When the Monarchs Were Kings of Baseball – 100th Anniversary of the KC Monarchs First Championship

Black Diamonds

SiriusXM

History, Baseball, Black History, Sports, Negro Leagues, Documentary, Equality, Society & Culture, Civil Rights

4.8 • 617 Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2024

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the white owner of a Negro League baseball team, J.L. Wilkinson turned the Kansas City Monarchs into a model franchise. Over a dozen Hall of Famers wore the uniform as the Monarchs won 12 league titles and 2 Negro League World Series championships with star-studded rosters including the likes of Satchel Paige, Jose Mendez, Bullet Rogan, Buck O’Neil, and a young Jackie Robinson. Bob Kendrick explores the legacy of the Monarchs and recognizes the first team to bring a championship to Kansas City with the grandson of J.L. Wilkinson, Ed Catron.

Transcript

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0:00.0	They were dressed well.
0:08.9	I found out later that the Kansas City monarch for the New York Gangers of the Negro League.
0:18.5	Well, this year marks a tremendous milestone in Negro League's baseball history
0:25.0	because it marks the 100th anniversary of the inaugural Negro League World Series, held in 1924,
0:37.1	between the Kansas City Monarchs and the Hilldale Club based out of
0:42.8	Darby, Pennsylvania, aka the Hilldale Daisies.
0:48.3	And this was the first matchup between Rube Foster's Negro National League, which was established here in Kansas
0:57.7	City in 1920, and Ed Bowdoin's rival league known as the Eastern Colored League. And this was the
1:09.5	first time that the two leagues had pitted against one another.
1:13.2	The Eastern Color League was established in 1923.
1:17.2	And to be honest, Foster and Bolden's relationship was lukewarm at best.
1:26.6	Bowdoin didn't care for Foster, and I'm not too sure Foster cared for Ed Bowden.
1:32.2	I do think Ed Bowden thought that Foster had kind of misled him into thinking that he would
1:36.9	be part of the initial Negro National League that was established here in Kansas City,
1:42.9	and his bid to be in that league was rejected.
1:46.3	A few years later, Ed Bowden would form his own rival league.
1:50.4	And, of course, there was not a World Series held in 1923,
1:54.1	as the two adversaries eventually were able to settle,
2:00.3	or at least put some of those differences aside.
2:03.4	1924 would stage that World Series and as I mentioned it would turn out to be the Monarchs playing
2:09.7	the Hildell Club and it was a sensational World Series.
2:15.5	And the reason that we wanted to highlight and bring attention to this
	...

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