He turned to team ownership and management, parlaying a promotional flair into an association with the game that lasted more than 50 years.

In 1909, he developed a women's baseball team—possibly with a few men in drag—to draw up to 2,000 fans to a covered grandstand moved around the Midwest by train.

A team band whipped up tunes for crowds, a male catcher wrestled all comers and a brown bulldog served as the mascot.

The team consisted of whites, blacks, Polynesians, Asians, Native Americans and – at one time – a woman.

In 1930, Wilkinson's Monarchs became the first professional team to play night baseball, using a portable set of lights.