One of the early pioneers of baseball racial integration was Kansas City Monarchs owner J.L. Wilkinson.

The only white owner of the original eight Negro League teams, Wilkinson took it upon himself to push baseball forward, putting together interracial teams many years before it was socially acceptable.

“He respected color,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “Because he was comfortable in his own skin, he was comfortable being around people who didn’t look like him.”

Born in Algona, Iowa, in 1878, James Leslie Wilkinson, or Wilkie, was a pivotal figure in the history of baseball. His most memorable achievement was building the Kansas City Monarchs to be one of the greatest baseball franchises of all time, but projects ahead of the Monarchs paved a path for that success.

Prior to the Monarchs, Wilkinson was an aspiring pitcher who was sidelined by injury. He founded one of the first girls barnstorming teams, called the Hopkins Brothers Champion Lady Baseball Club.

He eventually founded the Des Moines All Nations in 1912. The All Nations was a barnstorming baseball team made of people of all different backgrounds, which included whites, Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, Europeans and Latin Americans. The team was very successful and moved to Kansas City in 1916.

As the Negro National League was being formed in 1920, the Kansas City Monarchs faced pushback with Wilkinson spearheading the franchise as owner. Rube Foster was reluctant to let a white man own a Negro League team, but eventually accepted Wilkinson’s ownership due to his reputation of being fair and honest.

The Monarchs were filled with talent from Wilkinson’s All Nations team and some players from an all-Black military team. Those players were an early foundation that instantly launched the Monarchs into success.

By 1930, the Monarchs had already won four pennants and a Negro World Series. From 1931 to 1936 the Monarchs were a strictly barnstorming team. Wilkinson formed the Negro American League in 1937 as the Monarchs won another six pennants and a second World Series in 1942.

Wilkinson’s commitment to baseball also included innovative ideas. Some of his barnstorming teams had traveling ballparks with canvas fencing and a canopy-covered grandstand that could seat 2,000. He also successfully innovated portable lighting, allowing the Monarchs to play baseball’s first-ever night games in 1930, five years before MLB had its first night games.

“He was a very savvy, crafty, successful businessman who made his entire living in Black baseball,” Kendrick said.

Wilkinson exhausted every resource he had to promote the game and create an environment suitable for everyone.

A Monarchy of baseball royalty

Wilkinson looked after his players and set high expectations for his players. He bought the entire team suits and expected them to be active members of the community.

After 10 league pennants and two Negro League World Series championships, Wilkinson sold the Monarchs in 1948 as his health began to deteriorate. He later died in 1964 at the age of 86.

Former Monarchs player Buck O’Neill said, “While Wilkinson could have been lynched just for owning a Black ball baseball team, he never allowed the ugly racial prejudice of his day to keep him from doing what he loved and believed — Black baseball at its highest.”

In 2006, Wilkinson was finally inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.