John Thomas "Topeka Jack" Johnson (April 25, 1883 – January 29, 1940) was a

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. He was also a professional boxer and trainer, and his nickname may have resulted from the need to distinguish him from the heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

Baseball career

Johnson was an alumnus of

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

. His boxing career spanned into the 1920s and he fought against Jack Johnson, Joe Jeanette (knockout of Johnson Dec 21, 1911) and Sam Langford, whom he fought to a draw on August 19, 1921. In baseball, Johnson's fielding was described as "swift" and "above Criticism." Johnson played for the

Chicago Union Giants The Leland Giants, originally the Chicago Union Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century. The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Gi ...

from 1903 to 1905 and again in 1907, his teammates including George Hopkins, Albert Toney, and Joe Green. He founded and managed the Topeka Giants in 1906, taking them on a tour of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. When the

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

based Kansas City Giants turned fully professional in 1909, the Kansas City Giants owner Tobe Smith signed numerous local players who had played for the Jenkins and Sons and a Kansas City Monarchs semi-pro team and hired "Topeka Jack" Johnson to be the Kansas City Giants player/manager. In the winter of 1909, Johnson helped form the Kansas City Royal Giants negro leagues team to be based in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. The Kansas City Royal Giants began play in the 1910 season, immediately becoming a local rival of the Kansas City Giants. The Kansas Royal Giants were owned by Kansas City businessmen M.B. Garrett and George Washington Walden, with Jack Johnson hired to manage the ballclub. Fortune J. Weaver was also an owner of the KC Royal Giants and was president of the Afro-American Realty and Investment Company. Just before the start of the 1910 season, Topeka Jack Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to start a Negro National League, writing articles that appeared in newspapers in Chicago and other major cities. Johnson wrote: "It certainly has been proven from the big leagues on down to the minors, that there is nothing in the world that beats organized baseball and harmony..." Johnson left the Kansas City Royal Giants after the 1910 season and returned to manage the Kansas City Giants in 1911. After the 1911 season, Kansas City Giants player and former Royal Giants player Dee Williams was shot to death in Kansas City and the Kansas City Giants continued play, but as a semi–pro barnstorming level team with a depleted roster. Topeka Jack Johnson then returned to the Kansas City Royal Giants in 1912, with Johnson and owner George Washington Walden resolving their differences. Playing for and managing the Kansas City Giants in 1909 and 1911, and the Kansas City Royal Giants in 1910 and 1912, Johnson worked with players like Tullie McAdoo, Bill Pettus, a young 18-year-old Bill Lindsay,

Bingo DeMoss Elwood "Bingo" DeMoss (September 5, 1889 – January 26, 1965) was an American professional baseball player and manager in the Negro leagues. Early life DeMoss was born in Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. stat ...

, and Hurley McNair. In 1917 Johnson managed "Jack Johnson's Topeka Giants," a team that played at least one game against the All Nations baseball club. In 2016, the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

(SABR) held a ceremony, dedicating a new grave marker for "Topeka Jack" Johnson at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Topeka, Kansas.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jack Leland Giants players Minneapolis Keystones players Negro league baseball managers 1883 births 1940 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Kansas City Giants players Kansas City Royal Giants players