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".
Oscar McKinley Charleston was an American center fielder and manager in Negro league baseball. 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 inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
The first Negro National League (NNL) was one of the several Negro leagues that were established during the period in the United States when organized baseball was segregated. The league was formed in 1920 with former player Rube Foster as its president.
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.
Norman Thomas "Turkey" Stearnes was an American baseball center fielder. He played 18 years in the Negro leagues,including nine years with the Detroit Stars (1923–1931),six years with the Chicago American Giants,and three years with the Kansas City Monarchs (1938–1940).
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.
Charles Wilber Rogan,also known as "Bullet Joe",was an American pitcher,outfielder,and 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.
Cristóbal Torriente was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Negro league baseball with multiple teams. He played from 1912 to 1932 and was primarily a pull hitter,though he could hit with power to all fields. He had a stocky and slightly bowlegged build,but was known for deceptive power and a strong,accurate arm from center field. Indianapolis ABC's manager C. I. Taylor stated,"If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street,I would say,'There walks a ballclub.'" Torriente was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
James Raleigh "Biz" Mackey was an American catcher and manager in Negro league baseball. He played for the Indianapolis ABCs (1920–1922),New York Lincoln Giants (1920),Hilldale Daisies (1923–1931),Philadelphia Royal Giants (1925),Philadelphia Stars (1933–1935),Washington / Baltimore Elite Giants (1936–1939),and Newark Dodgers/Eagles.
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.
The Dayton Marcos were a Negro league baseball team based from Dayton,Ohio that played during the early twentieth century.
JoséColmenar del Valle Méndez was a Cuban right-handed pitcher and manager in baseball's Negro leagues. Born in Cárdenas,Matanzas,he died at age 43 in Havana. Known in Cuba as El Diamante Negro,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.
The Hilldale Athletic Club were an American professional Negro league baseball team based in Darby,Pennsylvania,west of Philadelphia.
The St. Louis Stars,originally the St. Louis Giants,were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently from as early as 1906 to 1919,and then joined the Negro National League (NNL) for the duration of their existence. After the 1921 season,the Giants were sold by African-American promoter Charlie Mills to Dick Kent and Dr. Sam Sheppard,who built a new park and renamed the club the Stars. As the Stars,they eventually built one of the great dynasties in Negro league history,winning three pennants in four years from 1928 to 1931.
The 1924 Colored World Series was a best-of-nine match-up between the Negro National League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldale. In a ten-game series,the Monarchs narrowly defeated Hilldale 5 games to 4,with one tie game. It was the first World Series between the respective champions of the NNL and ECL. It was the second year of existence for the ECL,but no agreement could be reached in 1923 for a postseason series,owing primarily to unresolved disputes between the leagues. Five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame participated in the series:Biz Mackey,Judy Johnson,and Louis Santop played for Hilldale,while Bullet Rogan and JoséMéndez played for the Monarchs. In addition,Monarchs owner J. L. Wilkinson was also inducted into the Hall.
Frank Lee Duncan Jr was an American baseball player in the Negro leagues from 1920 to 1948. He was primarily a catcher for the Kansas City Monarchs,handling their pitching staff for over a decade. While playing part-time,he managed the Monarchs to two pennants in 1942 and 1946;he managed the Monarchs for the longest of all managers in team history with six and he won 281 games as skipper,a club record. He caught two no-hitters with the Monarchs,in 1923 and 1929.
Oscar "Heavy" Johnson (1895–1960) was a baseball player in the Negro leagues. He played catcher and outfielder. Johnson was one of the Negro league's foremost power hitters in the 1920s,reportedly weighing 250 pounds,and known for hitting home runs. Longtime MLB umpire Jocko Conlan once said that Johnson "could hit a ball out of any park."
Pythias Russ was an American catcher,shortstop,and right-handed batter in the Negro leagues whose career and life were cut short by illness.
Lemuel Hawkins was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball. He played for the Kansas City Monarchs,Chicago Giants and Chicago American Giants from 1921 to 1928. He was 5'10" and weighed 185 pounds.
Edgar Wooded Wesley was a Negro league first baseman from 1917 to 1927. He played most of his career with the Detroit Stars of the first Negro National League (NNL).
