Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
                    HOUSE CONCURRENT
                     RESOLUTION NO. 52
                            102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
                          INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE SHARP (37).
    5634H.01I                                                      DANA RADEMAN MILLER, Chief Clerk


                                           AN ACT
                                 Relating to John Donaldson day.


    Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

          WHEREAS, John Donaldson was an American baseball pitcher who played on a
 2 number of barnstorming teams across the Midwest and along the East Coast and later in the
 3 Negro Leagues in a career that spanned parts of three decades; and
 4
 5        WHEREAS, Donaldson is a native Missourian who was born in Glasgow, Missouri,
 6 on February 20, 1892, and raised there until attending George Smith College in Sedalia,
 7 Missouri; and
 8
 9        WHEREAS, after one year at George Smith College, Donaldson embarked on his
10 professional career in 1912 with the Tennessee Rats, a barnstorming combination of baseball
11 and entertainment; and
12
13        WHEREAS, after one year, he was signed by J.L. Wilkinson for his All Nations team
14 from 1913 to 1917. He averaged almost twenty strikeouts per game and once pitched three
15 consecutive no hitters in 1913; and
16
17        WHEREAS, in 1916, Donaldson also pitched the All Nations team to series victories
18 over the two top black teams, Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants and C.I. Taylor's
19 Indianapolis ABCs. At the time, he was considered the best pitcher in black baseball; and
20
21        WHEREAS, in 1917, he was inducted into military service and served a tour of duty
22 in France with the U.S. Army's 365th Infantry during World War I; and
HCR 52                                               2

23
24          WHEREAS, upon his return from military service, Donaldson continued to play for
25   two top black eastern teams, the New York Lincoln Giants and the Brooklyn Royal Giants;
26   and
27
28          WHEREAS, in 1920, upon the organization of the Negro National League,
29   Donaldson played for the Kansas City Monarchs during the inaugural season and
30   continued to play for the team intermittently over the next fifteen years; and
31
32          WHEREAS, at the tail end of his career, he formed the John Donaldson All-Stars in
33   1931, which toured around the country; and
34
35           WHEREAS, after his days as a baseball player ended, he worked as a shipping clerk
36   for the U.S. Post Office and later, upon the color ban being lifted, was the first full-time black
37   talent scout in the Major Leagues when he worked for the Chicago White Sox; and
38
39          WHEREAS, John Donaldson should be recognized for his excellence on the baseball
40   diamond, his service to this country, and being a trailblazer in this state and across the
41   country:
42
43            NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of
44   Representatives of the One Hundred Second General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the
45   Senate concurring therein, hereby designate every February twentieth as "John Donaldson
46   Day" in Missouri and encourage the citizens of this state to participate in appropriate
47   activities and events to commemorate the life and accomplishments of John Donaldson, one
48   of the best pitchers to play in the Negro Leagues and a member of the inaugural Kansas City
49   Monarchs team; and
50
51          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be sent to the Governor for his
52   approval or rejection pursuant to the Missouri Constitution.
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