In Cleveland, Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League. KENDRICK: These athletes never cried about the social injustice. He jumped to the Lincoln Giants of the Eastern Colored League in 1923 and pitched with them for 2 years. There's also Charley Pride (3/18/1935), famous country singer and one of the only black people to perform on Grand Ole Opry. An excellent all-round ballplayer and a teammate of such greats as Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston, Jimmie is a Chicago resident where he is employed at the post office. the Negro Leagues weren't even considered. They also represent something else. Our statistics are based on box scores and game stories found in contemporary newspapers, as well as the small number of scorebooks and filled-in scorecards that can be tracked down, Ashwill wrote. SIERRA: Yeah, a hundred dollars a month. O'Neil also made history when the Cubs hired him as a coach in 1962, making him the first Black member of an AL/NL coaching staff as part of Chicago's "College of Coaches." 1928 St. Louis Stars, Theyve established -- though its no surprise -- that the speedy Bell holds the single-season record with 49 stolen bases for the Stars in 1929. March 10, 2007 - William "Bill' Van Buren passes away. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Simkus says the work taught him how important major league recognition would be for the families of Negro Leagues veterans, few of whom are still alive. Ray Brown, , 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords, Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. A version of this story was first published in November, 2020, a few weeks before MLB announced that Negro League stats were being made part of the official record. That means its taken countless hours of research to fill in the gaps and put together the database. From 1940 to 1949, 1,705 men played at least one game in the National League or American League plus hundreds, maybe thousands, more in the Negro Leagues. Do you have a sports website? The Hilldale Club, the team that lost, took home $193.23. FORBES: And I just wonder if I'm worthy of representing, speaking about the Negro League because when I got involved, things was easier for me than it was for the one before me. TRIBOU: The last league folded in the early 1960s. The most important sources are the Black weekly newspapers (Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, Kansas City Call, etc.) Eventually, these two groups joined forces to create one comprehensive database. To this day, no one apparently has any idea of his whereabouts or even whether he is still living. They didn't care about making history. There would be the Royals dressed as the Monarchs, the Tigers as the Stars, the Pirates as the Crawfords or Grays, Triple-A Memphis as the Red Sox, Double-A Birmingham as the Black Barons, High-A. Bill Greason, Clyde Golden, Ron Teasley and Willie Mays. The stories, however, keep alive the memory of a man who became bigger than the game. He stopped playing baseball when he was younger and became a Mason I believe. TRIBOU: Jackie Robinson played briefly in the Negro Leagues. He continued his research with others like Kevin Johnson, Dan Hirsch, and Scott Simkus. A select few were All-Stars and one (Aaron) was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Suttles pictured back row, far left. Willie Wells: A .338 lifetime hitter, Willie Wells is often called the best shortstop to play in the black leagues. If history belongs to the record keepers, then these record keepers weren't interested. TRIBOU: And they did. "Going forward, in the 1930s following the Great Depression, salaries of Black players were about the same amount as the 1920s," Lester said. Do you have a blog? They played during the decline of the Negro leagues, after the beginning of integration. Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Following the 1924 season, he disappeared after a homicide in New York. A high average hitter and an excellent first baseman, Buck played in 12 All-Star games. Pre-integration players. As protests over racial injustice in the U.S. continue, Major League Baseball is marking the anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Allens best baseball memory is an unassisted triple play he made in the early 1930s. List of Negro league baseball players (AD), List of Negro league baseball players (EL), List of Negro league baseball players (MR), List of Negro league baseball players (SZ), List of first black MLB players by team and date, List of player profiles from the Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lists_of_Negro_league_baseball_players&oldid=1087987010, This page was last edited on 15 May 2022, at 16:27. While there are roughly 130 players alive from the Negro Leagues, according to baseball historian Larry Lester, only those four players are alive from that 1920-1948 window. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Today . Ernie Banks and Monte Irvin died a couple years ago. When I began speaking with Ashwill about the database in September, Hall of Fame slugger Mule Suttles held the Negro Leagues single-season home run record with the 30 that he hit as a member of the St. Louis Stars in 1926. 