During the early to mid-twentieth century, Americans flocked to ball fields to watch the games of the barnstorming baseball teams sponsored by a Southwest Michigan religious commune. Dubbed "Whiskerinos" by sports journalists, the athletes on the Israelite House of David's baseball teams entertained generations of fans with their offbeat look, humorous antics, famous "pepper game," and fast-paced style of play.

The Israelite House of David--a religious commune in Benton Harbor, Michigan--was known all over the United States during the first half of the twentieth century for its barnstorming baseball teams. The Christian-Israelite ballplayers took to the road just before World War I, touring the country and playing exhibition games.

During the original team's peak in the 1920s, disastrous legal scandals almost toppled the colony that sponsored it. But the commune rebounded and--along with its rival spin-off colony, Mary's City of David--continued to field semiprofessional baseball teams into the 1950s. The House of David also pushed gender and racial boundaries by recruiting several women to play and--like some other semipro teams during segregation--by playing against and touring with African-American teams.

A Brief History of the House of David

The House of David's unique faith originated in England in the late eighteenth century. The religion's adherents believed they were the descendants--numbering 144,000--of the lost tribes of Israel. The "Christian Israelites" thought their coming together at an event called the "ingathering" would usher in the coming of the godchild Shiloh and the apocalypse. They also believed in the "life of the body," or the tenet that the truly faithful would never die.

The sect attracted thousands of followers in England and other parts of the nation's sprawling empire, especially Australia. Although the faith was less successful in the United States, there were nevertheless pockets of Christian Israelites around the country--in particular, a group in Detroit led by self-proclaimed seventh prophet Michael Mills. In the 1890s, two prominent members, Benjamin and Mary Purnell, left the Detroit group to become itinerant preachers. Benjamin proclaimed that he and Mary together--not Mills--were the prophesized seventh messenger. By 1902, the Purnells had attracted a small but loyal following and formed the Israelite House of David and Church of the New Eve in Fostoria, Ohio.

The next year, the charismatic Purnells, along with their coreligionists, moved to Benton Harbor in Southwest Michigan. Over the next 15 years, the colony grew rapidly from a handful of members to a peak of about 1,000 by World War I. Many came from abroad, with almost a third immigrating from Christian-Israelite communities in Australia.

They formed a commune in which members gave up their wealth, worldly possessions, and future earnings to the collective.

In keeping with Benjamin and Mary Purnell's teachings, the sect's members were discouraged from mixing with outsiders; lived in sex-segregated housing; and were celibate, pacifists, and strict vegetarians. At a time when men wore their hair short and went clean-shaven, the men of the House of David stood out by growing out their hair and beards. That long-haired and bearded look became the colony's signature.

As famous as the Purnells were for winning converts, the colony became perhaps more well known for its entrepreneurial zeal. It ran dozens of successful businesses--including a significant farming enterprise, a wildly successful amusement park, talented and popular vaudeville show bands, and workshops that produced various crafts and goods. However, by far, the group's most renowned venture was its barnstorming semiprofessional baseball team.

The Legend Begins (1914-1919)

Benjamin Purnell promoted baseball initially not as a business but as wholesome recreation for the colony's young men. In 1910, the House of David built a baseball park that it rented to other area semipro teams. Colony members soon began playing on it and beating those local groups. The Christian Israelites organized a team in 1915 and started traveling to play other ball clubs in the region. After World War I, the team expanded its touring schedule--playing teams across the country.

In the early twentieth century, many communities sponsored baseball teams. It was also common for large businesses--such as breweries and factories--to do so. Those popular semipro teams participated in local and regional leagues. Barnstorming teams went on the road, playing exhibition games against the best of the local and regional teams. Games were scheduled by the teams themselves or by bookers, who also promoted the games, and clubs split the proceeds from ticket sales.

Large parts of the country were racially segregated due to widespread Jim Crow laws, and infamously, major league baseball was white only--remaining segregated until 1947. That led to the creation of separate African-American teams, collectively referred to at the time as the "Negro leagues." But local, semipro, and barnstorming exhibition teams such as the House of David were not bound by the so-called "gentleman's agreement" that kept African Americans out of the majors. Such teams played Black semipros somewhat regularly.

The House of David was unique among the barnstorming ranks in that it was a team sponsored not by a business or community but by a religious commune. The long hair and beards of the Israelite players became the team's gimmick, setting them apart from others. The athletes' unique look was played up in advertisements and news stories about the team. Even though the players tucked their long hair under their caps during games, promotional photos showed long, luxurious locks hanging loose. The press described them as "bearded," "whiskered," and "long-haired."

In the team's early days, it recruited only House of David members, so there was clearly a good deal of athletic talent among the young men of the colony. But the main reason for the team's remarkable success was the leadership and coaching of team manager Francis Thorpe. He stressed fundamentals--drilling the team regularly--and emphasized fun. Within two years, the Israelite team was beating local factory-sponsored teams in Michigan and Indiana. Thorpe also created a "farm team," which played locally, to train young talent. The best players on the farm team would graduate to the barnstorming squad.

