John Donaldson

Statistics Researchers have documented most of his career, which stretched from 1908 to 1940. Published totals from local newspaper accounts covering his 30-plus year career provide a glimpse at his prowess on the diamond. Despite what has been found regarding Donaldson's career, over 170 games that Donaldson pitched in state no strikeout game totals, consequently his overall totals are under-reported.

Newspaper coverage of Donaldson games reveal 424 wins and 169 losses, 15 ties, and a winning percentage of .697. He also notched 5,221 strikeouts, an ERA of 1.37, and 86 shutouts against all levels of competition. He completed 296 of 322 starts (92%).

Donaldson can be credited with 14 no-hitters, two perfect games, and dozens of one-hitters. He also has two 30 strikeout games, 11 games with more than 25 strikeouts (including two back-to-back 25 strikeout games), 30 games with more than 20 strikeouts, 109 games with more than 15 strikeouts, and a total of 203 double digit strikeout games. Donaldson could also hit well, batting .334 in over 1,800 at bats.

Early years Donaldson's early career was spent in and around his hometown of Glasgow, Missouri. He played for the Missouri Black Tigers of nearby Higbee, in 1908, and subsequently for the Hannaca Blues, an all-black contingent from Glasgow during the 1909–1910 seasons.

Tennessee Rats He pitched for Brown's Tennessee Rats, which were managed by W.A. Brown of Holden, Missouri. The team traveled with a complement called "Brown's Tennessee Minstrels". Together, the group of about 20 players crisscrossed the upper Midwest, playing ball during the day and providing an evening minstrel program for their mostly white ticket buyers.

Donaldson established himself as a stellar pitcher, posting a reported record of 44–3. Known highlights of that season include an 18-inning 31 strikeout game, as far east as Palm Beach, Florida.

In an interview in the Kansas City Call in 1948, J. L. Wilkinson said Donaldson was "one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived, white or black." He also said Donaldson suggested the name "Monarchs" when Wilkinson was preparing a team for the Negro National League in 1920.

During the time of World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic and many of the nation's racial unrest such as the Red Summer of 1919, Donaldson was present in many of these same cities during those dates, playing and pitching in some of the United States' most populous cities like Indianapolis, Detroit, In fact, it has been reported that Donaldson came up with the name "Monarchs." A Kansas City newspaper even reported that Donaldson would manage the Monarchs, but it appears there was a change in the 11th hour, and José Méndez was chosen as the Monarchs manager. Donaldson played with the Monarchs at different times through much of the 1920s. He also played in at least one pre-season game with the All Nations in 1920, He pursued Willie Mays and Ernie Banks for the team and is credited with the signing of several prominent Negro leaguers of the time, including Bob Boyd and Sam Hairston.

Anecdotes Research also suggests that Satchel Paige owes much of his style and acumen to Donaldson, whose barnstorming efforts pre-dated Paige's by two decades.

Donaldson died of bronchial pneumonia at age 79, in Chicago, and is buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. via the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project. He started the project with Jimmie Crutchfield and lead to Donaldson, and has continued to more than 20 other unmarked graves.

Donaldson was nominated for a special ballot of pre-Negro leagues candidates for inclusion in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. However in February 2006, Donaldson failed to garner the necessary 75% to earn election from a 12-member voting committee, appointed by the Board of Directors and chaired by former Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent.

Amateur film footage made on August 16, 1925, of Donaldson at a game in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, was uncovered in 2010. Thirty-nine seconds exist. Donaldson faced off that day against Joe Jaeger, who made two relief appearances for the Chicago Cubs in 1920, and advertisements for the game called Donaldson "the colored wonder pitcher." , researchers working as a networking team calling themselves "The Donaldson Network", living and working in several states around the United States, have located Donaldson's 5,081 career strikeouts and 413 career wins as a pitcher.

On November 5, 2021, he was selected to the final ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Early Days Committee for consideration in the class of . He received eight of the necessary twelve votes. He appeared on the Classic Baseball Era Committee's ballot, but only received less than five votes.