Frank Wickware (March 8, 1888 – November 2, 1967), nicknamed "Rawhide" and "The Red Ant", was a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

from 1909 to 1925. In a nationally syndicated article written in 1915, it was said that Wickware "is another negro pitcher who would rank with the

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

s, Joe Woods or Grover Alexanders if he were a white man.""Color Line Loses 3 Great Pitchers to Major Leagues"
''Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph,'' Colorado Springs, CO, June 9, 1915, p. 7 In the previous year, another article announced Wickware was striking out an average of 11 players per game, and in two games in a row struck out 34 batters. Wickware's signature pitch seems to be a curveball that appeared to be a

beanball "Beanball" is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking them such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head (or "bean" in old-fashioned slang). A pitcher who thro ...

, but "his control is so perfect" that it was said he never "hit a batter in the head." But batters would jump away from the plate, only to have his curveball arch into place over the plate. His first wife Dottie"Notes of the Game" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, July 18, 1914, Page 4, Column 6
/ref> traveled with the team. However, Wickware married again, Elizabeth McCann on May 18, 1915 in Chicago. His new wife followed him on a trip to California that year.Society of American Baseball Research Bio written by Stephen V. Rice
/ref> Wickware registered for the WWI Draft at the age of 29. He lists his birthplace as Girard, Kansas. And he lists his current address as 3450 Wabash in Chicago, Illinois. Wickware lists his occupation as base ball player, working for the American Giants of Chicago. He is listed as married and claims his wife and mother as dependents."WWI Draft Registration for Frank Ellis Wickware," Precinct 35, Ward 2, Chicago, Illinois, Date Unknown
/ref> At age 64, Wickware received votes listing him on the 1952 ''

Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acqu ...

'' player-voted poll of the Negro leagues' best players ever."1952 Pittsburgh Courier Poll of Greatest Black Players"
/ref>

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickware, Frank 1888 births 1967 deaths Brooklyn Royal Giants players Chicago American Giants players Chicago Giants players Detroit Stars players Indianapolis ABCs players Leland Giants players Lincoln Stars (baseball) players Louisville White Sox (1914-1915) players Lincoln Giants players Philadelphia Giants players St. Louis Giants players Club Fé players San Francisco Park players Schenectady Mohawk Giants players United States Army personnel of World War I Baseball players from Kansas People from Coffeyville, Kansas African Americans in World War I American expatriate baseball players in Cuba African-American United States Army personnel