The presence of several breakout stars also contributed to the team's success. For example, premier player Jesse Lee "Doc" Tally both pitched and played in the outfield. Perhaps the most important ingredient to the House of David's early success was Paul Mooney, the team's star pitcher. Mooney turned down several offers to play with major-league teams during his time pitching for the House of David before an injury in the mid-1920s cut his pitching career short.

Bearded Glory--The Peak Years (1920-1929)

The 1920s were the House of David baseball team's glory years, when the Israelite bailers became a full-fledged sports phenomenon. That decade also corresponded with the switch from the dead-ball to the live-ball era of baseball--when games became more high scoring and exciting to watch. The House of David squad was known for its aggressive, flashy, fast, and entertaining style of play that used strategic bunts, steals and double steals, and bent-leg slides.

While Tally and Mooney remained standouts during the 1920s, new stars emerged as well, such as Walter "Dutch" Faust, John Tucker, George Anderson, Percy Walker, and Tom Dewhirst, to name a few. However, finding enough talented players among the colony's limited membership who could play at the team's advanced level became challenging. The team thus began adding nonmembers to the roster early in the decade, although Israelites remained the majority.

The House of David team toured all over North America, playing 180-220 games per year. Because the squad was an exhibition team, its wins and losses were not closely tracked, but fragmentary records suggest that the group won 65 to 75 percent or more of its games. Of the 110 known games played in 1922, the team went 72-38--winning 64 percent. Of the 149 documented games from 1925, the team won an astonishing 92 percent, going 137-12.

Attendance varied depending on the size of the parks at which the Israelites played. Crowds of 1,500-3,000 were typical--yet they occasionally played to groups of more than 6,000.

The press loved the House of David team and wrote glowingly of the players' entertaining antics. Particularly popular were displays of the team's famous "pepper game." First created during a lively warm-up between Tally and Faust in 1922 that got a big reaction from the crowd, the pepper game evolved into an extended three-man comedy routine. Starring Tally, Faust, and Tucker, the pepper game consisted of sleight-of-hand tricks with the ball, juggling, fake throws, behind-the-back tosses, and the like. The routine--which got longer and longer over time--became a staple of House of David baseball games, usually performed after the fifth inning.

As the decade wore on, the House of David was more in the news for a tawdry sex scandal and fraud allegations leveled at the colony's embattled founder Benjamin Purnell than it was for its baseball team. Regardless, the House of David squad became so well known that, by 1926, imposter teams started popping up in an attempt to cash in on the Israelites' success and signature look. Those included fake House of David teams with bewhiskered players out of Florida, California, and New Mexico, as well as a team of bearded African Americans in the Negro leagues.

So, So Many Beards (1930-1941)

The colony's revered but controversial founder died in December 1927. The instability that Benjamin Purnell's death and the earlier legal scandals caused at the commune brought long-simmering divisions to the fore. Mary and her followers assumed she would become the colony's leader. However, a rival faction led by Benjamin's heir apparent, Judge Harry Dewhirst, seized control.

In 1930, a settlement was reached that split the colony's assets between the two groups, and Mary formed a rival Christian-Israelite colony known as Mary's City of David right next door. As part of the agreement, both factions retained the right to field professional baseball teams using the House of David name.

The settlement led to no fewer than six official House of David teams touring simultaneously during the 1930s--not to mention numerous counterfeit squads. The original colony now fielded not one but four separate teams: a home team and three traveling squads. Made up mostly of hired minor-league players who grew beards, each squad had no more than one or two colony members. The House of David also licensed the name to a team from Florida. Likewise, the City of David fielded a team using the name. That squad was managed by Francis Thorpe and contained most of the original team, including fan favorites Tally, Tucker, and Anderson.

While the House of David had played Negro-league teams since its earliest days, it was initially hesitant to associate too frequently with all-Black teams. That changed in the 1930s, when the House of David partnered with the top Black team of the era, the Kansas City Monarchs, which fielded the legendary star pitcher Satchel Paige.

House of David teams toured regularly with the Monarchs during the decade, playing each other as well as other teams. They also hauled a portable light rig around with them in two large trucks that they shared so they could play night games--a novelty during the era--thus increasing the number of games they could play.

The Christian-Israelite ball clubs also hired celebrity players in the hope that their name recognition would boost ticket sales. The most prominent, hired in 1931, was Grover Cleveland Alexander, a retired major-league pitcher and hero of the 1926 World Series. The future Hall of Famer became a player-manager for the Israelites, and his name and likeness were featured prominently in advertisements.

Even more novel, the House of David challenged gender norms when it added 19-year-old Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell to its roster for the 1933 season. Mitchell was among the first female pitchers in semipro and professional baseball and made a name for herself when she struck out both Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth during an exhibition game two years earlier. In 1934, the House of David recruited an even more well-known female athlete to pitch, Texas-born Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, a gold medal winner in track and field at the 1932 Olympics who later played professional baseball, basketball, and golf.

