Cleveland in the Black Major Leagues

I. The Teams

Leroy “Satchel” Paige is remembered by long-time Cleveland baseball fans for his role in the Indians’ 1948 World Championship season. However, the Tribe was not the first major league team Paige pitched for in the lakefront city. In 1931, already a five-year veteran of the black major leagues, he hurled for the Negro National League Cleveland Cubs.

The NNL operated from 1920 through 1931 with clubs located in the midwest and south. Cleveland was an occasional entry under a variety of names. The city’s five initial NNL teams: the 1922 Tate Stars1 (17-29), 1924 Browns (15-34), 1926 Elites(6-38), 1927 Hornets (14-38) and 1928 Tigers (19-53), all wound up in the league basement. The 1931 Cubs (24-22) posted Cleveland’s best NNL record.2

In 1932 the East-West League was loaned as a major black circuit but failed to survive the season. Standings published prior to the EWL’s demise saw Cleveland’s Stars (8-16) standing sixth in a seven-club chase.

A second Negro National League was formed in 1933 with teams located primarily in the east. Cleveland competed as the 1933 Giants3 and 1934 Red Sox (4-25).

The Negro American League was organized in 1937 encompassing cities in the midwest and south. Cleveland initially participated in the new circuit as the Bears in 1939 (9-9/first half) and 1940 (10-10), leading the NAL in the early going of the 1939 campaign.

Cleveland’s most successful black major league team, the Buckeyes came from Cincinnati to the shores of Lake Erie during the 1942 season. By 1945, under the ownership of Ernest Wright Sr.4 the Cleveland Buckeyes (53-16) ruled the league and all of black baseball with a four game Black World Series sweep of the NNL Homestead Grays. After a relapse in 1946, the 1947 Buckeyes (51-22) recaptured the NAL pennant but lost the Series to the NNL New York Cubans, 4 games to 1.

In 1948, Cleveland was 31-21 in the first half, but faded to a 10-21 second half. The Buckeyes transferred to Louisville in 1949 but relocated in Cleveland by the season’s end. 1950 saw the Clevelanders win but three of 36 first-half contests and withdraw from the black majors for good. The Buckeyes had represented Cleveland well in the NAL but a new era had dawned.

II. The Managers

James (Candy) Taylor piloted the 1922 and 1926 NNL entries. He also managed the 1923 NNL Toledo Tigers who withdrew from the league and reappeared as the resurrected Cleveland Tate Stars later that summer. Taylor went on to lead the 1928 St. Louis Stars and 1943 and 1944 Homestead Grays to NNL championships. The Grays added Black World Series triumphs both years.

Taylor, a third baseman, began playing in 1904. Available data reveals a .295 batting average for the 1926 Elites and a .291 NNL average from 1920 through 1931. He was one of four brothers to succeed in professional baseball.

Sol White managed the 1924 Browns in the twilight of a career launched in 1887. An infielder, he starred in Organized Baseball prior to racial discrimination and posted a .360 batting average in 152 OB contests. White piloted the Philadelphia Giants to the top of black baseball from 1904 through 1907 and authored The History of Colored Baseball in 1907.

Pete Duncan5 guided the 1928 Tigers. He had gained acclaim as an outfielder for Rube Foster’s early Chicago American Giants powerhouses.

Parnell Woods replaced Walter Burch6 as the Buckeye field general in 1942 and held the post until releasing the reins to Quincy Trouppe in 1945. Woods remained as the clubs third baseman and was a vital cog in their 1945 title drive. His career, initiated in 1933, ended in 1949 in the Pacific Coast League. Available data reveals a .319 batting average the final six years of Wood’s professional career. He played in four Black East-West All-Star Games, starting three.

Trouppe led the Buckeyes through 1947. Available figures show a .300 batting average in black major league play with a high of .352 for the 1947 Buckeyes. He was in five East-West All-Star Games, being a starting catcher in four of them. In 1952 Trouppe appeared in six games for the Cleveland Indians.

Alonzo Boone was the NAL Buckeyes’ last manager. He had appeared as a pitcher for the 1931 Cubs and was reportedly a member of the NNL Cleveland Bears. He was also on the 1942 Buckeyes. Boone pitched for two NAL pennant winners: the 1944 Birmingham Black Barons and then returned to the Buckeyes to post a 5-1 record for the 1947 titleist.

III. The Players

Cleveland’s black major league teams provided some outstanding individual performers.

The 1924 Browns featured a fine outfield of Vic Harris, Orville Singe and Wilson Redus. Harris later played in six East-West All- Star Games and gained fame as the manager of eight championship clubs for the Homestead Grays. Singer also played for the city’s 1928 and 1931 NNL entries and the 1932 EWL Stars. Redus went on to patrol the outer pastures for the St. Louis Stars’ 1928, 1930 and 1931 NNL pennant winners. He then returned to Cleveland with the 1932 EWL Stars, 1933 NNL Bears and 1934 NNL Red Sox and appeared in the 1936 and 1937 East-West All-Star Games.

The 1926 Elites displayed another line outfielder in Tack Summers. Summers was also a member of the 1927 and 1928 clubs. John Wesley Johnson pitched for the Elites as well as the 1924 Browns and 1928 Tigers.

The 1927 Hornets had Edgar Wesley at first base hitting at a .400-plus pace. Wesley had topped the NNL in both batting average (.440) and home runs (18) with the 1925 Detroit Stars.

