The 1935 Negro National League Brooklyn Eagles

This article was originally published in Ebbets Field: Great, Historic, and Memorable Games in Brooklyn’s Lost Ballpark (SABR, 2023), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.

On July 30, 2006, Effa Manley was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. She and her husband, Abe Manley, had been at the helm of one of the great Negro League teams, the Newark Eagles. But every baseball story has a beginning, and the baseball journey of Abe and Effa Manley began with the Brooklyn Eagles. On November 13, 1934, a bit more than a year after their marriage, the Negro National League awarded a franchise to the Manleys.1 Ben Taylor was hired as manager and, by early December, the team had two star pitchers and a team bus.2

The team played at Ebbets Field in 1935.

Owner Manley outfitted his players in fine attire for the season. Per the New York Age, “The home uniforms are of a light shade with the letters ‘Eagles’ written across the chest.”3

After starting the season on the road, the Eagles played their first home game at Ebbets Field on Saturday, May 18, in front of 2,500 spectators. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York threw out the first pitch, and home runs by Clarence “Fats” Jenkins and Herbert “Rap” Dixon gave the Eagles a 4-1 first-inning lead. After that, it was pretty much all downhill for the Eagles. They were outslugged by the Homestead Grays, 20-7. The Pittsburgh contingent had four homers, and each member of the Grays’ lineup scored at least one run. All but veteran third baseman George Scales hit safely. The game was broken open by a grand slam off the bat of Jerry Benjamin in the fifth inning. Joe Strong started on the mound for the Pittsburgh team but left the game in the second inning when Brooklyn took its last lead, 6-5. The win went to Willie Gisentaner, who came on with one out in the second inning and pitched the rest of the game. Willie helped his cause with a home run. Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe took the loss. He was able to pitch only into the second inning. Elbert Williams came in with two outs in the inning and exited the game after Benjamin’s grand slam in the fifth. Gavin, whose appearance was so brief that his first name is not known, hit Gisentaner with a pitch. James Reese completed the game for the Eagles, allowing the final six Grays runs. Their star slugger, Buck Leonard singled and doubled in the game.4

The teams split a doubleheader on May 19. In the first game, Ray Brown was the starting pitcher for the Grays and pitched the first five innings, leaving with a 6-5 lead. The Eagles, down 9-7 going into the bottom of the eighth, rallied for 11 runs and won the game 18-9. Leon Day pitched the first seven innings for Brooklyn. Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe finished up and was credited with the win. In the second game, the Grays won 4-2 as Louis Dula, who started the game with four no-hit innings, bested Radcliffe.5 The Eagles won the final game of the series, 4-3. Brown and Bill Jackman waged a pitchers’ duel for the first five innings. Jackman, a submarine-style pitcher, went all nine innings for the win, allowing five hits. At the plate, he was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. The Eagles, who had 10 hits, all singles, broke the ice in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two out when Rap Dixon stole home. He was poised halfway between third base and home and made a mad dash home when the catcher returned a pitch to the mound. Later in the inning, the Eagles’ lead was extended to 3-0 on Jackman’s single. Leonard tripled home a run in the seventh and scored on a fly ball, but the Grays did not get any closer.6

Before the Eagles played at Ebbets Field again, Taylor was released as manager and replaced by first baseman George Giles. Taylor, upset with this development, sued the Eagles.7

The Eagles did not get off to a good start under Giles, losing a doubleheader to Chicago on May 25. In the opener, which the Eagles lost 8-2, the American Giants had 13 hits, including homers by Willie Wells and George “Mule” Suttles. Turkey Stearnes went 2-for-5 with an RBI for Chicago. After the Eagles tied the second game at 5-5 in the ninth inning, the teams played on until the 12th, when the game was decided by a grand slam off the bat of Suttles, his second homer of the doubleheader.8 The 9-5 loss brought the team’s record at Ebbets Field to 2-4. The next day, the Eagles’ fortunes changed, and they swept the American Giants. The opener went 10 innings and the Eagles won 6-5. They had tied the game with a pair of runs in the ninth inning. In the 10th, Rap Dixon doubled home Harry Williams with the winning run. Jackman, who came on to pitch the 10th inning, was awarded the victory. In the second game, things did not start well for the Eagles. Starting pitcher James Reese allowed the first two batters to reach base. Jackman came on in relief and allowed one run. The Eagles retaliated with nine first-inning runs and cruised to a 14-4 win. Among the 17 Eagles hits were a homer by manager Giles and two hits, including a triple, by pitcher Jackman.9

