Is the Baseball Hall of Fame forgetting something?

While a few of the best known players from the Negro Leagues "Golden Age" the late 1920’s-WWII era have been inducted many more, especially from the earlier days, the pre- Negro Leagues dead-ball era the time of many lesser-known greats, has simply been neglected.  First some background my father’s first teaching job after he graduated from Temple University was at a reform school named Octavius V. Catto, a few years ago I researched the name and the man and discovered that in addition to being a leading abolitionist, assistant to the principal, Professor Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, at what would later become Cheyney State, he also a supporter of the Pythians the foremost Negro baseball team of its era. In fact he decided to apply for official recognition of the Pythians by the National Association of Base Ball Players National Association of Base Ball Players (America's first organized league), during its annual convention in December 1867. The Pythians were, however, denied membership. The denial was based on the premise, "If colored clubs were admitted there would be in all probability some division of feeling, whereas, by excluding them no injury could result to anyone." The association even passed a resolution that excluded "any club which may be composed of one or more colored players." This premise was the predecessor of the "gentleman's agreement" arriving later involving the major leagues and colored players. In 1867, the Uniques of Brooklyn played the Excelsiors of Philadelphia for the first officially recorded black teams. The Excelsiors defeated the Uniques 37-24. Soon following, the more prestigious Philadelphia Pythians arrived on the scene. Negroes continued to thrive in adopting the ‘National Pastime’ despite the segregation, with the few black teams of the day playing not only each other, but white teams as well; to break down racial barriers in baseball, when a group of whites formed the Pennsylvania Convention of Baseball Clubs in

1868. His aggressive nature and strivings for equality in this instance greatly offended many immigrant whites who enjoyed baseball as their pastime. On October 10, 1871, Catto was leaving the Institute for Colored Youth, Catto was confronted by Frank Kelly, a Democratic Party operative and associate of the Party's boss, who recognized Catto as he walked down the street. Kelly fired several shots at Catto with one bullet piercing his heart. With his death came the death of the best Negro team of the time, the Pythians.

In 1879, William Edward White, a Brown University player, may have become the first African-American to play in the major leagues when he appeared in one game for the Providence Grays of the National League. In 1884, two African-American players, Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday Walker, joined the majors when their club, the Toledo Blue Stockings, joined the American Association. Fleet Walker lasted until mid-season when an injury gave the team an excuse to release him; his brother only played a few games. Then in 1886 second baseman Frank Grant joined the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, the strongest minor league, and hit .340, third highest in the league. Several other African-American players joined the International League the following season, including pitchers George Stovey and Robert Higgins, but 1888 was the last season in which blacks were allowed in a minor league of that level.

Despite the Color line many baseball men tried to sneak talented player through the “White Curtain.” In 1901 there was an unusual signing of one "Chief Tokohama" to baseball’s Baltimore Orioles by manager John McGraw. Chief Tokohama was later revealed to be Charlie Grant, a straight haired, beige-skinned African-American second baseman with high cheekbones. McGraw was attempting to draw upon the great untapped resource of African-American baseball talent in the face of baseball’s unspoken rule banning black players from the major leagues. The ruse was discovered after Grant signed with the Orioles as Chief Tokohama, when Chicago White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey discovered his real identity and led the charge to ban him from the league. Grant ended up spending the 1901 season playing stand-out second base for the all-black Columbia Giants.

John McGraw, manager of the Orioles from 1899 to 1902 and the New York Giants from 1902 to 1932, had real respect for African-Americans’ baseball abilities and wished to integrate the major leagues. McGraw was often in the stands at Negro League games, watching and taking notes, and later copying strategies used by Black teams. In fact, legend has long held that McGraw had pitcher and Negro National League founder Rube Foster teach Giants star Christy Mathewson how to throw his "fadeaway" pitch or Screwball. McGraw held multiple exhibition games between his team and Negro League teams. Not only promoting and showcasing the talent but as importantly bolstering their earnings.

In October 1917, Negro Leaguer "Smokey" Joe Williams pitched against the National League champion Giants, striking out 20 batters before losing 1-0 on an error in the 10th inning. Had records been kept of those exhibitions, the mark of 20 strikeouts would stood for 69 seasons. McGraw was not the only big leaguer who favored integration, or took up the cause. Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Dizzy Dean, Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner and Jimmie Foxx were among the players who would barnstorm with all-star Negro League teams in the off-season before black players were allowed to play with them in the regular season. Each of them attested that the ‘Tan Talent’ was equal to what they’d faced in the majors. Joe DiMaggio famously stated that Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige was "the best and fastest pitcher” he ever faced."

Now to commemorate February 9th, 1971 the day that Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige was inducted into the slate of Negro League and Pre- Negro League players I believe are more than worthy of induction in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Bud Fowler (real name John W. Jackson) had a lengthy career: 1877-1899: and he did some of everything he was a: 2b, P, SS, 3rd, OF, C, and manager with several teams and leagues: minor leagues (1877-1879, 1881, 1884-1899), Page Fence Giants (1895), Cuban Giants (1898),City Giants (1901), All-American Black Tourists (1903), Kansas City Smoky Stars (1904). He was a solid and sturdy 5' 7'' 155 he batted and threw with his right hand. Fowler was a true pioneer playing wherever his color permitted.  The first known African-American professional player. He played more seasons and more games in Organized Baseball than any Black man until Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1946 and played his 11th season in 1956.

John Jackson was born in Fort Plain, New York, moved fittingly enough, to Cooperstown, New York the next year, and learned baseball there. Why he selected the name Bud Fowler is unknown. According to biographer L. Robert Davids, he gained the nickname "Bud" because he called the other players by that name.

He began his career as a pitcher, and the first documented account of his appearing in a game was with Chelsea, Massachusetts, in April 1878. Later that month, pitching for Lynn Live Oaks of the International Association, he defeated Tommy Bond and the famed Boston Nationals, 2-1, in an exhibition game. Over the next few seasons he played with Worchester of the New England Association (1878), Malden of the Eastern Massachusetts League (1879), Guelph, Ontario (1881), and the Petrolia Imperials (1881). After 1884, when he finished with a 7-8 record with Stillwater, Minnesota, of the Northwestern League, he did not pitch substantially.

Foster also supported himself as a barber; he continued to play for teams in New England and Canada for the next four years. In 1883, Fowler played for a team in Niles, Ohio, and in 1884 in Stillwater, Minnesota. Unsubstantiated reports state that he played with the Washington Mutuals in 1869 and with a Newcastle, Pennsylvania, team in 1872 cannot be confirmed and are not fully reliable.

Eventually he became an everyday player and, while he could play any position, second base became his preferred spot. He continued to play in White leagues, appearing with Keokuk in the Western League (1885), Pueblo in the Colorado League (1885), Topeka in the Western League (1886), Binghamton in the International League (1887), Montpelier in the New England League (1887), Crawfordsville in the Central Interstate League (1888), Terre Haute in the Central Interstate League (1888), Santa Fe in the New Mexico League (1888), Greenville in the Michigan League (1889), Galesburg of the Central Interstate League (1890), Sterling of the Illinois-Iowa League (1890), Burlington of the Illinois-Iowa League (1890), Lincoln-Kearney of the Nebraska State League (1892), and the independent Findlay, Ohio, team (1891, 1893-1894, 1896-1899).

In earliest days of baseball there was no official color line, and Fowler played in organized baseball with White ball clubs until the color line became established and entrenched. However, his stays were almost always of short duration despite his playing ability-probably because of the race factor. In 1887 he was dropped from Binghamton of the International League and was forbidden to sign with another International League team.

In the fall of 1894, the social conditions led him to organize the Page Fence Giants, an all-Black team sponsored by the Page Woven Wire Fence Company of Adrian, Michigan, and the team began play the following spring with Fowler as the playing manager and Grant "Home Run" Johnson as the shortstop and captain. That spring the Page Fence Giants played a 2-game exhibition series against the National League Cincinnati Reds but dropped both games. However, the season was a success, as they ended it with a 118-36 record for a .766 winning percentage and Fowler hit .316 for the year. Fowler had left the team before the

end of the season to play with the Lansing team of the Michigan State League and hit .331 while splitting his time between second base and third base. That was to be his tenth and last season in organized baseball, a record until broken by Jackie Robinson in his last season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He also played with the Cuban Giants in 1898, and as his playing skills faded, he became more inclined toward organizing and managing various barnstorming Black ball clubs. These teams included the Smoky City Giants (1901), the All-American Black Tourists (1903), and the Kansas City Stars (1904), and although now in his forties, Fowler continued to play himself except with the latter team. At the end of his career he asserted that he had played on teams based in twenty-two different states and in Canada.

