Greatest player you never heard of

Peter Gorton's passion for making former colored pitcher John Wesley Donaldson's name as well-known as Satchel Paige, announced recently that a 90-minute film about the life of the left-hander who pitched twice in Minneota in 1925 is going into production soon.

The Mascot ran a story about Donaldson in 2015. Gorton has exhaustively researched Donaldson's storied semi-professional career for nearly 18 years and feels that Donaldson is the “greatest baseball player you've never heard of.”

The documentary, which is scheduled to begin production this summer, is called “39 Seconds” and will be directed by Paul Irmiter. The name of the film comes from the 39 seconds of actual film footage of Donaldson pitching and batting in a game in Fergus Falls in 1925.

It’s believed to be the only video footage ever recorded of Donaldson. “Not many people had cameras in those days,” said Gorton. “And how it all came about is an amazing story itself.”

W.T Oxley was a photographer in Fergus Falls. In 1922, his wife had a diamond come loose in her wedding ring and Oxley brought it into the general store to be repaired.

When Oxley went to pick up the ring two weeks later, the store owner told him the ring was lost. So he offered Oxley a 16mm camera as compensation for the lost ring.

“Can you imagine Oxley going home and telling his wife her ring was gone, but look at this camera I got instead?” laughed Gorton.

Oxley used the camera to shoot footage of parades, meetings, people ice fishing and other activities throughout Fergus Falls.

One of the things he filmed was 39 seconds of Donaldson pitching and batting in a game on Aug. 16, 1925 in Fergus Falls.

When Oxley passed away, the films were inherited by his son, Lloyd, who kept them under his bed for 60 years until his passing.

Lloyd’s son Rich then inherited the canisters of 16mm film that his grandfather had taken. Rich Oxley had heard about Gorton's research on John Donaldson and called him in 2006 to tell him about the film.

“I went and visited Rich in White Bear Lake and he showed me the 39 seconds of footage,” recalled Gorton, 48, a freelance journalist who lives in the Twin Cities area. “This was when I was in the early stages of research on Donaldson's career. I can't tell you how excited I was to see this footage.”

Gorton has shown the footage to many major league baseball scouts and almost all of them concluded that Donaldson had “electric stuff” and a “modern-day delivery”. “Others back then didn’t pitch like Donaldson,” said Gorton.

“If you watch old-time greats like Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson and other guys like that, they were all arm. Donaldson put very little pressure on his arm. His power came from his legs and hips.”

Through his countless hours of research throughout the country, Gorton has come to the belief that Donaldson was as good, if not a better pitcher than the well-known Paige.

“I really believe John Donaldson is the greatest colored pitcher of all-time,” said Gorton. Donaldson Network, led by Gorton, has over 700 researchers across the country that have been perusing materials at papers, microfilm, libraries and museums to find where Donaldson may have pitched.

“Because he wasn’t allowed to pitch in the majors back then, Donaldson would barnstorm across the country playing games to make some money,” said Gorton.

“And so far, we have discovered that he had over 5,000 strikeouts, with more that may or may not be discovered in our research.”

James Donaldson, John's younger brother, pitched and played shortstop in 1925 for Minneota’s semi-pro team. In a game on Aug. 6, 1925, the 6-1, 180-pound John Donaldson also pitched for Minneota’s semi-professional team against a barnstorming All-Star squad called “League of Nations.”

The flame-throwing southpaw pitched four innings and struck out eight batters, but wasn’t involved in the decision. James played shortstop for Minneota in that game.

A few days after that game, James Donaldson became seriously ill with meningitis and left the Minneota team.

At age 23, James Donaldson passed away at his home on Aug. 25, 1925.

On Sept. 6, John Donaldson returned to Minneota and took the mound as a tribute to his brother even though he had pitched in both games of a doubleheader the day before.

Although Minneota lost 3-1 to Lismore, Donaldson struck out 14 batters. Donaldson was nicknamed “Cannonball Donaldson” for the way the ball exploded out of his hand.

In one game in 1920 that went 18 innings, Donaldson pitched the entire game and struck out 35 batters. In another 12-inning game, he fanned 27 batters.

“The statistics are there and the testimonials are there,” said Gorton.

“(Hall of Fame manager) John McGraw saw Donaldson pitch several times when he managed the old New York Giants team and was quoted as saying, ‘John Donaldson is the best pitcher I’ve ever seen. We would certainly win a lot more games if we had him.’”

Because blacks were not allowed to play organized baseball, Donaldson was forced to perform anywhere he could but the major leagues. He would travel all over the Midwest just to play baseball.

Researchers have discovered that Donaldson played in over 130 cities in Minnesota, as well as many cities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.

“He was extremely popular. And if he played in a town that had only 500 people in it, fans would hear that he was pitching and there would be 5,000 in attendance for his game. That's how good he was,” said Gorton.

After he stopped playing baseball in 1949, Donaldson was hired by the Chicago White Sox as the first African American scout in Major League Baseball history. Donaldson was born Feb. 20, 1891 in Glasgow, Missouri.

He died on April 12, 1970 at age 79 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, IL.

The Chicago White Sox, upon learning that Donaldson had no marker, purchased a headstone that looks similar to a Hall of Fame plaque.

Gorton was in attendance for the ceremony of the placement of the engraved marker.

A kickstart fundraiser under the name “39 Seconds” has been started to raise money to get the “39 Seconds” film completed.

To see more about the project, visit www.39secondsfilm.com.