The Council Bluffs Maroons Baseball Team

Shugart Managed Famed Maroons Here; Later Organized, was Secretary of Iowa Loop

Remember the Council Bluffs Maroons? They spread this city's baseball fame far and wide before the turn of the century, and George S. Shugart, who had a lot to do with them, is a visitor here this week.

The Maroons, organized in 1894, and sponsored by Council Bluffs merchants, were so successful that a tour was arranged in July of that year. It was to have lasted only a fortnight and was not to have extended beyond western Iowa. Before it ended, however, the club had moved through eastern Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and had played 52 games, winning 42 of them.

The Maroons were a home talent club, except for three Negro players from Omaha - Pitcher Miller, Catcher Graham and Third Baseman Taylor. Shugart is convinced that Miller was born some 40 years too soon - that he'd have crashed the big leagues had he been in his prime after organized baseball's color line was erased.

Following their season with the Maroons, Miller, Graham and Taylor played with the Page Fence Giants of Adrian, Michigan. The club toured several states in a private Pullman in 1895 and made a great record against professional and independent teams.

Three games at Marshalltown, with the Marshalltown Stars, made the Maroons' 1894 tour a financial success, Shugart recalls. The Stars went into the Maroon series undefeated, and had picked up a tremendous following through central and eastern Iowa.

The Stars won the first game from the Council Bluffs team, but dropped the second and third tilts, in spite of "loading up." The tour ended on a somewhat drab note for the Maroons, with Clinton, a team boasting several pros, sweeping a three-game set and becoming the only club to win a series from the Bluffs nine. Several of the Maroons finished the 1894 season with clubs in a Cedar Rapids commercial league.

William Brown, who owned a drug store on South Main Street here, managed the Maroons for the first 10 days of their trip, but was injured when struck by a batted ball and obliged to return home. Shugart, who had accompanied the team as business and booking manager, then took over active management. After the final game of the tour had been played the uniforms and equipment sent home, Shugart was invited to enter his club in a tournament at Dubuque, billed for the state championship. Minus uniforms, bats, balls or gloves, he had to decline. The result was that several of the Maroons were picked up by a Cedar Rapids club, and helped that outfit win the tournament. It was a gala affair, he remembers. Special excursion trains carried thousands of fans from Clinton and Cedar Rapids to boost for their home teams.

Shugart was delegated to organize an Iowa state baseball league in 1895, and served as that loop's paid secretary. Member cities were Dubuque, Clinton, Ottumwa, Waterloo, Burlington and Cedar Rapids. He gave up baseball in1896 and for the next 35 years was associated with the United States Rubber Company and affiliated companies. At the time of his retirement in 1931 he was second vice-president of the United States Rubber Company, president of the United States Tire Company, and a director on the boards of subsidiary companies. He had also served several terms as chairman of the tire division of the Rubber Manufacturers' Association of America.

His present home is at 339 Rich Avenue, Mount Vernon, New York. Enroute home from California he is visiting here with Marion Shugart, Mrs. Elmer Shugart, Mrs. Lyman Shugart and other relatives.