1916 Indianapolis ABCs

A Calendar, Including Newspaper Clippings, of the 1916 Indianapolis ABCs

1916 Indianapolis ABCs

Stories are placed in order of the date they appeared.

January 1, 1916

Indianapolis, IN
"Charleston on World's Champs. - Famous Colored Hurler With Crack A.B.C. Team. - Baseball fans will be glad to learn that Oscar Chaleston, the famous colored pitcher who was in the islands several months back, is a member of the baseball team which this year won the world's championship for colored nines. The aggregation is known as the Indianapolis A.B.C.s and Charleston plays center field on the team. In a letter to Nimrod McKinney, the local broker, Charles wrote on October 4 that his team was to leave shortly for Cuba, there to play a series of games. It will be a surprise to the fans to know that Charleston has given up pitching and gone into the field, but everybody knows that he is the boy to make good in any position. There were few more popular baseball players in the islands than Charleston, and we believe we can speak for all the fans when we wish him luck. - From the Manilla Times. - Charleston was a member of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, stationed at Manilla, Pacific Islands. He will play with the New York Giants next season."

Indianapolis IN
"Baseball in Cuba. - By C.I. Taylor - Legalized gambling in the republic of Cuba has been the undoing of the .. colored ball players in that ... only a few years back, the ... colored ball players, of big... were want to go to the ... the off-season in the ... and earn anywhere from one hundred to four hundred dollars, per ... that gambling not by the ball... by the natives of that... was their (the ball players') ... The same conditions would ... this country with the national.. of gambling were tolerated... in the island republic. It ... in this way: Legalized gambling made it possible for large amounts of money to be wagered on the outcome of every game, and it is an ... in the city of Havana and the Cuban republic that these heavy... began negotiating, (doing business, the Cubans put it), with the ... ball players from the States.. the games. And I must remind our dear readers, that you can ... the fingers of one hand the American colored baseball players who ... to Cuba prior to October 1915, ... it is not charged by the people from that country that they would not throw a game for from five dollars... I can ... many of the best colored ball players of America of whom men of high standing in Cuba will make affidavits that they not only sold the games out, that they even double-drossed the gamblers - sold the games twice. And it can be no doubt about the ... of these terrible charges that many of these ball players were caught red-handed by the magnates of the little republic who were using every means at their command .. down these evils and thus ... the national sport on the name being leveled as it is in the States. As ... of this 'doing business,' thowing games, the baseball magnates have decided last summer that no more colored ball players nor colored teams from the States would be permitted to play exhibition games in Cuba or play in the Cuban League. It is a commentary that several of the ball players in the race would not be allowed to sit as a spectator in a ball park in Havana. Some of them were driven from the island and it would be dangerous for them to return. The ban had been put on the American colored ball players, notwithstanding, many of Americas best colored ball players had never been to the island - that all haven't been there yet - but the conduct of a large percent of those who have been there has been of such that those who have not been to the island came near being denied the privilege of ever going. Information got to the writer that the curtain had been rung down and the bar had been raised against the colored ball players in his most lucrative field - for in Cuba organized baseball threw wide its doors to colored ball players. We set in motion every legitimate process of reasoning to prevent the ratification of an edict so detrimental to the colored ball players whose field of endeavor is already so prescribed in our country. Our efforts were crowned with success and the American colored ball player will again wield the willow and toss the pill on Cuban soil. Lastly, permit me to add, that if baseball is to be perpetuated among our people; if young colored men are to continue to draw salaries higher than those paid the average college professor in our great schools, they themselves must live cleaner lives, deport themselves as gentlemen on the ball field and elsewhere; baseball must be run on a clean basis, and the managers and promoters of the national sport must hoist the flag of truce, cease hostilities, let the dove of peace flop its wings over the camp of a get-together movement for the purpose of interesting capital and organizing a colored baseball league. C.I. Taylow - Manager A.B.C. Baseball Club, Indianapolis, Indiana."

April 30, 1916

Indianapolis, IN
"Flashes From Sunday's Ball Game - Jesse Barber looked good in center. Morton Clark's fielding in the short field was sensational. Kennard hit like a demon, getting a double and a homer. Ben Taylor wrenched his ankle in sliding home in the seventh session. String Bean Williams was touched up for thirteen cracks by his former comrades. Wickware's wildness in the third forced Manager Taylor to use the derrick. Smiling Dismukes took up the burden and ran true to form. Richard D. Barett, manager of the St. Louis, Missouri Giants ball club, accompanied the team to Indianapolis. Mr. Barrett is well-known in the newspaper field, and is now holding a political position in the Mound City."

