas City nursing home. "Wilkie", as he was affectionately known to players, sportswriters and fans, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

References

1 2 "Monarchs Open 1923 Season Tomorrow at Association Park" The Kansas City Advocate, Kansas City, KS, Page 1 and 3

External links

Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2006

BBWAA Vote	Bruce Sutter (76.9%)

Veterans Committee	none

Committee on African-American Baseball	Ray Brown Willard Brown Andy Cooper Frank Grant Pete Hill Biz Mackey Effa Manley José Méndez Alex Pompez Cumberland Posey Louis Santop Mule Suttles Ben Taylor Cristóbal Torriente Sol White J. L. Wilkinson Jud Wilson

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Tracy Ringolsby

Ford C. Frick Award	Gene Elston

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Cummings Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young

Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Piazza Santop Schalk D. White

First basemen	Anson Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas

Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Grant Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst

Third basemen	Baker Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Santo Schmidt Traynor J. Wilson

Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Outfielders	Aaron Ashburn Averill Bell Brock W. Brown Burkett Carey Charleston Clarke Clemente Cobb Combs Crawford Cuyler Dawson Delahanty DiMaggio Doby Duffy Flick Goslin Griffey Gwynn Hafey Hamilton Heilmann Henderson Hill Hooper Irvin R. Jackson Kaline Keeler Kelley K. Kelly Kiner Klein Mantle Manush Mays McCarthy Medwick Musial O'Rourke Ott Puckett J. Rice S. Rice F. Robinson Roush Ruth Simmons Slaughter Snider Speaker Stargell Stearnes Thompson Torriente L. Waner P. Waner Wheat B. Williams T. Williams H. Wilson Winfield Yastrzemski Youngs

Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda López Mack McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams

Executives / pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Dreyfuss R. Foster Frick Giles Gillick Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley O'Malley Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey

Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

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