In terms of their success at the competitive level, the peak for the House of David's storied teams came during the early 1930s, when their teams were twice invited to the renowned Denver Post Tournament. Held from 1915 to 1947, the invitation-only tournament started as a statewide competition but developed over time into America's premier baseball event outside of the major leagues. It featured the best semipro and minor-league teams from across the country. Sometimes called "The Little World Series," the popular tournament drew crowds of 10,000-12,000 or more and was played for a cash prize and a share of the gate receipts.

In 1932, the Mary's City of David team--led by Thorpe and featuring Anderson, Tally, and Tucker--was invited. Since the City of David team was considered the best barnstorming squad in America, it was heavily favored to win. However, it finished a disappointing seventh out of 20 teams.

Two years later, in 1934, Judge Harry Dewhirst's House of David team, coached by Grover Cleveland Alexander, was invited to the tournament and favored to win. It was a groundbreaking year for the tournament and for baseball in general, for the House of David's frequent companion squad--the talented Kansas City Monarchs--was invited to participate by tournament organizers, marking the first time an African-American team was allowed to compete there.

The House of David stacked its roster for the tournament and made baseball history when the team acquired two Negro-league stars to play in the competition:

star pitcher and old traveling companion Satchel Paige and catcher Cy Perkins, both of whom were leased from the Pittsburgh Crawfords. That made the House of David's team the first integrated squad to appear in the Denver Post Tournament--foreshadowing the desegregation of the majors 15 years later. Paige was phenomenal during the series, helping the House of David advance to the final round and beat his former team, the Monarchs, in the championship game with a score of 2-0.

Trimming the Whiskers (1941-1956)

Barnstorming faded over the course of the 1940s and 1950s due to numerous reasons, such as the expansion and integration of major-league baseball and the rise of modern televised sports. Declining attendance and revenue forced the original House of David to stop sending out traveling teams after 1936. Following World War II, the religious colony made fleeting efforts to revive the team, playing locally off and on until 1949.

The City of David's team kept touring into the 1950s. At the end, the only actual colony member still involved was George Anderson, who managed the team during its final seasons. The last living veteran of the traveling teams, House of David member Lloyd "Barney" Dalager, died in 2012 at the age of 98--severing the colony's last link with its storied baseball past.

The House of David's home field, like its old amusement park, is long-since abandoned and overgrown. The property was sold off--replaced by encroaching woodlands and a trailer park.

By Brian D. Carroll

Brian D. Carroll is the historian and archivist for the Israelite House of David in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He has worked in museums and higher education for more than 25 years.

Caption: Five players on the House of David's touring team stand with four members of the colony's junior team, c. 1932. Right: Jesse Lee "Doc" Tally, c. 1923. Tally was an excellent left-handed hitter and pitcher. He played for the House of David and City of David teams and later managed the latter. (All photos courtesy of the Israelite House of David Archives.)

Caption: First built in 1910, the House of David Baseball Park in Benton Harbor, Michigan, served as the home field for the colony's team throughout its 40-plus-year career. Generations of fans watched the Israelite squad play--and usually win--here. Below: The storied House of David team at Benton Harbor's Eden Spring Park, just a year or two after forming. Many of the men were drafted into the military during World War I, but the team quickly reassembled when they returned.

Caption: Allen Benson was a star pitcher hired to play for the House of David. This publicity photo played up the novelty of the team's members wearing beards at a time when most men were clean-shaven.

Caption: Frank Wyland, the House of David's road manager, by one of the seven-passenger cars with which the team traveled. Lettering on the back of the car promoted the team's next game.

Caption: This 1927 image is one of the few surviving pictures showing a House of David game in progress, rather than depicting the team in a staged promo shot.

Caption: Grover Cleveland Alexander (standing)--a prominent celebrity recruited by the House of David team--was a famous major-league pitcher and hero of the 1926 World Series. Though he was retired when the colony hired him in 1931, Alexander pitched for and managed the team.

Caption: Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell was known for striking out both Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth during an exhibition game. She played for the House of David in 1933.

Caption: George Anderson, "Long"John Tucker, and Doc Tally, c. 1934. Known for their expert playing and entertaining "pepper game," these men were the most famous members of the teams fielded by the City of David from 1930 onward. Anderson played for almost 30 years.

Caption: The House of David made various attempts to revive the team once the popularity of barnstorming waned after the mid-1930s. This c. 1947 team consisting of mostly clean-shaven players was recruited to play locally. Only Lloyd Dalager (back row, far left) was a House of David member.

Caption: This c. 1954 promotional poster features star pitcher Satchel Paige's Harlem Globetrotters baseball team versus George Anderson's House of David team. The House of David had toured with Paige often throughout the 1930s and 1940s, and Paige briefly played on the House of David's team in 1934.

Caption: Raised at the House of David colony, Walter "Dutch" Faust and Dwight "Zeke" Bauschke were known as fast base runners and for stealing bases. Above: Tom "Home Run Tomnnie" Dewhirst, known as the "Babe Ruth of the House of David," c. 1930. Dewhirst joined the House of David in 1920 and played in colony bands as well as on the baseball team. In later years, Dewhirst served as colony secretary.

Please Note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright restrictions.