John Wesley Donaldson

Newspaper Clippings about Southpaw Pitcher John Donaldson

1932 John Donaldson Games

Stories are placed in order of the date they appeared.

May 8, 1932

Kansas City, KS
"DONALDSON BEAT the crack Sneider Jewelers, a powerful semi-pro aggregation, at the Rock Island park in Kansas City last Sunday by a 6 to 4 score. Donaldson hurled the entire game which went 11 innings. So it is evident the veteran chucker is able to slip 'em by the hitters yet."

May 22, 1932

Fairmont, MN
"DONALDSON'S ALL-STARS opened their season at Hand's Park yesterday afternoon with an 8 to 1 victory over the Corwith Nighthawks in a game that featured some nifty fielding plays, some terrific hitting by the All-Stars and a masterly bit of hurling by the famous John Donaldson. John hurled the nine frames and was never in danger, after the second inning when 'Gabby' Street, Corwith shortstop, doubled with one down. The big portsider let the fans realize he was still a master performer on the mound by whiffing Bias and Haley for the second and third outs, and both of these boys can club that agate. The visitors scored their lone tally in the seventh, and it was a gift - that's all, for with two out and two on - third and second, respectively, Barnes rapped a bounder down third base way. Cunningham fielded the ball, but no one was covering the sack and Bias scored on the play. Donaldson then struck out Shipman to retire the side. The Corwith crew collected five blows, including the scratch in the seventh, and John sat eleven of them down via the strike out route. A fair sized crowd watched the clubs battle in the first ball game seen on Hand's Park diamond in a long while."

May 29, 1932

Crookston, MN
"Donaldson's All Stars 2, Red Sox 10. John Donaldson, Center Field."

May 30, 1932

Crookston, MN
"Donaldson's All Stars 1, Red Sox 3. John Donaldson, Pitcher."

June 1, 1932

Twin Valley, MN
"Donaldson's All Stars 3, Red Sox 1."

June 6, 1932

Sioux City, IA
"Donaldson's All Stars 4, Sioux City Stock Yards 5. John Donaldson, Left Field and Pitcher. Struck out by Gabo 8, by Allen 3, by Donaldson 2."

June 7, 1932

Woodbine, IA
"Donaldson's All Stars 2, Sioux City Stock Yards 7. Batteries Elston and Wilson; Donaldson, Allen and Gray."

June 10, 1932

Castlewood, SD
"All Stars 5, Sioux Falls Canaries 12. John Donaldson, Left Field."

June 12, 1932

Fairmont, MN
"THE ST. CLOUD RAMBLERS, or what have you, were downed by a 4 to 1 count at Hand's park yesterday afternoon in a thrilling diamond battle. With a side wager of fifty simoleons at stake, the veteran John Donaldson went on the firing line for his All Stars and gave the Ramblers but five safe blows during the setto. John had the visitors blanked until two were out in the eighth frame. A double and a single to left; coupled with Hurley McNair's high peg to the plate gave the Ramblers their only count."

June 14, 1932

Round Lake, MN
"Sioux City Stock Yards 0, Donaldson's All Stars 1."

June 16, 1932

Garretson, SD
"Donaldson's All Stars 2, Sioux Falls Canaries 1. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Donaldson 1, by Jones 2, Beckwith 3."

June 18, 1932

Fairmont, MN
"Travelers 6, All Stars 5."

June 26, 1932

Sioux City, IA
"First Game, Donaldson's All Stars 9, Sioux City Stock Yards 6. John Donaldson, Pitcher.
Second Game, Donaldson's All Stars 5, Sioux City Stock Yards 13. John Donaldson, Right Field and Center Field."

June 29, 1932

Mason City, IA
"Donaldson's All Stars 4, Mason City 1. John Donaldson, Pitcher and Center Field. Jones relieved Donaldson in the third and Donaldson went to center field."

July 4, 1932

Fairmont, MN
"The Donaldsons drubbed the Carter Lakes, 8 to 1, at Fairmont on the Fourth of July."

