The House Of David Baseball Team

The House Of David Baseball Team

Benjamin Purnell along with his wife Mary, established The Israelite House of David, a religious community, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1903. Evidently the sect believed that it could gather the 12 lost tribes of Israel which would lead to an event called the "Ingathering" a signal of the Millennium in the year 2000 (we missed that folks) with a return of Jesus. Church men were required to have long hair and beards because the book of Leviticus makes reference to the growth of hair congruent with the growth of one’s soul.

Adherents were also, what else but vegetarians. Another weirder belief was that members had to “…stay clear of dead people.” This came into play when the Purnell’s were banned from their first church location in Fostoria, Ohio, for not attending the funeral of their daughter who was killed in a firecracker factory explosion.

Regardless, the Benton Harbor location proved to be the better choice as the church soon grew to 1,000 followers and acquired 100,000 acres of nearby farmland. In a short period of time the House of David had a public zoo, garden, resort, dairy farm, restaurant, arcade, movie theater, bowling alley, amphitheater, and an amusement park with the world’s largest miniature locomotive.

The House of David also had businesses that manufactured ice cream, grape juice, musical instruments and jewelry. Some historians believe they invented the waffle cone, first introduced at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

OK, back to Benjamin Purnell. The man was a sports enthusiast who had tried baseball in his youth but had little talent for the game. Nonetheless, he encouraged male parishioners to use the sport to promote their religion. By 1915, a House of David baseball team was barnstorming far and wide across the United States earning money for the community and proselyting for converts. The House of David also fielded a girls and a junior boys’ team though they did not have the crowd draw of the men’s team.

The men players were led by manager, Francis Thorpe. The team became so popular that by the early 1920's, they sported several teams to facilitate regional travel. Because of this and the fact that the available pool of potential players began to dwindle with decreasing talent and a decline in church followers; the House of David began to hire ballplayers who were not of the faith. If hired, a player had to agree to grow a beard. The group actually recruited baseball players who had fairly good baseball acumen and even had some minor and major leaguers on their roster. One of the most notable hires was Grover Cleveland Alexander who was on the team for a short cup of coffee. Even Babe Ruth and Satchell Paige subbed with the House of David team for an occasional game.

The House of David baseball team took on any comers including teams from the Majors, Minors, independent leagues and even the Negro Leagues. At one point there was even a Black House of David team composed of all African Americans who exclusively played Negro League teams. A trademark of all of their teams was to showcase a variety of baseball trick plays in much the same manner as the later Harlem Globetrotters did with basketball.

By the late 1920's the House of David was under scrutiny for alleged sexual indiscretions by its leader Benjamin Purnell. After loosing a court battle, Purnell was banished from the sect and died shortly thereafter in 1927. A power struggle for control of the colony ensued with one group keeping the “The House of David” name while the other became known as “The City of David.” Ironically, both church headquarters were located across the street from one another.

The original House of David continued to sponsor barnstorming teams until the late 1930's, then weekend semi-pro teams into the 1940's. Not to be outdone, the City of David sent teams out barnstorming from 1930 to 1940, then again from 1946 to 1955.

But, alas nothing of the House of David remains today except a museum located at the site of their original church in Benton Harbor.