(This article first appeared on TIFS on March 3, 2018 and is being republished by request in honor of Black History Month.)
On June 24, 1930, workers in Cleveland moved the first shovels filled with dirt as they opened construction of Cleveland Stadium, which served as the home field for 65 years for the Cleveland Indians and Browns before being demolished in 1996.
Meanwhile, 975 miles to the South in Fort Smith at 501 South B Street, Rose Lee Henderson completed construction on a son that was given the same first name as his father Neale.
Neale "Bobo" Henderson went on to probably be the best ever professional baseball player born on that date, but Henderson didn't get to ply his trade in the likes of Cleveland Stadium, Yankee Stadium, or Wrigley Field.
"Bobo" played every game he played in the historic Negro Leagues and he probably would have made the jump to the Majors after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1949. But he was drafted into another "league" when he got the call- up to the United States Army at the age of 23.
Hendeson lived within a baseball throw of Andrews Field in downtown Fort Smith and by the time he was old enough to make the walk to the stadium, he was hanging out there much to the chagrin of groundskeeper Frank Flippen.
Flippen, who lived with his wife in a house on South B that literally had Andrew's Field as it's backyard, finally gave up in his efforts to "shoo-away" young Henderson, who eventually became an unofficial mascot for the stadium at a time when Major Leaguers --and Negro League greats --were commonplace visitors for exhibition games.
In 1937, 1937, the Kansas City Monarchs and the Pittsburgh Homestead Grays played a night exhibition game in the stadium and he was the bat boy. He met Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson and went on to become a "good luck charm" for the Fort Smith Giants, a minor league squad.
At the age of 11, he became the official bat boy for the team, but his parents decided in 1941 to move to the west coast, and they settled in San Diego County and remained there through Bobo’s high school years.
In 1948, the athletic Henderson became the first African American starting quarterback at San Diego High School and was a baseball star for the school as well. Fresh out of high school, he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs and spent the 1949 season with a minor league team, the Kansas City "Ikes".
He was called up to the Monarchs in 1950, missing playing with Stachel Paige and Jackie Robinson by two seasons.
His career saw him play in 1949 with the "Ikes" (KC, Class “C” team) and the Kansas City Monarchs (Negro American League) and in 1950-51 with the Kansas City Stars (Monarchs “B” team), KC Stars (Independent)- and KC Travelers (Independent team with Cool Papa Bell as their manager)
According to the Fort Smith Historical Journal, "With the Monarchs, Henderson moved to the outfield in 1950, because the team had another pretty good shortstop, a guy named Ernie Banks.
With a strong lineup that included player-manager O’Neil, the Monarchs, and their second team, the Kansas City Stars, played their home games in and went on the road to the Negro American League cities and teams such as the Birmingham Black Barons, the Indianapolis Clowns, the Chicago American Giants, the Houston Eagles, and the Detroit Stars.
In 1950, the Clowns won the league title, a distinction that may have helped them sign teenage phenom Henry Aaron the next year, but the Monarchs in their rich history had won more games and more Negro World Series than any other team."
The invasion of South Korea by North Korea in June of 1950 triggered the Korean War and American's intervention changed Henderson's draft status from possible major leaguer to Army draftee.
Henderson was stationed at Camp Roberts and then Fort Lewis, Washington, Henderson played baseball in the service but never again wore a professional baseball uniform.
In 2008, when Major League Baseball held a symbolic “draft” of Negro League veterans, Henderson was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels. He still lives in southern California to this day and has actually done some commercial work for AFLAC and other companies.
Henderson maintains at least one connection with Fort Smith.
His father, Neale Sr. who died in 1984 is buried in historically African American Washington Cemetery on the north side of Fort Smith.