July 10, 1932

Sioux City, IA
"First Game, Donaldson All Stars 4, Canaries 1.
Second Game, Donaldson All Stars 5, Canaries 3. John Donaldson, Pitcher."

July 11, 1932

Vermillion, SD
"Donaldson All Stars 7, Red Sox 2."

July 13, 1932

Omaha, NE
"First Game, Cubans 3, Donaldson's All Stars 2.
Second Game, Donaldson's All Stars 12, Cubans 15. John Donaldson, Center Field."

Omaha, NE
"Cuban Win, 15 to 13, Over Donaldson Team - The Cubans won, 15 to 12, from the Donaldson Stars at League Park Wednesday night to make it two in a row over the Minnesota Negro team. About 350 watched."

July 14, 1932

Woodbine, IA
"Donaldson All Stars 5, Cubans 3."

July 17, 1932

Fairmont, MN
"Donaldson All Stars 9, Hampton Pirates 8. Batteries, Hampton: Hopkins, Webb and Wyant; All Stars: Barker, Starks, Donaldson and Foreman."

Fairmont, MN
"The team lost to the... John Donaldson's, 9 to 8 in ten innings..."

July 18, 1932

Dakota City, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 5, All Stars 5. Batteries: Jones, Donaldson and Foreman; Kuehl, Sloan and Smith."

July 20, 1932

Webster City, IA
"Seals 1, Donaldson's All Stars 2. John Donaldson, Center Field."

July 21, 1932

Eagle Grove, IA
"Seals 6, Donaldson's All Stars 8. John Donaldson, Center Field."

August 4, 1932

Holdrege, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 3, Holdrege 1. John Donaldson, Center Field."

August 7, 1932

Holdrege, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 15, Holdrege 9. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Donaldson 7, by Ibsen 4."

Council Bluffs, IA
"26 Teams of 69 Applicants Picked for Bluffs Tourney - Twenty-Six teams were selected Saturday from 69 entries to play in the annual Southwestern Iowa baseball tournament at West Broadway Park, Council Bluffs, August 26 to September 5. Tourney Officials limited Class A to 10 teams and Class B to 16. Heading the list in the upper division are the Cubans, defending champions; the Holdenville, Oklahoma Indians, winners of the Denver Post tourney, and the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Canaries, runners-up at Denver. Others in Class A are Gilkerson Union Giants of Chicago, Sioux City Stockyards, Hampton, Iowa, Grover Gleveland Alexander's House of David, Tekamah, Nebraska, Council Bluffs Athletics and the John Donaldson Stars. The Carter Lake club, leader in the American sandlot league, applied for a berth in Class A, but the officials decided the Omaha team would compete on more even terms in Class B."

August 10, 1932

Lyons, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 4, Nebraska All Stars 3. John Donaldson, Center Field."

August 12, 1932

Council Bluffs, IA
"All-Stars Present Fast Aggregation - John Donaldson Will Hurl in First Game Against Yards. - Has Fine Record - (This is one of a series of stories dealing with the teams entered in the Southwestern Iowa baseball tournament) By LeRoy A. Wallace. - Nonpareil Sports Editor. - Back in the golden age of baseball, when the best minor league pitcher in the United States received momentary publicity for having been sold with his battery mate for $22,000, a stupendous price for a baseball player in those days, there was organized a baseball team composed of Irish, Spanish, Cuban, Indian and other baseball players. It was called the All-Nations. The bright and particular star of that aggregation was a tall Negro pitcher named John Donaldson, a left-hander with tremendous speed and a fast breaking curve taht had all the batters he faced breaking their necks trying to connect with the ball. - Chief Attraction. - John McGraw, one of the greatest managers of our time, dropped in to see a game that Donaldson pitched and after the contest announced that if the pitcher were white, he would pay $50,000 to get him for the Giants. That same pitcher, now at the head of his own club, a little grayer, a little smarter, but with the same burning speed, the same twisting curves for use in emergency, will pitch at the Southwestern Iowa tournament this fall. He is the manager and chief attraction of Donaldson's All Stars, and despite the fact that he has been playing baseball more years than he cares to recall, today he still probably is the best known Negro baseball player in the world. He has gathered about him a collection of stars that will give a good account of themselves in the tournament. - Pitch Opening Game. - In important series this year Donaldson's All-Stars have won three out of seven games against the Sioux City Stock Yards, four out of six against the Sioux Falls Canaries, and three out of seven against the Cubans, not a bad record against some of the strongest teams in the United States. In the supporting cast are included some of the best Negro baseball players in the country. Among them are Stark, who used to play with the Kansas City Monarchs; Nick Jones, one of the best hitters in Negro baseball, formerly with the Colored House of David; Gilkerson's Union Giants, Sioux City Ghosts, etc; Hurley McNair, veteran outfielder who played with Gilkerson's last year, and Foreman, who played with Gilkerson's in the tournament. Donaldson's All-Stars will meet the Sioux City Stock Yards in their first game of the tournament. Donaldson, himself, is almost a cinch to pitch for his own team, and as a result the fans will see some real pitching when the teams line up for that contest."