In 1909, Fowler was in poor health and several attempts were made to play a benefit game for him, but the efforts all proved fruitless and the game never happened. Less than three years later, the "real first” Black professional baseball player died of pernicious anemia in Frankfort, New York on February 26, 1913 after an extended illness. His passing came just eighteen days before his fifty-fifth birthday. Records are predictably sketchy but he is thought to have had a career batting average in the low .300s.

I had assumed that Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe was already in the Baseball Hall of Fame. After all he had more than 4,000 hits and 400 home runs, won what many estimate to be about 500 games and had in the neighborhood of 4,000 strike-outs. He was great as a pitcher and a catcher, and he got his nickname from Damon Runyon no less, sadly I was mistaken he has not been enshrined. Radcliffe played as a catcher and as a pitcher in the successive games of a 1932 Negro League World Series doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Monroe Monarchs. In the first of the two games at Yankee Stadium Radcliffe caught the pitcher Satchel Paige for a shutout and then pitched a shutout in the second game. Runyon wrote that Radcliffe "was worth the price of two admissions." Radcliffe considered his year with the 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords to be one of the highlights of his career. The Crawfords beat the Monarchs 5–1 in the best-of-nine series. There should have been four future hall of fame players were on the Crawfords in this year including Josh Gibson, Satchel Page, Oscar Charleston and "Double Duty" should be the fourth he lived to 103 to give baseball time to induct him while he was alive. He played from 1919 to 1954 and lived from July 7th 1902 until August 11th, 2005, he and Buck O’Neil are the men on this list I have had the honor of speaking with. He was a great story teller with a flair for exaggeration. He had many hilarious and harrowing tales of his playing days, they were mostly true but some of them had a bit of “yeast” in them.

What kind of player was he? In 1934, with the Jamestown Red Sox and Chicago American Giants, ‘Double Duty’ had one of the finest years anyone's ever had. He won 18 games, lost 4 and walked only 17 batters all season. At bat, Duty batted .362 and hit some of the longest homers ever seen in North Dakota! After the season, Duty managed a North Dakota semipro team that took on the Jimmie Foxx All-Stars (featuring Hall of Famers Foxx, Heinie Manush and Ted Lyons, along with All-Stars Pinkie Higgins and Doc Cramer, and 20-game winners Rube Walberg and Earl Whitehill.) The North Dakota stars beat the Major Leaguers in Valley City, Jamestown and Bismarck. In those games, Duty batted .556 and threw a complete game win in Bismarck, not allowing a run until the 9th inning.

Radcliffe made his Negro League debut with the Detroit Stars in 1928, serving as both pitcher and catcher. His first year with the team, the Stars played the major league all-stars. He left the team in 1929 after the manager refused his request for a raise and he returned to another Chicago team, the Union Giants. In 1930, the St. Louis Stars traded three players for Radcliffe. He stayed with the team one year, during which they won the pennant. Radcliffe next played for the Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh.

Radcliffe joined hometown friend, Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige, on the better-paying Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1932, along with Gray’s teammates Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston and Ted Page. That year, the team played a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. While writer Damon Runyon came to see Paige, he left impressed with Radcliffe's ability to pitch and catch, he caught while Paige pitched a shutout in the first game, and then pitched his own shutout in the second. "It was worth the price of two admissions to see 'Double Duty' Radcliffe play," Runyon wrote in his newspaper column the next day. The nickname stuck with Radcliffe. His Crawfords years were productive while doing “double duty" Radcliffe produced impressive numbers for those seasons, including batting averages of .283, .298, and .325 and corresponding pitching records of 10-2, 9-5, and 19-8. With the Stars he was the regular catcher for the first half of the season, but when the pitching staff wore thin, he stepped in and proved to be one of the top hurlers on their championship squad.

In his later years, Radcliffe made no secret of his illegal pitching methods. Although he was never caught, he was known for his "emery ball" in which he scratched one side of the ball with an emery board. Radcliffe' methods behind the plate were unorthodox as well. He had the words "Thou Shalt Not Steal" emblazoned across his chest protector and in the latter part of his career wrapped a steak in a handkerchief inside his mitt for extra padding against Paige's fastballs. Radcliffe pitched three and caught three of the six East-West All-Star Games in which he played. He also pitched in two and caught in six other All-Star games. He hit .376 (11-for-29) in nine exhibition games against major leaguers, he pitched and caught multiple no-hitters in his career , won more than 400 games on the mound , batted over .300 lifetime with more than 400 homeruns , hit major-leaguers in 8 exhibitions at a .403 pace, he was chosen as a pitcher and catcher 3 times each for the Negro League East-West All-Star Game (batting .308, with a homer, one win, one save and a 2.35 ERA) Radcliffe won the Negro American League MVP award in 1943 (at age 41). Not only that by the integrated 2 leagues in one season, 1948--the Southern Minny and the Michigan-Indiana Leagues, he was still pitching and catching in his 50s; he batted .459 and was 3-0 pitching for Winnipeg in a "triple A" semipro league and he played with more than 30 teams, as many as 5 in one season!

Double Duty’s Brother Alexander ‘Alec’ Radcliffe-at 6'0” 205-lb he was an imposing right handed hitter, he was a vital cog in the Chicago American Giants' 1932 Negro Southern League pennant (batting .283) and in their disputed 1933 and 1934 NNL claims. From 1933 to 1936 he batted .330. The hard-hitting third baseman of the Chicago American Giants for most of his fifteen-year career, Radcliffe was virtually a perennial All Star, making eleven All Star appearances during his career. He played in every All Star game from its inception in 1933 through 1946, except for the 1940-1942 seasons, registering a .341 average in All Star competition. He is the lifetime All Star leader in at bats and hits, and is second to Buck Leonard in games played, runs batted in, and runs scored.

A good clutch hitter, this right handed slugger used a 40 ounce bat and had power to all fields. Noted as being a good curveball hitter with the ability to execute the hit and run, Radcliffe earned his acclaim with his bat, but he did everything well. He was an adequate fielder with a strong arm, and although not fast, he was a little better than average as a base runner for his size. His manager, Dave Malarcher considered him one of the best White or Black to play the ‘hot corner’; a quick man, a powerful hitter and one who possessed a great baseball mind. Radcliffe batted .325 during the 1945 NAL season. When he made his 11th and final East-West all-star game appearance in 1946, he had played in more of them than any other player. His 44 at-bats and 15 hits (.341) were East-West game highs, and he scored seven runs and drove in ten. His older brother Ted was one of the biggest stars and self-promoters in Negro Leagues and overshadowed his very talented younger.

The other tender of the ‘hot corner’ deserving of more Hall of Fame attention is a superior defensive third baseman, the 5’9” 160 pound Oliver "Ghost” Marcelle was the most skilled third baseman in black baseball in the 1920s. A rare gem afield, he could do everything. In a 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll he was selected over Hall of Famers Ray Dandridge and Judy Johnson as the all-time greatest player at the hot corner, and was also picked by John Henry Lloyd in 1953 for his All-Time All Star team. A rare gem afield, he could do everything. He was very fast, covered lots of territory, and possessed a quick and snappy arm. He had no equal in knocking down hard-hit balls and getting his man at first. Whether making spectacular plays to his left or to his right, or fielding bunts like a master, he delighted the fans.

While the Negro Leagues had many statistics recorded in the 1920s, Marcelle put up outstanding numbers. In 1922 with the Bacharach Giants, he posted a .379 batting average. Again in 1924, he hit well, putting up a .352 average for Bacharach and the New York Lincoln Giants. He was considered by most to be the greatest fielding third basemen in the league throughout the 1920s and possibly of all time. Baseball Hall of Famer Judy Johnson once admitted that Marcelle was a better defensive player than himself. During that time, he and shortstop Dick Lundy made up one of the best left-side infields ever.

Teaming with Dick Lundy on the Bacharach Giants to form an almost impregnable left side of the infield, he was an integral part of the team's success in the pennant years of 1926-27. In the 1926 World Series against the Chicago American Giants, he hit a solid .293 in a losing effort. His professional baseball career started in New Orleans, where he played for several teams during his teens. In 1918, he moved to Brooklyn where he played for the Brooklyn Royal Giants in 1918 and 1919.

He soon gained recognition for his fielding abilities and his flair for the dramatic, his nickname, "The Ghost," came from his fielding style. He could stand 10 feet off the bag and wait for someone to hit a ball his way. He would run and leap, while making the catch he could play 10 feet closer to the batter than anyone else, since he had cat-quick reflexes. Moving with Lundy to the Baltimore Black Sox after the Eastern Colored League's breakup, he still had enough hits left in his bat to hit a respectable .288 in 1929. A good hitter, he was most dangerous in the clutch, registering a .335 lifetime average in Negro League competition. During eight winter seasons in Cuba, "Ghost" had a .305 average, including a league-leading .371 in 1923-24. He also hit .333 in exhibitions against major leaguers.

