A newspaper article mentioning John Donaldson, scout for the White Sox.

Back to John Donaldson's Homepage

The section of the article about Donaldson reads: RUSS' CORNER       By RUSS J. COWANS MANAGER Jack Onslow is having severe pains because the lowly position of his White Sox, and the sale of Bob Thurman and Earl Taborn to the Newark Bears, Yankee farm team, did not help his condition.     You see, Thurman and Taborn should be wearing the uniform of a White Sox farm team instead of working toward promotion to the Yankees. The Sox had their net out for two, and almost caught them.     John Donaldson, former outfielder and pitcher for the Kansas City Monarchs and now a scout for the Sox, was sent down to kansas City early last month to scout Thurman and Taborn. He recommended the players to the Sox management, and on his word, the Sox opened negotiations with Tom Baird, owner of the Monarchs.     A week or so later, Baird announced in Des Moines, Iowa, that thurman and Taborn had been sold to the Yankees, who sent the two players to Newark. The Yankees own Mulebach Field, where the Monarchs play in Kansas City.     Thurman, a portside swinger, made a sensational debut with the Bears, rapping out a home run over the centerfield wall, 415 feet from home plate. Only one other player, Dale Alexander, had ever cleared that distant wall in an International League game.     At Buffalo a few days later, Thurman hit his third home run, a 370-foot belt over the right-field wall. The bases were loaded at the time.     In his first seven games as a member of the Bears, Thurman belted out 10 hits in 27 times at the plate, including a double and three homers. He scored eight runs and drove in nine.     So it is not hard to understand how Manager Onslow feels every time he picks up his morning paper and reads how Thurman's big bat is helping the Bears to cut down the distance between eighth and seventh place.     Further, there's the gate attraction. Thurman is doing pretty good attracting fans in the gate.