"Steel Arm" Dickey

Biography

In the summer of 1896, in the rugged hills of Fannin County, Georgia, a boy named Claude Dickey was born into a family of farmers. The 1900 U.S. Census (source) recorded him living in the household of his grandparents, Benjamin and Frona Dickey — the men working the fields, the women tending the home. Life was rural, hard, and deeply rooted in the soil of north Georgia.

By 1910, the family had moved north to Etowah, Tennessee, nestled in McMinn County. The census that year (source) misrendered Frona’s name as “Franie,” and listed Claude at 13 years old, still living in his grandparents’ care.

Claude’s first known brush with baseball came in 1917 — a team photo of the Etowah Aluminum Sluggers, includes his name. But just as his athletic ambitions were taking shape, the world called him elsewhere.

In 1918, amid America’s entry into World War I, Dickey registered for the draft (source). A tall and stout laborer in the aluminum industry, he listed his birthplace as Blue Ridge, Georgia, and his birthdate as May 14, 1894. That April, he was inducted into military service by the Blount County draft board (source) and sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. The Veterans Administration later listed his official enlistment date as April 28, 1918. He served as a Private in Company F of the 368th Infantry Regiment, a predominantly Black unit within the famed 92nd Division.

Dickey’s military record reads like a footnote in a broader, heroic chapter of African American service in the Great War. Company F fought alongside French troops in the Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne campaigns — muddy, brutal theaters where Black soldiers faced bullets from abroad and prejudice at home. On February 5, 1919, Dickey boarded a transport ship at Brest, France, bound for New York (source). He was honorably discharged a month later, on March 7, 1919 (source).

But war hadn’t dulled his throwing arm.

By June of that year, Dickey was back in Knoxville, Tennessee — this time appearing in newspaper stories as a pitcher for the Knoxville Giants (source). The 1920 U.S. Census (source) again placed him in his grandfather Ben Dickey’s home, this time listed as 21 years old. That year he became one of the standout players of the newly formed Negro Southern League.

Dickey’s fastball was said to be a force of nature. At one point during the 1920 season, he reportedly won 25 straight games (source), a staggering feat that solidified his nickname “Steel Arm.” That fall, the Knoxville Giants, champions of the Negro Southern League, traveled across the South to face Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants in a high-profile matchup billed as the "Colored Championship of the United States." Chicago swept the series in five games, but Steel Arm Dickey’s reputation had been cemented.

That winter, news surfaced that the Boston club of the fledgling Continental League had offered $5,000 for Dickey’s services (source) — a substantial figure for a Black pitcher at the time. The deal never materialized. Instead, Dickey stayed in the South. In 1921, he began the season with the Birmingham Black Barons, briefly pitched for the Mobile Braves in June, and within days was reported to have signed with the Montgomery Grey Sox.

In 1922, Dickey continued his journey across the Southern baseball circuit, suiting up for Knoxville, Nashville, New Orleans, and finally, by late August, the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League. It seemed he was always on the move — not from instability, but because his arm remained in high demand.

Then, suddenly, the journey ended.

On the night of March 11, 1923, in Etowah, Tennessee, Dickey became involved in a fatal altercation. Reports stated that he and four companions confronted a white man named Waldo or Walter Keyes, who had refused to buy liquor from them. During the dispute, Keyes drew a knife and slashed Dickey’s throat (source). The pitcher died within minutes, bleeding to death on a small-town street far from the battlefields of France or the ballparks of Birmingham (source).

Keyes was initially charged with murder, and his trial was slated for the Athens Circuit Court three weeks later. But the charges shifted. Instead, three of Dickey’s companions — Joe Johnson, Claude Hitchcock, and John Melton — were convicted of assault with intent to kill and sentenced to one-to-five years in the state penitentiary (source). Keyes' ultimate fate is unclear.

Walter “Steel Arm” Dickey was laid to rest in New Zion Cemetery in Etowah (source). His headstone reads simply:

“Steel Arm”

Walter Dickey

June 2, 1899 – Mar. 11, 1923

Negro Baseball League

Like so many Black athletes of his generation, the record of his life is pieced together through fragments — censuses, enlistment forms, newspaper clippings, and tombstones. The documents don’t agree on when he was born — 1894, 1895, 1896, or 1899 — but they do agree on one thing: for a few shining years, Steel Arm Dickey was a pitcher to be reckoned with. A man of strength, resilience, and fire, who fought for his country, threw thunder from the mound, and died too soon.