Marcelle's quick and fiery temper, with umpires and opponents commonly got him into arguments even with teammates Marcelle once hit Oscar Charleston in the head with a bat. In addition to the Negro Leagues Marcelle had been a staple of the Cuban Winter League throughout the decade. In the 1923-24 season he batted .393 to lead the league. After some time with in the Detroit Stars, Marcelle didn't play very much longer. Marcelle quit playing in 1930. He coached for a while and in 1933 toured with the Miami Giants, ending up in Denver. His biggest contribution to baseball history may not have come as a player though.

The Denver Post sponsored one of the biggest semipro baseball tournaments in the country. In 1934, Marcelle convinced the Post's sports editor that the paper should invite the Kansas City Monarchs, a black team, to the tournament. The Post invited the Monarchs, who had a pitcher by the name of Satchel Paige, who would later enter the Hall of Fame. The tournament was Paige's first exposure to the white press. Prior to the 1934 tournament, Denver had black teams and white teams. The next year, Denver's baseball teams were integrated. Marcelle's final career average was supposedly around .305 with 12 home runs

I have a special place in my heart for 2nd base, the ‘Keystone Sack,’ 2 of greatest ever to play the position: Newt Allen and ‘Bingo’ DeMoss yet neither is in Cooperstown. Bingo DeMoss(1889-1965)

Unquestionably the greatest second baseman in black baseball for the first quarter-century, Bingo DeMoss was the consummate ballplayer, excelling at all phases of the game. At 6’2” 180 he was a giant at that position in those times, despite that he was famously nimble. Fast on the bases and quick in the field, he could make all the plays, and his style afield served as a model for those who later played the position.

In addition to his impeccable defensive skills, the right-handed line-drive hitter was also productive with the bat, recording a .303 batting average in 1926. A scientific hitter with superior bat control and exceptional eye-hand coordination, he could place the ball wherever he wanted, making him an excellent bunter, a skilled hit-and-run artist, and an ideal second place hitter in the line-up. He began as a shortstop in 1905 with the Topeka Giants, the first full-time black semi-pro team in the Midwest. After hurting his arm while pitching in an emergency, he moved to second base. DeMoss spent his prime years with the Chicago American Giants, and as a player-manager for the Indianapolis ABC's and Detroit Stars. From 1920 through 1930, he batted .247, including highs of .314 for the 1929 Detroit Stars and .292 for the 1920 Chicago American Giants.

DeMoss was a proficient bunter and hit-and-run man, making him an ideal second-place hitter. Bingo was the best second baseman of the first quarter century of the 1900s. His size puts him the same class as two other great second basemen of similar stature, Sammy T. Hughes and Ryne Sandberg. DeMoss started his career with local teams in Kansas, but moved to Spring Valley, Indiana and played for French Lick (of Larry Bird fame) and West Baden, playing for teams that entertained guests in this resort area.

DeMoss, with his daring base running, precision bunting, and sparkling defense, quickly became a star and he moved onto the Indianapolis ABCs and the "Black Big Leagues" in 1915 playing for manager C.I. Taylor. After two years with the ABCs, DeMoss moved to the Chicago American Giants and played for legendary manager Rube Foster. DeMoss fit in perfectly with Foster's style of play--a style in which every player was expected to be able to bunt a ball into a hat 15 feet from home plate. DeMoss was the team's captain for six years.

The American Giants that DeMoss played for were said to have been able to beat the best teams in baseball without hitting a ball out of the infield! After his playing days wound down that DeMoss became a top manager--after all, he had been managed by Taylor and Foster, two of the greatest in history. DeMoss managed the Detroit Stars from 1926-1931, playing second base most games too, and helped develop players like Turkey Stearnes, Double Duty Radcliffe and Huck Rile. He later managed the Chicago Brown Bombers, a top black semipro team. Playing for the two greatest managers of his day, Bingo absorbed baseball strategy from the masters. A smart, aggressive field general, his leadership contributed to the success of the teams on which he played. He continued to manage through 1943. His last assignment was with the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers of the United States Baseball League, a circuit organized by Branch Rickey to scout players for possible signing by the Brooklyn Dodgers. The league only lasted until 1945

Newt Allen played second base in the Negro Leagues for many years, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. He assumed temporary managerial duties in May 1941 when Andy Cooper fell ill, and managed the remainder of the season following Cooper's death in June, losing a playoff to the Birmingham Black Barons. He resigned as manager before the following season but remained with the team, mostly playing third base by then. He retired

as a player after the 1944 season, later coaching one season for the Indianapolis Clowns. He also played for: the Louis Stars (1931), Detroit Wolves (1932), Homestead Grays (1932), voluntarily retired (1945-1946); prior to returning with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1947

His primary position: was 2nd, but he also manned: 3rd, SS, OF, 1st, and was a player/manager born Newton Henry Allen, ‘Newt’ batted and threw right and was widely considered the best second baseman during the 1920s and early 1930s, the wide-ranging, slick-fielding middle infielder had quick hands and was superb on the pivot in turning a double play. Although playing primarily at second, he was a fine infielder at any position. He was quick in the field and on the bases, was an aggressive base runner and a rough slider who utilized his speed to take extra bases as well as to steal bases. An excellent bunter and consistent hitter with good bat control who went with the pitch, he was an ideal player to have hitting in the second spot in the lineup.

His twenty-three-year career was spent almost entirely with the Kansas City Monarchs. His progression to the Monarchs was rapid. While attending Lincoln High School in Kansas City, he helped organize an amateur team, the Kansas City Tigers, and soon graduated to the semipro ranks with the Omaha Federals in 1921, where he was discovered by J.L. Wilkinson, owner of both the Monarchs and the All Nations ballclub. Allen was assigned to the All Nations team, but at the end of his first season, 1922, he was promoted to the Monarchs.

In the first phase of his career, the second baseman sparked the defense and served as captain as the Monarchs captured Negro National League pennants in 1923-1925 and 1929. In 1924, the first World Series was held between the Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League, and Allen hit .282 with seven doubles as the Monarchs edged Hilldale in a hard-fought best-of-nine series that featured four one-run games and a tie. In a rematch the following season, Allen hit .259 as the Monarchs lost to Hilldale, after having defeated the St. Louis Stars in a playoff for the Negro National League flag. Long known for his leadership ability, he became the Monarchs' manager in 1941 when Andy Cooper suffered a pre-season stroke and died during the season. He won the Negro American League championship that season, but resigned as manager just before the beginning of the following season, resuming his duties as a reserve infielder.

Allen's accomplishments as a player were even more impressive. A master at scoring runs, he bunted, stole bases and did whatever was needed to win. Among the fastest base runners of his generation, his most remarkable season was his 1929 campaign, in which he batted .330 while hitting 24 doubles and stealing 23 bases in a typically abbreviated Negro League season. In 1937 the Monarchs entered the newly formed Negro American League and promptly dominated it, winning five of the first six pennants, with Allen contributing averages of .363, .273, .255, .323, .305, and .272, respectively, during this last phase of his playing career. Just as he had played in the first World Series between the Eastern Colored League and the original Negro National League in 1924, he also played in the first World Series played between the Negro American League and the new Negro National League in 1942. The Monarchs defeated the great Homestead Grays, with Allen contributing a .267 batting average while playing third base. Three years later the Monarchs won their last Negro National League flag by decisively winning both halves of a split season. No World Series was held that season, and a year later the Monarchs disbanded temporarily. In addition to his Golden Glove performance in the field, the wiry spark plug hit for averages of .277, .308, .259, .334, .280, .330, and .345 for those seven seasons with the Monarchs (1924-1930).

Popular with the fans even in the latter years of his career, he was selected to the East-West All Star game four times, 1936-1938 and 1941, playing both second base and shortstop in the annual classic but going hitless for his four appearances.

He had a tour as manager of the Monarchs in 1941; he also took the reins of the Indianapolis Clowns for the 1947 season, his last year in the Negro Leagues. The magical glove man was more than adequate with a bat as well, finishing with a lifetime batting average of .296, posting a .301 average against major leaguers in exhibitions, and recording a .278 average for two winter seasons in Cuba. Allen's winters on that island were separated by a dozen years, with him hitting .313 with Almendares early in his career (1924-1925) and .269 with Havana in the latter part of his career (1937-1938). During his career Allen also played winters in California, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela and toured the Orient in 1935-1936 with the Monarchs, playing exhibitions while touring Japan and the Philippines.

