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The average major league baseball salary in 1919 was $4,000, or a little more that $72,000 in 2024, adjusted for inflation. This was good money, but still a far cry from the contemporary major league average of $4.5 million. So, even the best players sought to supplement their salaries by traveling around in the offseason (thereby circumventing the regulatory power of the league) to challenge local teams in exhibition contests, often splitting the gate. Even players the caliber of Babe Ruth participated in the barnstorming, so-called in homage to traveling theater groups that often performed in barns. One of Ruth\u2019s teams was called the Bustin\u2019 Babes, while his teammate Lou Gehrig formed the Larrupin\u2019 Lous.<\/p>\n
Many Negro League teams (often comprised of players as good as or better than white major leaguers) barnstormed year round. And for other skilled players not good enough for the majors (but often close), unconstrained by any league rules or seasons, professional barnstorming might just mean a living wage.<\/p>\n
As we explained last spring<\/a>, Pittsburgh\u2019s Homestead Grays played many games locally. So popular were they that at least three local \u201cColored\u201d teams adopted their moniker: the Wheeling Greys, the South Wheeling Greys, \u00a0and The Pittsburgh Crawfords were not as prolific, but did play a few local games, including a 5-0 win against the Chicago Giants at Fulton Field in the 1933 \u201cNegro Pro League Title Series.\u201d The Crawfords, with an amazing roster that included power hitter Josh Gibson, pitching ace Satchel Paige, and centerfielder Cool Papa Bell, won the series. It\u2019s mind-blowing to imagine such legendary players, along with Ruth and Gehrig a few months prior<\/a>, playing baseball on a field that now houses a trucking company in Fulton.<\/p>\n Of course, if a barnstorming team had a gimmick that made them stand out \u2014 one that intrigued fans or fostered a carnival atmosphere \u2014 even better. Even before the Harlem Globetrotters did it in basketball, it was happening in baseball.<\/p>\n Could, for example, women play baseball competitively with men? Curiosity sold tickets.<\/p>\n \u201cBut neither our wives, our sisters, our daughters, nor our sweethearts, may play Base Ball on the field. . . They may play Lawn Tennis, and win championships; they may play Basket Ball, and achieve laurels, they may play Golf, and receive trophies; but Base Ball is too strenuous for womankind, except as she may take part in grandstand, with applause for the brilliant play.\u201d ~ Albert G. Spalding (yep, that one)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those who know Wheeling\u2019s baseball history are familiar with the name Rose Gacioch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Born in Wheeling in 1915, Rose learned her gritty brand of baseball at Pulaski Field on 46th Street in South Wheeling.<\/p>\n She was first mentioned in the local papers in 1931 and 1932 as the \u201cgirl pitcher\u201d who played for the St. Joseph\u2019s P.R.C.U. (Polish Roman Catholic Union) team in South Wheeling, the \u201cdistrict\u2019s only girl pitcher\u201d who had made her bones for the South Wheeling Little Cardinals, then played for the Big Leaguers who barnstormed eastern Ohio. She also pitched for the otherwise male Islanders team. Frank Doljack, a former Stogies star, called Rose the best female baseball prospect he had ever seen. After spending two seasons with Maude Olsen\u2019s (aka Nelson, one of the stalwarts of women\u2019s baseball) Ranger Girls (a barnstorming \u201cBloomer Girl\u201d team), she returned to Wheeling to play for the Pulaski A.C. [Intell., May 20, 1938]. In 1939, she was pitching for the Glenwood Lunch baseball team.<\/p>\n During WWII, while Rosie was actually working as a factory riveter (yes, she was literally \u201cRosie the Riveter\u201d), Chicago Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley famously launched the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because so many male major league ballplayers were away at war. Rosie tried out at Pulaski, wowed the scouts, made the league, and excelled, becoming one of the league\u2019s best players as a right fielder and pitcher for the Rockford Peaches. A three-time all-star, Rose hurled a no-hitter in 1953 and inspired Rosie O\u2019Donnell\u2019s character in the 1992 feature film, \u201cA League of Their Own.\u201d<\/p>\n That part of Wheeling\u2019s baseball history is fairly well known, as it should be. But did you know professional women\u2019s baseball teams were playing in Wheeling (and all over the country) even before Rose Gacioch was born?<\/p>\n And they weren\u2019t playing against other female teams like the AAGPBL.