"Steel Arm" Dickey games pitched for the 1920 Knoxville Giants

These are the games that Steel Arm Dickey pitched in during his run of 25 straight wins. There are 24 games listed. There are several early games in the 1920 season for which I don't have complete game info. My guess is that Dickey won at least one of these.

Date	Opponent	Location (City)	Park	KG score	Opp score	Kville Result	NSL Game?	Notes	Score type	Source 1	Source 2	Knoxville Pitcher(s)	Knoxville Catcher(s)
Fri, Apr. 23, 1920	Indianapolis ABCs	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	9	2	W	N		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, April 24, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Sat, April 24, 1920	Dickey
Thu, Apr. 29, 1920	Nashville White Sox	Nashville		6	2	W	Y	NSL season starts	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Fri, April 30, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Mon, May 3, 1920	Jacksonville Stars	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	8	4	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, May 4, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Wed, May 5, 1920	Jacksonville	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	12	1	W	Y		score	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Thu, May 6, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Thu, May 6, 1920	Dickey
Fri, May 7, 1920	Atlanta Cubs	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	11	1	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, May 8, 1920	The Constitution (Atlanta, GA), Sat, May 8, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Tue, May 11, 1920	New Orleans Caulfield Ads	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	14	1	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Wed, May 12, 1920		Dickey / McGrue	Grimes
date unknown probably Sun, May 16, 1920	Atlanta	Chattanooga		6	0	W	Y	DH Dickey throws No-Hitter	score	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Tue, May 18, 1920		Dickey
Sun, May 23, 1920	Pensacola Giants	Pensacola	Moro Castle	4	1	W	Y	Dickey wins 7th straight game	box	The Pensacola Journal (Pensacola, FL), Mon, May 24, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Mon, May 24, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Tue, May 25, 1920	Jacksonville	Jacksonville		5	3	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Wed, May 26, 1920		Dickey
Thu, May 27, 1920	Atlanta Cubs	Atlanta		8	4	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Fri, May 28, 1920	The Constitution (Atlanta, GA), Fri, May 28, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Tue, June 1, 1920 ?	Birmingham Black Barons	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	2	1	W	Y	12 inn.	line	The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), Thu, June 3, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Wed, June 2, 1920	Birmingham Black Barons	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	4	0	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Thu, June 3, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Thu, June 3, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Wed, June 9, 1920	Asheville	Asheville, NC	Oates park	4	2	W	N	alt score: 5-2	line	The Asheville Citizen (Asheville, NC), Wed, June 9, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Thu, June 10, 1920	Dickey
Sun, June 13, 1920	A.P. Martin Barber College	Memphis	Russwood Park	9	4	W	N	12 inn. Scores differ between papers.	line	The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), Mon, June 14, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Mon, June 14, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Thu, June 17, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	5	3	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Fri, June 18, 1920	The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL), Sat, June 19, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Sat, June 19, 1920	Columbus Gallo Tailors	Columbus, OH	Neil Park	9	2	W	N	White team	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sun, June 20, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Sun, June 27, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Montgomery		2	1	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Mon, June 28, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Wed, June 30, 1920	Montgomery	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	9	0	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Thu, July 1, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Thu, July 1, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Mon, July 5, 1920	Birmingham Black Bears	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	3	2	W	Y	DH	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, July 6, 1920	The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), Tue, July 6, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Mon, July 5, 1920	Birmingham Black Bears	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	5	3	W	Y	DH - 2nd source tells different outcome	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, July 6, 1920	The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), Tue, July 6, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Fri, July 9, 1920	Columbus Francis Dry Cleaners	Columbus, OH	Neil Park	15	0	W	N		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, July 10, 1920	The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, OH), Sat, July 10, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Mon, July 12, 1920	Winston-Salem Pond Giants	Winston-Salem, NC	Prince Albert Park	4	1	W	N		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, July 13, 1920		Dickey	Grimes
