Just a quick dispatch today. I found this article in the archives of The Louisiana Weekly Newspaper. It’s from March 13, 1926. It shows none other than the legendary Oliver “Ghost” Marcell signing up to play for a YMCA team in New Orleans! It’s not as far-fetched as it might seem: Marcell was a native of Thibodaux, La. — located about 50 miles southwest of New Orleans — and got his start in top-level baseball in the Big Easy.

What’s particularly interesting about this article is that it says Marcell was “formerly of the Bacharach Giants,” but he was still in the midst of his professional career in the top levels of Black baseball.

Which raises the question of why he was playing for a YMCA, because I’m guessing it wasn’t for the money. …