Donaldson documentary near reality

A documentary on the life of John Donaldson, whom baseball historian Peter Gorton referred to as the best baseball player no one heard of, will become a reality after a successful fundraising effort.

“John Donaldson's legacy restoration effort passed a huge test recently,” said Gorton, 48, a freelance journalist who lives in the Twin Cities area.

“Our Kickstarter effort reached its funding goal and those funds will be used to begin production of '39 Seconds', a documentary film to tell Donaldson's story.”

Donaldson, a hard-throwing, left-hander who pitched two semi-professional games in Minneota in 1925, struck out over 5,000 batters in his illustrious career.

Gorton has been tirelessly researching Donaldson's career and now has recruited over 700 people into a Donaldson Network to help search newspapers, microfilm, libraries and museums to find out as much information as possible on this man.

The 90-minute documentary is called “39 Seconds” after Gorton discovered a film of Donaldson pitching and hitting in a game on Aug. 16, 1925 in Fergus Falls that was 39 seconds long.

“We have begun to assemble a team of filmmakers dedicated to telling the story through facts that the Donaldson Network has collected for the past dozen years,” said Gorton.

“I really believe John Donaldson is the greatest colored pitcher of all time.”

The 6-1, 180-pound Donaldson pitched four innings in a semi-pro game in Minneota on Aug. 6, 1925 and struck out eight batters.

His brother James, who played the entire season for Minneota in 1925 as a pitcher/shortstop, died of meningitis a few days after that game.

To honor his brother, John returned to Minneota and took the mound again as a tribute to his brother, even though he pitched both games of a doubleheader the day before.

Although he lost 3-1 to Lismore, Donaldson struck out 14 batters despite a heavy heart and a tired arm.

After his playing days were over, Donaldson became the first African American scout in Major League Baseball history in 1949.

He died on April 12, 1970 at age 79 and is buried in Alsip, IL. Check out the film site at www.39Secondsfilm.com to see the work that has already been done on the film.