On Memorial Day, the Eagles hosted the New York Cubans and split the doubleheader. In the opener, the Eagles won 6-5 with Elbert Williams pitching a complete game, scattering 13 hits. The Cubans won the nightcap, 4-0, in a game highlighted by a homer off the bat of Alejandro Oms and the pitching of Luis Tiant.10 Crowd estimates varied, but the New York Age reported that the Eagles had drawn 7,500 on Thursday, far more than the 6,000 drawn by the Dodgers the following Sunday.11

Rain washed away the games scheduled in June at Ebbets Field, including the first-ever Ebbets Field night game scheduled for June 4, and the Eagles didn’t return home until July. They finished the first half of the season in fourth place with a 15-15 record.

On July 7, the team opened the second half of the season, splitting a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Stars at Ebbets Field. Manager Giles was the batting star for the Eagles with two doubles in each game. In the opener, the Stars won 6-5, their offense sparked by Jake Dunn, who went 3-for-4 with a homer. Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe pitched the Eagles to a 6-5 win in the nightcap, contributing two of his team’s nine hits.12

A week later the Crawfords of Pittsburgh came to town. They played four games over two days. On Saturday, July 13, the teams split a doubleheader with 8,000 fans looking on. The Crawfords won the opener, 7-3, as Josh Gibson went 3-for-4, Judy Johnson doubled, and Sam Bankhead went 2-for-4. The Crawfords tallied four eighth-inning runs off Eagles starter Elbert Williams to overcome a sixth-inning solo homer by Giles that had given the Eagles a 3-2 advantage. Rosey Davis pitched the complete-game win for the Crawfords. In the second game, the Eagles turned the tables, scoring three runs in the sixth inning off pitcher Bill Harvey to win 4-3. The key hit in the rally was a two-run double by Javier Perez, who went on to score the third run of the inning on an errant throw from left field. Once he had the lead, pitcher Leon Day shut down the Grays with one hit over the last three innings.13

The next day Josh Gibson homered to lead the Crawfords to a 5-3 win in the opener, as Leroy Matlock pitched a six-hitter for the winners. The Eagles were kept in the game by a superlative play by outfielder Fats Jenkins with one run in and two runners on in the ninth inning. His fielding gem secured the third out, but the Eagles were unable to make up the deficit. Brooklyn won the nightcap, 12-6, and got to see a hit by the legendary Oscar Charleston. Charleston, then 38 years old, was the player-manager of the Crawfords and, after going 0-for-4 in the opener, inserted himself as a pinch-hitter in the nightcap, singling off Jackman in the eighth inning. James “Cool Papa” Bell had a hit in each game for the Crawfords. The batting star for the Crawfords in the second game was Curtis Harris, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer. Jenkins, after flashing his glove in the opener, went 3-for-5 with a sacrifice and a stolen base in the nightcap for the Eagles. The aptly named Crush Holloway homered for the Eagles.14 Holloway had signed on with the Eagles earlier in July and his name, which was not a nickname, came from the fact that, at the time he was born, his arrival prevented his father from attending the Texas Railroad Exposition. At the Exposition, locomotives tried to crush each other. Hence the unlikely first name.15

The next weekend brought the Elite Giants to town. Calling Detroit, Columbus, and Nashville home at times during the 1935 season, they were, on the weekend of July 20-21, known as the Nashville Elites. The Eagles won on Saturday, 4-1, in a game abbreviated by rain. The game was decided when the Eagles scored three runs in the third inning. The opportunistic Eagles used a walk, three singles, a fly out and an errant throw to take the 4-1 lead. The rains came after the sixth inning.16 The Eagles fell prey to the Elites by scores of 13-8 and 10-0 on Sunday with Zollie Wright homering in each game. Nashville’s Andy Porter was the pitching star of the day. He stopped the damage when the Eagles scored four runs in the fifth inning of the opener and pitched the entire second game.17

