"Steel Arm" Dickey
Contents
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 barnstorming path 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.
Sources
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.
