list of negro league players still alive

Major leagueplayersreceived from $300 to $2,000 a month and about $15 a day for meals. Use Mays, Greason, Golden and Teasley as the faces of a compensation plan, like lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit, and account for what was a wide disparity in pay between Black and white players during those 28 years. 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. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. It wouldn't even cost baseball that much money particularly since salaries of Negro League players began to increase in the 1940s as their play became so good they were practically impossible to ignore, and as Jackie Robinson started his trek towards history. Born average. December 15, 2006 - Medal of freedom awarded to Buck O'Neil. I read Bill James in the 1980s, and I wanted a Negro League Baseball Abstract. All these early leagues were financially shaky. A family friend used to play for the Black Yankees, Bob Scott. 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 . At the onset of the digital age, enough now-aging players were still alive to share their experiences. America's Pastime. They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues after the Great Depression. Mays played. 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.. Louis Stars, Southern League of Colored Base Ballists (1886), International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs (1906), National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba (19071909), West Coast Negro Baseball Association (1946), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Negro_league_baseball_players_who_played_in_Major_League_Baseball&oldid=1137262492, Short description with empty Wikidata description, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Served in the US Army during WWII 19421944, Served in the US Navy during WWII 19441945, Served in the US Army during WWII 19441945, Served in the US Marine Corp during WWII 19431945, Served in the US Army during Korean War 19521953, Served in the US Army during WWII 19431945, Served in the US Army during WWII 19421943, Served in the US Army during WWII 19411945, Served in the US Army during WWII 19441946, Served in the US Army during WWII 19431947, Served in the US Army during WWII 19431946, Served in the US Navy during WWII 19441946, Served in the US Army during Korean War 19511953, Served in the US Navy during WWII 19431946, Served in the US Navy during WWII 19431945, Served in the US Marine Corp during WWII 19431945 and the Korean War 19511952, Served in the US Army during Korean War 19511952, Served in the US Army during WWII 19421945, This page was last edited on 3 February 2023, at 18:10. In 2020, MLB recognized the Nego Leagues as major leagues. January 29, 2007 - Ralph "Big Cat" Johnson passes away. KENDRICK: These athletes never cried about the social injustice. 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 . "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. Or write about sports? Theyve established -- though its no surprise -- that the speedy Bell holds the single-season record with 49 stolen bases for the Stars in 1929. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 1920 Chicago American Giants, 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. You know the names: Satchel Paige. A native of Texas, Brown is reported to have pitched as early as 1917 with the Dallas Black Giants. 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. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. We will also be adding the Puerto Rican Winter League at some point.. I have always been drawn to blank spaces on maps, blank spaces in record books, Ashwill said. TRIBOU: Pedro Sierra pitched in the Negro Leagues for several seasons in the 1950s. He was known to be a great hitter, but I don't think it was fully appreciated how pivotal he was to the Monarchs' defense.. He is Dean of Men at Alcorn College in Lorman, Mississippi, and also serves as baseball coach. Richard Kent, Sam Sheppard, Dr. J.W McClelland and Dr. G.B. 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. Please enable cookies on your browser and try again. How Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he could hit the light switch and be in bed before the lights went out. They are symbols for what should happen next. Current Greats: Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, . Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Of them, only 9 are still alive as of Janury 26, 2023. Negro League Baseball historical stats. Bell, who regularly went from 1st base to 3rd on sacrifice bunts, enjoyed his peak years with the St. Louis Stars and Pittsburgh Crawfords in the early 1930s. So, for example we've put together the first comprehensive analysis of Negro League park effects, and incorporated that into our metrics, Ashwill wrote. 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. The World Series winners that same year earned $5,959.64 and the losers $3,820.29. The numbers do not do justice to his legend. So they slept in the buses. Phone: 602.496.1460 They also represent something else. Do you have a blog? Major League Baseball announced this week the 1920-1948 Negro Leagues was recognized as major league, meaning Black players who played during those years are officially acknowledgedas the same as their white counterparts. The Hilldale Club, the team that lost, took home $193.23. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Pre-integration players. O'Neil served as a representative of the Negro Leagues on the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee from 1981-2000, and 11 Negro Leagues players were inducted through 2001 for a total of 18. In fact, that's my long-term goal: to write a Negro League Baseball Abstract. But more interesting, in my opinion, are some of the larger patterns we've found. This is a list of the last handful of living major leaguers from the 1940s. Hardball historians, however, are out there keeping the Negro Leagues alive. 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. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. Sports Reference . Register now to join us on March 10-12, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ. Frank Duncan: A Kansas City native, Frank, 69, now operates a tavern in his home town. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. cnlbr.org is using a security service for protection against online attacks. I remember reading about a living umpire from those times when he was interviewed, say, 3-5 years ago? We know which were the pitchers' parks (Chicago's Schorling Park, for example) and which were the hitters' parks (Stars Park in St. Louis and the Catholic Protectory Oval in the Bronx, home of the New York Lincoln Giants). 