Minor Fictional Characters in The House of Daniel

This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in The House of Daniel. These characters play at best a peripheral role in the novel. Most were simply mentioned or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that impacted the plot minimally, if at all, and never appeared again. Some were not even given a name.

All Stars Manager
A former minor league baseball player in Colorado Springs established a city-wide semipro league throughout the 1920s. In 1934, he selected the best players from this league and christened them the All Stars. However, when they played the House of Daniel, they played poorly, giving the House a healthy win, 9-4. After the game, the manager told Harv Watrous of the House that he didn't think he was sending out a high school team.

The next day, he learned that the House had signed Carpetbag Booker as pitcher for a stint. He wired Harv Watrous in Canon City, and asked the House to come back and play the All Stars a second time, assuring Watrous that there would be a full house if Booker started. Booker agreed, though Watrous told him to stop if he got sore or tired, since the Denver tournament was the most important thing.

The manager advertised the game, emphasizing Booker's role as part of the House. He also charged one dollar per person, which people paid. The All Stars did better than the last game, but that still wasn't enough against Booker. Still, the manager was pleased that the All Stars looked like a real team this time.

Joel Alson
Joel Alson was a famous singer. When illustrating a rhetorical point for Jack Spivey, Wes Petersen explained that what Joel Alson was to singing, Carpetbag Booker was to pitching.

Literary comment
Joel Alson is named for Al Jolson (1886-1950), arguably the most prominent singer of the interwar years.

Arnie
Arnie owned a pool hall in Enid, Oklahoma. In May, 1934, he told Jack Spivey that Big Stu was looking for him. When Spivey found him, Arnie was reading a vampire pulp. Spivey thought Arnie was as pale as a vampire himself. He also spoke in a voice only slightly more expressive than a zombie's

Big Mike
Big Mike was a member of the Lubbock Black Hubbers. He watched the Lubbock Hubbers play against the House of Daniel.

Bigfoot lumberjack
When the House of Daniel went to Klamath Falls, Oregon, Jack Spivey encountered bigfoots for the first time. Spivey had a conversation with a bigfoot, who enjoyed waffles and pancakes, but didn't like trying to make them in the wood. So he preferred to work as a lumberjack in Klamath Falls and buy his waffles at the diner. When Spivey asked the bigfoot if he played baseball, the bigfoot said he was too slow, but that Klamath Falls had a basketball team that hadn't lost in years.

Benjamin Harrison Caesar
Benjamin Harrison Caesar was one of the best pitchers in professional baseball history, playing for the Philadelphia Quakers and St. Louis Archdeacons during his 20-year career. He left the big leagues, reportedly due to alcoholism, and joined the semi-pro House of Daniel. Unlike most members of the House, famous for their beards, Caesar remained clean shaven during his time with them, which also was ended by the bottle.

Jack Spivey played for the House in 1934, and learned that Caesar had left the team around two years earlier.

Literary comment
B.H. Caesar is an analog of Grover Cleveland Alexander (1887-1950), with Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland being consecutive US Presidents, and both Caesar and Alexander being ancient empire-builders.

CC Deliveryman
A Consolidated Crystal deliveryman brought Harv Watrous a message in Albuquerque. As he'd been rather cryptic about the message all day, the rest of the House of Daniel buttonholed the deliveryman as he was leaving and asked him about the contents of the message. While the deliveryman initially balked at telling them, a bribe convinced him to change his mind. He said it was from someone on the Pittsburgh Crawdads, handed over the message, then left.

Charlie Carstairs
Charlie Carstairs sold farm equipment in Enid, Oklahoma. He'd previously had dealings with local criminal Big Stu Kesselring. However, Carstairs owed a debt to Big Stu, and refused to pay it. Big Stu decided the best way to put the squeeze on Carstairs was to arrange for Carstairs' younger sibling to be beaten up in Ponca City. Big Stu paid one of his regular employees, Jack Spivey, to do the job, as Spivey also played semi-pro baseball with the Enid Eagles, and they were scheduled to play in Ponca City in the next couple of days.

Conjure Man's Helper
A smooth-talking conjure man's helper tried to get Jack Spivey to come with him to meet his employer. The helper suggested that his boss could take away Spivey's pain. Spivey knew this mean the conjure man would turn him into a zombie. Spivey ran instead, but the helper did not follow.

Cornelius
Cornelius was a conjure man who worked for the Amarillo Metros. Although he was colored, he was allowed to sit wherever he wanted in the otherwise segregated Metro Park. Cornelius gave the Metros some help in their game against the House of Daniel. Members of the House realized that Cornelius was a conjure man based on his appearance: he wore a lime green suit, a pumpkin orange shirt, and a blood red tie with skull on it.

