New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

John Donaldson beats New Ulm; begins
100 consecutive innings without ER

And so on Aug. 4, 1914 the New Ulm Athletics failed to score a as the great colored pitcher John Donaldson began a string of over 100 innings without allowing an earned run. The articles of he day in the New Ulm Review did not indicate where the game was played but it is a possibility that it was on what is became the official site of Johnson Park 75 years ago.

Donaldson has been passed over for honors in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame but had pitching records challenging several who made it in later years. The outstanding pitcher won over 400 games . He played against over 300 Minnesota communities. As a semi-pro he racked up strikeouts against some legendary old-timer baseball names with the New Ulm Athletics in the early 1900's.

His string of over 100 innings began here as he often played against Minnesota teams and others in tee Midwest. We thought you would like to read some of the newspaper sports writing of the day as he fashioned that record. In following days we will present excerpts from those games.

Peter Gorton of Minneapolis has worked tirelessly to have Donaldson reconsidered for HOF membership even though the blacks of that era have been shutout from consideration for some time.

Two days before he pitched his first game of the streak, his All Nations team played an "indoor baseball game" under make-shift lights.