1933 Homestead Grays, At their high point in mid-1930s, the team starred such greats as Biz Mackey, Jud Wilson, and Dick Lundy. Contact SABR, https://sabr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/research-collection4_350x300.jpg, /wp-content/uploads/2020/02/sabr_logo.png. Ted Page: Ted starred with the great Josh Gibson on the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the 1930s. If you think white players made more money because they were more talented that's just false. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Chuck Harmon played under alias of Charlie Fine for the Clowns so as not to violate his college basketball eligibility. The list includes those who played on major Negro league teams prior to integration (and any caliber Negro league team after integration) as well as in Major League Baseball. Although there are two players who played before 1946 none of them appeared in 1946, thus no players from 1946 are still alive. TRIBOU: Today, Sierra lives in New Jersey. The service requires full JavaScript support in order to view this website. Its also why there are always new updates. Many thanks to him. The museum has pushed back its year-long celebration of the centennial to next year and renamed it Negro Leagues 101. From 1940 to 1949, 1,705 men played at least one game in the National League or American League plus hundreds, maybe thousands, more in the Negro Leagues. Born May 6, 1931, Willie Mays is the youngest. Born September 3, 1924 Bill Greason is the oldest player on this list. From there, he started collecting box scores and compiling statistics pretty much right away, Ashwill said. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Pittsburgh soon produced two of the greatest teams of all time, the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, featuring such stars as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and many . Meanwhile you still have jackalopes foaming at the mouth that girls shouldn't be allowed to play high school ball. An additional 35 or so players played on a Negro league team after 1950. James Bell: Cool Papa Bell was probably the fastest ball player ever to don spikes. 555 N. Central Ave. #416 Newt Allen: For 20 years, Newt starred as the Kansas City Monarchs slick-fielding 2nd baseman. Just this month, and nearly 80 years after Suttles career ended, Ashwill was able to add two more home runs to his tally, bringing his total to 32.\n\nBasically, our earlier version of the 1926 Negro National League relied heavily on the Black weekly newspapers for games played in St. Louis -- in this case the Chicago Defender (which was distributed nationally) and the St. Louis Argus, Ashwill wrote. We still have to separate truth from hyperbole, but more analysis has become available. Negro League Players Who Made the Major Leagues Player Negro League Team Major League Team Debut Year Jackie Robinson Kansas City Monarchs Brooklyn Dodgers 1947 Larry Doby Newark Eagles Cleveland Indians 1947 Hank Thompson Kansas City Monarchs St. Louis Browns 1947 Willard Brown Kansas City Monarchs St. Louis Browns 1947 . By August 1, 1947, three Major League teams had already integrated. SIERRA: The Clowns are paid a hundred dollars a month. But Minnie Forbes sympathizes with the many athletes who were good enough to play in the major leagues but never got a shot. I know it seems that the civil rights movement was a while go, but it's truly just recent. Josh Gibson. That's about five times more in salary than Black players. Just having a few stories here and there was not remotely enough. He . Hank Aaron and Willie Mays also began their careers in the Negro Leagues. Now 66, Bell lives in St. Louis where he is a guard at City Hall. Center for Negro League Baseball Research. While the weeklies tried to cover every game they could, deadlines and limited space meant they often had to leave out a few games. A native of Talladega, Alabama, Scales now lives in New York City. Or write about sports? Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. A good right-handed hitter, Duncan is always mentioned as one of black baseballs best catchers. List of living major league players from the 1940s, List of living members of World Series-winning teams, List of living major league players from the 1950s, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/index.php?title=List_of_living_major_league_players_from_the_1940s&oldid=1264856, Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball. This article originally appeared in the 1972 Baseball Research Journal. There are a variety of reasons for that, Ashwill said, including a lack of capital and other resources, looser organization and less of a press infrastructure covering them.. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. A lot of the earlier versions of Negro league statistics only gave you batting averages, home runs, pitchers' won-lost records, basic stuff," Ashwill said. Marshall remembers occasionally playing 4 games a day when he was with the Philadelphia Stars and he says Satchel Paige was the fastest pitcher he ever saw. cnlbr.org is using a security service for protection against online attacks. Larry Doby debuted with the Cleveland Indians on July 5. But there are a group of researchers led by Gary Ashwill who are looking to change that. Dan Bankhead Sam Bankhead Bob Boyd Ray Brown Willard Brown Bill Byrd Roy Campanella Buster Clarkson Jimmie Crutchfield Ray Dandridge Leon Day Larry Doby Luke Easter Wilmer Fields Josh Gibson Junior Gilliam Sammy Hughes Monte Irvin Major League Players. Nat Rogers: Now 78 years old and a waiter at Memphis Peabody Hotel, Nat writes that he played for 45 