One Sunny Sunday morning at Jimmy Claxton's Grave

When James E. Claxton was laid to rest in 1970, Oakwood Hill Cemetery had already been around for nearly 100 years. Baseball had been around for, well, who knows how long, but the professional game had been in existence since 1869. At least that is the official story; players we undoubtedly paid before the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the "official" first professional team, played 101 years before Mr. Claxton was laid to rest. Yet that year, 1970, was only a mere eight years after the Negro American League disbanded, the last vestige of Negro League Baseball. Following that, one remaining Negro League Independent team soldiered on until 1989, when the Indianapolis Clowns ceased operation. For the last number of years, the team was no longer playing competitive baseball, but rather traveled as a side-show attraction, much like the Harlem Globetrotters. I spent Memorial Day weekend in Tacoma, Washington, and that trip brought all of this history into sharp focus for me.
On Saturday night, May 23, 2026, I attended a Banana Ball Championship League game in Tacoma's Cheney Stadium (home of the AAA Tacoma Rainiers) with my wife Stacey, my daughter Emma, and her family (wife Kelsy, Son Luka, and Daughter Lyla). The game was between the Party Animals and the Indianapolis Clowns. The Clowns' name has been revived by the Banana Ball phenomenon (see: https://bananaball.com) in partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum because, as head Banana Jesse Cole has stated, “They were the first baseball team to put entertainment first and would go to great lengths to bring their style of baseball to fans all over the country.” As a student of the game, and in particular the Negro Leagues, it was wonderful to see the Indianapolis Clowns back on the field, and that history remembered. 

Standing at the grave of James "Jimmy" Claxton, the next morning in one of Tacoma's oldest burial grounds, I recalled Claxton's life and paid my respects. Claxton is not a name known by many. Baseball

card collectors might know the story of how Claxton, by accident, became the first black baseball player to appear on a baseball card. (1) Others might look at baseball-reference.com and see a very short professional career listed. On that website, he is listed as playing three games for two teams (Pollock's Cuban Stars & the Washington Pilots) in 1932 in the Negro East-West League. It doesn't get much better if you click on his minor league stats. He is listed as playing in two minor league games in 1916 in the Pacific Coast League (viewed by some, like me, as the third Major League at that time), and his history tells us (see footnote 1) that both appearances for the Oakland Oaks were on the same day. On that single day, he appeared in two games, pitching in both sides of a doubleheader. He was the starter in game one and the closer in game two. Yet, that one-day minor league stop (though it yielded the famous baseball card), and the "cup-of-coffee" in the official Negro Leagues, belies the greatness of his career.

Claxton was born in Wellington, BC in 1892, but was largely raised in the coal mining towns of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He began playing semi-pro, industrial league baseball as a catcher as a teen, eventually playing for his hometown Roslyn Yippers an integrated team that played at a high level in semi-pro ball in Washington State for decades, including a stint in the Seattle City League. Claxton goes on to play for another 24 years on semi-pro, barnstorming, and industrial league teams. Teams like the Seattle Royal Giants (which he helped found), Shasta Limited, and the barnstorming Cuban House of David.  He integrates many of the teams he plays for. It is estimated he played for some 100 teams in a 40-year baseball career. According to his Negro League Legends baseball card, “Claxton preferred playing in integrated semi-pro leagues close to his West Coast home rather than the Negro Leagues.”

Claxton biographer Ty Pheland wrote, “To Claxton church, work, and baseball were twists of rope. On their own with little strength, but when intertwined, capable of lifting heavy loads.” I would argue that Claxton was practicing Public Theology by integrating baseball in many of the places he went. 

Due to being well-traveled and the poor record-keeping of games in this era, Claxton's stats are incomplete. From the stats we have, we know he was an excellent hitter and pitcher. He holds a lifetime Batting average of .350 and a pitching record of 138- 77 as a pitcher.  One former major league scout declared him “the greatest ball player to ever play the game.”

He pitched in his last game in 1956 at the age of 63 – an old-timers game between Tacoma City League and Valley League old-timers.  That same year, he retired from his work as a longshoreman, a job he used to help support his baseball career throughout his life.

On Sunday morning, the day before Memorial Day, I stood at the gravesite of James E. Claxton. Since reading his story in Ty Pheland's book, he has become one of my favorite players ever to play the game, despite never having seen him on the field. Claxton's story of early baseball integration, rooted in his faith, resonates as important and valuable to me. His excellence in obscurity is a trait, an experience, a history, I value. 

As the sunlight streamed through the trees of the cemetery, the silence was broken by the calling of a Northwest crow. It seemed fitting that a bird from the region Claxton loved and preferred to play in was providing a soundtrack for my visit to his grave. However, given the area's indigenous history, it is interesting to note that a crow symbolizes wisdom, intelligence, and adaptability. Those traits were present in Claxton. He had intelligence for the game of baseball, but also knew that barriers could be broken down. He was wise enough to know that his faith could be lived out, demonstrated in the world, not just in church spaces or the segregated spaces of the negro Leagues, but wherever he took his talents. And by playing for many teams, in many places, for many years, Jimmy Claxton made adaptation a way of life. The crow cawing away was speaking to the legacy of a man who was great before the world was ready for him, but who blazed the trail for the players that came after him. Claxton is also an example for all of us seeking to live out our faith in the world against overwhelming odds. His courage is enlivening, and his "do what you can where you are" approach is inspiring.

Until next time,
Joel Kiekintveld

NOTE:

I owe much in the post to the book Darkhorse: The Jimmy Claxton Story by Ty Phelan

(1) 

Claxton is on the roster for the Oakland Oaks of the PCL for no more than a couple of weeks in 1919. He was passing himself off as a Native American from Minnesota (since Indians were allowed to play in the PCL and Blacks were barred). During his stint with the Oaks, the photographer for the ZeeNut Candy Company took pictures of the team for that season's PCL baseball cards. Claxton was photographed and a card was issued with his likeness. This card becomes the first baseball card made in the United States to feature a black player. As noted above, Claxton plays in two games on the same day. He pitches in both games of a doubleheader and ends the day with a stat line of 2.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, and four walks. It was discovered that Claxton was black (he was also "French and Indian on his father’s side, and Irish and English on his mother’s." - https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jimmy-claxton/) and released.