Monroe Monarchs
Encyclopedia
The Monroe Monarchs were a professional baseball
team based in Monroe, Louisiana
, which played in the Negro Leagues
from the late 1920s to 1935. The team was created by Fred Stovall
, a Texan oil drilling millionaire, who later financed the Negro Southern League
. In the 1930s, a time of acute segregation, the team's games were watched by crowds of black and white people, alike. The most famous player with the team was Hall of Famer
Hilton Smith
.
until Stovall formed the Negro Southern League with four other teams in 1932. The Monarchs won that first season and lost to the Pittsburgh Crawfords
in the Negro League World Series
. Despite this success the team was excluded from the Negro Southern League when it was reorganized in the following season.
The team played in Casino Park in Monroe, at what became 29th and Hope. It was 360 feet (110 metres) in left, 450 feet (138 metres) in center and 330 feet (102 metres) in right. Built on Stovall's plantation, the park and its associated recreational facilities (including a swimming pool and a dance pavilion) were considered some of the finest in the league.
Stovall accommodated the players in houses on his plantation, provided a cook to prepare their meals, and bought three brand-new Ford
cars in 1932 for the team's travel.
The team disbanded soon after 1935 and in 1937 Casino Park was leased to a local white team—Monroe Twins who became the Monroe White Sox
in 1938—who played in the Cotton States League
.
. With the necessary funds raised to obtain a marker, the Foundation worked with the City of Monroe from 2005-2006 to plan the development of a recreational area where a historical marker could be dedicated and presented for everyday viewing, preserving the legacy of the team. The location of the former Casino Park could not be used for placement of the marker, but less than a mile away were two public locations that could be used for presenting the marker for public display. One, Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, and two, Carroll High School. The City of Monroe developed an idea for building new ballparks, named after the most well-known Monarchs players, at Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, along with a walking trail that would have the Foundation's marker as the centerpiece. However, hurricane Katrina fallout and the subsequent economic climate delayed movement on this idea for several years.
During the downtime, with the assistance of Honorary Members, Paul Letlow and Thomas Aeillo, a website, a Myspace and Facebook Page were created (as technology opportunities became available) to give updates on the organization's efforts and open discussion for those interested in the rich history of this team. Greer and Newman also worked during this time with the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2006 effort to consider 39 former Negro League players for induction. The Foundation communicated and petitioned with the committee that had been established, for two other players from the Monroe Monarchs to be chosen, with former Monarch, Willard Brown
, being inducted as a result. Honorary founder, Thomas Aeillo also published a historical journal called, "The Composition of Kings: The Monroe Monarchs and the Negro Southern League of 1932," with plans to eventually publish a book on the team.
In 2009, activity began again on the placement of the permanent historical marker, albeit with a slightly revised purpose. Carroll High School, across the street from Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, had no permanent baseball field. Instead of building multiple parks named after players, the City of Monroe worked hard to obtain funding to erect a larger, high school-quality baseball park in the same location originally planned for the multiple parks and walking trail. This new idea would allow for Carroll High School to have the new field they needed, named Monroe Monarchs Field, whose centerpiece would be the historical marker. The final activity of the Foundation was participation in the formal opening of the Monroe Monarchs Field, which opened in the summer of 2010, and the permanent installation of the historical marker. The first official game will be in spring, 2011.
The foundation no longer operates an Internet presence, organization and has been dissolved as their charter was fulfilled. The impact made by the foundation continues as had been hoped, with the Ouachita Parish Public Library having just completed a 5 week exhibition called "Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience, A Traveling Exhibition." This exhibit was organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the American Library Association Public Programs Office in Chicago. Major funding came from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Ouachita Parish Library was one of 25 libraries across the country and the only library in Louisiana to have the exhibit. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, Mayor Jamie Mayo signed a proclamation naming Sept. 13 Negro Leagues Day, which will be celebrated in the library branches each year. Other special guests included Hall of Fame player Wilbert Ellis and former Houston Astros James Cooper of Grambling, Monroe Parks and Recreation staff and the Color Guard from Neville High School under the direction of Keith Arceneaux. The founders of the Monroe Monarchs Historical Foundation, Scott Greer and Jeffrey Newman, chartered the nonprofit organization for the expressed purpose of erecting the marker and bringing about awareness of this "missing" piece of Monroe history that the local community could inherit and continue once the charter was complete.
