The St. Paul Colored Gophers was a small club of black
baseball players formed in
St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1907.[1] They were not a formal
Negro league team, as the commonly referred-to "Negro leagues" were not created until 1920. However, like other
barnstorming teams of the time, they put considerable pressure on the
desegregation of baseball. Historians rarely mention the Colored Gophers in Negro baseball history, and statistics are hard to find.
History
The club lasted several seasons, also playing under the name Twin City Gophers and Minneapolis Gophers.
In 1909, the Colored Gophers defeated what was considered to be the most powerful
Negro baseball team, the
Leland Giants. They were managed that year by Phil "Daddy" Reid and Irving Williams, they managed to land Taylor brothers
Candy Jim Taylor and
Steel Arm Johnny Taylor. Candy Jim went on to manage the team in 1910.[2]
The
Minnesota Twins have honored the club by wearing replica throwback jerseys of the team.
The Twins wore 1909 Gophers uniforms at
home against
Cleveland on July 13,
1997.
They wore Gophers uniforms on July 10,
2005, in
Kansas City against the
Royals,[10] and again on both July 21, 2012 and June 23, 2019.[11]
On August 7, 2010, the Twins featured the Gophers uniforms in a game against the
Cleveland Indians at
Progressive Field. The Indians wore the Negro League's
Cleveland Buckeyes 1946 replica jerseys.[12] Announcers carefully referred to the jerseys as the Saint Paul Gophers, leaving out the word colored.[citation needed]
Peterson, Todd, Early Black Baseball in Minnesota: The St. Paul Gophers, Minneapolis Keystones and Other Barnstorming Teams of the Deadball Era. McFarland & Company, 2010.
ISBN0-7864-3816-9;
ISBN978-0-7864-3816-7
Kirwin, Bill (Fall 2007). "A Glimpse of the St. Paul Colored Gophers (1909) and the Schenectady Mohawk Giants (1913)". NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. 16 (1): 153–155.
doi:
10.1353/nin.2007.0045.