<\/p>\n From as early as the 1880s, these barnstorming females teams, named for their loose fitting pants (invented by suffragist Amelia Jenks Bloomer<\/a> as a way to free women from unhealthy corsetts, etc. ), formed all over the country from Boston to St. Louis, in New York and elsewhere. Most usually carried at least one or two male players \u2014 often the pitcher and the catcher \u2014 known as \u201ctoppers\u201d who sometimes wore wigs.<\/p>\n But Bloomer teams also employed female pitchers, such as 17 year old sensation Jackie Mitchell of the Chattanooga Lookouts, who pitched in an exhibition against Babe Roth, Lou Gehrig of the mighty NY Yankees, striking both legends out. While some baseball historians say it was a PR stunt, Mitchell died believing her accomplishment was legit. Soon after, Commissioner Landis reportedly voided her contract because baseball was too \u201cstrenuous\u201d for women.<\/p>\n Whether or not any of the barnstorming Bloomer Girl teams were to be taken seriously as baseball competitors seems to have depended on the source. Many local male newspaper reporters delighted in mocking such teams, others took the games seriously. The crowds seemed to flock, and the fact is, the numbers show a mixed bag of wins and losses with a lot of close final scores and a number of lopsided losses. But not all of the Bloomers played at the same skill level.<\/p>\n The local story of the Bloomer Girls got off to an inauspicious start in May 1901 as the New England based team arrived \u201cover the Ohio River Road. \u201cMany people who expected to see a gilded palace car were disappointed with the cheap looking coach they travel in,\u201d the Wheeling Daily Register<\/em> sniped. Attendance was reportedly small as more people were apparently interested in a murder case at the court house. No score report for the game could be found. Meanwhile a men\u2019s team named the \u201cPink Garters\u201d reportedly changed their team name to the \u201cAarons base ball club.\u201d<\/p>\n On June 8, a Sunday afternoon game between the New England Bloomers and the Mike Agnic club was announced for Sisters Island Field (this would later become \u201cConey Island\u201d<\/a> amusement park in the Ohio River in what is now North Warwood). The Steamboats Eliza and Buckeye left the wharf every hour to transport fans to the island ballpark. The result was a victory for the Bloomers, who defeated Mike Angic\u2019s men 13-8. The play of the Bloomers was said to be a \u201crevelation to the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n The night cap on Wheeling Island against the Will Gutman team did not go as well and the relentless sexism the Bloomers would face became evident in the reporting by the Register<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe New England Bloomer Girls crossed bats with the Will Gutmans yesterday afternoon at the upper end of the Island. The spectators were surrounded by an impromptu canvas fence [a common practice for many Bloomer teams] about eight feet high. The attendance within the inclosure [sic] was fair, while upon the elevation outside looking down upon the players the crowd was extremely large, and no doubt added zest to the fair player. The score was something like 13 to 1, favor of the Gutmans. Some very clever plays were made, and the loss of the game by the girls can be attributed to such yells as the following from the bleacher: \u2018Watch the umpire Minnie.\u2019 \u2018Minnie\u2019s got a broken wing.\u2019 \u2018The Humane Society out to get after you for hit\u2019n a girl.\u2019 \u2018Oh you woman beater.\u2019 \u2018Say Minnie how much do you make?\u2019 She\u2019s the best looking girl all right.\u2019 \u2018You ought to be ashamed to play a lot of young girls.\u2019 \u2018Will White\u2019s watching you. [probably a reference to major league pitcher and manager William Henry \u201cWhoop-La\u201d White<\/a>]'\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n After the loss, things got even nastier for the Bloomers. Under the headline \u201cNaughty Bloomer Girls,\u201d four players were reportedly charged with \u201ctrespass\u201d by officer Friese when they paid a visit to male friends working at the B. & O. depot. \u201cUnbecoming conduct,\u201d the Register<\/em> reporter called it, heavily implying something more scandalous than parking their \u201cspecial car\u201d on the B. & O. track. \u201cSome of them are veritable Amazons,\u201d the story continued, \u201cand all are of very uncertain age.\u201d After Judge Fitzpatrick assessed fines for each defendant, \u201cthe girls settled and went back to their car rejoicing.\u201d<\/p>\n After a rainout in Wellsburg, the Bloomers lost 8 to 7 to an unidentified \u201clocal team.