Like the comparable Judy Johnson, he was a remarkable fielder, arguably the best fielding second baseman of any race from the 1920s through the 1940s, and tended to come through in the clutch. Unlike Johnson, Newt Allen is not in the Hall of Fame, although many experts regard him as having been superior to many White inductees. Allen did make the list of 39 finalists for the 2006 special Negro Leagues and Pre-Negro Leagues Election, but was not one of the 17 finally chosen. Allen died at age 87 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His known statistics: .293 career batting average, 16 home runs, and 640 games.

The other Negro League 2nd sacker who deserves consideration for the Hall of Fame is Samuel Thomas “Sammy T” Hughes at 6'2 1/2" 190 he would be large even for a modern player at a position that is predicated on agility. A thinking man's player, Sammy T. was a consistent contact hitter who excelled on the hit-and-run play and made an excellent number-two batter in the line-up. A tough competitor, the tall rangy right-hander hit with good but no consistent power, recording a batting average of .353 in exhibitions against major leaguers. In addition to his picture-perfect work afield, he was also a good base runner and a solid hitter. A thinking man's player, Hughes was a consistent contact hitter who excelled on the hit-and-run play and was a good bunter, which made him an excellent number-two batter in the lineup.

Hughes began his career with the hometown Louisville White Sox. He hit .421 for the team in 1931, when they joined the Negro National League, but did not have enough at-bats to qualify for the league lead. In '32, he was with the Washington Pilots, and then in 1933 the tall second baseman joined the Nashville Elite Giants. He remained with the Elite Giants through several franchise moves in the 30s.

In '36, Hughes went 13 for 26 in a 5-game exhibition series against a group of white players. The pitchers were Jim Winford, Mike Ryba, Bob Feller, Jim Weaver and Earl Caldwell. The White 2B that series was a retired Rogers Hornsby, who struggled, hitting just 2 for 19 as he was badly outplayed by the younger Hughes. A tough competitor, the rangy right-handed batter hit with good extra-base power, but mostly doubles. Although he could reach the fences, his home-run production was not sufficiently consistent for him to be considered a home-run threat, he finished with 13 career round-trippers. Playing with the Elite Giants in the Negro National League, he recorded batting averages of .355, .353, .319, .302, .345, and .254 for the seasons 1935-1940. The following season, the smooth second sacker was lured south of the border to Mexico, where he batted .324 with Torreon. Hughes dazzled in 7 years in the California Winter League during his career, hitting .384, 33 points better than Babe Herman and higher than Hall-of-Famers Oscar Charleston, Turkey Stearnes and Cool Papa Bell. He also was among the top 10 in homers in the CWL, with 17 in 294 Abs while never a league leader in anything other than doubles, Hughes was known as a good contact hitter and great defensive 2B with some speed and some power.

During his sixteen-year career ‘Sammy T’ was selected to the East-West All Star team more than any other second baseman. The flashy fielder compiled a respectable .263 batting average during the five years that he faced All Star pitching. Representing the Elite Giants

when they were in Nashville, Columbus, Washington, and Baltimore, he was on the West squad twice (1934-1935) and on the East Squad three times (1936-1939).

In 1936 he was also selected to the Negro National League All Star team that entered the Denver Post Tournament and breezed through the competition so easily that they were told not to come back. Hughes hit a cool .379 for the tournament.

In 1942 the star 2nd baseman hit .301 and fielded brilliantly to spark the Elites in a fierce pennant battle with the Homestead Grays that went down to the wire. During this time, a reporter for the People's Voice newspaper wired him that a tryout with the Pittsburgh Pirates had been tentatively arranged for Hughes, Roy Campanella, and Dave Barnhill. The three players jumped at the chance and left the Elites to showcase in a game against the Toledo Mudhens. However, the two players from the Elites did not get permission from their owner beforehand and were fined and benched temporarily. Hughes was quickly reinstated, but Campanella jumped to Mexico, and the Elites lost out in the final week of the pennant race after losing the services of their young catcher.

Not long afterward, Hughes's baseball career was interrupted by World War II. He served in the Army with the 196th Support Battalion during the invasion of New Guinea. He was discharged early in 1946 but, after returning from three years in the service, he held out for more money, asking for an additional $1,500 per month. He remained at home in Los Angeles, while the Elites were floundering in early June, but eventually signed with the club. However, the super second sacker played only a short time, hitting .277 in his last year in the league.

A first basemen who several veteran baseball men consider among the finest fielders ever at that position was ‘Buck’ O’Neil. For many the name of John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil evokes both smiles and admiration; few men in any sport have witnessed the expansive sweep of history that O’Neil saw, felt and experienced in. O’Neil was best known for having been a slick-fielding first baseman and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. He first began playing pro baseball in the summer of 1934 where he spent several years “barnstorming” (travelling to various places playing inter-racial games).

He began his professional baseball career touring with the Miami Giants in 1934 and got his nickname "Buck" from one of the team's owners, Buck O'Neal. The other owner was Johnny Pierce, but booking agent Syd Pollock soon took over the ballclub and renamed them the Ethiopian Clowns in 1935. From 1934 to 1938 O'Neil played on various teams, including the Miami Giants, New York Tigers, and the Shreveport Acme Giants. In 1937 he signed with the Memphis Red Sox, earning $100 per month. That same year, he played for one month with the Zulu Cannibal Giants, a barnstorming team. The Giants, owned by Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein, wore straw skirts instead of uniforms, but the team paid well and the players didn't have to wear war paint as some "African-themed" teams did. In 1938, after four years of moving from team to team, O'Neil earned a spot as the first baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the elite teams of the Negro Leagues and stayed with the franchise until 1955, managing the last eight years, after Tom Baird bought out J.L. Wilkinson in 1948.

A consistent hitter with good extra-base power to right centerfield, he hit .258, .257, .345, .250, .247, and .222 from the time he joined the team in 1938 until he joined the Navy during the 1943 season. He usually batted in the sixth spot, although he preferred hitting second, which he did for a couple of seasons. After his batting title in 1946, he followed with seasons of .358, .253, .330, and .253 for the years 1947-1950. On the bases he had only average speed but was a smart base runner, and in the field he was a graceful fielder but with only an average arm

O’Neil had a career batting average of .288, including four .300-plus seasons at the plate. In 1946 he led the league in hitting with a .353 average and followed that in 1947 with a career-best .358 mark. He also posted averages of .345 in 1940 and .330 in 1949. He played in four East-West All-Star games and two Negro League World Series. A steady hitter, O'Neil won the 1946 Negro American League batting title with an average of .353 to lead the Monarchs to another pennant. Although not known as a power hitter, the steady right-hander hit 2 home runs to go along with his .333 batting average in the World Series against the Newark Eagles.

In 1948 he took over as player/manager of the Monarchs and guided them to two league titles in 1953 and 1955. As a manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, Buck was responsible for more than three dozen baseball players going to Major League organizations, including Ernie Banks.

It could be argued however that O’Neil accomplished just as much, if not more, off the field. Buck O’Neil left the Monarchs following the 1955 season, and in 1956 became a scout for the Chicago Cubs. He was named the first black coach by the Cubs in 1962 and is credited for signing Lou Brock, Joe Carter, Lee Smith, Oscar Gamble, Matt Alexander, George Altman, Harvey Branch, Jophery Brown, John Hairston, J.C. Hartman, Lou Johnson, Donnie Moore, and Bill Robinson. After many years with the Cubs, O’Neil became a Kansas City Royals scout in 1988, and he was named “Midwest Scout of the Year” in 1998 when he was but 82 years young!

In addition to scouting, Buck served on the Veterans' Committee at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Buck O'Neil was the Chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. O’Neil was nominated to a special Hall ballot for Negro League players, managers, and executives in 2006, but he failed to receive the necessary 75% to gain admission by one vote, 1! In the years after his death due perhaps to the loss of O’Neil as a driving force, the recession or management issues, The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has struggled and is facing a deficit that may approach a quarter of a million dollars. If you can donate to and visit the museum in Kansas City's historic 18th and Vine district.

Sadly the legacy of great players with bad personalities is a long one and extends to one of the Negro Leagues foremost talents. During his prime John Beckwith was regarded as one of the top players by his peers, and he possessed sufficient versatility afield to play almost any position. However, he did not excel at any position, and his team value, lessened by his temperament, was often considered suspect; when he wasn't swinging his 38-inch bat, hulking 230-pounder could play any position on the field. He began his career as a shortstop-catcher, progressed to a third baseman-shortstop during his prime seasons, and was a third baseman in his waning years. While demonstrating his prodigious power, the free-swinger tried to pull everything to left field and developed a vulnerability to sidearm curveballs, increasing his frequency of strikeouts.

