Monroe Monarchs

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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.

When the team first formed it played in the semi-pro Dixie League 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 Parkin 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.

[edit] Notable players

Chuffie Alexander
Willard "Home Run" Brown
"Blue Goose" Curry
Porter "Big Boy" Dallas
Sugar Dallas
Ducky Davenport
Harry Else
Sam Harris
John Matthew Markham
"Smilin" Dick Matthews
Leroy Morney
Barney "Big" Morris
Harold Morris
Red Parnell
Augustus Saunders
Hilton Lee Smith
W.C Walker
Elbert Williams
Zollie Wright

[edit] External links

[1] Monroe Monarchs Historical Foundation

[edit] References

'Interview with Marlin Carter', Black Ball News (1993) cited at 'Team History', Monroe Monarchs Historical Foundation (2005). Retrieved July 24 2005.
Letlow, Paul J. cited at 'Ballparks', Negro League Baseball Players Association Retrieved July 24 2005.
Loverro, Thom; Fields, Wilmer. Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball
Lowry, Philip J. Green Cathedrals
O'Neil, John. Catching Dream: My Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues
Peterson, Robert W. Only The Ball Was White, (New York: Prentice-Hall Englewood-Cliffs, 1970)