Wind Surge pay tribute to Wichita's baseball roots

Baseball history is like the ocean: there’s so much yet to be explored and there is always a new story to be found.

On Saturday, one of those stories was told when the Wichita Wind Surge paid tribute to the Wichita Monrovians. For the night, the Twins' Double-A affiliate wore orange Monrovian jerseys and debuted an 18-minute documentary about the ballclub.

The Monrovians were an all-Black semi-pro baseball team established in the 1920s. The Wind Surge honored the team as part of their participation with “The Nine,” a Black-community focused outreach platform designed to honor and celebrate historic Black baseball pioneers throughout the Minor Leagues. Nine signifies the number Jackie Robinson wore in his lone MiLB season.

“We were able to have more of a local application to The Nine,” said Bob Moullette, Wichita's GM. “We changed our moniker to the Monrovians, we had specialty jerseys that were orange, which represents openness and open-mindedness.”

The night marked the grand finale of a series of Wind Surge events that took place in collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas and the Kansas African American Museum. In addition to a documentary delving into the history of the Monrovians, Wichita also conducted two youth clinics, a diversity, equity and inclusion panel centering on mental health and a small business workshop focusing on minority-owned businesses and how they can team up with sports entities.

“We didn’t want to just do one night,” Moullette said. “We wanted to be intentional about what we’re doing and do a bunch of other things to educate and activate.”

Prior to 1922, the Monrovians were known as the Wichita Black Wanderers. After being purchased by the Monrovian Corporation, they changed their name and joined the Western Colored League that had been established the same year. In the first and only season of the league, the Monrovians were a dominant force, finishing with a gaudy 52-8 record.

“They had the ability of having their own field which made them an integral part, especially in the Black community, but just holistically, the Wichita community,” said Brad Richards, the community outreach coordinator for the Kansas African American Museum.

The Monrovians might be best known for defeating a team fielded by the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1925, in a game played at Ackerman Island Stadium, a ballpark built on a sandbar in the Arkansas River.

“The Kansas governor at the time was finding a way to oust the Ku Klux Klan, they didn’t want the Ku Klux Klan to be part of the Kansas story,” Richards said.

A local chapter of the Klan looking to have an event "for everybody in the community" challenged the Monrovians, according to Richards. Being eager to play the game no matter the matchup, the Monrovians accepted and went on to win, 10-8.

Richards was paramount in researching the documentary about the team. In addition to digging through the museum's archives for information, he contacted historian and co-founder of the Negro League Baseball Museum Phil Dixon and Wichita State University professors John Dreifort and Jay Price for assistance.

“[The Monrovians] even advertised this in the newspaper, they would tell people, ‘We’ll play anybody, it doesn’t matter, we’ll play white teams, Hispanic teams, Asian teams, Catholic teams, Muslim teams,’ they were willing to play anybody,” said Richards, who threw out the first pitch at Saturday’s game.

The Monrovians' stadium served as a place where everyone was welcome. Members of all communities came to enjoy the games.

“They played really good baseball, they had really good gimmicks, they brought out people like Jesse Owens to come and run on the field before the game just to keep the people entertained,” Richards said.

The Monrovians must have been years before their time, because in a way, their presentation sounds like the MiLB games of today. Prospects are there to play the games, but when there’s a pause in the action between innings, there’s always a promotion or mini game to entertain the fans. Wichita brought the concept full circle with its tribute Saturday.