A terrific hitter, the right-handed Beckwith was a great player and battled fellow Negro League third baseman Jud Wilson for supremacy at that position during the 1920s. Quite possibly, he may have also been better all-around than even Hall of Famer Pie Traynor during this same period, though it's hard to say definitively. In 1921, as a 19-year-old rookie with the Chicago Giants, he became the first player, white or black, to hit a ball over the laundry roof behind Cincinnati's Crosley Field. His longest blast, according to Hosely Lee, who pitched against Beckwith in the Eastern Colored League, came at Washington's Griffith Stadium, which had the longest leftfield fence in the majors at the time. Beckwith's home run hit an advertising sign, approximately 460' from home plate and 40' above the ground, behind the leftfield bleachers. Negro League great Ted Radcliffe said of Beckwith, "Nobody hit the ball any farther than him - Josh Gibson or nobody else."

His temperament and basic approach to the game contributed to his making the rounds of a variety of teams during his twenty-two-year career. Beckwith began playing baseball in the Sunday School leagues in Chicago as a youngster, and turned professional in 1916 as a catcher with the Montgomery Grey Sox before playing with both the Union Giants and Chicago Giants later in the year. Except for a short tour of duty as captain of the Havana Stars the following spring, he remained with Chicago through 1921, when he hit .419, second best in the Negro National League.

Soon afterward he was signed by Rube Foster and, playing on the corners and hitting .302 while batting in the fifth and sixth spots in the order, he helped the American Giants win their third straight Negro National League pennant. The next season he hit .323 but, after less than two full seasons with the American Giants, he got into trouble with the law and left Chicago. Traveling East, Beckwith joined owner Cum Posey's Homestead Grays in 1924. But after proving to be unreliable and lacking in self-discipline, he was unconditionally released by Posey in midseason. He was quickly signed by the Baltimore Black Sox to fill a weak spot at shortstop and shortly after his arrival was made captain, with the team's success the remainder of the season being attributed largely to his presence. His versatility was one of his strong points, but his hitting prowess was the attribute that really set him apart from other players of the day. Ben Taylor considered him to be a "demon at bat," and Beckwith's stats (.452 batting average and 40 home runs against all competition and .403 in league play) corroborate this assessment. Beckwith followed in 1925 with a .402 average while finishing second in home runs.

That season he followed Pete Hill as manager and moved himself to third base to fill the void left by the Henry Blackman, who tragically died while still in his prime. By late July Beckwith lead all Negro Leagues with 22 homers but shortly thereafter was suspended for severely beating an umpire and avoided arrest only by leaving town before a warrant was served. In August, engaged in a contract dispute, he quit as player-manager of the Black Sox without notice.

Rube Foster wanted to sign him for the 1926 season but Baltimore refused to release him, even after Foster offered star pitcher Juan Padron and two other players as compensation. Beckwith applied to the Negro National League commissioner to let him play in Chicago, where he owned a poolroom and where he was spending his time since quitting Baltimore. His efforts to relocate in Chicago were unsuccessful, and in the spring of 1926 he was back with the Baltimore Black Sox.

However, his stay was short, and soon after Ben Taylor took over from Pete Hill, who had resumed the managership, Beckwith was traded to Harrisburg in midseason. Despite the turbulence generated by his personality, he managed a composite .361 batting average for the season. With the Harrisburg Giants in 1927 he hit .335 and again finished second in home runs for league play, while being credited with 72 home runs against all levels of competition. Back with the Homestead Grays again in 1928, he had 31 homers before the end of June and is credited with 54 home runs for the year.

The following season, the Grays joined the American Negro League and Beckwith hit .443, second best in the league, while slamming 15 home runs. In 1930, playing with the Lincoln Giants, he won the unofficial eastern batting title with a .480 average and hit 19 home runs in 50 games against top black teams, despite missing almost two months with a broken ankle. Playing against all levels of opposition, he was credited with an almost unbelievable .546 average for the year. The Lincolns had an outstanding team that season but lost the playoff for the eastern championship to the Homestead Grays. Beckwith returned to the Black Sox late in the season, and in 1931, while splitting his playing time between the Sox and the Newark Browns, he hit .347.

Winding down his career during the Depression years with a series of teams as his skills eroded, he ended his career with a stupendous .366 lifetime batting average in Negro Leagues competition, and a .337 average in exhibitions played against major leaguers. Unfortunately he was a hard drinking malcontent who at times did not give maximum effort.

Chaney White’s career lasted from 1919-1936 and he played LF and CF for the :Hilldale Daisies (1919-1922, 1928, 1930-1932), Chicago American Giants (1920), Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (1923-1929), Washington Potomacs (1924), Wilmington Potomacs (1925), Quaker Giants, Homestead Grays (1930), Philadelphia Stars (1933-1935), Baltimore Black Sox (1932), New York Cubans (1936)He batted from the right but threw with his left and White was, for a time, one of the, most feared baseball players in the Negro Leagues.

Catcher Larry Brown said White "was built like King Kong, but he could run like Jesse Owens, cut my shin guards off once." Hall of Famer Judy Johnson called him the top run-scorer in baseball because of his speedy, daring base running. He was a .328 hitter in the Negro Leagues, and was considered a good outfielder with excellent range but a weak arm. He played with the 1926 and 1927 Eastern Colored League champion Bacharach Giants, and stole five bases in six attempts in the 1926 Black World Series. He was a solid 5'10 and almost 200; he was also a very hard-nosed player and at times called the "Tan Ty Cobb." He once opened a wound on catcher Larry Brown's leg above the knee that required eight stitches to close, and in another play at home plate, he cut the chest protector and shin guards off Josh Gibson.

A star center fielder on the Eastern Colored League champion Bacharach Giants of 1926-1927, White was an aggressive player at bat, on the bases, and in the field. Using his excellent speed and spikes-high slide, he was a terror on the bases. He was reputed to run 100 yards in 10 seconds, and once circled the bases in 14 seconds on a sprained ankle. And no less an expert on the Negro Leagues than J.H Lloyd named him the left fielder on his all-time team.

By contrast Lloyd "Ducky" Davenport who was only a shade over 5'4" 152 but was like a miniature Ichiro, Davenport could hit for average and power, had a rifle arm, and could run like a scalded dog. By 1937 Davenport was one of the best outfielders in baseball and was selected to his first of five East-West All-Stars games. In five classics Ducky went 3 for 15 with 3 runs scored. He was a top player from 1935-1952.

Ducky hit as high as .350 a few times and led the Cuban Winter League in batting in 1946-47 with a .332 mark. In one game that season Davenport belted 6 hits for the all-time Cuban single game record. Davenport's batting helped lead the Almendares team to the Cuban pennant. The integrated team was managed by Adolph Luque and featured an array of Black and white stars including Buck O'Neil, Henry Jessup, Avelino Canizares, Jonus Gaines, Pedro Ramos and Max Lanier. “Double Duty” Radcliffe thought so much of Davenport that he put him in the outfield on his all-time all-star roster with Turkey Stearnes, Willard Brown, Cool Papa Bell, Chaney White and Red Parnell.

Another outstanding fielder was Spottswood ‘Spot’ Poles who in his professional career that lasted from 1909-1923 he played for several teams the: Harrisburg Colored Giants (1906-1908), Philadelphia Giants (1909-1910), New York Lincoln Giants (1911-1914, 1917, 1919-1923), Brooklyn Royal Giants (1912), New York Lincoln Stars (1914-1916), Hilldale Daisies (1917, 1920), [military service (1918-1919)], New York Bacharach Giants (1919), Richmond Giants (1923)

A 5’7” 165, fleet-footed, slightly bowlegged, sharp-hitting center fielder during the dead ball era, Spot Poles usually batted in the leadoff position to utilize his incredible speed, which was comparable to that of "Cool Papa" Bell. Once in spring training he was clocked at less than 10 seconds in the 100-yard dash. A left-handed batter, who occasionally switch-hit he watched the ball all the way to his bat and consistently hit for a high average. He was also a good bunter but, despite a stocky build and arms described as "massive" for his size, he had only moderate power. In the field he had excellent range, good hands, and an accurate arm. An intense competitor, he was confident but not cocky in his baseball ability.

Run producers loved to hit behind Poles, who was the prototypical leadoff hitter in the Negro Leagues. Known for his time with the New York Lincoln Giants, Poles hit .398 or better during his first four seasons with the team from 1911-14. He ended his 15-year career with a .400 average. Poles was just as good with the glove. He had excellent range and prevented runners from taking the extra base with his accurate arm. One can’t help but wonder what Poles might have done in the Major Leagues. He hit .594 against big-league pitching, and he once collected four hits in a barnstorming game against Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander.