During the course of the game, Cornelius ensured that the Metros' pitcher threw fast\ and curve ball, and that the House of Daniel committed a number of errors. However, the House's manager, Harv Watrous, responded by citing verses from the Book of Daniel, and in short order, Cornelius fled for the men's room with diarrhea. When Cornelius returned, he was carrying a live chicken. He did something to it, and soon the Metros played better. Watrous began praying again, and this time, Cornelius was rendered unconscious. The House of Daniel won 9-4.

Cliff Ditto
Cliff Ditto was the manager of the Walla Walla Bears. Jack Spivey found his name funny.

Literary comment
In the Author's Note, Harry Turtledove explains that there was a historical Cliff Ditto from Walla Walla, but the Daniel version is approximately 40 years older than the OTL figure.

Dons' Third Baseman
A colored man played third base for the Albuquerque Dons. By the time the House of Daniel played the Dons in May, 1934, their outfield, Jack Spivey, had shaken some of his hang-ups about playing against a colored person. He even complimented the third baseman after the Dons won, 5-3.

Double-Double
Aaron "Double-Double-A" Aardsma, most commonly "Double-Double" played right field for the House of Daniel in early 1934. He was a lanky Dutchman. In the game between the House of Daniel and the Ponca City Greasemen, Double-Double collided with center-fielder Rabbit O'Leary when they both tried to catch a fly ball. Both collapsed onto the field, and lay there until a doctor was called in. Double-Double was carried off the field, his ankle in a splint. The crowd cheered, and he gave a feeble wave. O'Leary needed artificial respiration until he could breath on his own, and then he, too was carried off the field. Then the game continued.

Walt Edwards
Walt Edwards was the pitcher for the Ponca City Greasemen. He'd played in the pros until he permanently injured his throwing arm such that he could no longer throw fast enough and hard enough to compete with the other pros. He was an oil worker, and had a good enough arm for semp-pro games. He pitched for the Greasemen in their game against the Enid Eagles in May 1934, the last game Jack Spivey played as an Eagle.

Two Lemons Ellis
Two Lemons Ellis was a pitcher for the Pittsburg Crawdads. He started against the House of Daniel in the second game of the Denver Post semipro tournament. When Jack Spivey of the House asked Carpetbag Booker why Ellis was called "Two Lemons", Booker started giggling, and never answered.

Two Lemons pitching was not enough to secure a win.

Fatso
The pitcher for the Lubbock Hubbers was a rotund fellow. Few of the players for the House of Daniel took him seriously when they first saw him approach the mound. However, he proved to have an unpredictable knuckle-ball. The House of Daniel won the game, but only after a bunt and sacrifice run. The final score was 1-0. Jack Spivey never knew the pitcher's name, so he just privately though of him as "Fatso". .

Rod Graver
Rod Graver (b. c. 1904) was the manager and shortstop for the Enid Eagles. He had made it in the minors, but his brother hurt himself, and Graver had to return to Enid to take over the farm.

Graver had ties to Big Stu Kesselring. When the Eagles played in Ponca City, Graver indirectly asked Jack Spivey if he'd carried out the beating of Mich Carstairs. Spivey hadn't. Realizing Graver had a line to Big Stu, he told Graver to mind his own business. When Graver realized that Spivey hadn't done what he was supposed to do, he warned Spivey that Big Stu wouldn't like it. Spivey told him that Big Stu would have to lump it.

Professor Houlihan
Professor Houlihan taught a magic class at Mesa State College. His proclamation that zombies were incapable of rising up against their masters, was spectacular disproven by the Great Zombie Riots of 1934.

Zeb Huckaby
Zeb Huckaby was the sports editor for The Denver Post. In June, 1934, he oversaw that year's semipro tournament, explaining the rules to the teams attending, and arranging each team into a bracket. He also oversaw publicity photos and ticket sales.

The final teams proved to be the Pittsburgh Crawdads and the House of Daniel. Huckaby announced that all three games had sold out, and that he hoped the finals would run all three games. The managers of the teams, Quail Jennings of the Crawdads and Harv Watrous, each expressed their preference that the series end sooner.

Huckaby got his wish; the Crawdads won the first game, but the House won the second and third. Huckaby presided over the awards ceremony. However, the celebration was cut short by the sudden outbreak of the Great Zombie Riots of 1934. Huckaby told the crowd to evacuate, and called for an usher to lead the players from the park.

