John Dillinger, Semi-Pro Baseball Player

Did you know that notorious bank robber John Dillinger played semi-professional baseball in Mooresville and Martinsville?  Our video (below) elaborates.

Mooresville Moments #22, by Mooresville Public Library

In her history of Mooresville, Clara Richardson wrote that Chester E. Lawrence, when he owned Bradley Brick Company (later, the Wooley Company), Lawrence sold a parcel of land to the Town of Mooresville to be used as the Town Baseball Park.  Bradley Brick (Wooley Co.) was located on the south side of South Street, just east of the railroad tracks, and it was on this land tract that the baseball park was built.  (Click images below to enlarge)

Bradley Brick Company was founded in 1904

(Mooresville Times, March 11, 1904)

Office of Bradley Brick Company (constructed circa 1904)(undated photos)

(William "Tommy" McElwain stands in front of office)

Bradley Brick Company was located just west (to the right, in the photo)

of Old Town Park (circa 1885 photo)

Approximate location of the Town Baseball Park

(Image courtesy of Google Maps © 2024)

  

Town Baseball Park was home to the Mooresville Walkovers, a semi-professional baseball team that won 26 straight games in 1919.  The Walkovers were hardly walked-over by their opponents; their won-loss record was quite respectable.

1919 Mooresville Walkovers won 26 straight games, a team record

(Mooresville Times, October 8, 1964)

  

1914 Mooresville Walkovers Team Photo

In 1924, John Dillinger played shortstop and second base, both for the Mooresville Walkovers and the Martinsville Athletics, another semi-professional baseball team.

Mockup Baseball Card for John Dillinger

1924 Martinsville Athletics Team Photo

(John Dillinger indicated by arrow)

One of the teams' umpires was Mooresville resident Ed Singleton, Dillinger's drinking buddy and accomplice in Dillinger's attempted holdup of Mooresville's West End Grocery owner Frank Morgan.  Some say that it was Singleton that talked Dillinger into committing this attempted robbery.  Regardless, Dillinger's conviction and severe punishment were directly responsible for turning his life toward crime.

What would have happened had Dillinger and Singleton not tried to rob Morgan?  Baseball would probably never have been more than a pastime for Dillinger.  Few baseball players have sufficient skills to make it to the major league, or even the minor leagues.  Mooresville and Martinsville's semi-pro teams were "minor minors," and Dillinger's athletic abilities were such that he likely would have risen no higher.  If not for his imprisonment, he might have pursued an ordinary, honest life.  But "what ifs" are better suited for alternative history novelists.  John Dillinger's history is what it is, and we're forced to accept its lessons as given.