\u201d<\/p>\n Bloomers returned to Wheeling in 1903, in the form of the \u201cSt. Louis Stars comprising an aggregation of Blooming Bloomer Girls in Full Bloom\u201d (Register<\/em> May 23, 1903), losing 8 to 6 to St. Mary\u2019s on May 20, then defeating the Pennsboro team 6 to 5 on May 23. They were scheduled to play the Hazel Atlas team, but, unfortunately, no score could be found.<\/p>\n In July 1903, the Register<\/em> reported an arrest of New York Bloomer girls in Texas for playing baseball in a public park. While in jail they reportedly became \u201csassy\u201d and \u201craised a rough house \u2026 They sang up-to-date songs, roasted the jail officials and prisoners, turned hand-springs, stood on their heads, walked on their hands, did high kicking and other startling performances.\u201d Though these antics were unfortunately not performed in Wheeling, the fact that the Register<\/em> printed this national story speaks to the wide-ranging fascination with the Bloomers at the time.<\/p>\n In 1904, the St. Louis Bloomers lost two close games in Woodfield, Ohio, but apparently did not visit Wheeling. In Parkersburg in 1905, the Star Bloomer Girls were reportedly un-Masked since \u201conly four of the Aggregation Wore Genuine Dresses.\u201d (Intell.<\/em> June 3, 1905, citing a Parkersburg Dispatch<\/em> story) The team, on its way to play in Benwood and Wheeling, was said to be \u201cawful.\u201d The male players were reportedly \u201cmade up in feminine attire calculated to strike cupid darts into the hearts of men in the bleachers.\u201d Another report from Sistersville on June 5 said the score was Windjammers 12, Bloomer Girls 11. Though close, the game was still ridiculed as a \u201cfarce\u201d as only four women played.<\/p>\n After this additional round of mockery, the Bloomers skipped Moundsville for Fairmont, reportedly disappointing \u201cabout half the force at the Fostoria [Glass]\u201d who had taken off work to watch the game. In October of the same year, the Register<\/em> reported that a local man named Walter \u201cChick\u201d Venamen had returned home after traveling with a Bloomer Girls team throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and southern Canada. He reportedly had \u201cthe time of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 1907 the Moundsville \u201cMound City\u201d baseball team arranged to play the original Boston Bloomer Girls, said to be \u201ctouring the country,\u201d at Fifth Street park. The Boston Bloomers reportedly fielded an all-female team with the exception of the catcher. The female pitcher was said to be a \u201cmarvel\u201d who had won many games already. The admission fee was a quarter to sit inside the fourteen foot high canvas enclosure. More than 800 paid full admission. The Bloomers lost 18 to 1. Despite the lopsided score, the Register<\/em> reporter seemed satisfied that the game was real and not a farce, the ladies having played \u201cremarkably well.\u201d Still the writer expressed doubts that the Bloomer pitcher was female, claiming \u201cHer features were decidedly masculine and her manner of delivery, speed and control not at all ladylike.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the next day in the Intelligencer\u2019s<\/em> report, the writer claimed the crowd was disgusted because the Bloomers were \u201cFakes.\u201d At least three were wearing wigs and fans left when the game became \u201cdry,\u201d swearing \u201croundly that never again will they be taken in as \u2018suckers\u2019 by Bloomer Girls, be they from Boston or Wegee.\u201d<\/p>\n In a decidedly sexist rejoinder, the Register<\/em> countered their \u201ctrust organ\u201d rival using the headline \u201c(Is It To Laugh).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe criticisms remind one of the fellow who purchased \u2018diamonds\u2019 from a street fakir and afterwards denounced the fakir because they were not genuine. The Bloomer girls are no new innovation in the game of baseball. Several such teams have played in this city and in every instance the game was a farce. It was not thought that any person modernized enough to know better than to blow out the gas, would have gone to the game Saturday expecting to see a gilt-edged article of baseball. They should have been satisfied to see the girls prance about the field in bloomers with a \u2018Wouldn\u2019t you like to flirt with me?\u2019 air, and if they looked good, accepted the invitation. Instead, many came away loudly protesting that they had been buncoed. Even the Mound City players appear to have been duped. They were entirely lacking in chivalry, playing the game as though they were playing a team of their equals, for championship honors. The girls were not given a chance to run the bases, thus the game was robbed of what should have been one of its most interesting features.