Joseph Edward Cronin was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop, most notably as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Cronin spent over 48 years in baseball, culminating with 14 years as president of the American League (AL).
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. Wilkinson was the first white owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any Major League Baseball team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season in which they did not have a winning record and produced more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was disbanded in 1965.
Willie James Wells, nicknamed "the Devil", was an American baseball player. He was a shortstop who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the Negro leagues and in Latin America.
Hilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs and Bismarck Churchills between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas, United States. Established in 1875, it was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, and the United Negro College Fund. Huston–Tillotson University awards bachelor's degrees in business, education, the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, science, and technology and a master's degree in educational leadership. It also offers alternative teacher certification and academic programs for undergraduates interested in pursuing post-graduate degrees in law and medicine.
William John Disch was an American baseball player and coach. He served as the head baseball coach at the University of Texas at Austin from 1911 to 1939 and as an advisory coach for 12 seasons afterwards.
The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's baseball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Southeastern Conference.
Emory Elmo "Topper" Rigney was an American professional baseball player between 1920 and 1928. He played six seasons in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Detroit Tigers (1922–1925), Boston Red Sox (1926–1927), and Washington Senators (1927).
Disch Field was a baseball field located in Austin, Texas, that opened in 1947 and hosted many minor league teams and playoff series. The diamond is at the present time part of the park behind The Long Center for the Performing Arts and the Palmer Events Complex between W. Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road in South Austin, along the Colorado River. The park includes an open area called Willie Wells Field, named for the Austin-born Negro league baseball legend.
The Dallas Black Giants were professional and semi-professional baseball teams based in Dallas, Texas which played in the Negro leagues. They were active on and off from 1908 to 1949. Among the leagues that the Black Giants played for were the Texas Colored League (1916), the Negro Texas League, the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League (1929), the Colored Texas League (1931), and - after two years of inactivity in 1936 & 1937—the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League (1938). They played their home games at the original Gardner Park prior to it burning down, Riverside Park and Steer Stadium. In the 1920s and 1930s, live jazz was featured during the games. Beauty contests became a feature in games during the 1930s. One of the best known players on the Black Giants was shortstop Ernie Banks who would go on to become a star in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs. An infamous player was left-handed pitching star Dave Brown who got into involved in a highway robbery. Reportedly a fugitive, Chicago American Giants' Rube Foster paid $20,000 for Brown's parole and he became a member of Foster's Chicago American Giants.
Drew Hamilton Jackson is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played college baseball for Stanford University. The Seattle Mariners selected Jackson in the fifth round of the 2015 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics.
The history of African Americans in Austin dates back to 1839, when the first African American, Mahala Murchison, arrived. By the 1860s, several communities were established by freedmen that later became incorporated into the city proper. The relative share of Austin's African-American population has steadily declined since its peak in the late 20th century.
Albert Lavada Durst, known as Dr. Hepcat, was an American blues pianist, singer, and baseball commentator who became the first black radio DJ in Texas, influential in the spread of rhythm and blues and rock and roll music.
The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the late 1920s the Martin brothers, all three Memphis doctors and businessmen, purchased the Red Sox. J. B. Martin, W. S. Martin, and B. B. Martin, would retain control of the club till its dissolution in 1959. The Red Sox played as members, at various times, of the Negro Southern League, Negro National League, and Negro American League. The team was never a titan of the Negro leagues like wealthier teams in northern cities of the United States, but sound management led to a continuous thirty-nine years of operation, a span that was exceeded by very few other teams. Following integration the team had five players that would eventually make the rosters of Major League Baseball teams and two players that were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Austin Pioneers were a minor league baseball team based in Austin, Texas from 1947 to 1955. The Pioneers were founding members of the Class B level Big State League, qualifying for the playoffs in five seasons and hosting home games at Disch Field.
The 1932 Detroit Wolves baseball team was a Negro league baseball team that competed in the East–West League (EWL) during the 1932 baseball season. The team compiled a 28–9 record and won the EWL pennant, finishing six-and-a-half games ahead of the second-place team. The Wolves played their home games at Hamtramck Stadium in Hamtramck, Michigan.
Willie Brooks Wells Jr. was an American Negro league shortstop in the 1940s.
The Lampasas Resorters were a minor league baseball team based in Lampasas, Texas. In 1914, the Resorters played the season as charter members of the Class D level Middle Texas League, placing fifth in the eight–team league.
The Beeville Orange Growers was the initial moniker of the minor league baseball teams that were based in Beeville, Texas between 1910 and 1977. The Beeville Orange Growers played exclusively as members of the Southwest Texas League in 1910 and 1911, winning the 1911 league championship. The Beeville "Bees" played in the 1926 Gulf Coast League, with the name revived for the 1976 Gulf States League team. The Beeville "Blaze" played as members of the 1977 Lone Star League.
Minor league baseball teams were based in Brenham, Texas in three seasons between 1905 and 1915. The Brenham teams played as members of the South Texas League in 1905 and Middle Texas League in 1914 and 1915.
