THE GHOST: How the epic story of one Colville Indian died with him
Dave Skeels endured one of the most remarkable fast-tracks to Major League Baseball but is hardly recognized in the sport's history. The Native American pitcher—referred to as the Big Indian, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 190—is also not recognized on any lists of hard-ballers from his people, despite coming close to a single-game world record for strikeouts in 1910. Even his own Tribe, the Colville of eastern Washington state, knows little to nothing about him.
It’s almost as if he never really existed. But part of that is by design.
After Skeels' death in 1926 at age 34, his family rarely spoke of him, according to his 71-year-old granddaughter Arleatta Williams, of Spokane. Watching him die after opposing treatment for tuberculosis was a traumatic experience for all—Williams' mother was just 8 years old. And with his then-wife Hilda finding a new mate shortly thereafter, it wasn't what one would call appropriate. She burned a cache full of correspondence from his days chasing a baseball dream, telling her children it was private information.
Few family members could give more than a generic response of: "it was just very hard times," Williams said. "It was so hard and so terrible for them that they just wouldn't talk about it, flat-out wouldn't talk about it. Grandma (Hilda) would not talk about it. And you could not get her to."
Ninety years after Skeels' passing, however, his family is ready to share his story—or what's left of it—for the first time.
"It's really interesting. It's really sad. It's typical of the times, which were pretty awful by our present day standards," Williams said. "There isn't anybody alive who would know him now."
But there are more than 125 members of the Colville Tribes alive today who carry the surname of his mother’s family, a mixture of Scottish and Native American descent.
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| Skeels is seen playing for Moose Jaw, second from right on the top row. |
David’s parents were George Skeels and Annie Stensgar. George was of English descent and was a catalyst behind Oregon Agricultural College—which later became known as Oregon State University—establishing a football team in 1893. Annie was the half-Indian granddaughter of Hudson Bay employee Thomas Stanger, who traveled to the New World from Scotland. The Stangers—also referred to as Strangers, Stensgars and Stensgairs—were one of the oldest and most highly respected names in the Colville Valley, according to a centennial publication by the Statesman-Examiner.
Skeels' grandfather John had to be forced off of his land in Addy after the allotment process began on the Colville Reservation. "He would not leave willingly," said Williams, whose mother Lois would often say the white man took their valuable land in exchange for "being put on the rocks" on the rez. It was considered a follow-up mistreatment to not allowing their Indian family to be buried in the local cemetery.
On December 29, 1891, he was born in Addy, according to a World War I draft registration card. When he was about 10 years old, in 1901, David’s father was killed in a farming accident. A burial was held on a knoll that overlooks the property, where several other family members, including the patriarch Thomas, are located.
Seven years later, at age 15, Skeels was sent to attend Gonzaga College, where the part-Indian farm boy excelled in sports, playing football, basketball and baseball. After two years, he became the star pitcher for the program that had started the same year he was born. He was touted for his velocity and breaking balls.
After making a name for himself, the 17-year-old brought his talents back home, playing for Chewelah in the summer of 1909, where he tested his abilities in the semi-pros. He became a part of a rivalry with Colville that would get as bitter as ever, as he’d witness first-hand.
On July 18 of that year, The Colville Examiner reported “Chewelah Loses Game and Respect.” It was a sloppy game that featured 16 errors, which Colville capitalized on most to rally from a 5-1 deficit to a 12-9 win. After Colville’s hot start, many bets were being made among the towns. About $12,000 in today’s currency is gambled and lost by Chewelah fans. When the game started to turn in favor of Colville, the game got ugly.
Two Colville players were hit with rocks. Two more with eggs.
“The Colville people received a class of treatment unknown in any intelligent city where ladies and gentlemen are accustomed to visit ball games,” the Examiner wrote. “The frantic desire to wreak vengeance over lost money seemed to so stimulate the losers that epithets and foul language from both men and women filled the air from the eighth inning until Colville left the town in disgust.”
Skeels struck out 15 for Chewelah, allowed 11 hits and was backed by a defense that committed eight errors.
Following the taste of pro ball, he returned to Gonzaga for what would be his junior season. But in January—with the baseball season looming—he did something that shocked the Spokane sports scene.
At 18, Skeels quit school to turn pro.
“(He) was a mainstay of the (Gonzaga) pitching staff for the coming season and his loss will cripple the local team’s chances for the championship,” The Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote Jan. 22, 1910.
By May, Skeels had traveled up to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for an opportunity to play baseball for the Robin Hoods in the Western Canada League. He started in left field on his May 6 debut against the Brandon Angels. He batted eighth in the lineup and got his first hit.