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Perhaps due to this perception, no incarnation of the Bloomers were reported at local ballparks again until four years had passed. In 1911, the Myers Provision team defeated a Bloomer Girls team 11 to 2 with the Register<\/em> reporter taking the opportunity to, with typical nastiness, mock one of the women players, \u201cfatty\u201d whom he wrote, \u201cif she had slid or if she had laid down and rolled she could have covered the ground much faster,\u201d also implying that she was not a woman. The player\u2019s name was Rosie and she had three of the Bloomer Girls\u2019 seven hits, a solid outing for any ballplayer.<\/p>\n On June 4, 1911, The Myers Provision Company team, a men\u2019s team from Wheeling managed by Fred Olson, featuring players named Sonnefeld, Hoyt, and Hennen, along with pitcher Minkmeyer, played a game of baseball against the \u201cfamous Star Bloomer girls\u201d at Richland baseball park in what is now Warwood. \u201cBefore a crowd of 900,\u201d The Wheeling Intelligencer<\/em> noted, \u201cmore than attend the Sunday Wheeling games, the Myers Provision Company team defeated the Star Bloomer Girls team yesterday at Richland Park by the one sided score of 16 to 2.\u201d The game was called a \u201cfarce\u201d as Miss Hattie Kroll gave up \u201csomething like twenty hits\u201d while \u201cthe bloomers were unable to solve Minkmeyer\u2019s curves and when they did hit the pill they were thrown out through their inability to run.\u201d<\/p>\n A year later the Bellaire Athletics defeated the \u201cAmerican\u201d Bloomer Girls 15 to 5 at Sixteenth Street ballpark. Only four women played, including Betty Polen \u201ctwirler and first sacker,\u201d whose \u201cplaying was nothing less than marvelous.\u201d (Intell.<\/em> June 14, 1915). At the end of June the Texas Bloomer Girls played the Mound City nine at Fifth Street Park, losing 8-2 in a \u201cfarce comedy\u201d and a \u201cpoor exhibition of baseball.\u201d Incidentally, that\u2019s one \u201cfake, one \u201cfatty,\u201d and four \u201cfarces\u201d so far \u2014 if you\u2019re keeping score at home.<\/p>\n In October 1915 Benwood\u2019s own Bloomer Girl team challenged the Hill Top Farm Boys to a game of baseball on the Hill Top Farm grounds for the championship of \u201cwe don\u2019t know what championship, but nevertheless it is the championship of some place.\u201d (Register<\/em>, Oct. 10, 1915) There was no report on any result.<\/p>\n Five years later, an ad in the Intelligencer<\/em> beseeched people to \u201cgo to Akron and see the Bloomer Girls play.\u201d Sponsored by the Miller Brothers Tire and Factory Company, this version, comprised of office and factory girls, promised to please \u201cwith their wonderful ability to play the national game.\u201d<\/p>\n In May 1921, the vaunted New York Bloomer Girls directly challenged one of the best local semi-professional clubs, the Bauers, who were previously profiled in Archiving Wheeling<\/a>. Bauers manager J.J. \u201cJocke\u201d Jacobucci was said to be considering the offer, which means Drucie Bauer<\/a> was considering it. But, instead of NY vs. Bauers, the Chicago Bloomers (American Athletic Girls of Chicago) had an August showdown with the other local powerhouse, the McConkeys, or \u201cMacks\u201d and went down to defeat, 7-6 at Tunnel Green. A close game, in defiance of the hyperbolic headline: \u201cMacks Wallop Athletic Girls.\u201d The Bloomers had six hits and the Macks hit nine from Bloomer pitcher Peggy O\u2019Neil. \u201cWallop\u201d seems a tad inaccurate.<\/p>\n On May 31, the Bellaire Athletics defeated the Westinghouse Bloomer Girls of Pittsburgh in a tight contest, 16-12. Both teams used female pitchers \u201cto put the game on even terms.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1922, a first: Bloomer vs Bloomer as the North End played Burlington (Ferry) at League Park, with Leona Feeter (\u201cthe most remarkable girl ballplayer in the tri-state district\u201d) pitching for Ferry. Unfortunately, the result was not reported.<\/p>\n The Westinghouse Bloomer Girls from Pittsburgh took on the Macks in May 1924, losing 14 to 4 at Bauer Park in Fulton. They \u201cwould likely beat any girls\u2019 team picked up by females of any section,\u201d the Intelligencer<\/em> allowed. Leona Feeter re-emerged in June, taking the \u201churling slab\u201d for the otherwise male White Sisleys \u201cto even up matters\u201d in a battle with the Westinghouse Bloomers. Unfortunately, the game was rained out.<\/p>\n A Powhatan Bloomer Girl team with a male battery was organized in 1926 by Miss Mary Andes. They were searching for opponents in June, however, no games were reported.