On August 3 and 4, the Dodgers played at Ebbets Field – the Newark Dodgers, that is. The Eagles won the doubleheader on Saturday by scores of 4-2 and 8-2. In the opener, a two-run fourth-inning homer by Bert Johnson gave Newark a 2-1 lead, but the Eagles came from behind for the win. Once again, the Dodgers claimed the lead in the second game, this time on a first-inning homer by James Williams. But the Eagles tied it on a Giles homer and went on to win easily behind the pitching of Leon Day. Young Ray Dandridge of Newark went 5-for-9 in the doubleheader.18 Cheers turned into tears the next day as the Dodgers took advantage of opportunities in each game to sweep the Eagles, 9-5 and 14-12. In the opener, with the score tied at 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning, Jack McCoy’s bases-loaded double proved decisive. The teams combined for 41 hits in the nightcap and the Eagles had a 12-10 lead until a bases-loaded triple by Jim Lindsay propelled the Dodgers to their second come-from-behind win of the day. In each case the pitcher victimized by the winning hit was Jackman.19

The Eagles were well represented at the East-West Game at Chicago’s Comiskey Park on August 11. Manager-first baseman George Giles, left fielder Clarence “Fats” Jenkins, shortstop Bill Yancey, right fielder Ed Stone, and young pitcher Leon Day were named to the squad, although Yancey did not get to play in the game. Day was in the early stages of a career that would take him to Cooperstown.20

The team spent the balance of August on the road and returned to Ebbets Field to face the Newark Dodgers in a doubleheader on September 1. The Eagles slugged their way to a win in the opener. They broke things open with an 11-run eighth inning and won 19-8. Pitcher Jackman went 3-for-5 with a homer to aid his own cause and center fielder C.B. Griffin contributed a homer as well. Third baseman Javier Perez had three singles. In the nightcap the Eagles made the most of six hits, including a two-run third-inning double from Perez, winning 9-4 for pitcher Elbert Williams.21

After their Negro National League season ended, there was the Crispus Attucks Community Council charity doubleheader featuring, the Eagles, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Philadelphia Stars, and the New York Cubans. The doubleheader took place on September 8 and the record crowd of 10,000 fans got a preview of postseason activity because the Cubans and Crawfords were scheduled to face each other in the league championship series. The Cubans and Stars played in the opener and the Crawfords and Eagles played in the nightcap.22 The original plan was for pitcher Martin Dihigo to play all nine positions for the Cubans, but he played the entire game at third base.23 The Cubans and Stars played to a 2-2 tie before the Crawfords, with Josh Gibson going 2-for-4, defeated the Eagles 12-3. Leroy Matlock pitched the complete-game win for the Crawfords. Leon Day started for the Eagles but was victimized when the Crawfords broke open the game with a total of eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

The dominance of the Crawfords was capsulized in the Philadelphia Tribune: “The devastating machine that the Pittsburgh Crawfords are so proud of moved its powerful way across the diamond and when the game was over the Brooklyn Eagles were just a small spot in the sod.”24

Night baseball came to Ebbets Field for the first time on September 11, 1935, when the Eagles took on the House of David in an exhibition. Pitching for the bearded crew was none other than Grover Cleveland Alexander. The lights were provided by the visitors as the Dodgers had yet to install lights at Ebbets Field.25 Alexander, at age 48, pitched the first inning for the House of David, yielding a hit to Fats Jenkins, who was left stranded. Terrence “Elmer the Great” McDuffie pitched the entire game and struck out 10 for the Eagles, who won 6-1. Five of the Eagles’ 11 hits were triples.26

The Eagles concluded their season at Ebbets Field on September 15 with a doubleheader against a minor-league all-star team. A quick scan of the box scores indicates that the all-stars were little more than legends in their own minds. The teams split the two games with the Eagles losing the opener 6-5 before coming back to win the nightcap 10-9. In the game, scheduled to go seven innings, the Eagles came from behind to tie the game with three seventh-inning runs and pushed across the game-winner in the eighth when the all-stars’ center fielder dropped a fly ball.27

The Eagles had played their last game in Brooklyn. In November it was announced that the team was moving to Newark, New Jersey. Owner Abe Manley announced that he had lost $10,000 during the team’s year in Brooklyn.28 As the Newark Eagles, Manley’s team would enjoy great success culminating in a Negro League World Series win in 1946.29

SOURCES

In addition to Baseball-Reference.com and the sources cited in the Notes, the author used:

“Grays Win 2, Lose 2 to Brooklyn,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 25, 1935: 16.