consecutive seasons in organized baseball, compiling a batting average of over .340. Don Newcombe (6/14/1926) played one season for the Newark Eagles before being allowed to sign with the Dodgers, where he went on to become the first person to win MVP and Cy Young in the same season (1956, the first year the Cy Young was introduced). Only a few members of the leagues are alive to celebrate the centennial. TRIBOU: Pedro Sierra pitched in the Negro Leagues for several seasons in the 1950s. After contacting Lester, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and chairman of SABR's Negro Leagues Research Committee, he provided data that was absolutely staggering. ","contextualCaption":null,"contextualAspectRatio":null,"credit":null,"format":"jpg","templateUrl":"https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/{formatInstructions}/v1605643461/mlb/lv9mhm1fsyjmr30kii4r","type":"photo"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"Thats the type of work that Ashwill, who currently works as a freelance academic editor and runs the Agate Type baseball blog, has done since he began researching the Negro Leagues 20 years ago. This List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball is largely based on the research compiled by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research. . I wanted to see them as flesh and blood people, real players who had the same kinds of complex profiles we have for players today. Baseball needs to retroactivelypay the newly recognized Negro League players and their surviving families. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. But you dont know their numbers -- at least, not with the same devotion baseball fans have to statistics like Ted Williams .406 batting average or Hank Aarons 755 home runs. ","type":"markdown"},{"__typename":"ExternalEmbed","data":{"__typename":"ExternalEmbedContent","html":", #Spotlight In February of 1920, The Chicago Defender previewed the formation of the Negro National League - Kansas City Selected for Meeting of Baseball Magnates - https://t.co/VANcXcLmL0 pic.twitter.com/KfBEDCalWr, A copy of the 1969 Macmillan baseball encyclopedia for show and tell @sabr. RHP Satchel Paige: The most famous Negro Leagues player, the age-defying Paige stayed young long enough to pitch in the majors -- including the World Series -- as a 42-year-old rookie in 1948. Sports Pulse: Players, celebs and politicians tip their hats in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Newt still makes Kansas City his home. Mays played his rookie year in 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons. Today, stars like Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. "Going into the late 1930s and the early 1940s, we see player salaries jump to an average of $300 to $400 each month with the stars like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige getting about $600-$700 a month. There was Oscar Charleston who hit .400 multiple times. I have always been drawn to blank spaces on maps, blank spaces in record books, Ashwill said. Founded in 1990, the museum is the only one in the world . Remembered as one of the few hurlers Josh Gibson had trouble hitting against, Lee writes that Martin Dihigo was the greatest player he ever saw. Over at the Seamheads Negro Leagues database, a dedicated few have combed through newspapers and scorebooks, photo albums and microfiche to piece together the most complete statistical record of the Negro Leagues to date. The Encyclopedia and various books and projects over the years printed stats for a selection of Negro League stars," Ashwill explained -- picking and choosing what information to present, and often excluding players who appeared in fewer than 10 games. At that meeting, they created the Negro National League. Then in 1947, he broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sam Streeter: The star pitcher for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the 1930s, Sam pitched for the West in the inaugural Negro leagues All-Star game in 1933. He says, faced with segregation, Black owners and players kept pushing for organized baseball. You knew the disparity in pay would be bad, but that gap is embarrassing for baseball. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account. Pedro Dibut). Do you have a sports website? Dennis Biddle lives down the street from my grandparents. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. Silas Simmons played in the pre-Negro League era, and he passed away just a decade ago. A charity baseball game that paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and their significance to the sport was held at Sacramento State's John Smith Field on Oct. 9. Born May 6, 1931, Willie Mays is the youngest. The 1930 St. Louis Stars. ***** There's a huge amount of information about Latin American baseball that still needs to be processed -- Black Americans played professional baseball in Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, Ashwill said. Well Hank Aaron and Willie Mays are still alive. Rookies earned $75 and the stars $375. Among them Fowler, Frank Grant, George Stovey, and Fleet Walker were notable players especially during the 1880s, before complete segregation. How Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he could hit the light switch and be in bed before the lights went out. He continued his research with others like Kevin Johnson, Dan Hirsch, and Scott Simkus. "Well, in the