The next day, against the same team, Skeels was summoned to the mound, where he earned his first career victory. He struck out five, allowed eight hits and walked three batters.
Two weeks later, on the dot, he pitched so brilliantly the Winnipeg Tribune wrote a headline, “Pitcher Skeels comes near equaling world’s record.” The Colville Indian struck out 16 in nine innings and 21 in 11. He retired the side by strikeouts three times, struck out seven in a row between the sixth and eighth innings and allowed just one hit through the first nine.
It was believed that the world record was 17 in a nine innings game. His figures were good enough to break the all-time WCL league record—and begin garnering the attention of pro scouts.
Just three weeks later, the bottom-feeder of the WCL—Regina, which finished last that year after each half of the season—traded for Skeels. He pitched a shutout in his first full game on June 16, striking out 10.
His pitching ability attracted more attention from the big leagues.
Another 24 days later, Regina sold Skeels to the Detroit Tigers for $1,200, which equates to $30,000 in 2015. The American League team had the biggest contract in baseball that year: $9,000 ($217,000) for future hall of famer Ty Cobb.
The team staff had no idea, initially, as the Winnipeg Tribune reported. “It is believed [two scouts] enticed Skeels away and that he is on his way to join the Tigers. On Monday night, Skeels packed his grip and without so much as a handshake departed. Tom Letcher, acting manager of [Regina], did not know of the decampment until the following morning when in place of Skeels he found an empty bed.”
Then, upon learning the arrangements, the newspaper gave Skeels high praise. “He is only a youngster—enjoying his first year in professional company—but gives remarkable promise. He seems to have everything that is essential for a pitcher’s success, and given two or three years under a first-class manager, would likely develop into a crackerjack [a baseball term for a player with exceptional skill].”
But after the details were released—and the Detroit News reported Skeels as possibly the next Chief Bender, an Ojibwe pitcher of the day who would make it into the hall of fame—things got bitter back in Winnipeg. The newspaper accused Regina of hustling the Tigers by having a manager-catcher perform and exhibition for him in front of scouts.
“Now there are catchers who can catch a ball in a certain position and cause it to sound like the report of a Gatling gun. The manager-catcher had that knack,” it wrote. “The first ball Skeels pitched sounded like a sunset salute at Fort Wayne. The next was a repetition. In a voice that could be heard 300 feet away, bawled out: ‘Gee, whiz, Skeels, don’t put so much on that ball. It won’t stand it.’”
It then gave a pessimistic outlook on Skeels’ future, stating, “there is little chance of Skeels ever passing out of the twilight region [Canadian Baseball League] … Skeels is not a myth, but everything else in (Detroit’s report) even the promise that Skeels would be another ‘Chief’ Bender, is.”
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| Skeels, top right, playing for Moose Jaw. |
Before Skeels, the first Gonzaga product to make it to the big leagues, was allowed to play, he had to undergo an investigation by pro baseball. He was the only player acquired by the two-time defending American League champion Tigers, who were still looking for a first World Series Championship.
“It may come about that, in the end, the Detroit Tigers will not get any men at all,” the Detroit News wrote. “However, Navin says Skeels is bona fide and that he will measure up to any investigation by the commission.”
In the midst of a year where the team would win another AL title, the Detroit publication put a large photo of Skeels on the front page, introducing the new pitcher on Sept. 8. “Dave Skeels: Big Indian hurler who came to Detroit from the Regina club of the Western Canadian league. He is a right-hander, whose best card is his fastball. In addition to being a promising pitcher, Skeels is a fair hitter of the reversible type and is a very fast runner.
“This is his first year in organized ball and, with a little more experience, he is expected to develop into a high class slabbist (pitcher).”
Detroit’s then-owner, Frank Navin, told the News, “Skeels has played a corking good game with the Regina team, and that he fully expects him to more than make good in the fast company into which he will come.”
Six days after his picture ran on the front page of one of the country’s largest newspapers, the Colville Indian was thrown into his first game. The Detroit Tigers were hosting the Cleveland Naps in one of the game’s biggest rivalries, as Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie were perennial contenders for the Major League Baseball batting title. It was a big incentive in those years, as the winner would receive an automobile—a Chalmers “30.”
In what would be one of the most hyped games of the season, The Washington (D.C.) Post supplied reporters to come see Skeels, who was billed as the next Indian great. But, although the Tigers didn’t lose the game (9-8), the newspaper—and the Tigers—came away with a different impression of Skeels, who had a shaky start. He gave up two runs in the first and one in the second before gathering himself for four straight shutout innings. In a seventh inning barrage he allowed five runs on six hits—four singles and two doubles—which allowed Cleveland back into the game from a 9-3 deficit.