Iverson
Iverson was a writer of pulp fantasy. Fidgety Frank Carlisle was fond of Iverson's work. In one story published in Amazing, a character repelled a werewolf by tossing a silver coin at it - a feat which Carlisle successfully duplicated, much to Jack Spivey's admiration.

Literary comment
Iverson appears to be a self-caricature of Harry Turtledove, whose early works were published under the pseudonym Eric Iverson, including the Elabon Series, which has several "Were" characters in it.

Jake
Jake was a member of the Lubbock Black Hubbers. He watched the Lubbock Hubbers play against the House of Daniel.

Johnny
Johnny was the pitcher for the Las Cruces Blue Sox. After Jack Spivey of the House of Daniel called Blue Sox outfielder Willard a "tar baby", Johnny threw a pitch into Spivey's ribs when he was at bat.

José
José played for the Fort Stockton Panthers. He was a short man, but was stocky and muscular, making him a powerful hitter. During a game with the House of Daniel, he hit a ball so far over left-field, it just disappeared. However, at José's last turn at bat, House pitcher Wes Petersen threw a changeup, and Eddie Lelivelt was able to catch the popup. José threw down his bat, cussing in English and Spanish, and the House won the game.

Lightning Bug Kelly
Lightning Bug Kelly played catcher for the Enid Eagles. He always had a cigarette going, even when playing.

Luke
Luke was the first baseman for the Raton Mice in May, 1934. He was one of the team's two black players. He was about 6'4" and solid muscle. He was also a power hitter, usually yelling out "Oh, yeah!" when he hit a ball. Thanks to Luke, the Mice beat the House of Daniel, 7-4. At one point, House pitcher Wes Petersen got frustrated and threw a ball at Luke, hitting him in the buttocks. Luke realized that Petersen was motivated by frustration, not racism, and let it go. He even joshed with Petersen afterward.

Luke had a female fan that was either his wife or wanted to be; Jack Spivey wasn't sure.

Mrs. Luke
A young colored woman attended a Raton Mice game against the House of Daniel. She cheered their star player, Luke, the entire time. House player Jack Spivey figured she was either Luke's wife or wanted to be. After the Mice won, the young woman ran up to Luke and hugged and kissed him.

Kokernot
Kokernot was a rancher in Alpine, Texas. He owned the local semi-pro team, the Alpine Cats, and put a great deal of money into them. He also recruited some good players, much to the annoyance of the neighboring towns. Some even called him "Coconut" as play on his name.

Literary Comment
"Kokernot" appears to be an analog of historical Herbert Lee Kokernot, Jr., an Alpine, Texas rancher who invested heavily in local baseball teams throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Mike Lee
Mike Lee and three of his brothers ran a laundry service in Alamogordo, New Mexico. They were Chinese-Americans. Mike was also a semi-pro baseball player with the Alamogordo Rebels. The fact that his name was Lee made it seem suitable that he was on a team with Confederate nomenclature.

Lil
Lil was a waitress at Big Stu's diner in Enid, Oklahoma. She was the same age as Jack Spivey's late mother. Unlike Mrs. Spivey, Lil wore powder and paint. She was generally kind to Spivey, giving him stew and coffee while he waited for his meetings with Big Stu.

Miss Louise
Miss Louise owned a barbecue restaurant in Pampa, Texas. In May, 1934, the triumphant House of Daniel visited her place after a game. Miss Louise thanked them for coming in, acknowledging that, while things weren't as bad in Pampa as in some other places, they were still tough.

Ace McGinty
Ace McGinty was the number two pitcher for the Enid Eagles. In May, 1934, after Jack Spivey (who also played with the Eagles) agreed to beat up Mitch Carstairs for Big Stu Kesselring, he told McGinty that he was going to Ponca City for personal business. McGinty, who was sitting a bar trying to get drunk on 3.2 alcohol, grinned and assumed Spivey was going to meet a woman.

When McGinty and the rest of the team arrived at the rooming house in Ponca City the next day, they gave Spivey a hard time for his supposed assignation.

Ace McGinty also had the distinction of being the last Enid Eagle Spivey ever saw. After Spivey joined up with the House of Daniel in Ponca City, the team's bus headed to Texas. To Spivey's horror, the bus passed through Enid. While Spivey did see Ace McGinty staggering down the road, McGinty didn't see Spivey.

