In 1933, the World’s Fair was hosted by Chicago, and as part of the event a “Dream Game” was organized with the best players from the Major Leagues’ American League battling the National Leaguers at Comiskey Park. An aging Babe Ruth hit the game’s first home run, and what was thought to be a one time event is still played today, with the game rotating to a different ballpark each year.
While the Major League All Star Game was a huge financial success, hundreds of miles away in North Dakota, two towns, Bismarck and Jamestown, were battling for supremacy in semipro baseball circles. Jamestown was dominating the rivalry during the summer of ’33 as they hired Negro League left-handed pitcher Barney Brown to bolster their otherwise mostly white team and he made mincemeat of local teams, including Bismarck.
Since games between North Dakota town teams attracted heavy betting, Bismarck owner Neil Churchill called the largest baseball booking agent in the Midwest, Chicagoan Abe Saperstein, who also owned the Harlem Globetrotters. “Get me someone who can beat Barney Brown!” was the gist of phone call. Saperstein recommended Satchel Paige of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and assured Churchill that he would pitch in North Dakota for the right price. Whatever that price was, it was paid and soon Paige was pulling into the Bismarck train station ready to pitch. Crawfords’ owner Gus Greenlee threatened to cut Churchill’s throat from ear to ear, but Churchill was unafraid as Greenlee was a couple thousand miles away!
Shortly after arriving, Paige beat Brown in an exciting game, and both teams agreed to a three-game series to crown the top semipro team in the state. Jamestown contracted with the Chicago American Giants’ Willie Foster, the top lefty in the Negro Leagues, to face Satchel, and the game was one for the ages!
After the first game ended in a tie, the main event came with Satchel vs. Foster. In front of a standing room only crowd of about 5000 fans, Foster struck out 10, walked 10 and allowed six hits; Satchel struck out 15, walked four and hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. Bismarck won the third game and the team was named the semipro champions of North Dakota!
While Paige and Foster were in North Dakota, they each received telegrams from Chicago saying they had been chosen to start against each other in the first Negro League East-West All-Star Game in September which was organized by black sportswriters Roy Sparrow and Bill Nunn, and Greenlee. Foster left for Chicago, but Churchill offered Paige more money to stay in North Dakota and face the American Association All-Stars, an aggregation made up of the top players from one of the three top Minor Leagues (the other being the Pacific Coast League and International League). Six of the 10 players on the AA All-Stars were former or future Major Leaguers, and the Bismarck paper opined that Paige would have his hands full with these players one step from the Big Leagues. Well….not so much.
Paige struck out 14, allowed four hits, while the North Dakota semipros, with three Negro Leaguers and one career minor leaguer mixed in with semipros, scored 15 runs on 19 hits off Lou Fette and Les Munns, who both spent several years in the Majors, and combined for 45 Big League wins. The final score was 15-2, but that is somewhat deceptive as the only Minor League runs came in the last inning when Paige tried to catch a popup behind his back and dropped it, then threw a comebacker into centerfield which would have ended the game with a double play; the next batter blooped a double down the line to score both runs, unearned. Angelo Giuliani, catcher for the AA Stars (via the St. Paul Saints) and future catcher with the Washington Senators, thought that Paige was as fast as any pitcher he faced in the Majors, and when recalling the beating his team took against the North Dakotans replied, “I guess I called for too many wrong pitches!”
Back in Chicago’s Comiskey Park on September 10th, Willie Foster not only started on the mound for the West squad, representing the Chicago American Giants, but he pitched a complete game! In fact, the West squad did not use a single substitute during their 11-7 victory in front of 20,000 fans. Seats were priced at $1.50 for box seats ($28.24 in today’s dollars), $1.10 for general admission ($20.71), and 55 cents for bleacher seats ($10.35).
Foster allowed three earned runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts, while Sam Streeter of the Crawfords took the loss, allowing six earned run in 5-1/3. The offensive highlight of the game was a two-run upper deck homer by Mule Suttles off Streeter, poetic justice since Suttles was sometimes called the Babe Ruth of the Negro Leagues.
The West featured Hall of Famers Turkey Stearnes (2 for 5), Willie Wells (2 for 4), as well as stars Alec Radcliffe (2 for 4) and Sam Bankhead (2 for 4), and the East featured Hall of Famers as well, with Josh Gibson (1 for 2), Cool Papa Bell (0 for 5), Oscar Charleston (0 for 3), Judy Johnson (1 for 1), Jud Wilson (2 for 3) and Biz Mackey (1 for 3). Charleston was the leading vote-getter with 43,793.
The game was considered a success, and would continue to be played until 1961, always at Comiskey Park, with attendance peaking in 1943 when over 51,000 fans saw a 2-1 West win. Oh, by the way, Paige would pitch in the ’34 East-West Game, earning the victory with four scoreless innings, while Foster took the loss, allowing a single run in three innings.
