Gorton to tell story of pitching star Donaldson on April 29

John Wesley Donaldson, who narrowly missed being inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame last year because of the tireless efforts of Peter Gorton, will have his compelling story told by Gorton in Minneota on April 29.
Donaldson, an African American southpaw pitcher who barnstormed across the United States to play baseball, wore a Minneota uniform and pitched on three different occasions with the local semi-pro team in 1925. His brother, James Donaldson, pitched and played shortstop for Minneota that year.
Donaldson's first time pitching for Minneota came on Aug. 6, 1925 when he pitched four innings and struck out eight batters.
The second appearance came on Sept. 6, 1925. His brother became ill late in the season and passed away on Aug. 25. So, Donaldson pitched in his honor. Despite having pitched in both games of a doubleheader the night before in another city, John took the mound and struck out 14 batters but lost the game 3-1.
In all, he pitched in over 700 cities in the United States and Canada, including 131 in Minnesota.
Gorton will speak at 3 p.m. at the Opera Hall above the public library. Admission is free and free-will donations are accepted. RSVP is required for this event by emailing scott@thomabooks.com.
Through research, Gorton began to track as many of Donaldson's pitching statistics as he could compile. He soon became amazed at how good this cannon-armed pitcher was.A Donaldson Network was formed with people across the country researching newspaper articles and other information sites to find out when and where Donaldson had played.
"I'm finding information almost every day," said Gorton. "We are now at 426 wins and 5,242 strikeouts. I consider him the greatest pitcher you've never heard of."
Through research, Donaldson pitched for 42 seasons. He struck out 18 semi-pro players when he was only 13 years old, and pitched three scoreless innings in an amateur game at age 58.
"Because he was so good, everyone wanted to see him pitch," said Gorton. "Towns would make a lot of money when he pitched there and drew big crowds. Donaldson made more money than all the players on his team and the other team combined. I'm sure Minneota had to pay him a lot of money to pitch there."
Newspaper accounts would say things like "He threw as fast as a cannonball could shoot it."
Donaldson helped form the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues and played two seasons with them as a pitcher and cleanup hitter. But he soon found out that he could make more money barnstorming across the country.
Negro Leagues great Buck O'Neill claimed Donaldson was the first pitcher to throw a slider.
A 39-second, 16mm video tape of Donaldson pitching in Fergus Falls in 1925 was discovered and baseball experts who watched the footage say he had a modern-day delivery.
Through Gorton's and the Donaldson Network's work, John Donaldson was one of 10 finalists on the Early Baseball Era (pre-1950) ballot for induction into Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame on Dec. 5, 2021. Donaldson fell just two votes short.
After his playing career ended. Donaldson was hired as a scout with the Chicago White Sox, the first Black scout in major league history.
Donaldson died in 1970 at age 79 and is buried in his hometown of Glasgow, MO. Gorton was mainly responsible for the Donaldson having a baseball field named after him and a statue placed at the stadium.
Gorton began working on restoring Donaldson's legacy 23 years ago and has dedicated his life to resurrecting Donaldson's career until his induction into the Hall of Fame.