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. The stories, however, keep alive the memory of a man who became bigger than the game. But thousands of Black and Latino players endured bigotry and racist taunts. From there, he started collecting box scores and compiling statistics pretty much right away, Ashwill said. Suttles home run record isnt the only record theyve discovered. List of Negro league baseball players who played in Major League Baseball. Josh Gibson, Today, stars like Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 1928 St. Louis Stars, Last I knew he was still alive but he is hard to contact sometimes. 1924 Kansas City Monarchs, In 1934, led by 20-year-old left-hander Slim Jones, the Stars defeated the Chicago American Giants in a controversial playoff series, four games to three, for the Negro National League pennant. Just having a few stories here and there was not remotely enough. 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 . Soon he became involved in the Negro League Researchers and Authors Group and helped with an extensive study commissioned by the Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball. Those four names aren't just pieces of data, or clickable things on a site, they are human beings who excelled despiteliving under the thick anvilof segregation. Wells, 66, is a New York City resident. He grew up in Cuba and says it was tough to adjust to segregation and racism he saw in the U.S. PEDRO SIERRA: It wasn't easy to see all the problems with the race. So the problem of whether Roosevelt Jackson is a veteran of the Negro Leagues is really one of semantics. At their high point in mid-1930s, the team starred such greats as Biz Mackey, Jud Wilson, and Dick Lundy. Major League Baseball has finally decided that players from the Negro Leagues should be considered Major Leaguers. This list comprises players who have appeared in Negro league 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. Paige, now 65 and a Kansas City resident, is by far the best known of these old stars. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, The subreddit for the bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players. Many thanks to him. Buck O'Neil, Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. 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. What about the other great players? The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum estimates there are about 100 former players still alive. Newt still makes Kansas City his home. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Only a few members of the leagues are alive to celebrate the centennial. 1920 Chicago American Giants, This Month in Sports ReferenceFind out when we add a feature or make a change. But more interesting, in my opinion, are some of the larger patterns we've found. 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. Like O'Neil, Minnie Mioso was still alive when he was denied entry in 2006, mostly because his time was so short in the Negro Leagues. 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. He began his professional career in the Negro Leagues in the 1920s after being discharged from reform school in Alabama. TRIBOU: Pedro Sierra pitched in the Negro Leagues for several seasons in the 1950s. A speedy switch-hitter, Newt writes that Martin Dihigo and Dave Brown were the two greatest pitchers he ever faced. 2006 Negro League Baseball News December 17, 2006 - Willard Brown inducted to LA. Mays played his rookie year in 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons. The complete list is divided into four pages to reduce the size: The players below are some of the most notable of those who played Negro league baseball, beginning with the codification of baseball's color line barring African American players (about 1892), past the re-integration in 1946 of the sport, up until the Negro leagues finally expired about 1962. Please enable cookies on your browser and try again. All 3,400 players from 1920 to 1948 will be elevated to MLB status. The star pitcher for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro National League in the early 1920s was a young left-hander named Dave Brown. America's Pastime. A family friend used to play for the Black Yankees, Bob Scott. DOUG TRIBOU, BYLINE: In 1920, owners of independent Black baseball teams from the Midwest gathered in Kansas City, Mo. The second annual Honorary Negro League Game is a fundraiser for the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Ray Dandridge: Fifty-eight year old Ray Dandridge lives in Newark, N.J., and is a scout for the San Francisco Giants. Major League Players. They went out and did something about it. Larry Doby debuted with the Cleveland Indians on July 5. Born May 6, 1931, Willie Mays is the youngest. 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. A select few were All-Stars and one (Aaron) was inducted into the Hall of Fame. I first saw this idea mentioned in one sentence in a Deadspin story and wondered why this wasn't something discussed much more than it has been. Following the 1924 season, he disappeared after a homicide in New York. As protests over racial injustice in the U.S. continue, Major League Baseball is honoring the Negro Leagues that showcased Black baseball players at a time the sport was segregated. Recovering it is a constant, ongoing struggle. 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 Satchel Paige, 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. You go through the most important sources for a given year, collect the box scores, construct a schedule, go back and try to fill in gaps, double and triple check everything, then type in the games.. They played during the decline of the Negro leagues, after the beginning of integration. Holsey Lee: A great pitcher for over 20 years, Scrip Lee spent most of his long career in the Eastern Colored League. Bill Evans: Bill (Happy) Evans enjoyed a brief career with the Homestead Grays in the early 1930s. Tipping their caps: paying homage to Negro Leagues on their 100th anniversary. I grew up with the distinct impression that no statistics could ever be compiled, that it was often unclear what happened at all, and that it was more or less impossible to find out anything for sure about many of the players., Our friends at Seamheads have added new 1926 statistics to their #SABR award-winning Negro Leagues Database, including a record-setting season by Mule Suttles: https://t.co/sCWIvkVMuB @scott_simkus @KJOKBASEBALL @DanHirsch pic.twitter.com/WlQhzB8q4u. 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. 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. Hall of Fame. January 29, 2007 - Ralph "Big Cat" Johnson passes away. **, Press J to jump to the feed. 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. There's also Charley Pride (3/18/1935), famous country singer and one of the only black people to perform on Grand Ole Opry. If history belongs to the record keepers, then these record keepers weren't interested. 