AN INSIDE VIEW OF NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL: Told Through Humorous Short Stories and Wise Observations from an Elite Giant, Don Troy

By Belinda Cole-Schwartz

Get a first person look inside 1940’s negro-league baseball, as told through detailed, poignant, and humorous letters and journals of Baltimore Elite Giant pitcher, Donald Troy.

Turn back time and step into the first-hand account of Donald Troy, a pitcher for the Baltimore Elite Giants. View this unique time in the 1940’s America, as told through detailed, poignant, and humorous letters and journals of Baltimore Elite Giant pitcher, Donald Troy.

A behind the scenes look at how life was for the negro-league players. From bat boy to ballplayer Donald Troy’s experience as a negro-league baseball player is a rare and detailed glimpse into segregated America. A first-hand account from 1940’s America when black professional athletes are pushing to be accepted in the Major league.

Read about negro-league Baseball legends such as Roy Campanella, Henry Kimbro, George Scales and many more. Includes photos and official documents including acceptance letters, pay stubs, and player’s contracts. From injuries to locker room antics and everything in-between, grab a hot dog and peanuts and dive into these personal stories.

Published by Fulton Books and compiled by Belinda Cole Schwartz this book brings the author’s father’s baseball stories to light, bridging history and humor through personal human connection.

The author states "I hope as you read these pages, you discover a greater understanding of baseball and particularly Negro League Baseball as played in the 1940’s. I anticipate you will feel the joy of his friendships and often comical interactions with those involved in the game; as well as a chance to consider the pain and hardships that were inflicted on Blacks in the south during era of Jim Crow."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638606178

Book preview

AN INSIDE VIEW OF NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL

Told Through Humorous Short Stories

and Wise Observations

from an Elite Giant, Don Troy

Compiled by:

BELINDA COLE-SCHWARTZ

With Special Recognition to

MARY LORENCE

Copyright © 2022 Belinda Cole-Schwartz

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

ISBN 978-1-63860-616-1 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63860-618-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63860-617-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To Everyone who loves the game of baseball And especially to those who want the inside story of the Negro Leagues

A very special thank you to my late husband Harold Schwartz, for his support in putting this book together, Makoto Cole for his tech expertise and Mary Lorence, a dear friend, who is a significant contributor to Don’s writings

Contents

Introduction—Belinda

Don and Pen Pal—Mary Lorence

California Kid’s Baseball Career

GRAPHICS

Acceptance Letter 1

Baseball Players Contract

Cover letter for contract

Letter of interest

Newspaper Clippings

Excerpts from the Waiakea Pirates Speech

STORY 1

Sneaking into Ballparks

GRAPHICS

Letter to Mom and Dad on the Road

STORIES AWAY FROM HOME

The Refrigerator Balls’

Ted Williams Barnstorming and the Hidden Ball

Doc Moses

Roy and Ray Collide

Fighting with Campy

The Scoop On Pay

Jim Crow in the Men’s Room

Wrestling with Weary

A Good Day for a Wild Prank

Runaway Bus

Archie and Don Misbehaving

Meet Candy Jim Taylor—Just Being Himself

Kimbro Didn’t Mess Around

Submarine Moss Dies

Tony and His Bangs

The Strike

Baseball Nightmare

Yokely Sleeps

Pop Ups (As Written to Mary)

GRAPHICS

Wedding engagement photo

Letters to Alma

Letters to Alma text

GRAPHICS

Images of Youth

Wedding Photo

Wedding Party

Baseball Warm up

Baltimore Elite Giants Team Photo

Claudius Troy (Father of Don) Baseball Team

Baltimore Elite Giants Team Photo (Pitchers)

Don, Alma, Daughter, and Grandchildren

Don and Alma

After Baseball

Memories of Don Troy

Index

Introduction

By his daughter, Belinda

Donald Lee Musgrave Troy fell in love with baseball as a child and never gave up on that love. This book has been a tribute to, a memoir, and a reflection of my dad’s years of playing ball. He played professional baseball with the Baltimore Elite Giants, in the Negro National League. I have included personal stories of experiences in the Negro League, as told when he was a rascally teen. Also included are his letters, traveling throughout the USA. These letters are deeply personal, speak of the history of the 1940’s as an African American and reach his innermost feelings. Some of the letters were love letters that he wrote to his long-time sweetheart, Alma (who would later become his wife).

My dad saved many of the artifacts that he came into during the time he played ball; most went to the Negro League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, or close friends. In his later years, he wanted to preserve a record of what it was like to experience the league from the inside, and I inherited his stories, photos and news clippings.

During the final chapter of life, he developed a close friendship with Mary Lorence, a baseball aficionado, and his pen pal with whom he never met. He shared his feelings and several stories about himself and the NNL, some of which his family was never privy to. During his last weeks of life, dad said to me, Mary Lorence is a stellar person. You should meet her. And now, Mary and I have continued that long-distance friendship that my dad treasured. Friendship, the most important aspect of my dad’s life.

Dad was always a California Kid in spirit. My favorite memories of dad as a child were of him telling a story; (he still is the best storyteller I know) and of playing catch. The catch was one of the ways we communicated with few words. Saying that I can hear his statements, clearly; Now, Belinda catch is simple. Keep your eye on the ball when I am throwing it to you. Catch it in the pocket and throw it back, quick like. Always be ready. Put your weight in the throw—lift the left leg and aim, aim, always aim. We would play catch on the front lawn of our home surrounded, by simple plain tract homes on Crocker Street, in the unincorporated area of South Los Angeles, near Compton.