Nelson Dean came to Cleveland to pitch for the 1927 Hornets and 1928 Tigers and had a tough time notching victories. But after leading NNL pitchers with an 8-3 mark for the 1931 Detroit Stars, Dean was back in Cleveland with the 1932 EWL Stars.

Satchel Paige was joined on a fine 1931 Cub pitching staff by Sam Streeter. Streeter later pitched in the 1933 East-West All-Star Game and for the 1935 NNL Champion Pittsburgh Crawfords. Paige hurled for Kansas City’s 1940,1941, 1942 and 1946 NAL flag winners and in five East-West All-Star Games.

1933 saw second baseman Leroy Morney capture the NNL batting crown with .419 and represent Cleveland as a starter in the East-West All-Star Game. Red Sox infielder Pat Patterson played in the 1934 East-West All-Star contest. The lone Bears East-West All-Star was Parnell Woods in 1939.

Many outstanding players performed for the Buckeyes, twelve representing them in East-West All-Star Games: pitchers Eugene Bremmer (1942, 44, 45), Chet Brewer (1947) and Theolic Smith (1943), catcher Quincy Trouppe (1945, 46, 47), first baseman Archie Ware (1944, 45, 46), third basemen Parnell Woods (1942) and Leon Kellman (1949), and outfielders Buddy Armour (1944), Lloyd Davenport (1945), Willie Grace (1946), Dave Hoskins (1949) and Sam Jethroe (1942, 44, 46, 47). Ware led the NAL in 1945 with 39 RBIs, in 1947 with 99 hits and in 1948 with 23 doubles. Kellman topped the NAL with 54 RBIs in 1947. Outfielder Joe Atkins led the Buckeyes and NAL with ten roundtrippers in 1947. Pitcher George Jefferson (11-1) paced the 1945 NAL with a .917 winning percentage while posting a 1.75 ERA for the Buckeyes. However, George’s brother Willie, also a Buckeye pitcher, led the 1945 NAL in ERA with 1.57 while ringing up a 10-1 record.

Sam Jethroe, the Buckeyes fleet center fielder, spearheaded the club’s rise to the top of the NAL. Nicknamed Jet, he fashioned a .340 NAL batting average from 1944 through 1948 while topping the league in stolen bases in 1944 (18), 1945 (21), 1947 (50) and 1948 (29), in runs scored in 1944 (55), 1945 (61) and 1947 (90), in hits in 1944 (97), in doubles in 1944 (14) and 1947 (9), in triples in 1945 (30) and 1947 (9), in total bases in 1944 (121), 1945 (123) and 1947 (162), and in at-bats in 1944 (275). Jethroe captured the batting crown with .353 in 1944 and .393 in 1945. He hit .333 in the 1945 Black World Series.

Jethroe left the Buckeyes to join Montreal of the International League midway through the 1948 season. He was an immediate sensation, hitting .322 as the Royals went on to win the Junior World Series. In 1949 Jethroe hit .326 for Montreal and topped the IL in runs (154), hits (207), total bases (330), triples (19) and stolen bases (89). The next year he joined the Boston Braves and became an instant star in the National League, earning Rookie-of-the-Year honors and pacing the major leagues in stolen bases in 1950 (35) and 1951 (35). He played in OB through 1958 and was a pioneer in reviving the art of base stealing at the major league level.7

An interesting footnote to the contribution of Cleveland’s big league black clubs is that a half dozen of their players went on to play for the city’s American League entry once the race ban was lifted. Satchel Paige (1931 Cubs and 1948 Indians) and Quincy Trouppe (1945-47 Buckeyes and 1952 Indians) have been mentioned. Sam Jones (1948 Buckeyes and 1951-52 Indians), Al Smith (1947-48 Buckeyes and 1953-57 Indians), Dave Hoskins (1949 Buckeyes and 1953-54 Indians) and Joe Caffie (1950 Buckeyes and 1956-57 Indians) also accomplished this feat.

With these and other players the 1950s emerged as the most memorable decade in the recently integrated Cleveland Indians’ history.

 

Sources

Baseball’s Great Experiment by Jules Tygiel

A Man and His Diamonds by Charles E. Whitehead

Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball, edited by David Porter (“Jethroe, Samuel”) by Terry Baxter

Black Diamonds by John Holway

History of Colored Baseball (1907) by Sol White

Nineteenth Century Stars by SABR (“Sol White”) by Jerry Malloy

Only the Ball Was White by Robert Peterson

The Baseball Encyclopedia (Macmillan) 1969

20 Years Too Soon by Quincy Trouppe

Beisbol Venezolana (1946-66) by G. Becerra Mijares

Sporting News Baseball Guides (1949- 1959)

Dick Clark files including Standings, Rosters and Statistics compiled by SABR Negro Leagues Committee

Author’s Files including NAL Standings and Statistics (1944-48)

Various Newspapers including:

Baltimore Afro-American

Chicago Defender

Cleveland Call and Post

Eric (PA) Times-News

Michigan Chronicle

Philadelphia Inquirer

Pittsburgh Courier

 

Notes

1 George Tate, club officer and NNL veep, probably owned them.

2 Based on latest research by SABR Negro Leagues Committee.

3 Merger of NNL Columbus Bluebirds and an Akron ball club.

4 Wright owned the Buckeyes through 1949. Wilbur Hayes was owner in 1950.

5 Duncan possibly managed the 1927 Hornets also.

6 Burch, a catcher, played from 1931 through 1944.

7 Hit .261 in 4 NL seasons, .295 in 8 AAA seasons.