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. Buck Leonard: Walter (Buck) Leonard combined with Josh Gibson for Negro baseballs best 1-2 home-run punch. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Do you have a blog? That mission continues today.\n\nAnd I really do mean today. 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. At the onset of the digital age, enough now-aging players were still alive to share their experiences. There was Oscar Charleston who hit .400 multiple times. Copyright 2020 NPR. The 1930 St. Louis Stars. 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. They receivedbetween $1 to $1.50 a day for meal money. The integration of Major League Baseball happened at the beginning of the 1947 MLB season when Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.By the 1950s, enough black talent had integrated into the formerly "white" leagues (both major and minor) that the Negro leagues themselves had become a . ***** Center for Negro League Baseball Research. 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. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. ", "So take a ballplayer like Monte Irvin, in 1948, who made $5,000 with the New YorkGiants," Lester said, "or $833.33 a month. Dennis Biddle lives down the street from my grandparents. Major leagueplayersreceived from $300 to $2,000 a month and about $15 a day for meals. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. I read Bill James in the 1980s, and I wanted a Negro League Baseball Abstract. 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. To this day, no one apparently has any idea of his whereabouts or even whether he is still living. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. A high average hitter and an excellent first baseman, Buck played in 12 All-Star games. MINNIE. 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. His salary was less than 5% of what white players were earning. You will be redirected once the validation is complete. Please enable JavaScript on your browser and try again. the Negro Leagues weren't even considered. As it stands, Newcombe is the oldest living man to play in the Negro Leagues at their major-league level. \n","providerName":"Twitter","providerUrl":"https://twitter.com","type":"rich","width":550},"type":"oembed"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"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. 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.. Born average. Apocryphal stories surround Paige, who was born July 7, 1906 in Mobile, Ala. But there are a group of researchers led by Gary Ashwill who are looking to change that. The most important sources are the Black weekly newspapers (Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, Kansas City Call, etc.) He says, faced with segregation, Black owners and players kept pushing for organized baseball. 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. 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). 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. 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. Register now to join us on March 10-12, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ. The numbers do not do justice to his legend. While baseball acknowledgingthese Black players is important, it should only be a first step. He played for the Louisville Clippers, and later was traded with Jesse Mitchell to the Birmingham Black Barons for a used team bus. Do you have a blog? Sports Pulse: Players, celebs and politicians tip their hats in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Negro League Baseball historical stats. The World Series winners that same year earned $5,959.64 and the losers $3,820.29. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Data Provided By 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 Fortunately, that has recently changed with the recognition of the Negro Leagues as a Major League, but for decades that wasn't the case. During his long career, Frank played on 7 pennant-winners with the Kansas City Monarchs. He cites being selected to manage the East All-Star team in 1939 as his biggest moment. Join our linker program. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. In 1954, he signed with the Indianapolis Clowns at the age of 16. The Hilldale Club, the team that lost, took home $193.23. And I really do mean today. Meanwhile you still have jackalopes foaming at the mouth that girls shouldn't be allowed to play high school ball. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. You know the names: Satchel Paige. Frank Duncan: A Kansas City native, Frank, 69, now operates a tavern in his home town. This page was last edited on 27 January 2023, at 00:27. Of them, only 9 are still alive as of Janury 26, 2023. If baseball (rightfully) believes that recognizing those players is important (and it is) then why not fully recognize them? FORBES: Unfortunately, some of the good players, by the time that the time came, they were too old to play. All these early leagues were financially shaky. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. 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. Michigan Radio's Doug Tribou spoke to the only surviving team owner and others about the legacy of the legendary leagues. Josh Gibson. , Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. Pedro Dibut). List of Negro league baseball players (M-R) This list consists of players who have appeared in Negro league baseball . cnlbr.org is using a security service for protection against online attacks. So, for example we've put together the first comprehensive analysis of Negro League park effects, and incorporated that into our metrics, Ashwill wrote. Forbes is 88 and worries about being one of the last left to tell this story. Born May 6, 1931, Willie Mays is the youngest. After spotting the Black newspaper The Chicago Defender in his universitys library stacks and knowing its historical importance, he dove into the reels for the 1920 season and was surprised to see incredibly thorough coverage and box scores for the Negro National League.\n\nFrom there, he started collecting box scores and compiling statistics pretty much right away, Ashwill said. Chicago Team History, 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. Part of that was simply how the Negro Leagues recorded their statistics, which wasn't as robust a system as the Major Leagues'. He turns 100 on December 20th, 2017. While the weeklies tried to cover every game they could, deadlines and limited space meant they often had to leave out a few games. With the game still years away from the multimillion-dollar contracts handed to star players, Aaron's annual pay in 1959 was around $30,000. I know it seems that the civil rights movement was a while go, but it's truly just recent. A member of 8 All-Star squads, Willie remembers a home run he hit in 1931 to win the pennant for St. Louis as his greatest baseball thrill. Willie Wells: A .338 lifetime hitter, Willie Wells is often called the best shortstop to play in the black leagues. SIERRA: Yeah, a hundred dollars a month. 