“He was taken out before there was a man down, when it was apparent that even the big lead would not save him,” the Post wrote.
Skeels left the game with just two strikeouts, four walks and one hit by pitch (he beaned the future hall of famer Lajoie, of which the team was named at the time).
“(He) has a good curve and lots of speed. He needs a lot of experience, but since he is only (18) he has plenty of time to get that,” the News wrote. “He should be a good pitcher some day.”
Without pitching another game, Skeels was sold to B-level Seattle for $300, breaking a promise with Fort Wayne for his rights. The “Redskin needs more seasoning before being ready for majors,” the News wrote Jan. 15, 1911.
“Skeels failed to show much pitching ability here. He appears to have a large repertoire of ‘stuff’ but is extremely green and inclined to be wild,” the News wrote. “Under a manager such as Jack Tighe, who will lead the Seattle ball club in 1911, the Indian’s natural ability ought to be guided along proper channels and he is likely to come back to Detroit after a season’s experience on the coast ready to make good in the large circuit. Certainly Tighe, who is considered one of the foxiest leaders in the business will be able to bring out any ability that the aborigine may possess.”
A condition in the sale allowed the Tigers to call him back up if he showed expected improvement.
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The acquisition was major news in Seattle in 1911. Skeels was treated like a superstar. The Tacoma Times called him a “real life hero,” who was a great attraction any time he pitched.
He lived up to his billing.
On June 19, Skeels set the Northwest League record for strikeouts in a nine inning game with 15 in an 11-4 win over Spokane; another game he struck out 14 in eight innings. He was ranked as the No. 2 pitcher in the league, with other highlights that include throwing a one-hitter, winning 10 contests and batting .327. During a June victory over Victoria (8-1), The Oregonian wrote “Skeels, Seattle’s Indian pitcher, was master of the situation and the visitors did not have a chance to win during the game.”
Skeels was referenced as being injured in the season the following year, in 1912, when Buffalo had reportedly gained his rights. Skeels left B level baseball—what would be comparable today to AAA—to return home. The Colville Examiner caught Skeels in town one day and confirmed his retirement. He stated he had made business arrangements in Addy, but would be playing ball for Colville.
With his once-sensational arm depleted, Skeels turned to his other his speed and hitting abilities with Colville. He hit several home runs, including a grand slam, to lead his team.
His talents led to his signing with Edmonton in 1913 as an outfielder. He had a handful of notables games but was traded to Calgary after three months, where he finished the season sixth in the league in batting average at .307.
He returned home yet again after the season, where he jumped back on Colville’s team. There, at a baseball game, he met Hilda Pearson, the daughter of Swedish immigrants. She resided at Loon Lake.
She was immediately drawn to his sense of style, Williams was told. Skeels was a fine dresser who always wore spats. It didn’t take long for their love to blossom.
“My grandmother moved fast,” Williams said, laughing. “She’d say she snagged the star.”
The couple married on May 13, 1914 and had four children together. Two were born in Meteor, where the family moved around 1917. He had followed his grandfather John, who re-established in Inchelium after decades of prominence in the Colville Valley.
Skeels played baseball for three more seasons: 1915 (Colville), 1921 (Chewelah) and 1922 (Addy). He began gaining symptoms of tuberculosis around the time of his final season. He was being treated at Edgecliff Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Spokane, before he was moved to Colorado, which, due to its altitude, was believed to be more effective in its treatment.
“They thought if he stayed there he would get so much better he would recover,” Williams said.
Skeels’ wife and four children—Lorraine, Evelyn, Lois and George—moved away from the Colville Reservation at this time, because he could no longer support them.
Lonesome, he elected to return home, according to his family. Williams’ mother Lois recalled his final days. She was just eight years old.
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| Skeels' grave in Chewelah. |
“(David) was so sick, she recalled playing with her dolls in a chair across the room from him,” Williams said. “He would lay on the couch and she would talk to him and play with her dolls.”
Skeels was buried in Chewelah at St. Mary of the Rosary Cemetery.
Lois Skeels, who died in 2005 at age 87 and is buried next to her father, made sure to bring her children to their roots throughout her life.
“We’d go to Inchelium; we’d go to the cemetery; and we’d always go (my great-grandma's) cabin and look around,” Williams recalled. “She was really, really close to her Indian grandmas. That’s just a part of our family.”
Williams followed in her mother’s footsteps, making it a point to inform her own children about their great-grandfather and Indian roots. They visit their ancestors at least once a year.
“My personal belief is you don’t want to forget people,” she said. “You might not have known them, but my children all know about their Native American relatives—I make sure of that.”
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