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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.
Henry Curtis Thompson was an American player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball who played primarily as a third baseman. A left-handed batter,he played with the Dallas Green Monarchs (1941),Kansas City Monarchs,St. Louis Browns (1947) and New York Giants (1949–56).
The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937,and disbanded after its 1962 season.
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 second Negro National League 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 founded in 1933 by businessman Gus Greenlee of Pittsburgh.
William Blair was a Negro league pitcher.
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.
Bruce Franklin Petway was an American Negro league baseball catcher in the early 20th century who came to be known as having one of the best throwing arms in the league. He is also said to have been one of the first to have consistently thrown to second base without coming out of the squat. He was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer Howard Petway.
Andrew Lewis Cooper,nicknamed "Lefty",was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. An alumnus of Paul Quinn College,Cooper played nine seasons for the Detroit Stars and ten seasons for the Kansas City Monarchs,and briefly played for the Chicago American Giants. The Texan was 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall and weighed 220 pounds.
William Miller "Big Bill" Gatewood was an American Negro league baseball pitcher and manager for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League,and in its first few seasons. He pitched for the Leland Giants,Chicago Giants,St. Paul Colored Gophers,Chicago American Giants,New York Lincoln Giants,Cuban X-Giants,Philadelphia Giants,Brooklyn Royal Giants,St. Louis Giants,Indianapolis ABCs,Detroit Stars,St. Louis Stars,Toledo Tigers,Milwaukee Bears,Memphis Red Sox,Atlantic City Bacharach Giants,and Birmingham Black Barons.
David Brown was an American left-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. Considered one of the better pitchers in Negro league history,he was also known for serious off-the-field problems. His career came to a premature end when he became a fugitive after allegedly killing a man in 1925.
Daniel J. McClellan was an American baseball pitcher and manager who starred for top-tier independent black teams before the Negro National League was founded. His career began about 1903,and he continued as a playing manager and organizer of lesser teams well into the 1920s.
Charles Kenston Spearman was an American baseball catcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1919 to 1929 with the Brooklyn Royal Giants,Cleveland Elites,and Lincoln Giants. Four of his brothers,Henry,Clyde,Willie,and Codie,and his son Fred also played in the Negro leagues.
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.
Calvin "Buck" Alexander was a Negro leagues pitcher before the founding of the first Negro National League,and in its first few seasons. He pitched for the San Antonio Black Bronchos,Detroit Stars,Indianapolis ABCs and Cleveland Elites. He died on April 27,1931,in Austin,Texas.
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.