August 16, 1932

Homer, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 2, Nebraska All Stars 4. John Donaldson, Center Field."

August 17, 1932

Clarion, IA
"Donaldson All Stars 5, Mason City 4. Batteries: Mason City - Griffin and Carpenter; All Stars - Donaldson, Jones, Freemont and Foreman."

August 18, 1932

Winside, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 2, Canaries 7. John Donaldson, Center Field."

August 21, 1932

Lakeview, IA
"John's athletes dropped 4 to 2 tilt to the Sioux City Stockyards club, and it was their first setback since leaving the Hands park rendezvous some four or five weeks ago."

August 23, 1932

Carrol, IA
"Pirates 18, All Stars 3."

August 25, 1932

Council Bluffs, IA
"John Donaldson, veteran pitching ace of many of the best Negro ball teams in the country, is slated to bring a crack Negro team into the tourney that he believes can beat them all. - Eight States In. - Eight states and one foreign country are represented among the starters in the event this year: Minnesota: Donaldson's All Stars."

August 28, 1932

Mason City, IA
"All Stars 7, Rats 4. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Donaldson 6, by Griffin 7."

August 31, 1932

Concord, NE
"Yards 6, Donaldson's All Stars 5."

September 1, 1932

Council Bluffs, IA
"Stock Yards 10, Donaldson's All Stars 3. John Donaldson, Center Field."

Council Bluffs, IA
"Stock Yards 10, Donaldson's All Stars 3."

Council Bluffs, IA
"Second Round. - Sioux City Stock Yards 10; John Donaldson's All-Stars 3."

September 2, 1932

Akron, IA
"Stockyards 17, Donaldson All Stars 9. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Bertrand 2, by McDonald 2, by Donaldson 5."

September 5, 1932

Sioux City, IA
"Donaldson's All Stars 8, Canaries 7. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Donaldson 5, by Beckwith 6, by Dalley 1."

September 6, 1932

LeMars, IA
"Donaldson's All Stars 7, Holdenville 4. Batteries: Freeman, Donaldson and Foreman; Williams and Mellary."

September 7, 1932

Omaha, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 7, Carter Lake 14. John Donaldson, Center Field."

September 8, 1932

Omaha, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 15, Brown Parks 13. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Gulnotte 6, by Donaldson 14."

September 12, 1932

Omaha, NE
"Donaldson's All Stars 1, Paxtons 2. John Donaldson, Pitcher. Struck out by Donaldson 6, by Horne 12."