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team based in Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
, which played in the Negro Leagues
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
from the late 1920s to 1935. The team was created by Fred Stovall
Fred Stovall
Fred Alonzo Stovall was the founder of an oil drilling company and the Negro League baseball team the Monroe Monarchs....
, a Texan oil drilling millionaire, who later financed the Negro Southern League
Negro Southern League
The Negro Southern League was a Negro baseball league organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues in Southern United States were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north due to Jim Crow laws. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in .For most of its...
. In the 1930s, a time of acute segregation, the team's games were watched by crowds of black and white people, alike. The most famous player with the team was Hall of Famer
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
Hilton Smith
Hilton Smith
Hilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. In 2001 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
.
History
When the team first formed it played in the semi-pro Dixie LeagueDixie League (1933 baseball)
The Dixie League was a class C baseball league formed in 1933, with teams based in the US states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Arkansas. After one season of competition, the Dixie League was split into the East Dixie and West Dixie leagues, both of them competing in the 1934 and 1935 seasons....
until Stovall formed the Negro Southern League with four other teams in 1932. The Monarchs won that first season and lost to the Pittsburgh Crawfords
Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords were originally a youth semipro team sponsored by...
in the Negro League World Series
Negro League World Series
The Negro League World Series was a post-season baseball tournament which was held from 1924-1927 and from 1942-1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east coast counterparts....
. Despite this success the team was excluded from the Negro Southern League when it was reorganized in the following season.
The team played in Casino Park in Monroe, at what became 29th and Hope. It was 360 feet (110 metres) in left, 450 feet (138 metres) in center and 330 feet (102 metres) in right. Built on Stovall's plantation, the park and its associated recreational facilities (including a swimming pool and a dance pavilion) were considered some of the finest in the league.
Stovall accommodated the players in houses on his plantation, provided a cook to prepare their meals, and bought three brand-new Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
cars in 1932 for the team's travel.
The team disbanded soon after 1935 and in 1937 Casino Park was leased to a local white team—Monroe Twins who became the Monroe White Sox
Monroe White Sox
The Monroe White Sox were a Cotton States League baseball team based in Monroe, Louisiana, USA that existed from 1938 to 1941. They were affiliated with the Dallas Steers in 1938 and the Dallas Rebels in 1939. They played their home games at Casino Park....
in 1938—who played in the Cotton States League
Cotton States League
The Cotton States League name was used five different times in baseball history. The first Cotton States League ran from 1902 through 1908 as a class D league. After the league shut down, another Cotton States League was reformulated in 1910, with three of the six '08 members returning for the new...
.
Historical foundation
The Monroe Monarchs Historical Foundation began in 2005 by Scott Greer and Jeffrey Newman. The charter for the newly-formed Foundation was "to advance the education of urban Monroe, LA, by seeking financial and resourceful support for coordinating the erection and formal dedication of a historical marker for the Monroe Monarchs." Funding for this project made possible through a grant from JPMorgan Chase administered by the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council, as well as CenturyLinkCenturyLink
CenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...
. With the necessary funds raised to obtain a marker, the Foundation worked with the City of Monroe from 2005-2006 to plan the development of a recreational area where a historical marker could be dedicated and presented for everyday viewing, preserving the legacy of the team. The location of the former Casino Park could not be used for placement of the marker, but less than a mile away were two public locations that could be used for presenting the marker for public display. One, Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, and two, Carroll High School. The City of Monroe developed an idea for building new ballparks, named after the most well-known Monarchs players, at Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, along with a walking trail that would have the Foundation's marker as the centerpiece. However, hurricane Katrina fallout and the subsequent economic climate delayed movement on this idea for several years.