May 7, 1916

Indianapolis, IN
"Cubans Here Sunday - Famous Havana Team Comes to Play Four Game Series With Taylor's A.B.C.s - The Cuban Stars of Havana, Cuba, will open a four-game series at Federal Park Sunday with Taylor's A.B.C.s. The Islanders played in Havana all winter. The Cubans have made stops at New Orleans, Montgomery, Birmingham and Nashville, and also will play at Memphis before arriving here.

May 11, 1916

Indianapolis, IN
"May 11 - A.B.C. 4, Chinese 3: Inman, Swan and Markham (battery for Chinese)."

May 14, 1916

Indianapolis, IN
"The crack Kokomo Red Sox with George Mullen as pitcher, former Detroit Tiger and Federal Leaguer, will play Taylor's A.B.C.s at Federal Park Sunday, May 14. Markey, Calderhead, Pritchett and Lotshaw - all local boys, are playing with Kokomo."

May 28, 1916

Anderson, IN
"Taylor's A.B.C.s Win Easily - Permits the Local Team to Score One Run - Indianapiolis Piled Up Eight. - Anderson, Indiana. - Taylor's A.B.C.s .... with Dismukes in the box... the local club last Sunday... boys had everything .. hitting Skyrock hard in ...frames. The fielding by... the contest was... the visitors making... pinches... in great form, allowing.. both earning after the... retired in the ... Taylor's hitting was a... a triple being his ... largest crowds that... game witnessed..."

June 18, 1916

Chicago, IL
"American Giants 6, A.B.C.s 3"

June 19, 1916

Chicago, IL
"The American Giants again defeated the A.B.C.'s of Indianapolis yesterday, 7 to 0."

June 22, 1916

Chicago, IL
"A.B.C.s Lose to Giants. - Noted Foster a Fine Specimen of Manhood. - By Cary B. Lewis - Chicago, Illinois, June 22. - Everyone expected to see a real tight game last Sunday when the A.B.C.s journeyed here to play Mr. Foster and his colts. While the ground was very soggy and the oufielders had a time slipping and sliding, the beginning of the series did fairly well. The visitors started off like they were going to win and that they had some pep: but, just for spite, Grant came to bat and singled, Petway walked, Frances sacrificed, Baughman hit and Johnson hit and Barber sacrificed, and in the ice that was like lightning the Giants brought in three scores. They brought in one in the next inning and two in the sixth. Johnson was the pitcher and his work was fine. Puggy Hutchinson, who used to be with Mr. Foster two years ago, was the star according to a sporting writer for making three bum chucks."

June 23, 1916

Chicago, IL
"American Giants, 7; A.B.C.s 0. - Judy Gans twirled his annual game at Schorling's Park, working the full distance without being scored upon and downing the A.B.C.s of Indianapolis 7 to 0 for the second victory of the American Giants in the series. The same teams play today."

July 2, 1916

St. Louis, MO
"St. Louis Giants Trim A.B.C.s, 10 to 4. - St. Louis, Missouri (Special to the Freeman) - A big crowd turned out at Brock Park Sunday, to see the St. Louis Giants wallop the A.B.C.'s of Indianapolis, 10 to 4, in the second game of a double-header. Though the Indianapolis team was beaten, it looked good. Lack of good pitching enabled the locals to run up the score, McAdoo of St. Louis was the hitting hero, with three doubles and a triple in four trips to the pan."

July 3, 1916

St. Louis, MO
"St. Louis Giants Again Beat Indianapolis, 5 to 4. - St. Louis, Missouri (Special to Freeman) - The St. Louis Giants defeated the Indianapolis A.B.C. team at Brock's Park Monday in a very interesting game. This is the second victory for the Giants over the visitors in this series of games. The visitors rallied yesterday in the ninth inning, and with a runner on first and second Rhodes sent a three-bagger to right field with none out. Poor decisions by the umpire at this stage of the game turned a possible victory for the visitors into a defeat."