Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin 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".
The Negro National League (NNL) was one of the several Negro leagues which were established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated.
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. J. L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian 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 team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro League World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season in which they did not have a winning record. The team produced more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was disbanded in 1965.
John Wesley Donaldson was an American baseball pitcher in Pre-Negro league and Negro league baseball. In a career that spanned over 30 years, he played for many different Negro league and semi-professional teams, including the All Nations team and the Kansas City Monarchs. Researchers so far have discovered 667 games in which Donaldson is known to have pitched. Out of those games, Donaldson had over 400 wins and 5,081 strikeouts as a baseball pitcher. According to some sources, he was the greatest pitcher of his era.
The St. Paul Colored Gophers was a small club of black baseball players formed in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1907. They were not a formal Negro league team, as the commonly referred-to "Negro leagues" were not created until 1920. However, like other barnstorming teams of the time, they put considerable pressure on the desegregation of baseball. Historians rarely mention the Colored Gophers in Negro baseball history, and statistics are hard to find.
The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The St. Louis Stars, originally the St. Louis Giants, were a Major 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.
William P. "Plunk" Drake was a Negro league baseball pitcher.
Hurley Allen McNair was a baseball player in the Negro leagues and the pre-Negro leagues.
Carroll Ray "Dink" Mothell, often known as "Dink" Mothell was a catcher and utility player who played for 15 years in the Negro leagues. Known for his versatility, Mothell played every position. It was said you could use him "most any place, any time."
Walter C. "Steel Arm" Davis was an American Negro league baseball player from 1920 to 1938. He played for the Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Chicago American Giants, Nashville Elite Giants, Gilkerson's Union Giants and Brooklyn Eagles.
Samuel Crawford was an American pitcher and manager in baseball's Negro leagues.
George Henry "Tank" Carr was an American first baseman and outfielder with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro baseball leagues from 1920 to 1922.
Walter Lee "Newt" Joseph was an American third baseman and manager in Negro league baseball.
George Alexander "Sharky" Sweatt was an American second baseman in Negro league baseball. He played for the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants from 1922 to 1927.
George Franklin Giles was a Negro leagues First baseman in the latter part of the first Negro National League. He started with Gilkerson's Union Giants at the age of 17, and signed with the Kansas City Monarchs at the age of 18. The last known team he played for was the Satchel Paige All Stars of 1939.
Edward Joseph Dwight Sr. was a utility player in the Negro leagues. He played mostly for the Kansas City Monarchs.
George "Tubby" Dixon was a Negro leagues catcher for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League, and in its first few seasons.
The Leavenworth Braves was the final moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Leavenworth Braves played from 1946–1949 as a member of the Class C Western Association. The Leavenworth Braves were an affiliate of the Boston Braves (1946–1948).
