An Exciting Game in a Different Era

After another exhibition win on July 5 and a rainout of a league game on the 6^th, Fargo returned to regular action against Grand Forks, visiting the Senators’ park for a four game series. Playing some of their best ball of the season, hopes were high for the Divorcees. A fine matchup was in store for the cranks that day, as Deacon Phillippe faced Senator ace Charlie Hutton. A collision in the previous series with Wahpeton gave Hutton a stiff arm, but it did not seem to bother Grand Forks’ young talent. The crafty lefty struck out the side in the third inning on his way to seven punch outs against just one walk. Each team scored once in the fifth inning, but in the sixth Grand Forks scored twice and the Divorcees just once to claim a 3-2 lead. Neither team put a run across the plate in the seventh or eighth inning. Entering the ninth, Fargo needed one run to tie and two runs to win. Unlike modern day games, the home team did not always bat last in the Red River Valley League of 1897. On that day, the Divorcees came to bat last with a chance for a walk-off win. Two men were out when Josh Reilly strode confidently to the plate and knocked a single into center field.* Following the Fargo second sacker was the pitcher Phillippe, who came to the plate batting 0 for 9 for the season. The Deacon picked a fine time for his first hit. Hutton put one over the center of the plate, and Phillippe clobbered it over the right field fence for a game-ending two-run homerun. The Grand Forks fans were stunned. Phillippe’s clutch hit, his quality pitching, and a fine defensive performance led the Fargo club to a win in the opener. (Forum July 8).  

*(Reilly, before his at bat, rubbed the head of Fargo’s mascot Oscey Gordon for good luck. To understand Reilly’s action, it is first helpful to be aware that the conception of a mascot in that era was far different from what it is today. Frank Fitzpatrick explains it this way: “The (mascot) custom grew out of a patronizing society's ignorant belief that the more socially outcast one was, the greater his worth as a good-luck charm. Humpbacks; dwarfs; those with crossed eyes; the mentally ill; and, of course, blacks and Indians were widely seen as talismans. It wasn't long until superstitious sports teams were cruelly using them for that purpose.” This description surely fit Fargo’s mascot Oscey Gordon, who was black, probably a child, with a full head of hair. Reilly’s action of rubbing the black boy’s head was commonly believed to bring good luck and was a tactic even employed by the great hitter and notorious racist Ty Cobb.)

“The disturbing history of baseball's mascots” Philadelphia Enquirer online – June 22, 2014 http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20140622_Giving__Em_Fitz__The_disturbing_history_of_baseball_s_mascots.html

The Color Barrier in the Red River Valley League

From 1890 to 1946, the exclusion of black players from major league baseball was an unwritten rule. This stark reality, however, didn't prevent blacks from competing on town teams, and from eventually forming their own leagues. In the Red River Valley, a black man named "Bish" Dorsey played prominently throughout the late 1890s with Grand Forks teams. But the versatile Dorsey was conspicuously absent from the Red River Valley League of 1897. He appeared in some exhibition games that summer with amateur local teams, but did not appear for the Grand Forks Senators. Since the Red River Valley League of 1897 was officially sanctioned by the National League, it is likely that influence from league officials kept Dorsey out of uniform.

While prejudice in baseball was widespread, the role of Adrian "Cap" Anson in the segregation of baseball was in no way minor. One of baseball's brightest stars in the late 1800s, Anson was in his 27th season as a player in 1897, also serving as manager of the Chicago Colts of the National League. The man sometimes called "Pop" was highly regarded as one of the game's wise and influential veterans. During Anson's prime years in baseball, he refused to play against Moses Fleetwood Walker, a black minor leaguer, on at least two separate occasions. Cap was unsuccessful in preventing Walker's inclusion in an 1883 exhibition game, but succeeded in keeping Walker out of an 1888 contest. Not long after the second incident, the unofficial color line was drawn by the National League and American Association, preventing future participation of blacks at baseball's highest level for over a half century. The color barrier would significantly limit opportunities for blacks in the minor leagues, as well, as it undoubtedly did with Bishop Dorsey in the summer of 1897.