Chattanooga Choo-Choos | |
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Information | |
League |
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Location | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
Established | 1940 |
Disbanded | 1946 |
The Chattanooga Choo-Choos were a minor league Negro league baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The team was a member of the Negro Southern League, which was considered a minor league for the duration of the Choo-Choos' affiliation, and fielded a team from 1940 until 1946. The Choo-Choos played their home games at Engel Stadium. [1] The team is noted as the first professional baseball organization for which Hall of Famer Willie Mays played. [2]
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Monford Merrill "Monte" Irvin was an American left fielder and right fielder in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who played with the Newark Eagles, New York Giants (1949–1955) and Chicago Cubs (1956). He grew up in New Jersey and was a standout football player at Lincoln University. Irvin left Lincoln to spend several seasons in Negro league baseball. His career was interrupted by military service from 1943 to 1945.
Raymond Emmitt Dandridge, nicknamed "Hooks" and "Squat", was an American third baseman in baseball's Negro leagues. Dandridge excelled as a third baseman and he hit for a high batting average. By the time that Major League Baseball was racially integrated, Dandridge was considered too old to play. He worked as a major league scout after his playing career ended. In 1999, Dandridge was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and, late in his life, Dandridge was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.
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Chattanooga is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee.
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The Negro Southern League (NSL) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The NSL was organized as a minor league in 1920 and lasted until 1936. It was considered a major league for the 1932 season and it was also the only organized league to finish its full schedule that season. Prior to the season, several established teams joined the NSL, mainly from the collapsed Negro National League.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to baseball:
James Lee Newberry, nicknamed "Schoolboy", was an American pitcher in the Negro leagues and in the Japanese Pacific League.
"Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a 1941 song. The title may also refer to:
Earnest Sylvestor Long, nicknamed "The Kid", was an American Negro league pitcher for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and Cleveland Buckeyes between 1945 and 1950.
William Henry Hubert, nicknamed "Bubber", was an American Negro league pitcher between 1939 and 1946.