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. 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. 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. TRIBOU: Today, Sierra lives in New Jersey. Eventually, these two groups joined forces to create one comprehensive database. Rogers was one of the few players, black or white, who hit Satchel Paige consistently well. A good right-handed hitter, Duncan is always mentioned as one of black baseballs best catchers. Willie Wells: A .338 lifetime hitter, Willie Wells is often called the best shortstop to play in the black leagues. Hank Aaron and Willie Mays also began their careers in the Negro Leagues. But Minnie Forbes sympathizes with the many athletes who were good enough to play in the major leagues but never got a shot. List of Negro league baseball players (M-R) This list consists of players who have appeared in Negro league baseball . You can't really settle on a few sacred numbers the way you can for MLB records.. And in 2021, Baseball Reference, a trusted source for baseball stats, expanded its coverage of the Negro Leagues and integrated Negro League data from 1920 to 1948 into its record books. He says, faced with segregation, Black owners and players kept pushing for organized baseball. Larry Doby debuted with the Cleveland Indians on July 5. The service requires full cookie support in order to view this website. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. He played for the Louisville Clippers, and later was traded with Jesse Mitchell to the Birmingham Black Barons for a used team bus. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Buck lives in Rocky Mount, N.C., where he owns a realty agency. Newt still makes Kansas City his home. Recovering it is a constant, ongoing struggle. Third baseman Hank Thompson appeared in a game for the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) on July 17, two days before outfielder Willard Brown joined him on the Browns' roster. 65 In 2000, Major League Baseball supplied a grant to the Baseball Hall of Fame to conduct . 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.. Because we compile fielding statistics, we're able to know that, for example, Dobie Moore, the Kansas City Monarchs shortstop in the 1920s, was a great fielding shortstop. In Cleveland, Larry Doby became the first Black player in the American League. That means numbers are always changing here and there. A charity baseball game that paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and their significance to the sport was held at Sacramento State's John Smith Field on Oct. 9. \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. Do you have a blog? Pedro Dibut). Leroy "Satchel" Paige was bigger than mere numbers. TRIBOU: Minnie Forbes owned the Detroit Stars from 1956 to 1958. The records, as they proved with Suttles, are not static either. But you've got to establish a basic record first.. They played primarily before the organized Negro leagues. Suttles pictured back row, far left. Of them, only 9 are still alive as of Janury 26, 2023. All rights reserved. Dennis Biddle lives down the street from my grandparents. What about the other great players? **For the best user experience, we recommend disabling the Reddit redesign. The list of teams with which he played includes the largely forgotten Miami Globetrotters, Hollywood Redbirds, Miami Red Sox, Belle Glade Redwings, Florida Cuban Giants, the Lucky Stars, the Danny Dodgers; Ft. Lauderdale Braves, Pompano Beach Yankees, Ft. Lauderdale Lucky Stars, Ft. Lauderdale Gray Sox, and the Buffalo Red Sox (a travelling team that appears to have played many of its games in West Virginia and Pennsylvania). The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. For NPR News, I'm Doug Tribou in Ann Arbor, Mich. (SOUNDBITE OF A FOREST MIGHTY BLACK'S "REBIRTH"). James Bell: Cool Papa Bell was probably the fastest ball player ever to don spikes. Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame are noted with a . They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues before the Great Depression. He cites being selected to manage the East All-Star team in 1939 as his biggest moment. 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 . BOB KENDRICK: They had no idea they were making history. FORBES: And I just wonder if I'm worthy of representing, speaking about the Negro League because when I got involved, things was easier for me than it was for the one before me. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. 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. Nat remembers a 31-game hitting streak as his best moment in baseball. So the problem of whether Roosevelt Jackson is a veteran of the Negro Leagues is really one of semantics. Major League Baseball was segregated from 1887 through 1946. 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. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. Eventually, these two groups joined forces to create one comprehensive database. Join our linker program. The coming seasons brought many more signings. Now 66, Bell lives in St. Louis where he is a guard at City Hall. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Ray Dandridge: Fifty-eight year old Ray Dandridge lives in Newark, N.J., and is a scout for the San Francisco Giants. March 10, 2007 - William "Bill' Van Buren passes away. 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. Bill Evans: Bill (Happy) Evans enjoyed a brief career with the Homestead Grays in the early 1930s. 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. Buck O'Neil, We present them here for purely educational purposes. To this day, no one apparently has any idea of his whereabouts or even whether he is still living. Major League Baseball was segregated from 1887 through 1946. This page was last edited on 27 January 2023, at 00:27. That mission continues today.\n\nAnd I really do mean today. Cronkite School at ASU 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 . Created a hundred years ago, the leagues showcased Black baseball players, players who couldn't play on the major teams because of the color of their skin. Nat Rogers: Now 78 years old and a waiter at Memphis Peabody Hotel, Nat writes that he played for 45 consecutive seasons in organized baseball, compiling a batting average of over .340. During his long career, Frank played on 7 pennant-winners with the Kansas City Monarchs. 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. Join our linker program. There's also Charley Pride (3/18/1935), famous country singer and one of the only black people to perform on Grand Ole Opry. 