We don’t know if their paths ever crossed earlier, but on October 5, 1913, when they were both 25 and in the prime of their baseball careers, the two pitchers squared off against each other at Island Park in the Mohawk River in Schenectady. On Thursday, 111 years after their only meeting on the field – that occasion was a 1-0 victory for Wickware – that day will be commemorated by SUNY Schenectady County Community College, the Society for American Baseball Research and the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. A historic marker telling the story of the Mohawk Giants’ 1-0 win over Johnson’s barnstorming team will be unveiled at 10 a.
m. on the SUNY Schenectady campus, and five speakers will offer a few remarks, including Baseball Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch. Even the most marginal baseball fan has heard of Johnson and his legendary career, and in 1913 he was coming off his finest season ever, posting a 36-7 record for the Washington Senators as well as an earned run average of 1.
14. Only avid Schenectady baseball fans, those with a deep interest in history, will be familiar with Wickware, but he was a standout among black players, and in the pre-game hype for the game, the Union-Star called it a matchup between “the best colored pitcher in the world against the leading white pitcher.” It would be nice to report that it was a great day for baseball and race relations, and it may have been, but unfortunately the story is quite complicated.
Frank W.