John Donaldson (pitcher) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids John Donaldson |
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| Pitcher / outfielder | |||
| Born: February 20, 1891 Glasgow, Missouri, US |
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| Died: April 14, 1970 (aged 79) Chicago, Illinois, US |
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| debut | |||
| 1908, for the Glasgow, Missouri Hannaca Blues | |||
| Last appearance | |||
| 1949, for the Lehigh, Iowa | |||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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John Wesley Donaldson (born February 20, 1891 – died April 14, 1970) was an amazing American baseball pitcher. He played in the Pre-Negro leagues and later the Negro leagues. His career lasted over 30 years! He played for many teams, like the All Nations team and the Kansas City Monarchs. Experts have found records for 718 games where Donaldson pitched. He won over 420 games and had 5,221 strikeouts. Many people say he was the best pitcher of his time.
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Baseball Stats: How Good Was He?
Researchers have looked closely at John Donaldson's career from 1908 to 1940. Old newspaper reports show how skilled he was. Even though some games don't list his strikeouts, we know a lot about his amazing performance.
Donaldson won 424 games and lost only 169. He had 15 ties, which means he won almost 70% of his games! He also had 5,221 strikeouts and a very low ERA of 1.37. An ERA tells you how few runs a pitcher lets opponents score. He also had 86 shutouts, where the other team scored no runs. He finished 296 out of 322 games he started, which is super impressive!
Donaldson pitched 14 no-hitters, where no one on the other team got a hit. He even pitched two perfect games, where no one reached base at all! He also had many games with just one hit allowed. In some games, he struck out 30 batters, and he had 11 games with more than 25 strikeouts. He was also a good hitter, with a .334 batting average.
Early Baseball Days
John Donaldson started his baseball journey near his hometown of Glasgow, Missouri. In 1908, he played for the Missouri Black Tigers. Then, from 1909 to 1910, he joined the Hannaca Blues, an all-Black team from Glasgow.
Playing for the Tennessee Rats
In 1911, Donaldson pitched for Brown's Tennessee Rats. This team was special because they traveled with a group called "Brown's Tennessee Minstrels." The players would play baseball during the day. Then, in the evening, they would put on a show for their audience.
Donaldson quickly became known as a fantastic pitcher. He reportedly won 44 games and lost only 3 that season. One amazing game saw him strike out 31 batters in 18 innings! He also had a game with 27 strikeouts and four games where he struck out 19 batters.
Joining the All Nations Team
In 1912, Donaldson signed a contract to pitch for the World's All Nations team. They were based in Des Moines, Iowa. He earned $150 a month, which was good money back then! This team was unique because it had players of different races, and even a female player named Carrie Nation. This mix of players worked well. The All Nations team traveled all over the Midwest from 1912 to 1917.
In 1915, Donaldson was incredible. He struck out about 18 batters per game. In one long 18-inning game, he struck out 30! He struck out over 500 batters for three years in a row. Even though many of his games were against semi-professional teams, he also did very well against top professional teams. Other managers and players often talked about his great talent.
Before the Negro National League started in 1920, Donaldson and his teams played baseball all year. They played in the Midwest, and also as far west as Los Angeles and as far east as Palm Beach, Florida.
In 1948, J. L. Wilkinson, who owned the Kansas City Monarchs, said Donaldson was "one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived, white or black." He also said that Donaldson suggested the name "Monarchs" when Wilkinson was forming his team in 1920.
Playing for the Kansas City Monarchs
After World War I, J. L. Wilkinson started the Kansas City Monarchs in 1920. John Donaldson, who was 29, joined as a pitcher and center fielder. Some say he even came up with the name "Monarchs." A newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri even reported that Donaldson would manage the team. But in the end, José Méndez became the manager. Donaldson played with the Monarchs on and off throughout the 1920s.