case of the Negro leagues the historical record is (and in many cases always will be) incomplete, Ashwill wrote. Now 71, and a Pittsburgh resident, Sam says that Smokey Joe Williams was the greatest pitcher he ever saw while slugger Mule Suttles gave him the most trouble at the plate. This page was last edited on 27 January 2023, at 00:27. For NPR News, I'm Doug Tribou in Ann Arbor, Mich. (SOUNDBITE OF A FOREST MIGHTY BLACK'S "REBIRTH"). All 3,400 players from 1920 to 1948 will be elevated to MLB status. For example, here, courtesy of Ashwill, are the pages from a 1941-42 Baltimore Elite Giants scorebook showing the Elites beating the Philadelphia Stars on Aug. 16, 1942: The biggest myth of them all is that the history of Negro League baseball is nothing but blurry, hard-to-substantiate legends and tall tales, Ashwill wrote in an email to MLB.com. Mays played. Though there is more information on the Negro Leagues just a click away than ever before, there is still plenty of work to be done. Paige, now 65 and a Kansas City resident, is by far the best known of these old stars. As it stands, Newcombe is the oldest living man to play in the Negro Leagues at their major-league level. And I really do mean today. 'THEY TRULY DESERVE IT:'Families of Negro Leaguers rejoice in MLB's decision to recognize league, OPINION: After vowing change, Black candidates shut out again of MLB front office jobs. Since the Negro Leauges were still around several years after Jackie Robinson's debut, I would imagine there are still a few dozen former players who are still alive. Charlie Neal Hank Aaron George Altman Maury Wills Donn Clendenon John Wyatt Blue Moon Odom Paul Casanova See also [ edit] List of starting black NFL quarterbacks List of black NHL players One of two players in history to win the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP in his career (Verlander being the other). Chicago Team History, Chris Haughey is the last player alive from 1943 and Tommy Brown is the last player alive from 1944, 1945 and 1947. Pittsburgh soon produced two of the greatest teams of all time, the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, featuring such stars as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and many more. A speedy switch-hitter, Newt writes that Martin Dihigo and Dave Brown were the two greatest pitchers he ever faced. Holsey Lee: A great pitcher for over 20 years, Scrip Lee spent most of his long career in the Eastern Colored League. Yet there was still a feeling that many more had been missed. He says his greatest thrill was a home-run he hit in the 1940 classic in Chicago. Jimmie Crutchfield: A slender outfielder, Jimmie signed with the great Pittsburgh Crawfords when he was only 19 years old. Part of that was simply how the Negro Leagues recorded their statistics, which wasn't as robust a system as the Major Leagues'. TRIBOU: Bob Kendrick heads the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum there. Satchel Paige, What about the other great players? Jackie Robinson had an immediate impact on baseball's short and long-term future. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Paige was the first Negro League player inducted . Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. A lifetime .312 hitter, Ray remembers 1950 as a banner year when he was selected as MVP in the Triple-A American Association, while playing with the Minneapolis Millers. Accuracy and availability may vary. Find out more. Willie Foster: Called by many the greatest left-handed pitcher in the black leagues, Willie won 4 World Series games in his long career, and may be the only pitcher, black or white, to have pitched a complete 9-inning All-Star game. O'Neil served as a representative of the Negro Leagues on the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee from 1981-2000, and 11 Negro Leagues players were inducted through 2001 for a total of 18. Lester said the average monthly salary of a Black player in the early 1920s was $175 a month. Of them, only 9 are still alive as of Janury 26, 2023. The other is that sources like the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia -- which basically set the standard for baseball statistics when it was released in 1969 -- wasn't all that invested in featuring Negro League records. That started to change in the 1980s and early 90s as researchers like Dick Clark, Larry Lester, John Holway, James Riley and Phil Dixon began assembling a more robust statistical record. So the problem of whether Roosevelt Jackson is a veteran of the Negro Leagues is really one of semantics. Buck lives in Rocky Mount, N.C., where he owns a realty agency. America's Pastime. Then I'll create my own. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. The color line in baseball is also probably the most profound case of historical injustice in the history of modern sports -- and the injustice most definitely includes the failure to properly record both the identities and the achievements of thousands of professional ballplayers., Before the Seamheads database, Negro League statistics were sparse and spottily updated. His salary was less than 5% of what white players were earning. They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues after the Great Depression. March 16, 2007 - Hubert "Country" Glenn, passes away. Major leagueplayersreceived from $300 to $2,000 a month and about $15 a day for meals.
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