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. 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. The list of teams with which he played includes the largely forgotten Miami Globetrotters, Hollywood Redbirds, Miami Red Sox, Belle Glade Redwings, Florida Cuban Giants, the Lucky Stars, the Danny Dodgers; Ft. Lauderdale Braves, Pompano Beach Yankees, Ft. Lauderdale Lucky Stars, Ft. Lauderdale Gray Sox, and the Buffalo Red Sox (a travelling team Aside from him, we also have Mamie "Peanut" Johnson (9/27/1935), the first female pitcher in the Negro Leagues. DOUG TRIBOU, BYLINE: In 1920, owners of independent Black baseball teams from the Midwest gathered in Kansas City, Mo. I know it seems that the civil rights movement was a while go, but it's truly just recent. Black players earnedless because they were Jim Crow'd. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. It was this sense of mystery combined with an increasing confidence that in fact all kinds of evidence was there to be found. Major League Baseball announced this week the 1920-1948 Negro Leagues was recognized as major league, Families of Negro Leaguers rejoice in MLB's decision to recognize league, After vowing change, Black candidates shut out again of MLB front office jobs, Oscar Charleston who hit .400 multiple times, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The other is that sources like the Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia -- which basically set the standard for baseball statistics when it was released in 1969 -- wasn't all that invested in featuring Negro League records. They played most of their careers in the organized Negro leagues after the Great Depression. SIERRA: The Clowns are paid a hundred dollars a month. When the book was being put together, the Negro Leagues weren't even considered for inclusion. "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 . His career was spent almost entirely playing in all black minor or semi-pro leagues, most of which were located in southern Florida. Streeters biggest thrill in baseball was to hit a home run. The second annual Honorary Negro League Game is a fundraiser for the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. A select few were All-Stars and one (Aaron) was inducted into the Hall of Fame. 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. Baseball needs to retroactivelypay the newly recognized Negro League players and their surviving families. Major League Baseball has finally decided that players from the Negro Leagues should be considered Major Leaguers. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account. Or write about sports? At their high point in mid-1930s, the team starred such greats as Biz Mackey, Jud Wilson, and Dick Lundy. By August 1, 1947, three Major League teams had already integrated. Mike Trout Michigan Radio's Doug Tribou spoke to the only surviving team owner and others about the legacy of the legendary leagues. 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. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. An additional 35 or so players played on a Negro league team after 1950. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. They played during the decline of the Negro leagues, after the beginning of integration. A speedy switch-hitter, Newt writes that Martin Dihigo and Dave Brown were the two greatest pitchers he ever faced. A high average hitter and an excellent first baseman, Buck played in 12 All-Star games. MINNIE FORBES: It was terrible for the players at that time. Players he signed as a scout with Chicago then the Royals included Lou Brock, Oscar Gamble, Lee Smith and Joe Carter. Founded in 1990, the museum is the only one in the world . Major League Players. 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. Do you have a sports website? All 3,400 players from 1920 to 1948 will be elevated to MLB status. ","contextualCaption":null,"contextualAspectRatio":null,"credit":null,"format":"jpg","templateUrl":"https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/{formatInstructions}/v1605643461/mlb/lv9mhm1fsyjmr30kii4r","type":"photo"},{"__typename":"Markdown","content":"Thats the type of work that Ashwill, who currently works as a freelance academic editor and runs the Agate Type baseball blog, has done since he began researching the Negro Leagues 20 years ago. Ray Brown, , 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords, 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. The 57 Texas native was certainly one of the smartest players of his day. The 1930 St. Louis Stars. Paige was the first Negro League player inducted . In 1924, the first year of the Colored World Series, the share of the winners, the Kansas City Monarchs, was $307.96, says Lester. 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.. This process is automatic. , Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 12:52AM. A select few were All-Stars and one (Aaron) was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Please enable JavaScript on your browser and try again. 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. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. If you think white players made more money because they were more talented that's just false. Some defensive statistics Copyright Baseball Info Solutions, 2010-2022. Chris Haughey is the last player alive from 1943 and Tommy Brown is the last player alive from 1944, 1945 and 1947. One of two players in history to win the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP in his career (Verlander being the other). Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. "Going forward, in the 1930s following the Great Depression, salaries of Black players were about the same amount as the 1920s," Lester said. Mioso fell short on Golden Era votes in 2011 and 2014 . Only a few members of the leagues are alive to celebrate the centennial. TRIBOU: Bob Kendrick heads the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum there. But there are a group of researchers led by Gary Ashwill who are looking to change that. Keys bought the Giants franchise after the 1921 season and built the newly named Stars a stadium in '22. His biggest thrill came in the 1924 Negro World Series when he shut out the Kansas City Monarchs for 7 innings in relief. Today, stars like Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Find out more. An additional 35 or so players played on a Negro league team after 1950. 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. Not even 60 years old. Among them Fowler, Frank Grant, George Stovey, and Fleet Walker were notable players especially during the 1880s, before complete segregation.