“Mayor to Start League Game at Ebbets Field,” New York Amsterdam News, May 18, 1935: 11.

Lewis, Teddy. “Brooklyn Promenade,” New York Age, May 18, 1935: 7.

Von Wilkinson, Eric. “Mayor LaGuardia and Prominent City Officials Attend Opening of Negro Nat’l League in B’klyn,” New York Age, May 25, 1935: 5.

NOTES

1 “Brooklyn Granted N.N. League; Bankhead Goes to Grays in Trade,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 17, 1934: 15.

2 “B’klyn Eagles Buy Players,” New York Age, December 8, 1934: 5.

3 “Mayor LaGuardia to Throw Out First Ball at Negro Nat’l Opening at Ebbett’s [sic] Field Brooklyn, Sunday,” New York Age, May 18, 1935: 5.

4 “Pittsburgh Nine Thumps Eagles in Opener, 20-7,” New York Daily News, May 19, 1935: 82; “Grays Put Damper on Eagles’ Opener,” Pittsburgh Press, May 19, 1935: Sports Section – 2.

5 “Eagles in Even Break Against Pittsburgh Grays,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 20, 1935: 11.

6 “Black Eagles Have New Ace,” Brooklyn Times Union, May 21, 1935: 3A; Lew Zeidler, “New Teeth Put Life in Dixon’s Diamond Work,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 21, 1935: 21; “Grays Bow to Eagles,” New York Age, May 25, 1935: 5.

7 “Sues Brooklyn Eagles,” Baltimore Afro-American, July 13, 1935: 16.

8 “Homer Subdues Eagles in 12th,” Brooklyn Times Union, May 26, 1935: 2A.

9 “Brooklyn Eagles Score Double Win,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 27, 1935: 12; “Jackman Stars on Slab Against Chicago Tossers,” Brooklyn Times Union, May 27, 1935: 3A.

10 “New Feud Born as Eagles Split with Cubans,” Brooklyn Times Union, May 31, 1935: 3A.

11 Lewis E. Dial, “The Sport Dial,” New York Age, June 8, 1935: 8.

12 “Manager Giles Stars with Bat Against Philly,” Brooklyn Times Union, July 8, 1935: 3A.

13 “Crawford Club Wins and Loses,” Pittsburgh Press, July 14, 1935: Sports Section, 5; “Eagles, Crawfords Split Twin Bill,” Brooklyn Times Union, July 14, 1935: 3A; “Crawfords Break Even,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, July 14, 1935: 2-5.

14 “Jenkins Shines for Eagles’ Nine,” Brooklyn Times Union, July 15, 1935: 3A.

15 “Brooklyn Eagles Sign Holloway, Outfielder,” New York Age, July 20, 1935: 8.

16 “Brooklyn Eagles Trounce Nashville,” Brooklyn Times Union, July 21, 1935: 2A.

17 “Eagles Defeated by Strong Rivals,” Brooklyn Times Union, July 22, 1935: 3A.

18 “Eagles Triumph in Double-Header,” Brooklyn Times Union, August 4, 1935: 3A.

19 Eagles Subdued in Doubleheader,” Brooklyn Times Union, August 5, 1935: 3A; “Newark Dodgers Humble Eagles,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1935: 10.

20 “West Nine Wins Colored Classic,” Brooklyn Times Union, August 12, 1935: 3A.

21 “Perez Stands Out for Eagles with Hard Hitting,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 2, 1935: 3A.

22 “Gibson, Oms Set for Benefit Bill,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 5, 1935: 2A.

23 Irwin N. Rosee, “Dihigo to Play Every Position in Benefit Game,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 7, 1935: 3A.

24 “10,000 Watch Cubans Tie Stars in N.Y.,” Philadelphia Tribune, September 12, 1935: 11.

25 “First Night Fray at Ebbets Field,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 11, 1935: 3A.

26 “M’Duffie Shines in Night Opener,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 12, 1935: 3A.

27 “Eagles Rally to Gain Even Break,” Brooklyn Times Union, September 16, 1935: 3A.

28 “Eagle Tossers Quit Brooklyn,” Brooklyn Times Union, November 12, 1935: 2A.

29 See Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin, eds., The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions (Phoenix: SABR, 2019). https://sabr.org/latest/sabr-digital-library-newark-eagles-take-flight-story-1946-negro-league-champions.