At age nineteen, he began his professional career in 1909 as the center fielder for Sol White's eastern champion Philadelphia Giants. Poles soon settled in as the leadoff batter, playing two years with White's charges, before following his skipper to the New York Lincoln Giants when the team was organized in 1911 by Jess and Rod McMahon, and Sol White was appointed manager.

During his initial season with the squad, Poles demonstrated his incredible speed by stealing 41 bases in only 60 games. He also demonstrated his proficiency with a bat, and over the first four seasons with the Lincolns, Poles hit for averages of .440, .398, .414, and .487 against all levels of competition, which included a 1913 game when he faced Grover Cleveland Alexander and rapped three straight hits off the Hall of Famer. That season the Lincolns soundly defeated Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants in the championship playoffs, and owner Jess McMahon boasted that the Lincolns could beat any team, including the best major-league ball clubs.

In 1915 the speedster jumped to the rival New York Lincoln Stars for a season, but returned to the Lincoln Giants the following year. Twice previously, Poles had left the Lincoln Giants briefly, but each time he returned during the same season. The first time was in 1912, when Poles and John Henry Lloyd, who had succeeded Sol White as manager, had a dispute, and Poles jumped to the Brooklyn Royal Giants but returned later in the season. The second temporary break in his service with the Lincoln Giants came in 1914, when the Lincoln Stars were first organized by the McMahon brothers, and he played with the Stars in the early spring but was back in the Giants' fold in May.

He returned to Philadelphia to join Ed Bolden's fledgling Hilldale club. His Hilldale tenure was interrupted by World War I, and Poles joined the Army infantry and served his country with distinction, earning decorations (five battle stars and a Purple Heart) for his combat experience in France as a sergeant in the 369th Infantry, attached to the French Army.

While overseas he wrote Ed Bolden, expressing his desire to resume his baseball career with Hilldale upon his discharge from military service. When he did return stateside, however, Poles played with four different teams in 1919. Initially he was with his old team the Lincoln Giants in the spring, but returned to the Hilldale fold when the regular season started. He left to assume the role of player manager with the Hellfighters, a team of black servicemen. His stay there was brief, and he finished the season at Atlantic City with the Bacharach Giants. By the close of the season, the Bacharachs were the best team in black baseball.

Rejoining the Lincoln Giants in 1920, he batted leadoff and was still a dangerous hitter, playing until 1923.

When he retired from baseball after 15 years, he was credited with a lifetime batting average of over .400 against all competition, and an average of .319 for four winters in Cuba, including the 1913 Cuban winter season, when he recorded a .355 average. While in Cuba he often played exhibitions against the Phillies, Athletics, and other major league teams, and is credited with a .594 average against major league competition.

Regardless of the paucity of complete statistics, eyewitnesses corroborate his greatness. New York Giants' manager John McGraw listed Poles, John Henry Lloyd, Cannonball Dick Redding, and Smokey Joe Williams as the four black players he would pick for the major leagues if the color line were not so firmly entrenched. Paul Robeson, a renowned athlete and actor, was more emphatic in his praise, and once grouped Poles with Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, and Jack Johnson as the greatest black athletes of all time.

Poles retired following the 1923 season. He was able to continue in baseball as a coach, managing an integrated semipro team called the Harrisburg Giants. He was an enthusiastic teacher, counting future major-leaguer Brooks Lawrence among his protégés. In one game, when he was in the vicinity of sixty years of age, he proved he could still hit, when he entered a game as a pinch hitter and lined a base hit through the right side of the infield.

Bruce “Home Run” or Buddy Petway for 2 decades from 1906-1925 was a mostly a catcher, who also played 1st, OF, and was a manager in his later days for the Cuban X-Giants (1906), Leland Giants (1906-1910), Brooklyn Royal Giants, Philadelphia Giants (1908-1909), Chicago American Giants (1911-1918), Detroit Stars (1919-1925). He was a slender 5' 11'' 170 pound switch hitter who was a superlative receiver with a strong and accurate arm that is regarded as one of the best ever, one that few base runners challenged; he scared base runners also he had feline grace and quickness while fielding pop ups or bunts.

He was known as one of the best Black catchers; he proved himself in a series against the Detroit Tigers played in Cuba in 1910 in which he batted .390 and threw Ty Cobb out at second several times. He is reported to have been the first catcher to consistently throw to second base without rising from the squat. A good base runner, he led the Cuban League with 20 stolen bases in 1912. He played on the dominating Chicago American Giants from 1911 to 1918, and then served as a player-manager for Detroit until his retirement. A consistent hitter with little power, he batted .349 in 1923 and .341 in 1924 as his career was winding down. The lean, speedy athlete was more of a base stealing threat than as a slugger. His prowess on the bases was demonstrated when he led the 1912 Cuban winter league with 20 stolen bases. Also an excellent bunter, he fit right into Rube Foster's racehorse style of baseball and was often used in the leadoff position. He was also a contact hitter, batting .390 in the exhibitions against the Tigers.

The premier catcher of the day and the first great receiver in Black baseball history, Petway was always in demand by the best teams. He first caught for the Leland Giants in 1906, after abandoning his studies at Nashville's Meharry Medical College; he left after the season to serve stints with the Brooklyn Royal Giants and the Philadelphia Giants before returning to Chicago, accompanied by John Henry Lloyd and Frank Duncan, for the 1910 season. That year he registered a .397 average as a member of an aggregation that Rube Foster considered to be the greatest team of all time, Black or white.

Petway continued as the backstop for Foster's superb Chicago American Giants, at a time (1910-1918) when they were virtually perennial champions. During his tenure with Foster's team he was disabled twice by strained ligaments in his throwing arm and once by a leg injury, losing substantial playing time for three consecutive seasons, 1914-1916.

Also a fairly good hitter, he hit .393 for the Lelands in 1910 but, though he was referred to as "Home Run" Petway early in his career, he was not a genuine power hitter, and he could struggle at times as a batter as shown by averages of .253, .208, and .200 in 1916-1918. In 1916, on his last trip to Cuba, he hit .333, but managed only a .210 lifetime average for his Cuban career, interspersed during the years 1908-16. He is credited with averages of .182 in 1918 and .171 against major-leaguers in exhibitions. A smart ballplayer, the scrappy receiver was a student of the game and learned much from his years with Rube Foster, enabling him to end his baseball career as a player-manager with the Detroit Stars. As a manager he was slightly hotheaded but was good with young players. His batting averages in Detroit were .313, .268, .337, and .341 in 1921-1924, before slumping to .156 in 1925, his last season.

Another great Negro Leaguer was Henry Kimbro, a cross between Tim Raines and Kirby Puckett. He was thought to be a brooder; he didn't always get along with umpires, as well as some of his managers and teammates. However "Jumbo" Kimbro, he was a great and multi-dimensional player, the stocky: 5 feet 8 inches and 175 pounds, so powerful that Kimbro hit a ball over the right-field roof at Briggs Stadium in Detroit while touring against the Homestead Grays, but not just a slugger he was a threat on the base paths, a slick but dependable fielder, and consistently among the leaders in most all hitting categories during the '40s. Twice in his career Kimbro exceeded the .350 hitting mark (1946 and 1947), and in 1947 won the league batting title while turning in a .346 performance for the Havana club while competing against major league stars in the Cuban Winter League.

He made his debut in the Negro leagues in 1937. He played in the 1941 All-Star Game while with the New York Black Yankees and then appeared in five consecutive All-Star Games, from 1943 to 1947, as an Elite Giant. A perennial All-Star center fielder during the 1940's in a Negro leagues career that spanned 17 seasons, statistics for the Negro leagues can be sketchy, but Kimbro is believed to have hit over .300 in 10 different seasons. Despite his wild reputation he was a disciplined and team-focused left-handed leadoff batter who nearly always let the first pitch go by, Kimbro was adept at slashing low fastballs to the opposite field. Kimbro was a teammate of the future Brooklyn Dodger stars Roy Campanella, Jim Gilliam and Joe Black while playing for the Elite Giants. But he was too old for the major leagues by the time the color barrier was broken

He retired then returned for a while as a player-manager he hung his spikes up for good after playing with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1953, records indicate his career batting average was .315 he died at his home in Nashville, in 1999 at age 87.