Mort Milligan
Mort Milligan was the first baseman for the Ponca City Greasemen. He played in Jack Spivey's last game with the Enid Eagles. After Spivey bunted a pitch from Walt Edwards and got to first base, Milligan described the hit as "crap". As Milligan was considerably larger than Spivey, Spivey just grinned back.

Later in the game, Spivey was able to make a crucial catch and throw that got Milligan out as he was rounding bases. Milligan called Spivey a son of a bitch.

Ironically, the very next day, Milligan vouched for Spivey's abilities as a fielder when Spivey tried to sign on with the House of Daniel.

Rabbit O'Leary
Rabbit O'Leary played center for the House of Daniel. He was tall and lean, and ran as fast as his nickname suggested. He batted left.

He played in the game between the House of Daniel and the Ponca City Greasemen. He dodged one of Close Shave Simpkins' beanballs his first time at bat. When the Greasemen were at bat, House of Daniel pitcher Fidgety Frank Carlisle hit their batter in the chest. Things escalated from there. Finally, House of Daniel right-fielder Aaron "Double-Double-A" Aardsma (most commonly "Double-Double") collided with Rabbit O'Leary when they both tried to catch a ball. Both collapsed onto the field, and lay there until a doctor was called in. Double-Double was carried off the field, his ankle in a splint. O'Leary needed artificial respiration until he could breath on his own, and then he, too was carried off the field. O'Leary was taken to the hospital for a broken collarbone and a similarity scan for his skull.

Odessa Vampire
While the House of Daniel was in Odessa, Texas, a vampire knocked on the window of Jack Spivey and Eddie Lelivelt's room and tried to convince them to let it in so it could feed on them. The vampire (a Texan) promised an egalitarian life in the "brotherhood of blood". It kept pleading with them until Spivey drove it off with his cross.

Oree
Oree was a member of the Lubbock Black Hubbers. He watched the Lubbock Hubbers play against the House of Daniel.

Pablo
Pablo was the pitcher for the Marfa Indians. Thanks in large part to his excellent pitching, the Indians beat the visiting House of Daniel 3-1 in May, 1934. After the game, House of Daniel outfielder Jack Spivey approached Pablo and asked why he didn't play in the professional Texas League. Pablo explained that he had a ranch job, a wife, and two kids, and that the pros were too risky. This gave him a chance to earn a little extra money without having to travel, either. Spivey understood Pablo's point.

Don Patterson
Don Patterson was the top pitcher for the Enid Eagles.

Pioneers' Shortstop
The shortstop for the Clovis Pioneers owned a barbecue restaurant in town. After the House of Daniel beat the Pioneers in a game in May, 1934, the shortstop insisted on providing a free meal to the House, assuring them he had plenty. The Pioneers' catcher, Rocky, even began to sing and play guitar.

After dinner, the teams went out to the street and saw a pair of zombies collecting garbage. The shortstop said that he hated zombies because he didn't think they were completely dead, and at some point, they get tired of their existence of servitude and rise up. His words proved prophetic.

Ponca City Vampire
Immediately after Jack Spivey ran from a conjure man's helper who accosted him on a Ponca City street, a vampire leaped from darkness and demanded his blood. Spivey noticed the vampire's local accent. He produced his cross, which flared brightly, and set the vampire back. When Spivey told the vampire to feed on a cow, the vampire retorted he'd been doing it too long, and that he needed something with flavor. Spivey chased him off, observing that he was a miserable excuse for a vampire, and probably had been a miserable excuse for a person in life, too.

Rocky
Rocky was the catcher for the Clovis Pioneers. In addition to semipro ball, Rocky sang and played guitar. After the House of Daniel beat the Pioneers in May, 1934, both teams went to the barbecue restaurant owned by the Pionners' shortstop. Rocky began to sing and play guitar. House member Jack Spivey concluded that while Rocky was pretty good, he wasn't good enough to ever become a professional musician.

Sidd
Sidd was the young pitcher with the Tulia Ravens. In May, 1934, the Ravens beat the barnstorming House of Daniel, due in no small part to Sidd's pitching. Even the House of Daniel's manager, Harv Watrous, congratulated Sidd on his skill and expected he could play in the majors in the near-future.

Close Shave Simpkins
Clove Shave Simpkins was the second pitcher with the Ponca City Greasemen. He earned his nickname from his ability to send a pitch close to a batter's chin. He played in the game between the Greasemen and the House of Daniel, and started it down a rougher course when he tried to bean Rabbit O'Leary when the House of Daniel was at bat.

