Hate strikes out: 95 years ago, Negro Leagues team defeated KKK squad in Kansas
On June 21, 1925, the Wichita Monrovians played an exhibition game against Wichita Klan Number 6.
“It was a semi pro black baseball team called the Wichita Monrovians versus Ku Klux Klan Number 6 that took place at Island Park in 1925, with no incident,” Kendrick said.
Thankfully, violence never erupted during this surreal showdown, but organizers certainly took extra steps to ensure that was the case. An article promoting the game in the Wichita Beacon begins with this line:
“Strangle holds, razors, horsewhips and other violent implements of argument will be barred at the baseball game at Island Park this afternoon when the baseball club of Wichita Klan Number 6 goes up against the Wichita Monrovians, Wichita’s crack colored team.”
Other details in the same write-up are even more bizarre.
“The umpires have been instructed to rule any player out of the game who tries to bat with a cross,” the article said.
The Klan’s influence was fading in Kansas at the time, and the exhibition was seen as an opportunity for the group to garner some positive publicity.
Playing in temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees, the Monrovians outlasted the Klan, winning the game 10-8.
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