The Tennessee Rats was a small club of Black baseball players formed in Holden, Missouri running from approximately 1910"Baseball News" Valentine Democrat, Valentine, Nebraska, Thursday, April 28, 1910, Page 4, Column 4 to 1926."LEADING BASEBALL CLUBS" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, April 1, 1911, Page 7, Column 5
History Run by W.A. Brown, the Tennessee Rats was almost purely a traveling team, and toured much of Iowa and other surrounding states, playing baseball and in the early years, producing a minstrel show to add to the box office take after the baseball games.
Many researchers do not consider the Tennessee Rats a "formal" Negro league team. However, like other barnstorming teams of the time, they had considerable impact on the desegregation of baseball. Today, the Tennessee Rats are rarely mentioned in Black baseball history, and stats and rosters are hard to find.
Notable players John Donaldson"A GOOD GAME" Bayard News Gazette, Bayard, Iowa, June 1, 1911 Jack Marshall"Brown's Tennessee Rats..." Kansas City Sun, Kansas City, Missouri, Saturday, June 30, 1917, Page 8, Column 3
References
External links "The Ongoing Research Site for John Donaldson" 1920 Tennessee Rats Calendar