Donaldson also played part-time with other semi-pro barnstorming teams. These teams traveled around playing games. For at least two years, Donaldson managed and played for a new All Nations team. This team helped train new players and earn money for Wilkinson's main team, the Kansas City Monarchs. Players would sometimes play for All Nations one week and then for the Monarchs the next. Over 5,000 people would sometimes come to watch these exciting games.
Life After the Negro Leagues
What's really impressive is that Donaldson played in small towns in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Canada. Sometimes, he was the only Black player on a local semi-pro team. Even during the Great Depression, Donaldson made a good living traveling and playing baseball. He often played against white Major League players and did very well. New York Giants manager John McGraw once said, "I think he is the greatest I have ever seen."
Baseball historian Pete Gorton said that John Donaldson's friendly personality and strong character helped fight against the unfairness of his time. Gorton noted that Donaldson was "covered by the media and adored by the fans and had an outstanding career on the baseball diamond."
A fan wrote a letter to a newspaper in Melrose, Minnesota, in 1928. The fan said, "Two-thirds of the attendance at Melrose wanted to see Donaldson, the great. They did not come because they wanted to see the Melrose or Scobey ball teams, but they wanted to see Donaldson, the master of base ball." This shows how popular he was!
By the late 1930s, Donaldson was mostly playing semi-pro ball. In 1939, Satchel Paige asked him to play in the Upper Midwest again. Donaldson would be the star pitcher on days when Paige wasn't pitching. Newspapers said that even though Donaldson was older (around 48, though they often lied about age back then), he still had enough experience to trick batters. The last known professional game Donaldson pitched was in 1940 against the House of David baseball team.
After more than 30 years as a player, Donaldson retired in 1941. He settled in Chicago. Some historians believe he worked for the U.S. Postal Service. He still made appearances in less serious games as late as 1949, even in his late 50s.
Becoming a Major League Scout
Even though John Donaldson never got to play in Major League Baseball during his career, he made history in another way. In 1949, he became the first full-time Black talent scout in the big leagues for the Chicago White Sox. He worked for them into the 1950s. He looked for talented players like Willie Mays and Ernie Banks. He is also known for signing several important Negro league players, including Bob Boyd and Sam Hairston.
Fun Stories About Donaldson
Some research suggests that famous pitcher Satchel Paige learned a lot of his pitching style from Donaldson. Donaldson's barnstorming tours (traveling to play games) happened 20 years before Paige's.
Elden Auker, a former Major League pitcher, played against Donaldson in 1929. Auker was 95 years old when he shared this story in 2006: "I played against Donaldson in 1929. I was in college, and we played at an Arapaho Indian reservation in Kansas. I pitched against Paige and I won, 2–1. Donaldson played center field. Donaldson got out in center field and squatted like a catcher," Auker said. "The Monarchs had a catcher named Young, and he squatted behind home plate, and they played catch from 300 feet. They threw the ball on a line. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it." This shows how strong Donaldson's arm was!
His Lasting Legacy
When he was 60 years old, Donaldson was voted a first-team member in a 1952 poll by the Pittsburgh Courier. This poll asked players to name the best Negro league players ever.
John Donaldson passed away from bronchial pneumonia at age 79 in Chicago. He is buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. For a long time, his grave didn't have a headstone. But in 2004, Jeremy Krock raised money to place a proper headstone through the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project. This project has helped put headstones on over 20 other unmarked graves of Negro league players.
In 2005, Donaldson was nominated for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. However, in 2006, he didn't get enough votes to be chosen.
In 2010, an old film from August 16, 1925, was found. It shows Donaldson playing in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The 39-second film shows him facing off against Joe Jaeger, a pitcher who played for the Chicago Cubs. Ads for that game called Donaldson "the colored wonder pitcher." As of 2016, a team of researchers called "The Donaldson Network" has found records of Donaldson's 5,081 career strikeouts and 413 career wins as a pitcher.
On November 5, 2021, he was again chosen for the final ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Early Days Committee. He received eight out of the twelve votes needed for the Class of 2022.
