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On May 2, 1920, the Indianapolis ABCs baseball team took the field against the Chicago American Giants at the old Washington Park on the east side of Indianapolis. It was the inaugural game of the newly-formed Negro National League. It probably met little national fanfare, but this was a historic moment, and it wasn’t just because the ABCs won the game 4–2. This game marked the arrival of the Negro Leagues around the nation.
The ABCs didn’t last very long in the Negro National League. The team folded in 1926. Twenty years later, a new baseball team had moved to Indianapolis—the Clowns. It’s believed that the Clowns began in Miami, Florida, and eventually moved to the Circle City after a short stay in Cincinnati. The Indianapolis Clowns played in the Negro American League and fielded some memorable players over the years.
Exhibition poster for the Indianapolis Clowns on display in the Stories from Our Community display case at The Children’s Museum.
You might recognize this second baseman who played for the Clowns. His teammates called him Pork Chop. The world calls him Hammerin’ Hank.
We call him a Sports Legend.
Video recorded for the Negro League Baseball Museum’s Tipping Your Cap campaign.
That’s right. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s professional baseball career began in the Negro Leagues right here in Indianapolis. He played second base for the Clowns for three months in 1952. Then Major League Baseball came calling. He signed with Atlanta and the rest is history. In 1974, Hank broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record.
The Negro Leagues were created while the country was segregated. Teams like the Indianapolis Clowns gave Black players the opportunity to play professional baseball. The Clowns also provided opportunities to another group of people who weren’t allowed to play baseball: women.
Marcenia Lyle “Toni” Stone
Photo courtesy of Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Inc.
Toni Stone was the first woman to play baseball in the Negro Leagues. The Clowns signed her to replace Hank Aaron at second base. She was so good at the game that the Negro League Baseball Players Association named her “maybe one of the best baseball players you’ve never heard of.” She was inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. Her story was recently told in the off-Broadway show Toni Stone.
Mamie “Peanut” Johnson
Signed by the Clowns in 1953, Peanut Johnson was the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues. At five foot three inches tall, other players in the league towered over her. She was given the nickname “Peanut” when a player stepped up to the batter’s box and said “That little girl’s no bigger than a peanut. I ain’t afraid of her.” She struck him out. The nickname stuck.
“I was determined to be a professional baseball pitcher,” she once said. “I didn’t care what color my skin was or that I was a woman. I believe you can overcome just about anything if you believe in yourself and work hard.”
Johnson retired from the Clowns in 1955 with a remarkable 33–8 record. That’s pretty good for a little girl no bigger than a peanut.
We’re tipping our caps
After baseball was integrated, the Negro Leagues began to disband. In 1966, the Indianapolis Clowns were the last Negro League team still playing. They continued to play exhibition, sideshow-style baseball games until 1989.
Today, 100 years after that first Negro Leagues game on East Washington Street in Indianapolis, baseball fans around the nation are tipping their caps and celebrating the impact of the Negro Leagues on America’s pastime.
At The Children’s Museum, we tip our caps to Hank Aaron, Toni Stone, Peanut Johnson, the Indianapolis Clowns, and the Negro Leagues every day on the Old National Bank Sports Legends Avenue of Champions in the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience®. You can find their statues outside of Wiese Field. When you visit, be sure to tip your cap to them and the other trailblazers of the Negro Leagues.
