Ben F. "Cyclone" Reeves (born 1887) was an American baseball player who played for the

All Nations All Nations was a Barnstorm (athletics), barnstorming professional baseball team that toured the Midwest from 1912 to 1918, and again in 1920 and 1921, and from 1923 to 1925. It derived its name from the fact that its team included players of seve ...

, a mixed-race Negro league team, as a catcher, and also wrestled in a match before or after many of the baseball games as they traveled a large part of the United States, mostly in the Upper Midwest. Reeves appears to have known manager

J. L. Wilkinson J Leslie Wilkinson (May 14, 1878 – August 21, 1964) was an American sports executive who founded the All Nations baseball club in 1912, and the Negro league baseball team Kansas City Monarchs in 1920. Early life Born in Algona, Iowa, Wilkinso ...

long before the

team was formed, when they both toured with the Des Moines Hopkins Bros. team, the Bloomer Girls. 1914 All Nations

In the 1912 and 1913 seasons, Reeves often caught for Negro leaguer John Donaldson in games where the battery racked up an average of 15 strike outs per game. He also caught for Cuban Hall of Fame pitcher José Méndez, and many other well-known pitchers of the day. Throughout the 19-teens, Reeves was very widely known across Iowa as a "Wrestling Champion." However, there were no official records kept except through newspaper accounts. Reeves became an auctioneer in 1919, but in the 1920 Census, Reeves listed he was a farmer, renting land in the

Graettinger, Iowa Graettinger is a city in Palo Alto County, Iowa, United States. The population was 832 at the time of the 2020 census. History Graettinger got its start in the 1880s, following construction of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway t ...

area. He started another baseball team in 1920, calling the team the "Twilight Stars." The team changed their name to the "Wolves" by 1922. Reeves continued to wrestle in the early 1920s. And he even brought competition to farming, where in 1924 Reeves claimed he would have a higher yield than his neighbor, Mr. O. R. Gardner.

Post baseball and wrestling career

According to census reports, through the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, Reeves and his wife Bessie maintained a farm in rural Guthrie Center in the area of

Bear Grove Township, Guthrie County, Iowa Bear Grove Township is one of seventeen townships in Guthrie County, Iowa, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North A ...

."United States Census, 1940", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KMY3-SBD : accessed 29 Jan 2013), Ben F Reeves, Guthrie Center, Valley Township, Guthrie, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 39-27, sheet 22B, family 569, NARA digital publication T627, roll 1163 By the 1950s and '60s, Reeves and his wife moved to the Guthrie Center area where papers often said he originated. A 1910 census puts the family farm near Seely Township, Iowa where Reeves grew up with 12 other brothers and sisters."United States Census, 1910", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MGMM-K39 : accessed 29 Jan 2013), Benjamin F Reeves in household of Orison N Robertson, Seely, Guthrie, Iowa; citing sheet 6B, family 135, NARA microfilm publication T624, FHL microfilm 1374417

References

External links

John Donaldson and All Nations Ongoing Research Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Ben All Nations players 1887 births Year of death missing Baseball players from Iowa