Whether it was through a church, local community leaders or a company town, many areas had a baseball league prior to the Civil War. Communities with high free Black populations had Black baseball teams such as the Philadelphia Pythians, founded by notable community leaders. 

The Pythians, which have been covered in works such as “Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America,” by Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin,  served as a place where Catto could prove Black people equal to white people in skill and deserving of the rights that came with equality through prowess in the sport. 

After the Civil War, many of the clubs formed major leagues, which provided a semblance of order — team schedules to play against, rules and regulations and, importantly, pay. For a period, these leagues were integrated, as many aspects of life were during the Reconstruction period, yet not to a great extent. 

Bud Fowler, an early trailblazer, played for the Lynn Live Oaks in Massachusetts. Moses Fleetwood Walker was the only Black player for the Toledo Blue Stockings, and while a handful of other players played in other leagues, many faced teams or teammates refusing to play with or against them. As Reconstruction fizzled out, white baseball leagues began to systematically bar Black baseball players from playing professional ball. 

In 1887, a “gentleman’s agreement” was established in the International League that none of the leagues would sign Black players. Other leagues followed, thus barring Black players from entering these teams. 

While Iowa had no official Negro League teams, league teams played in Iowa multiple times. Deciding what counts as an “official” league game is difficult, as many played each other while barnstorming in the offseason. Others played games with only one league team (in exhibition games), Davenport, Des Moines and Council Bluffs, Sioux City and Charles City all hosted games with Negro League teams. Iowa was neutral territory for the Negro Leagues, given its lack of official league teams. It also had a plethora of amateur and town teams, of many races, for the teams to play in exhibition games. 

At the same time as the Negro Leagues developed, amateur ball continued developing, especially in the Midwest, which didn’t have many major cities to attract or create teams for the professional leagues. Small farm towns may not have had the population of larger cities, but if they had a diamond and people to buy tickets, teams had reasons to visit them. Barnstorming teams — often teams in larger leagues that needed money in the offseason — traveled between these small towns, playing for whoever came to games. Sometimes they played for local teams in what were called exhibition games. 

Buxton Wonders

Buxton, Iowa, was a company town founded by Consolidation Coal Company’s owner Ben Buxton, with a few distinct aspects from other company towns. Notably, it was an interracial town, where Black miners lived by, worked with and received the same pay and benefits as their white peers. Job opportunities were not given based on race, and the town’s structure was not set up with segregation by the company. 

Buxton community members benefited from the presence of a YMCA, a department store and numerous other stores run by both Black and white people. Community members could join various clubs such as the basketball team, the band or the Buxton Wonders, the town’s baseball team. 

The Wonders, while not directly founded by the town’s owners, were funded in part by it. “Buxton: A Black Utopia in the Heartland” by Dorothy Schweider cites welfare capitalism as a driving force behind Buxton’s many amenities. Welfare capitalism, a popular mindset seen in other company towns, assumed that if a business provided amenities to people in its company town, the people would be less likely to start unions, strike or engage in any other labor disputes. “Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa” by Rachelle Chase mentions that the town sponsored uniforms and other aspects of the game and allowed team members to take days off for travel. 

The Wonders were a renowned team at the time. County and statewide papers covered their games, often with excited language.  In 1904, a clipping of the Buxton Gazette in the Albia Republican cited that the team was “given up to be the fastest and best amateur team in the state of Iowa.” 

Ultimately, Buxton’s downfall came from its construction. Mining began declining in the region in the early 1900s, and after a large fire in 1916, most of the population was leaving. When it became clear that Buxton was no longer profitable, the company moved buildings to found a new town, Haydock, with the same purpose of mining coal. Haydock was also short-lived, as the mines closed in 1927. 

Van Dyke Colored House of David 

Some teams embedded comedic elements into their shows, from the Ethiopian Clowns to even individual players, who put on showy acts for the audience. The Van Dyke Colored House of David, based in Sioux City, Iowa, was one notable team that included comic elements in their performances, especially large beards. 

The original House of David baseball team was based in Benton Harbor, Michigan. They were a religious sect, the Israelite House of David, originally founded to gather the twelve lost tribes of Israel. One of their principles was growing out their hair. 

Harry Crump, a Black baseball player and resident of Sioux City, saw an opportunity for profit. Cump formed the Van Dyke Colored House of David, a Black baseball team that traveled wearing fake beards to play other teams. The name Van Dyke came from the Elizabethan painter who sported a similar beard. 

The Colored House of David was not the only team to imitate the sect — during this period, there were numerous knockoff teams, including a Cuban House of David, reports a historian for the Israelite House of David. These teams used the commune’s name and likeness without permission. 

The Colored House of David, added the commune historian, went by the “House of David of Havana, Cuba,” “House of David Van Dykes” and “Hollywood Van Dykes.” Crump later moved the team to Minneapolis. The team was active from 1931 to 1940 and again from 1948 to1950. At times, the knockoff teams interacted and played against each other, though they did not travel together. 

The Van Dyke Colored House of David went for comedy beyond the beards. They told readers of The Klamath News on Aug. 25, 1937, that “if you can’t afford to laugh, don’t come.” Their baseball skills, though, matched their comedy. The team had stars like “Cannon ball” Berry and “Babe” Bagby. 

Algona Brownies 

Other barnstorming teams focused less on gimmicks and more directly on representing their communities. The Algona Brownies were founded to increase the notoriety of Algona, Iowa, a town of 2,900. Cities of substance at the time had ball teams for everyone, and ball teams provided not only entertainment for people but an attraction for other communities. 

The town had the Algona Baseball Association, headed by leaders in banking and real estate (one member was Gardner Cowles, of Cowles Library). The baseball association began raising money to start the team through stock sales. The Lund Land Agency donated $100 to the team for the right to advertise on team jerseys. Once they had the funding, hotel owner H.J. Tremain took a train to Chicago to recruit players and returned with the team. 

The Iowa Bystander, a statewide newspaper, wrote about the Algona Brownies, with an article on Aug. 29, 1902, referring to them as “one of the best and most skillful amateur colored baseball teams in the West.”