Tue, July 20, 1920	Asheville Royal Giants	Asheville, NC	Oates park	5	3	W	N	Dickey wins 24 straight	line	The Asheville Citizen (Asheville, NC), Wed, July 21, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Wed, July 21, 1920	Dickey	Grimes
Fri, July 23, 1920	Pensacola Giants	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	8	0	W	Y	Dickey gets 25th straight win	score	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, July 24, 1920		Dickey
Thu, July 29, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	3	5	L	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Fri, July 30, 1920		Dickey	Sanders
Sat, July 31, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	3	1	W	Y		line	The Chicago Defender (Chicago, IL), Mon, Aug. 7, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Mon, Aug. 2, 1920	Dickey	Sanders
Mon, Aug. 2, 1920	Dixie Cuban All-Stars	Chattanooga	Andrews Field	4	1	W	N	2nd source has scores reversed for games 1 & 3	line	Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), Tue, Aug. 3, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Wed, Aug. 4, 1920	Dickey	Sanders
Tue, Aug. 10, 1920	Winston-Salem Pond Giants	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	9	1	W	N	forfeit		The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Wed, Aug. 11, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Wed, Aug. 11, 1920	Dickey	Smith
Mon, Aug. 16, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Montgomery		1	4	L	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, Aug. 17, 1920		Dickey	Smith
Sat, Aug. 21, 1920	New Orleans Caulfield Ads	New Orleans	Heinemann Park	3	4	L	Y		box	The New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA), Sun, Aug. 22, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sun, Aug. 22, 1920	Dickey	Smith
Tue, Aug. 24, 1920	Birmingham Black Barons	Birmingham	Rickwood Field	3	0	W	Y	DH – 5 inn.	box	The Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), Wed, Aug. 25, 1920	The Birmingham Reporter (Birmingham, AL), Sat, Aug. 28, 1920	Dickey	Brown
Wed, Aug. 25, 1920	Atlanta Black Crackers	Atlanta	Ponce de Leon	1	8	L	Y		line	The Constitution (Atlanta, GA), Thu, Aug. 26, 1920		Dickey / Maddox	Brown
Tue, Aug. 31, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	-	-	-	Y	push	score	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Wed, Sept. 1, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Wed, Sept. 1, 1920	Dickey	Brown
Wed, Sept. 1, 1920	Montgomery Grey Sox	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	3	0	W	Y		line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Thu, Sept. 2, 1920	The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, AL), Thu, Sept. 2, 1920	Dickey	Smith
Mon, Sept. 6, 1920	Asheville Royal Giants	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	5	2	W	N	DH – 9 inn.	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Tue, Sept. 7, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Tue, Sept. 7, 1920	Dickey	Brown
Fri, Sept. 10, 1920	Atlanta Cubs	Knoxville	Booker T. Washington Park	0	1	L	Y	DH – 9 inn.	line	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, Sept. 11, 1920	The Knoxville Sentinel (Knoxville, TN), Sat, Sept. 11, 1920	Dickey	Smith
Tue, Sept. 21, 1920	Chicago American Giants	Birmingham		0	9	L		WS Game 1 - forfeit by Knoxville	box	The Birmingham Reporter (Birmingham, AL), Sat, Sept. 25, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sat, Sept. 23, 1920	Dickey	Cardenas
Sat, Oct. 2, 1920	Chicago American Giants	Knoxville		1	2	L		WS Game 6	line	Chicago Defender (Chicago, IL), Sat, Oct. 9, 1920	The Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, TN), Sun, Oct. 3, 1920	Dickey	Smith

Sources

• Ancestry.com
• FamilySearch.org
• Newspapers.com
• Seamheads.com
• Baseball-Reference
• Find A Grave

Other Research

• The Life of 'Steel Arm' Dickey at the Old Knoxville Base Ball blog
• The Death of 'Steel Arm' Dickey at the Old Knoxville Base Ball blog

Credit

This page was assembled and presented by Mark D. Aubrey. Thanks to Skip Nipper for some editing and guidance.

Artificial Intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, was used to bolster the grammar, readability, and flow of my original work and research. It did not modify the facts, only assisting to enhance the story.

Please see Copyright info.