Balls, Bats, Beards, and Barnstorming
…and would even pull a ball out of his beard and tag out the base runner.
Olde-tyme baseball by C. Philip Francis – May 1, 2006
Although the word barnstorming is seldom used
today, in the first half of the last century it was common for baseball teams
who had no scheduled games to travel around the country. They played with and
against women, and while black players were not allowed in the major leagues at
that time, they did play with and against white teams during their barnstorming
games. The great Smokey Joe Wood who pitched for the Boston Red Sox admits to
starting his professional baseball career with a Bloomer Girls team during a
barnstorming game as did Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby.
Perhaps the most unique group of ballplayers who toured the country in the first
half of the twentieth century was the House of David, a religious cult based in
Benton Harbor, Michigan. The group had been founded by Benjamin F. Purnell in
1903, lived in a commune, and gave all of their worldly possessions to a common
treasury that provided the needs to all. They were vegetarians, did not drink or
smoke, and the men emulated Jesus by not shaving or cutting their hair.
Purnell was a sports enthusiast, and around 1913 the men began playing baseball
on the weekend. Two years later the team was now playing a “grueling schedule”
that made money for the colony, and encouraged opposing ballplayers and fans to
join their religious organization. In time the House of David had a girl’s team
and a junior boy’s team. Purnell even opened an amusement park and hotel for the
many people who were coming to see the now famous ball club.
At first, all players were members of the House of David with the long beards
that became their trademark, but eventually the desire to become an even more
outstanding team overcame their religious criteria. They began to recruit the
best players they could find – with or without beards, and whether or not they
were members of the House of David. It was not unusual for some men to play for
the House of David for many years.
Some players left the Negro League to join a David team such as Kansas City
Monarch pitcher Doolittle Young who stayed with the bewhiskered club for three
years. In 1936 the Davids offered $35,000 to the newly retired and out-of-shape
Babe Ruth, but the Bambino declined. When they were not playing their regularly
schedule games, many major league ballplayers and semi-pros would join House of
David players, and barnstorm around the country with men and women of all color.
They played ball in fields, cow pastures, and ballparks from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, Canada to Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska, and even Europe. When winter came,
the Davids did not sit and rest, they switched to basketball, and even toured
with the Harlem Globetrotters.
As baseball boomed in popularity in the 1930’s, the Davids split into three
teams, the East, the West, and one that stayed at home in Benton Harbor. In 1953
over 22,000 fans poured into the Philadelphia A’s Shibe Park to see a
bewhiskered team play ball, and at one time there was even a Mexican House of
David baseball team.
It was late in the 1934 season when Satchel Paige became angry when not given a
raise by the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro League so he decided to join the
now famous House of David. As the only black member of the team, Satchel pitched
the Davids to the championship in the “prestigious semipro tournament sponsored
annually by the Denver Post beating the Kansas City Monarchs in the title game.”
Sometime the Monarchs WITH Satchel Paige would travel together across the
country playing and usually beating local teams. A few days later a David club
would follow the same route, and also play, and beat, the same hometown heroes
often playing before large crowds. Then the Monarchs and the Davids would come
through the same area, and now play each other before an even bigger assembly.
Hall of Fame Grover Cleveland Alexander often pitched for the Davids against
teams that included Satchel, while at other times, Satchel would be on the mound
for a whiskered David club. One of the best female athletes in this country was
Babe Didrikson who starred in golf, track, and baseball, and often played with
the House of David as did Toni Stone, a black girl who was an outstanding
infielder. While he never made it to the majors, Elmer “Goober” Dean, brother of
Dizzy and Daffy Dean, did play for the House of David.
Although the Davids were fine ballplayers, they were also showmen with trick
plays such as tagging out a base runner by pulling the ball out of his beard.
The Kansas City Monarchs and Davids even performed astride donkeys as a
combination of ballplayers and vaudeville entertainers.
In the late 1920’s Purnell and the House of David were “under scrutiny for
alleged indiscretions” that developed into a long court battle. Purnell lost,
and after he was banished from the community Purnell’s health deteriorated and
died in 1927. The original assembly had now broken into two factions, “The
Israelite House of David” and “The City of David”, that continued to sponsor as
many as three baseball teams into the late 1940’s, and again from 1946 to 1955.
By June 1994 George Anderson, age 84, was the last living House of David player,
and living in Florida. George and his family had come from Australia in 1920 to
join the colony, and made the team by 1927 at the age of 17. He remembered
Satchel Paige the best pitcher he ever saw, and Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard as
great hitters. Anderson calls Cool Papa Bell, a member of the Negro League, the
fastest guy who ever lived. “He could bounce it back to the pitcher, and if the
pitcher hesitated only a moment, Bell would beat him to first.”
George also happily recalls, “In 1932 we beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-4 in a
midseason game in their own home ballpark. We were always at about Triple-A
level losing more than we won against major teams, but ever now and then we
could take them.” By 1956 Anderson was the last “real” member of the Davids, and
called it quits at the age of 46. That curious and unusual bearded baseball team
called The House of David had come and gone.
Note: In 1992 the House of David was still based in Benton Harbor, Michigan with
a reported membership of elderly 60 people.
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