A player who was not flashy but was truly great was Neal Robinson a player so graceful he was known as ‘Shadow’ and so versatile as to have played Center, Left, shortstop and 3rd base and played them all well. In a career spanning from 1934-1950 Robinson was credited with 54 home runs in 1939 against all levels of competition. The following season he had accumulated 35 homers by the end of July, with his final total not being recorded, but he won the second of his back-to-back Negro American League home run titles. While consistently generating power, the 5' 11'' 182, strong right-handed slugger was a free-swinger and also frequently struck out. Although best known for his hitting prowess, he was a respectable fielder with a strong but erratic arm, and had good speed on the bases but was not a daring base runner. Over an eleven-year period, 1938-1948, this Memphis Red Sox outfielder played in every East-West All Star game except three, 1942, 1946, and 1947. In the midseason classic he compiled a sensational .476 batting average and a superb .810 slugging percentage, which included two home runs, an All Star total exceeded only by Hall of Famer Buck Leonard.

Homestead Grays (1934), Cincinnati Tigers (1936-1937), Memphis Red Sox (1938-1952) after a short stint with the Homestead Grays that was aborted due to a severe drinking problem, he signed with the Cincinnati Tigers in 1936 and launched his career with a robust .367 batting average. In 1938 he joined the Memphis Red Sox and was the regular shortstop as they copped the Negro American League first-half championship in 1938. That season marked his first trip to the East-West All Star game, and he celebrated the occasion with an inside-the-park three-run homer to trigger the West's 5-4 victory. The next year heavyweight boxing great Joe Louis threw out the first ball at the All Star game and was photographed before the game congratulating Robinson for his hitting from the previous contest. Robinson responded with another home run to key the West's 4-2 victory. In each of his first two All Star games, his crucial home run was one of a trio of hits he collected.

In the winter of 1940-1941 he played in Puerto Rico, but upon his return to Memphis for the regular season, he was moved to the outfield, and he stayed with the Red Sox for the remainder of his career. In 1942 he hit .314, and in 1944 and 1945 he had averages of .319 and .303, respectively. In the former year Robinson also demonstrated both his speed and his power by finishing second in the league in stolen bases and home runs. In 1949-1950 he hit .272 and .283, with 10 home runs the latter season. Although the Negro American League had declined to a minor-league status, he continued for two more seasons with the Memphis Red Sox before retiring after the 1952 season.

Another often forgotten talent was left-handed hitting Chino Smith could be the best hitting talent most never heard of. His premature death robbed Negro League fans of the opportunity to see him complete his career. Considered by Satchel Paige to be one of the two best Negro League hitters ever, Smith was born in Greenwood, South Carolina, in 1903. His politically-incorrect moniker was derived from the slight epicanthic fold of his eyes. The 5’6” 168-pound player was a line drive hitter who played semipro with the Philadelphia Giants in 1924 and the Pennsylvania Red Caps in 1925 before beginning his professional career with the Brooklyn Royal Giants in 1925.

When Smith hit .341, as a rookie, he was just getting started. He hit .439 while with Brooklyn in 1927. Then while with the New York Lincoln Giants, Smith hit .464 (with 23 homers) in 1929 and a .468 mark in 1930. Smith's was compared to Paul Waner due to his smallish stature and batting prowess. Against Major League competition, he batted .405, and hit a homer in his first-ever at-bat. He was also known for his mercurial temperament; he dared pitchers to knock him down, and reportedly could intentionally line screamers back through at them in payback. At times he taunted fans, playfully lunging at them if they booed and gesturing for them to boo louder once he homered off an enemy pitcher. Chino Smith became ill with yellow fever in 1931, and succumbed to the affliction, failing to reach his 30th birthday. He finished his career with a lifetime .377 average.

According to legend Samuel Howard ‘Sam’ Bankhead served as the model for the character Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences, in a 20 year career that stretched from 1930-1950 he played 2b, SS, LF, CF, RF) and even pitched some for several teams: Birmingham Black Barons (1929, 1931-1932, 1938), Nashville Elite Giants (1930, 1932-1934), Louisville Black Caps (1932), Kansas City Monarchs (1934), Pittsburgh Crawfords (1935-1936, 1938), Santo Domingo (1937), Memphis Red Sox (1938), Toledo Crawfords (1939), Homestead Grays (1939, 1942-1950), Mexican League (1940-1941), Canadian League (1951)

Similar to Pete Rose he was known as a hustling, all-around ballplayer; he was an outstanding fielder with a wide range and good hands but was best known for his exceptional throwing arm. On the bases he had good speed and could take and extra base, and was also a proficient base stealer. A good clutch hitter with moderate power, he could pull the ball and was always a threat at the plate. He was a player's player who was at home as a middle infielder or as an outfielder and excelled at whatever position he was placed. He

was selected to the East-West All Star team seven times, representing three different teams (Elites, Crawfords, and Grays), .346 in the classics. In a 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll, he was selected as the first-team utility player on the all-time Negro Leagues All Star team. He was a speedy, versatile, good-hitting infielder-outfielder he played and started at five different positions.

A tough leader on the field, he became a manager late in his career. While still playing shortstop, he was skipper of the Vargas Sabios (Wise Men), champion of the Venezuelan winter league in 1946-47. Bankhead then led the Grays during their last two years as an independent club (1949-50) while batting 346. During the winters, he and his brother Sam also starred in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.

He was also a color-line busting pioneer; in 1951, Bankhead signed with the Farnham Pirates in the Provincial League as player-manager. He is recognized as the first African-American manager of a predominantly white team. The team went 52-71, finishing 7th in the eight-team league, as the player/manager batted .274 at age forty-seven.

Sam was an integral part of the great Pittsburgh Crawfords of the mid-1930s and 1940s. He possessed one of the strongest arms in the Negro Leagues and was a solid hitter, with a .318 lifetime batting average. In 1937 he jumped to Santo Domingo along with Satchel Paige to play with the Ciudad Trujillo team, hitting .309 to help them win the championship. During the ensuing winter he led the Cuban League with a .366 average, and in his four seasons on the island, 1937-1941, produced a lifetime .297 average. He also is credited with a .342 average in exhibition games against major leaguers. Even late in his career, Bankhead was still regarded as one of the top players in the Negro National League, and had averages of .287, .282, and .277 in 1944-1946, and also hit .350 in the 1944 World Series against the Birmingham Black Barons.

He began his professional career with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1929, and played with the Nashville Elite Giants in 1930 before returning to the Black Barons, where he established himself early in his career as a superb utility man, playing infield and outfield. The Alabaman even did a little catching, and in 1932 took a few turns on the pitching slab with the Black Barons, Elite Giants, and Louisville Black Caps. However, pitching did not prove to be his best position, as available records show a 2-6 ledger for the year. After the season he traveled to the West Coast to play in the California winter league, where he hit .371 and .344 with good power for the next two winters, 1932-1933, while also ranking high in stolen bases each year. Back with the Elites as a shortstop, he hit .338 in 1934 to earn his first All Star assignment.

The next season he signed with Gus Greenlee's Pittsburgh Crawfords, a team that fielded five Hall of Famers and is generally conceded to be the greatest Black team of all time. Bankhead fit right in with the other superstars, batting .354 and .324 in 1935 and 1936. In 1938, Memphis Red Sox manager "Double Duty" Radcliffe picked up Bankhead and David Whatley from the Birmingham Black Barons for the Negro American League playoffs against the Atlanta Black Crackers. The next season both of these players were signed by the Homestead Grays, defending champions of the Negro National League. Joining the Grays as a second baseman, he hit .377 as the Grays won their third consecutive pennant.

Bankhead interrupted his tenure with the Grays to accompany his friend Josh Gibson to Monterrey, Mexico, in 1940 and 1941, where Bankhead hit .318 and .351 while again showing good power and stolen-base totals, leading the league with 32 stolen bases in 1940. He and Gibson returned to the Grays for the 1942 season and, at age 38, moved into the lineup at shortstop as the Grays won the next four straight pennants and Bankhead made four more All Star appearances out of his first five seasons back in the field.

While with the Grays, he played winters with Ponce in the Puerto Rican League, batting .351 in 1941-1942 and .271 and .290 in 1944-1946. Back in the United States, Bankhead hit .284 as the Grays won another pennant in 1948, the last one before the Negro National League folded. During the latter years of the league, Bankhead played a winter each in Venezuela (1946) and in Panama (1948). The next year, as the Grays became a traveling independent team, he managed them for two seasons before they disbanded. Sam had four younger brothers (Dan, Fred, Joe, and Garnett) who played in the Negro Leagues, he was close to Josh Gibson and, after Gibson's death, and Bankhead became a surrogate father for Josh Gibson, Jr.