<\/p>\n The last local reference to a Bloomer Girls\u2019 team appeared in the Intelligencer<\/em> of June 27, 1927 as the \u201cfamous Western Bloomer Girls\u201d were scheduled to play the Mound City A.C. team on the high school athletic field. The outcome was not reported.<\/p>\n Adding up the results we do have, Bloomer Girl teams won 2 and lost 13 to Ohio Valley men\u2019s teams. Four of the games, including one against the vaunted Macks, were decided by only one run.<\/p>\n The Bloomer Girl formula was also tried for basketball. On November 25, 1914, the Boston Bloomer Girls basketball team lost 46 to 24 to the St. Clairsville Independents, even with an allegedly \u201clocal male player disguised as a girl,\u201d scoring 20 of the 24. The following March, the Bloomered basketeers lost a game to the Martins Ferry All-Collegians at Armory Hall, 38-8.<\/p>\n \u201cYe shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.\u201d Leviticus 19:27<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Page-7-of-Wheeling-Intelligencerpublished-in-Wheeling-West-Virginia-on-Tuesday-May-31st-1921.jpeg?resize=300%2C196\")
the Elm Grove Greys. All were successful in local baseball.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Page-8-of-Wheeling-Intelligencerpublished-in-Wheeling-West-Virginia-on-Friday-October-6th-1933.jpeg?resize=640%2C356\")
<\/p>\n
\nBloomered Barnstormers: The Bloomer Girls<\/h2>\n
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\nFakes, Fatties, and Farces<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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After another three years, in 1914, a Springfield Ohio version of Bloomer Girls took on the Wheeling Mold & Foundry team on Wheeling Island on Labor Day. Expectations were high. \u201cIt has been noised about town,\u201d the Intell.<\/em> observed, \u201c that these girls are \u2026 the fastest base ball manipulators of their sex and have a margin on a number of teams of the male population\u2026. They have defeated some of the strongest semi-pro teams in Ohio and Indiana and on their first appearance here will put on a good hard game.\u201d But the Bloomers lost 20 to 3. Under the headline \u201cBIG JOKE,\u201d the Intell.<\/em> reported small attendance for the \u201cfarce.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Page-8-of-Wheeling-Intelligencerpublished-in-Wheeling-West-Virginia-on-Saturday-July-2nd-1927.jpeg?resize=221%2C300\")
Also in 1927, Maude Nelson brought her Ranger Girls (who would later employ Rose Gacioch) to the Ohio Valley. The Intell.<\/em> called them: \u201ca mighty good brand of ballplayers featuring the best female pitcher in the country.\u201d After winning 3 of 7 games in Pittsburgh, they lost their first OV contest to Windsor 17-6 at Plummer Field in Power, with Miss Watson on the mound. They were scheduled to play the Macks on July 2 with Maude herself pitching. In a passive aggressive preview, the Intell.<\/em> reported: \u201cShe has the reputation of being the greatest woman hurler in the world \u2014 if that means anything.\u201d Despite all the hype, no result could be found.<\/p>\n
\nBasketball in Bloomers<\/h2>\n
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\nBe-Whiskered Barnstormers: The House of David<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/unnamed.jpg?resize=512%2C346\")
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In 1930, the big game finally happened. The House of David, fresh off a series of games against major league teams in training camps all over the south, was scheduled to play the Wheeling Stogies at Bauer Park. The Davids had just beaten the New York Giants 6 to 3. The Intelligencer\u2019s<\/em> April 28 headline told the tale: \u201cHouse of David Wallops Smokes Easily 4-1.\u201d The Davids outpitched the Stogies with curve ball specialist Paul O\u2019Grady in \u201cmidseason\u201d form after the barnstorming trip. This time \u201cwallop\u201d seemed a justifiable verb.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Page-16-of-The-Wheeling-Sunday-Registerpublished-in-Wheeling-West-Virginia-on-Sunday-July-12th-1931-1.jpeg?resize=212%2C300\")
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Nevertheless, a Japanese college team traveled to New Jersey in 1926 (and again in 1927) to play a team managed by Hunter and other local teams. Hunter took Ty Cobb to Japan in 1928 and Lou Gehrig and Lefty Grove along with Al Simmons in 1931. The latter team went 17-0. In 1934, the Bambino went along to the great delight of the Japanese, but Herb was left out of that trip. Ruth hit 14 dingers as the Americans again went 17-0.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/1922_USA_All_Stars_e5685c99-8d5b-4ccb-b52c-1d97a2020d98-A17179.jpg?resize=640%2C508\")