It's quite fortunate that this interesting footage has survived to preserve a glimpse of 'Goose' Tatum and other players from baseball's Negro Leagues, which at the time provided the best available opportunity for many talented players who had been excluded from the American and National Leagues by those leagues' notorious policy of segregation.
The footage consists of a series of short sequences edited together without any real story attached, and it seems possible that it may have been intended as a newsreel with an accompanying narration. Most of the sequences show Tatum and his teammates on the Indianapolis Clowns, in practice or other pre-game activities, with the players often making use of the opportunity to entertain onlookers. Tatum was quite an athlete, having also starred with the Harlem Globetrotters, and he had quite a sense of how to hold an audience's attention.
Indianapolis was somewhat atypical of the teams in the Negro Leagues, in that (at least in non-game situations) they often approached their work with a light spirit of entertainment. But there was nothing lightweight about their talent, nor of the talent on the teams they played against. (The scoreboard in the background shows that they are about to play the Kansas City Monarchs, who had some of the finest players of their era.)
Baseball fans who also love the history of their game often find the Negro League teams a tantalizing subject. More than enough survives to confirm that they were home to some of baseball's greatest players, yet the historical accounts and statistical records are frustratingly sketchy. Footage like this can't make up for everything missing, nor of course can it make up for the opportunities that these athletes were unfairly denied. But at least it preserves a living, moving look at some of the players who otherwise might only be names in a book.
The footage consists of a series of short sequences edited together without any real story attached, and it seems possible that it may have been intended as a newsreel with an accompanying narration. Most of the sequences show Tatum and his teammates on the Indianapolis Clowns, in practice or other pre-game activities, with the players often making use of the opportunity to entertain onlookers. Tatum was quite an athlete, having also starred with the Harlem Globetrotters, and he had quite a sense of how to hold an audience's attention.
Indianapolis was somewhat atypical of the teams in the Negro Leagues, in that (at least in non-game situations) they often approached their work with a light spirit of entertainment. But there was nothing lightweight about their talent, nor of the talent on the teams they played against. (The scoreboard in the background shows that they are about to play the Kansas City Monarchs, who had some of the finest players of their era.)
Baseball fans who also love the history of their game often find the Negro League teams a tantalizing subject. More than enough survives to confirm that they were home to some of baseball's greatest players, yet the historical accounts and statistical records are frustratingly sketchy. Footage like this can't make up for everything missing, nor of course can it make up for the opportunities that these athletes were unfairly denied. But at least it preserves a living, moving look at some of the players who otherwise might only be names in a book.