During the downtime, with the assistance of Honorary Members, Paul Letlow and Thomas Aeillo, a website, a Myspace and Facebook Page were created (as technology opportunities became available) to give updates on the organization's efforts and open discussion for those interested in the rich history of this team. Greer and Newman also worked during this time with the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2006 effort to consider 39 former Negro League players for induction. The Foundation communicated and petitioned with the committee that had been established, for two other players from the Monroe Monarchs to be chosen, with former Monarch, Willard Brown
Willard Brown
Willard Jessie Brown , nicknamed "Home Run" Brown, was an American outfielder in the Negro Leagues, Major League Baseball, and inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.- Negro league :...
, being inducted as a result. Honorary founder, Thomas Aeillo also published a historical journal called, "The Composition of Kings: The Monroe Monarchs and the Negro Southern League of 1932," with plans to eventually publish a book on the team.
In 2009, activity began again on the placement of the permanent historical marker, albeit with a slightly revised purpose. Carroll High School, across the street from Lillie Maddox Marbles Community Center, had no permanent baseball field. Instead of building multiple parks named after players, the City of Monroe worked hard to obtain funding to erect a larger, high school-quality baseball park in the same location originally planned for the multiple parks and walking trail. This new idea would allow for Carroll High School to have the new field they needed, named Monroe Monarchs Field, whose centerpiece would be the historical marker. The final activity of the Foundation was participation in the formal opening of the Monroe Monarchs Field, which opened in the summer of 2010, and the permanent installation of the historical marker. The first official game will be in spring, 2011.
The foundation no longer operates an Internet presence, organization and has been dissolved as their charter was fulfilled. The impact made by the foundation continues as had been hoped, with the Ouachita Parish Public Library having just completed a 5 week exhibition called "Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience, A Traveling Exhibition." This exhibit was organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the American Library Association Public Programs Office in Chicago. Major funding came from a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Ouachita Parish Library was one of 25 libraries across the country and the only library in Louisiana to have the exhibit. At a ribbon cutting ceremony, Mayor Jamie Mayo signed a proclamation naming Sept. 13 Negro Leagues Day, which will be celebrated in the library branches each year. Other special guests included Hall of Fame player Wilbert Ellis and former Houston Astros James Cooper of Grambling, Monroe Parks and Recreation staff and the Color Guard from Neville High School under the direction of Keith Arceneaux. The founders of the Monroe Monarchs Historical Foundation, Scott Greer and Jeffrey Newman, chartered the nonprofit organization for the expressed purpose of erecting the marker and bringing about awareness of this "missing" piece of Monroe history that the local community could inherit and continue once the charter was complete.
Notable players
- Chuffie Alexander
- Willard "Home Run" Brown
- "Blue Goose" Curry
- Porter "Big Boy" Dallas
- Sugar Dallas
- Ducky Davenport
- Harry Else
- Sam HarrisBucky HarrisStanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
- John Matthew Markham
- "Smilin" Dick Matthews
- Leroy Morney
- Barney "Big" MorrisBarney MorrisBarney Morris was a baseball player in the Negro Leagues. A skillful pitcher, he played for the Monroe Monarchs, the Bismarck Churchills, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the New York Cubans.-References:*...
- Hal MorrisHal MorrisWilliam Harold Morris III is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball who played primarily for the Cincinnati Reds. He attended Munster High School in Munster, Indiana, and the University of Michigan. Morris was the Player of the Year while attending Munster High School...
- Red ParnellRed ParnellRoy A. "Red" Parnell was an American left fielder and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably with the Philadelphia Stars from 1936-43. Born in Austin, Texas, he died at age 48 in Philadelphia.-External links:*...
- Augustus Saunders
- Hilton Lee SmithHilton SmithHilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. In 2001 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
- W.C Walker
- Elbert Williams