September 23, 1932

Fremont, NE
"Hampton, Giants into Semifinals - Gilkersons Lick Norfolk as Iowa Team Puts Out the Yards - (The World Herald's Sports Service.) - Fremont Nebraska, September 23 - The Gilkerson Union Giants and Hampton, Iowa advanced to the semi-finals of the Eastern Nebraska baseball tournament at Arlington Friday, the former eliminating Norfolk, 6 to 4, and Hampton defeating the Sioux City stockyards, 8 to 7. The two winners will meet at 3:30 o'clock Saturday afternoon. At 1:30 the Elkhorn Valley league All Stars and the Sioux Falls Canaries will play the other semi-final. Finals are scheduled Sunday.
Erros and inability to hit Pitcher Brown, the third hurler sent in by the Gilkersons, caused the downfall of Norfolk. The state leaguers took a 4-to-2 lead in the first three innings, Bucklin who started for Norfolk hurled great ball for four innings.
Four double plays, three by Norfolk, enlivened the tilt.
The bulk of the action in the Hampton-Yards game was packed in the ninth inning. The Hamptons trailed, 4 to 3, when the final frame began. Eisler began things with a double. Bouton tripled, Grant and Cronin singled, and Knox hit for the circuit, the rally netting five runs and giving the Hamptons an 8 to 4 advantage.
The Sioux Cityans came back in the ninth to score three more when Smith hit a homer. Conrad doubled, Wilson walked, Lee singled and Donaldson singled.

October 2, 1932

Kansas City, MO
"JOHN DONALDSON'S all stars are now doing their baseball stuff in Ol' Missouri as it were. John and his cohorts dropped a double-header to the Kansas City Monarchs Sunday afternoon by a 6 to 3 and 10 to 3 score."

1933 John Donaldson Games

Stories are placed in order of the date they appeared.

May 13, 1933

Glasgow, MO
"Donaldson Vet Hurler, Whiffs 17. - GLASGOW, MO (Co-op) - John Donaldson's All-Stars took the fast Lexington, Missouri Tigers into camp here Sunday. The old master, John Donaldson, former member of the Kansas City Monarchs, and one time considered one of the greatest pitchers in baseball, showed some of his old form by striking out 17 opposing batsmen in a great hurling exhibition. He allowed the Tigers only three hits, those being widely scattered."

May 30, 1933

Moberly, MO
"GLASGOW DEFEATS MARK TWAINS, 6-3 - Donaldson, Former Hurler Strong for Locals - The Moberly Mark Twains lost to the Glasgow Donaldsons, fast negro ball club, at Glasgow yesterday afternoon by a score of 6 to 3. A home run by Roland of the donaldsons in the first inning with the bases loaded was the blow that spelled defeat for the local contingent. Donaldson, a former K. C. Monarch hurler, had too much on the ball for the Twains to overcome this advantage with their bats. They got but three safe hits during the game but made them count for an equal number of runs. The Mark Twains play Carrollton at Carrollton Sunday. Struck out by Donaldson 7, by Pendleton 4."

July 23, 1933

Lexington, MO
"Glasgow 2, Lexington 1. John Donaldson, Pitcher for Glasgow. Struck out by Donaldson 15, by Finch 7."

July 29, 1933

Glasgow, MO
"John Donaldson's All Stars defeated a Kansas City, Kansas baseball team in an 11-inning baseball game at Ellis Park here Sunday afternoon, by a score of 2 to 1."

August 6, 1933

Glasgow, MO
"The John Donaldson All Stars defeated the Clark Applemen & Morton All Stars in a game at Glasgow Sunday by a score of 6 to 0."

August 13, 1933

Glasgow, MO
"Donaldson's All Stars 1, Merchants 0. John Donaldson, Pitcher."

September 3 and 4, 1933

Kansas City, KS
"John Donaldson's All Stars won a game and dropped one on their Kansas City, Kansas trip over the weekend. Their two games with the K.C. Donkeys ended, Sunday, 6 to 0 in favor of the Donkeys, and Monday, John's team won 11 to 5. The Sunday game was pitched by Donaldson and Monday's game saw Williams on the mound for the Glasgow players."

September 17, 1933

Glasgow, MO
"John Donaldson's All Stars, crack colored team of this place, defeated the Kansas City, Kansas 'Donkeys' by a score of 2 to 1 at the park of the Kansas City team, Sunday afternoon. Donaldson pitched the whole game and the team played to one of the largest crowds of the season."

September 24, 1933

Lexington, MO
"LEXINGTON DEFEATS GLASGOW SUNDAY - John Donaldson's All Stars were defeated in Lexington Sunday afternoon by the colored team in that place by a score of 7 to 8. Williams hurled for John's team, and twelve innings were played before the Lexington team could cross the plate for the winning score."