In August 1907, the Lewisburg Athletic Association organized an exhibition game between Green’s Nebraska Indian Baseball Team and the Lewisburg team. The game drew a crowd of over 1,800 and was described as the largest gathering since the dedication of the Confederate war monument. The Nebraska team was founded in 1897 by University of Nebraska law school graduate, Guy Green, who recruited his players from Indian boarding schools and the Omaha and Winnebago reservations. They toured the country playing college and semi-pro teams. Jeffrey Powers-Beck, in a history of the team, wrote, “Fans came to be entertained, and the Indians obliged with a combination of Wild West showmanship and zany baseball antics.” In advance of the Lewisburg game, the Greenbrier Independent wrote, the players would be “dressed in native costume, war paint, etc.”
The Nebraska team initially traveled in wagons and later by train. They were barred by hotels and had to sleep in tents on baseball fields. They were often heckled with racist remarks by spectators. Nevertheless, they played into the 1920s and were reported to have won 80 percent of their games. They beat the Lewisburg team 11-2, and the Greenbrier Independent described it as a “spirted game throughout and was greatly enjoyed by the large crowd.” Ticket sales generated $600 or about $21,000 in today’s dollars.
Photo courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Sources: Nebraska State Historical Society, Society For American Baseball Research, Greenbrier Independent, The Independent-Herald.