One the finest pitchers in the Negro Leagues that most haven’t heard of was Chester Arthur Chet Brewer, at over 6’3” and around 180 Brewer was a durable pitcher whose career spanned from 1924-1952, with 11 teams: Tennessee Rats, Gilkerson's Union Giants, Kansas City Monarchs, Crookston (MN), Bismarck (ND) Churchills, Brooklyn Royal Giants, New York Cubans, Philadelphia Stars, Dominican Republic, Cleveland Buckeyes, Chicago American Giants, Carmen Cardinals

A rangy right-hander who put away batters with raw speed, or his emery ball, Chet Brewer was one of the top 20 pitchers in Negro League history. Brewer may have also been one of the most well-traveled baseball players of his era, having played in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, Hawaii, the Philippines, Haiti, China and Japan. Brewer was also the first Black player to play in Mexico, going 18-3 with Tampico in 1938.

Brewer's most famous pitching performance occurred in 1930 when his Kansas City Monarchs faced Smokey Joe Williams and the Homestead Grays. The game was played under the portable lighting system that the Monarchs traveled with (which was poor at best), and it resulted in a pitching duel for the ages. Brewer, using the emery ball he learned from Double Duty Radcliffe while on the Gilkerson's Union Giants, struck out 19 Grays. Williams struck out 27 and eventually won 1-0 in 12 innings.

Brewer was one of the first Black players to play post-Anson integrated baseball when he was signed by Crookston, Minnesota in 1931 along with catcher John Van. Brewer won every game he pitched that year, was given a key to the city, and showed many Midwest towns what a top Black pitcher could do for an otherwise ordinary team. Integration was not new to Brewer as he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and had played high school basketball and football with Whites.

In 1934 Brewer again played integrated ball, this time with Jamestown, North Dakota in a series against a Major League All-Star team. Brewer shut out the Major League stars on six hits, striking out six. In 1935 Brewer was hired away from the Monarchs to play with an integrated Bismarck team in the first National Semipro tournament in Wichita, Kansas. The Bismarck team, which featured white semi pros as well as Satchel Paige, Double Duty, Hilton Smith, Quincy Trouppe and Barney Morris, won the tourney in 7 straight, Brewer winning 3 games and Paige winning 4. Brewer, like many others (like Hilton Smith) often pitched in the shadow of Satchel Paige. In 1934, the Monarchs and House of David met in the championship game of the Denver Post tournament. The Monarchs pitched Brewer, and the House of David hired Satchel Paige, the only beardless player on the squad, and Paige won 2-1.

In 1937 Ciudad Trujillo hired Negro Leaguers Satchel Paige, Sam Bankhead, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, and in the championship game Paige bested Brewer and his Aguilas Cibaenas team when Sam Bankhead hit a grand slam off Brewer (although during the year he one-hit the Trujillo team). Brewer did his share of winning, though, winning titles with the Kansas City Monarchs, Bismarck, Panama and the Cleveland Buckeyes. Chet Brewer played

in only two East-West All-Star games, mainly because he played so many years abroad; he played in the '34 and '47 games, sporting a 1.50 ERA in 6 innings.

I wish to mention that there are likely several pre-Negro League greats of whom I am not aware, however 2 early pitching greats can’t be left off this list, George Stovey and George “Walter” Ball. George Stovey was an outstanding talent, a left-handed pitcher who was a light-complexioned Canadian and some think he was greatest Black pitcher, of the 19th-century. He played for several white clubs before complete segregation in the late 1880s. In 1886 he was the top pitcher for Jersey City of the International League, holding opposing hitters to a .167 batting average. He moved to Newark in 1887 and went 34-14, setting a still-standing IL record for wins. He also played the outfield, and hit .255.

Two unsubstantiated, years-later stories exist, in 1886 and 1887 that Cap Anson played a role in keeping the New York Giants from signing Stovey. The 1886 story was apparently first told in 1892 by Pat Powers, who had been Stovey's manager in Jersey City in the Eastern League in 1886. The 1887 story was apparently first printed in a 1907 book by baseball player-turned-writer Sol White, a 2006 special inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1887 Stovey was the star pitcher for the Newark Little Giants of the International League, and formed the first known African-American battery with catcher Fleet Walker. On July 14, 1887 the Chicago White Stockings played an exhibition game against the Little Giants. Contrary to some modern-day writers, Anson did not have a second encounter with Walker that day (Walker was apparently injured, having last played on July 11 and would not play again until July 26). But Stovey had been listed as the game's scheduled starting pitcher, in the Newark News of July 14. Only days after the game it was reported (in the newspaper the Newark Sunday Call) that:

"Stovey was expected to pitch in the Chicago game. It was announced on the ground [sic] that he was sulking, but it has since been given out that Anson objected to a colored man playing. If this be true, and the crowd had known it, Mr. Anson would have received hisses instead of the applause that was given him when he first stepped to the bat."

On the morning of the day of game, International League owners had voted 6-to-4 to exclude African-American players from future contracts. The color line was drawn in the International League that winter and Newark released Stovey.

He returned to the Cuban Giants and continued to play for another nine years, sometimes with the Cuban Giants against black teams and sometimes in predominantly white leagues, where he registered a lifetime record of 60-40 with a 2.17 ERA for his six seasons in organized baseball. He pitched in many other games for which no records have been unearthed as yet.

George "Walter" Ball was a compact 5’10” 170 who both batted left and threw left and was primarily a pitcher from 1899-1923 for several teams: St. Paul (MN), St. Cloud (MN), Grand Forks, (ND), Augusta (GA), Chicago Union Giants, Cuban X-Giants, Philadelphia Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, Chicago Lelands, Quaker Giants, St. Paul Colored Gophers, Pittsburgh Keystones, Chicago Giants, Chicago American Giants, St. Louis Giants, Mohawk Giants of Schenectady, NY, New York Lincolns, Milwaukee Giants, Cuba.

Ball was one of Black baseball's very first great pitchers, combining pinpoint control with the occasional spitball to make up for his lack of a blazing fastball. Ball was born in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and spent a decade playing for predominantly white teams.

Debuting in 1896 Ball plied his trade on the sandlots of the Capital City with the "Young Cyclones," a top amateur team. In 1900, Ball became a professional when he signed with the Grand Forks semipro team. Ball often pitched in games in which prizes of $20 or less were offered to the winner. In 1902, Ball returned to Minnesota and pitched St. Cloud to a semipro championship.

Over the next several years, Ball played for many teams in the Midwest. During that era, most teams carried only a couple pitchers, so Ball was expected to pitch often, and rarely was given the luxury of a relief pitcher if he got into trouble. Ball usually won more than 20 games a season, struck out more than a batter an inning, and had an ERA of less than two runs.

Ball was known as a bit of a dandy, he carried himself with class, and was usually treated well, at least to his face, in the small towns in which he played in his early career. However, many Midwest towns, despite loving the way Ball pitched, didn't like having a Black man representing their town, and Ball was released several times after great seasons on the field.

Ball, besides being a first-class pitcher, was industrious. While pitching in North Dakota, Ball picked up extra money as a train porter and while pitching for St. Cloud (MN), Ball rented cushions to fans at the ball park at a nickel a piece. In 1903, Ball jumped to the big time in Black baseball, signing with the Chicago Union Giants, the first all-Black team he had played for, and in 1904, Ball jumped to the Cuban X-Giants, and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers during the year, his first victory over a Big League club. His teammates on the X-Giants included standouts: ‘Homerun’ Johnson and Dan McClellan.

After a few more years in Midwest Black baseball, Ball returned to St. Paul to start the St. Paul Colored Gophers. Ball eventually returned to Chicago again and pitched with the Chicago Giants and Chicago American Giants, teaming with such stars as Rube Foster, John Beckwith and Steel Arm Taylor. By the time the first Negro National League was formed in 1920, Ball was nearing the end of his career, though he reportedly pitched a few more seasons of semi-pro ball.

Ball continued to stay in baseball after his playing days were over, coaching, organizing, etc., and at the 1937 East-West All-Star Game in Chicago, Ball was honored on the field. Ball died in December of 1946, after Jackie Robinson had played a watershed season with the Montreal Royals. Ball, as well as the rest of the baseball world, knew that the color line in the Majors was on its last legs. Ball, almost certainly would have been a star Major League star pitcher had he been born 40 years later.

References and Resources cited: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by

Kadir Nelson- http://www.kadirnelson.com/

Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues, by John Holway [Hastings House, Publishers 1997]

James A. Riley - The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002)

The websites cited: Wikipedia, www .pitchBlackbaseball.com ,

http://www.blackbaseball.com The Afrolumens Project- http://www.afrolumens.org/ The Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center- http://www.nlbm.com/buck/buck.htm and The Negro Leagues E-Museum- http://coe.ksu.edu/nlbemuseum/history/players/ball.html

Photographs with the permission of the C arnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh PA

Inspired by my late Grandfather Cyrus Echols Young 1897-1990 and my Father William Carroll who had filled my head with stories of some of these men.