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Oscar McKinley Charleston was an American center fielder, first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball and the Cuban League. Over his 43-year baseball career, Charleston played or managed with more than a dozen teams, including the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Negro league baseball's leading teams in the 1930s. He also played nine winter seasons in Cuba and in numerous exhibition games against white major leaguers. He was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
John Henry Lloyd, nicknamed "Pop" and "El Cuchara", was an American baseball shortstop and manager in the Negro leagues. During his 27-year career, he played for many teams and had a .343 batting average. Lloyd is considered to be the greatest shortstop in Negro league history, and he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.
Martín Magdaleno Dihigo Llanos, called "The Immortal" and "The Maestro", was a Cuban pitcher, utility player, and manager. He played in the Negro leagues and Latin American winter leagues from 1923 to 1945 as a two-way player, predominantly as a pitcher and a second baseman, although he excelled at all nine positions and later as a manager.
Charles Wilber Rogan, nicknamed "Bullet Joe", was an American pitcher, outfielder, and player-manager for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro baseball leagues from 1920 to 1938. Renowned as a two-way player who could both hit and pitch successfully, one statistical compilation shows Rogan winning more games than any other pitcher in Negro leagues history and ranking fourth highest in career batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Adolfo Domingo De Guzmán Luque was a Cuban starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1914 to 1935. He spent 12 seasons of his career (1918–1929) with the Cincinnati Reds. Luque was not only the first Latin American pitcher in MLB, but also the first to earn a World Series win, and the first to lead the majors in wins, shutouts and earned run average (ERA).
The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. They were one of the prominent independent teams prior to World War I before organized league play began.
Richard Redding, nicknamed "Cannonball", was an American pitcher, outfielder, and manager in baseball's Negro leagues, regarded as perhaps the fastest pitcher in the history of black baseball. In his career, he played for the Philadelphia Giants, New York Lincoln Giants, Lincoln Stars, Indianapolis ABC's, Chicago American Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, and Bacharach Giants.
Benjamin Harrison Taylor was an American first baseman and manager in baseball's Negro leagues. Taylor played for the Birmingham Giants, Chicago American Giants, Indianapolis ABC's, St. Louis Giants, Bacharach Giants, Washington Potomacs, Harrisburg Giants, and Baltimore Black Sox. His playing career lasted from 1908 to 1929. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Louis Santop Loftin was an American baseball catcher in the Negro leagues. He became "one of the earliest superstars" and "black baseball's first legitimate home-run slugger" (Riley), and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Some sources show a birth year of 1890, but his Navy records and Baseball Hall of Fame records support the earlier date.
José de la Caridad Méndez Báez was a Cuban professional baseball right-handed pitcher, shortstop, third baseman and manager in the Negro leagues. Born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he died at age 43 in Havana. Known in Cuba as "The Black Diamond", he became a legend in his homeland. He was one of the first group of players elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2006.
Alejandro "Alex" Pompez was an American executive in Negro league baseball who owned the Cuban Stars (East) and New York Cubans franchises from 1916 to 1950. His family had emigrated from Cuba, where his father was a lawyer. Outside baseball and numbers, he owned and operated a cigar shop in downtown Manhattan. He later served as a scout and director of international scouting for the Giants franchise in Major League Baseball. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol White, Walter Schlichter, and Harry Smith.
The Cuban Stars were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that competed in the United States Negro leagues from 1907 to 1930. The team was also sometimes known as the Cuban Stars of Havana, Stars of Cuba, Cuban All-Stars, Havana Reds, Almendares Blues or simply as the Cubans. For one season, 1921, the team played home games in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was known as the Cincinnati Cuban Stars.
The New York Lincoln Stars were a Negro league baseball team that played in New York City from 1914 to 1917. Their home stadium was the Lenox Oval, located at Lenox Avenue and 145th Street in Manhattan. Although they lasted less than four years, they were a good team that featured three players who would later be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame—Oscar Charleston, John Henry Lloyd, and Louis Santop.
The East–West League was an American Negro baseball league that operated during the period when professional baseball in the United States was segregated. Cum Posey organized the league in 1932, but it did not last the full year and folded in June of that year. It was the first Negro league to include teams from both the Eastern and Midwestern United States.
Merven John "Red" Ryan, born Mervin Ferguson, was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1915 to 1932 with several teams, playing mostly with the Hilldale Club.
Pollock's Cuban Stars were a traveling Negro league baseball team that played from about 1927 to 1936 featuring players primarily from Cuba.
Juanelo Mirabal was a Cuban American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1920 to 1934 with the Birmingham Black Barons and Cuban Stars (East). A formidable pitcher for 14 years in the Negro Leagues, this rifle-armed, right hander used a 3/4 overhand delivery, had excellent control, a sinking fastball, and a baffling curve to anchor the Cuban Stars' mound corps. During the winters, Juanelo pitched in the Cuban League, posting a 9-2 record as the ace of Dolph Luque's Havana team. He was born in Tampa, FL and was of Cuban parentage. As a youngster, he attracted attention when he shutout Pompez's Cuban Stars in both ends of a doubleheader in New Orleans. He was often only listed in box scores as only "Juanelo." He later joined the front office, serving as President of both Cuban Stars and Pompez's New York Cubans after they were organized.
References
- Hogan, Lawrence D. (2006), Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball , Washington DC: National Geographic, ISBN 0-7922-5306-X
- Holway, John B. (2001), The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History, Fern Park, FL: Hastings House Publishers, ISBN 0-8038-2007-0
- Riley, James A. (1994), The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0959-6