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. A native of Talladega, Alabama, Scales now lives in New York City. WANTED: INFORMATION ON DAVE BROWN. Find out more. March 16, 2007 - Hubert "Country" Glenn, passes away. Suttles pictured back row, far left. Jack Marshall: A star 2nd baseman for most of the top Chicago ballclubs, Jack still lives in the Windy City. Ray Brown, , 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords, Baseball needs to retroactivelypay the newly recognized Negro League players and their surviving families. 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. Players he signed as a scout with Chicago then the Royals included Lou Brock, Oscar Gamble, Lee Smith and Joe Carter. Foster still retains a strong interest in baseball. Although there are two players who played before 1946 none of them appeared in 1946, thus no players from 1946 are still alive. 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. Its also why there are always new updates. They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues before the Great Depression. They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues after the Great Depression. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. The service requires full cookie support in order to view this website. TRIBOU: The last league folded in the early 1960s. It's just that you rarely get where are they nows on the guys who played 3-4 forgettable seasons,whether they were in 1930s or 1990s. 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 unparalleled Rube Foster started the first Negro League in 1920, with such dominant teams as the Chicago American Giants and the Kansas City Monarchs. Then in 1947, he broke baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. You know their stories, like how Paige once told his outfielders to sit down while he struck out the side. SIERRA: The Clowns are paid a hundred dollars a month. So you won't let me play with you. '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. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Pre-integration players. But Minnie Forbes sympathizes with the many athletes who were good enough to play in the major leagues but never got a shot. An additional 35 or so players played on a Negro league team after 1950. Allens best baseball memory is an unassisted triple play he made in the early 1930s. December 15, 2006 - Medal of freedom awarded to Buck O'Neil. "I always really, really wanted to get the full workup for those guys -- walks, on-base percentage, fielding stats, home runs allowed by pitchers -- so you could tell what kind of players they were, how they fit into their teams, how the teams compared to each other. He continued his research with others like Kevin Johnson, Dan Hirsch, and Scott Simkus. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. "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 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. 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. 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. An outfielder and a solid hitter, Page resides in Pittsburgh, where he operates a bowling alley. 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. Newt Allen: For 20 years, Newt starred as the Kansas City Monarchs slick-fielding 2nd baseman. KENDRICK: These athletes never cried about the social injustice. and daily newspapers in cities where games were played. In Cleveland, Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League. Major League Baseball was segregated from 1887 through 1946. Josh Gibson holds the all-time home run record with 238 and Smokey Joe Williams struck out 1,571 batters in his 25-year career. I have always been drawn to blank spaces on maps, blank spaces in record books, Ashwill said. And now I look back and I say, oh, my God. You knew the disparity in pay would be bad, but that gap is embarrassing for baseball. How Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he could hit the light switch and be in bed before the lights went out. Of course, Josh Gibson and some of the other big names have passed on, but a lot of the legendary stars are still alive and well and living in well, why dont we call the roll of some of the more familiar names, men like . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Is there any way to possibly send a baseball to try and get signed by Biddle. And they couldn't go in places to eat, so one person would go to the back door and get the food for all the players. cnlbr.org is using a security service for protection against online attacks. He continued his research with others like Kevin Johnson, Dan Hirsch, and Scott Simkus. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. The text below has been updated to reflect that. But you've got to establish a basic record first.. For NPR News, I'm Doug Tribou in Ann Arbor, Mich. (SOUNDBITE OF A FOREST MIGHTY BLACK'S "REBIRTH"). 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. Mays played. Among the most captivating features of Stars Park was the trolley car building that served as the left-field barrier. The service requires full JavaScript support in order to view this website. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. The records, as they proved with Suttles, are not static either. Paige probably took a pay cut when he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1948.". Mike Trout He now operates a sporting goods store on the South Side. It was this sense of mystery combined with an increasing confidence that in fact all kinds of evidence was there to be found. TRIBOU: Bob Kendrick heads the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum there. Accuracy and availability may vary. Below is a list of 52 players who played for major Negro league teams up to 1950 and eventually saw playing time for a Major League team. The responsibility to elect Negro leagues players shifted to the Hall's Veterans Committee, but with Roy Campanella as the only Black member, the committee was hamstrung by its lack of knowledge . 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. Although Brown was never formally charged, there was not much question that the police suspected him. For our latest update I checked through the mainstream daily newspapers in St. Louis and picked up three more St. Louis Stars games -- and Suttles homered in two of them.","type":"markdown"},{"__typename":"PhotoPart","caption":"The 1930 St. Louis Stars. Buck lives in Rocky Mount, N.C., where he owns a realty agency. Well Hank Aaron and Willie Mays are still alive. 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 . The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC.
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