As a child, I didn’t really appreciate my dad’s baseball skills or knowledge. I just knew I had undivided father attention time and I loved being able to catch a ball that he threw directly to me.

Dad continue to play baseball, or catch, with most of the boys on the street. One of the boys included a youngster who later became the famous baseball star Reggie Smith, who enjoyed an eighteen-year career in the Major leagues from 1966 to 1984.

Reggie and my dad met when Reggie was eleven. At that time my dad played for The Pacific Coast League. Reggie remembers him teaching him how to grip, throw, angle his body, and catch. To this day, Reggie says those early memories are clear: You don’t forget the teachers whose actions help guide you to your dreams. Reggie told me on a phone conversation while he was in his car, that as a young child he was captivated with my dad’s humor and how he could put his finger on the ball and make it dance, twist, turn, drop nearly anything he wanted it to do. He told me; he was impressed that he was able to learn from a man of his baseball caliber. Don Troy was one of his earliest mentors who gave him the words; "Always make them notice you—for your skill." I have since learned Reggie Smith owns an academy that teaches youngsters from all over Los Angeles how to play ball. Learning those important lessons in baseball and making memories that last a lifetime continues as the game goes on…

As a small child, Dad played ball in the streets where you would yell, Watch out, Car comin’! and all the street players would scramble to get out of the way. The bases were whatever was available in the neighborhood. He came from a family of seven siblings, five brothers, and two sisters. He was the second youngest in the family. His father was a chauffeur for Don Lee Cadillac, and Dad was named after the owner. Perhaps the love of baseball started with his dad who played for fun with a local Los Angeles baseball team when he was a young man.

The 1940’s were a time of socially accepted racism in sports, just as it was in society in general with the separation of Blacks and Whites in the leagues. It is noted that toward the end of the Negro Leagues era, some Negro League teams took in white ballplayers and most Negro Leagues allowed Latinos to play with them, side by side throughout the history of the Negro Leagues.

Dad played the violin during his junior and high school years as well as when he traveled on the road with the team. His love of classical music often sustained him when times were emotionally tough, and loneliness dominated. As much as I can tell, experiencing the color lines as a kid, at least for my dad, did not involve anger; mostly it was felt like; This is just the way life is. You work with what you have even if it is not fair. It seemed you did not dwell on what you didn’t have, you just played ball to the best of your ability, to win,…always.

Dad’s baseball story begins as a fifteen-year-old kid playing ball with the Los Angeles Elites. He was officially recruited at sixteen by The Negro National league teams and Negro American League teams and at seventeen he chose The Baltimore Elite Giants, of the Negro National League from among the teams that had an interest. He said it was because they were good players and always respectful. Respect, a quality my dad appreciated and always emanated.

I hope as you read these pages, you discover a greater understanding of baseball and particularly Negro League Baseball as played in the 1940’s. I anticipate you will feel the joy of his friendships and often comical interactions with those involved in the game; as well as a chance to consider the pain and hardships that were inflicted on Blacks in the south during era of Jim Crow.

Do enjoy these stories—they are absolutely true—to the best of my knowledge.

DON AND PEN PAL MARY LORENCE (as told by Mary)

The warm, soft yet deep voice came over my car speakers from a cassette tape on my drive home from my mother’s house. The man was speaking to a group about his time in the Negro leagues. I was riveted by his stories. It was not the talk I was expecting. Not about statistics, or bragging rights or wins and losses. His entire theme was about how baseball could build friendships that lasted forever. I immediately liked this man, that was in October of 2000. The tape was given to me by friends of my mom, Pat, and Jim Gallagher.

The Gallaghers knew I was a huge fan of the game and history of baseball. They attended church together with Don in Salem, Oregon, and became friends. At the time Don lived in Dallas, Oregon. Pat thought I would find the tape interesting. It was of their friend Don Troy speaking to a group called the Waiakea Pirates, an ALL-Japanese Baseball club in Hilo, Hawaii where he was currently living. He was invited to speak about his time in the Negro Leagues.

Pat knew I collected baseball autographs and stories of baseball players. (I was especially interested in Negro League players and the women who played in The All-American Girls Professional Baseball leagues.) She gave me Don’s address and said she knew he would accommodate me with an autograph and maybe tell some stories, as Don always loved to talk about baseball.

I wrote my first letter to Don Troy on October 22, 2000. I explained about our mutual friends, the Gallaghers and how they had shared his tape of his speech with me. I included two blank 3 x 5 index cards and requested that he autograph them for my collection. I also told him I would love to hear any baseball stories he might have to share. Thus, began a pen pal relationship that went on for over 5 years. Don not only returned my index cards signed, but also a signed baseball and a lovely letter telling me about his career and time spent in Oregon.

I received many short stories along with his thoughts and observations about baseball and life in general over the years. We became true friends over our correspondence. I bought a series of baseball cards called Negro League Baseball Stars and a couple of sets of postcards, featuring the artwork of Negro league legends. I would send Don a few in each letter I sent. He enjoyed collecting the cards and later thanked me for helping him construct his own Look & See Negro League Baseball Museum. I also sent magazine articles, newspaper clippings, and books I thought he would enjoy reading.

In return, he would mention if he knew these players and would include information of what they were like on and off-field in his letters. Many of these are included