Hal Snodgrass
Hal Snodgrass was the backup outfielder for the Enid Eagles. He was slower than an armadillo. For that reason, Jack Spivey decided he had to play their game in Ponca City, even though he'd effectively double-crossed crime boss Big Stu Kesselring.

Ma Spivey
Jack Spivey's mother (d. 1915) died in child birth when Jack was five years old. The child she gave birth to also died. Spivey barely remembered her, but her death haunted him into his adulthood.

Sarah Jane Spivey
Sarah Jane Spivey was the first-born child of Jack Spivey and his wife Mich Carstairs.

Second Spivey child
A year or two after Sarah Jane Spivey was born, her parents Jack and Mich were expecting again. Jack hoped the new one would be a boy.

Literary comment
The novel ends as Jack announces this pregnancy, leaving any further details unrevealed.

Lightning Washington
Lightning Washington was a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Crawdads. He threw hard, and hit his targets. He was part of the reason that the Crawdads beat the House of Daniel the first game of the Denver Post semipro tournament finals.

Whitey
Whitey was the pitcher for the Cheyenne Buffaloes. He was blonde, a lefty, and quite formidable, which he demonstrated during the Denver Post semipro tournament. While his skill helped the Buffaloes eliminate the Kansas City Regents, it didn't prove quite enough to overcome the House of Daniel, who eliminated the Buffaloes in the semi-finals.

Willard
Willard was a center fielder with the Las Cruces Blue Sox. He was black. When the Blue Sox played the House of Daniel in May, 1934, the House's newest player, Jack Spivey, was initially hostile to the idea of playing against a colored player, but his teammate Eddie Lelivelt made it clear that they were going to play, and also made it clear that if Spivey refused to play, it would not go well with the House's manager, Harv Watrous. Spivey relented. However, he couldn't resist taunting Willard by calling him a "tar baby". Willard gave as good as he got, however, telling Spivey, "Up yours, snowball". Moreover, the Blue Sox pitcher, Johnny hit Spivey in the ribs when he was up at bat. When Spivey got to first base, the Blue Sox first baseman pointed out that it was hard enough for Willard to be black, and getting crap for it made it worse.

Willard offered to fight Spivey after the game. While Spivey didn't want to back down, he also realized that he probably couldn't win, and so indicated he didn't have a quarrel with Willard now that the game was over. Willard let it go.

The Blue Sox were one of the sixteen teams to play at the Denver Post semipro tournament. They were randomly assigned as visitors in the first game, and they played against the House. When Willard saw that the House had Carpetbag Booker with them, he asked Jack Spivey if he called Booker a tarbaby. Spivey responded that since Booker was on his side, he had not. Willard accepted that answer.

Mudfoot Williams
Zebulon "Mudfoot" Williams was the third baseman for the Enid Eagles. He hated shoes and preferred to go barefoot as much as possible. Hence his nickname.

When Mudfoot and the rest of the team arrived at the rooming house in Ponca City the next day, Mudfoot joined Ace McGinty in giving Jack Spivey a hard time for his supposed assignation with a woman the previous night. Williams and Lightning Bug Kelly and Don Patterson shared Spivey's room.

Winslow
Winslow was a police officer based in southern New Mexico. He and his partner came upon the House of Daniel after they'd fixed a flat tire on their bus. While Winslow's partner was insistent they would have helped if they got there sooner, Winslow made it clear that he would not have helped. He did unbend a little and admit that having scavengers pick over the team would not have been good.

Winslow's Partner
A police officer based in southern New Mexico and his partner Winslow came upon the House of Daniel after they'd fixed a flat tire on their bus. The officer was insistent they would have helped if they got there sooner, and tried to get Winslow to agree. Winslow made it clear that he would not have helped, but he did unbend a little and admit that having scavengers pick over the team would not have been good.

Winslow's partner recognized the House of Daniel. He explained that he was from Artesia, and hoped the House would beat the Hobbs Boosters.

Wilson
Wilson was a member of the Lubbock Black Hubbers. He watched the Lubbock Hubbers play against the House of Daniel.

Heber Orson Woodruff
Heber Orson Woodruff was a pitcher for the Brigham City Peaches. When Jack Spivey suggested that Woodruff go into professional baseball, Woodruff replied that he considered his family's peach farm to be a more important venture. He also intended to spend two years on a Mormon mission.

Young Prostitute in Las Vegas
A kind of pretty young woman who was working as a prostitute was part of a gauntlet of beggars the House of Daniel had to run after playing the Las Vegas Maroons. While none of the players wanted her services, they all felt guilty enough to give her some money when she revealed she had a daughter to feed.