St. Louis Stars Win 1930 Series in Seven Games

St. Louis’ claim to the 1930 World Championship came not from the Cardinals, who lost the white World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics, but from the Stars, who won the Negro National League Championship in a split-season playoff versus the Detroit Stars. As there was no organized Negro League in the east that year, there was no black World Series in 1930. But since St. Louis had won a series from the Homestead Grays, who claimed eastern supremacy, the Stars were proclaimed the World Champions of black baseball by their fans.

The NNL had been using a split season since 1925, and St. Louis had won one half in both ’25 and ’28. In 1925 they had lost a thrilling series to the Kansas City Monarchs, 4 games to 3, by dropping both games of the final-day doubleheader in Chicago. But in 1928 they had copped the title by besting the Chicago American Giants, 5 games to 4, winning at home on each of the final two days. Willie Wells hit six home runs in the series, including a pair in the final game.

The 1930 season had begun as a two-team race between St. Louis and Kansas City. The first half race went down to the wire. The Stars went west to finish the half needing to win two out of five in K.C. beginning on the Fourth of July. St. Louis won only one out of the first four games but backed into the title when the final game was rained out.

St. Louis led for much of the second half, too. But a late slump, coupled with a Detroit surge, put the Michiganders in the lead going into their final series, also in Kansas City. Like their St. Louis namesakes, the Detroit Stars lost the final series (2 games to 1 this time) but held onto first place when the final game was rained out. That set up the championship series but did not end the NNL’s rain woes.

The St. Louis Stars, managed by John “Sparkplug” Reese, featured plenty of hitting. SABR researchers, headed by Dick Clark and John Holway, have pegged the team batting average as a healthy .327. Shortstop Willie Wells hit at a .397 clip with a league-leading 12 home runs, while George “Mule” Suttles led the league with a .733 slugging average. Suttles had begun the year playing for the Baltimore Black Sox but was able to hit 9 NNL homers after joining the Stars in late June.

Manager Elwood “Bingo” DeMoss’ Detroit Stars featured a Murderer’s Row of their own, with Ed Riles, Norman “Turkey” Stearns, and Clarence Palm at the heart of their lineup. Like Suttles, Stearn has started the year in the east, and Detroit had been in the middle of the pack in the first half. But his return had helped the Motor City nine to come on strong and win the second half.

GAME 1
Saturday night, September 13 in St. Louis

The best-of-nine series opened in St. Louis on Saturday, September 13, before a crowd of about 5,000. Stars Park, which was famous for its cozy left field fence, had installed permanent lights a few weeks before, and this was the first championship game ever played there under the arcs. Detroit jumped in front right away, scoring two in the top of the first when Stearns homered with a man on base off Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe.

But the home team matched that with a pair in the bottom half. James “Cool Papa” Bell led off with an inside-the-park homer to distant right field, and an error by left fielder Wade Johnston allowed the next hitter, George Giles, to reach second. He scored on two infield outs. Johnston atoned for his error by throwing Suttles out at home to end the inning.

Detroit got another pair in the top of the third, but St. Louis trumped this with three in the bottom half. Detroit pitcher Albert Dean walked Suttles intentionally to load the bases, but John Henry Russell followed with a three-run double, the blow that won the game. Dick Trent relieved Radcliffe in the fourth and shut Detroit out the rest of the way despite three passed balls by catcher Henry Williams. Trent fanned seven in six innings of work, getting two K’s with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, and preserved the 5-4 victory.

Detroit    202  000  000 — 4  13  4
St. Louis 203  000  00x — 5   7  4
Det – DEAN. StL – Radcliffe (3), TRENT (6)

GAME TWO
Monday night, September 15 in St. Louis

The second game, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, was rained out until Monday night, when only 1,500 braved the misty weather to see the game. Detroit outhit the home team by a 17-7 margin, but the game was decided by the fielding. The visitors built up a 10-1 lead with the aid of some loose St. Louis fielding. They committed four errors and failed to make several other plays. But the home team got right back into the game with a sudden five-run rally in the seventh inning.

Detroit starter “Wee” Willie Powell was routed and “Lefty” Andy Cooper was knocked out in the eighth by three hits and a walk. Albert Davis was rushed into the game with the score 11-7 and the bases loaded. The first batter he faced, Branch Russell, cracked a liner toward left, and the runners lit out for home. but third baseman William Robinson made a great leaping catch, stepped on third base, then threw back to second to complete a triple play! St. Louis could muster just one hit in the ninth, and Detroit held on by a final score of 11-7. Turkey Stearns was the hitting standout with a 5-for-5 performance including a double and a home run.

DETROIT 203  023  010 — 11  17  0
St. Louis   000  100  510 —  7  10  4
Det. – POWELL (6.1), Cooper (.2+), A. Davis (2)
StL – STRONG (6.1), Matlock (2.2)

GAME THREE
Tuesday night, September 16 in St. Louis

The Missourians won Game Three the next night, as Ted Trent fanned 10 to post his second win. Detroit scored once on three singles in the top of the first. But St. Louis put a three on the board when Suttles homered to the center field scoreboard with two teammates aboard. Trent allowed only three more hits and won easily, 7-2. The game was marred by the serious beaning of Detroit’s William Robinson, who was taken to a local hospital and missed the rest of the series.

Detroit       100  000  010 — 2  6  4
ST.LOUIS 300  001  30x — 7  9  2
Det – A. DAVIS. St.L – TRENT

GAME FOUR
Wednesday night, September 17 in St. Louis

Game Four went to Detroit, 5-4, tying the series again. The victors made four errors, but the losers committed half a dozen. A muff by shortstop Wells and a “miserable heave” by left fielder Wilson Redus gave Detroit their first two runs, while three errors set the stage for Palm’s game-winning three-run homer in the eighth. St. Louis pitcher Slap Hensley pitched a fine game and drove in a pair of runs with a double, but the poor support cost him the game. Nelson Dean pitched around the visitors’ errors and got the win.

DETROIT 002  000  030 — 5  7  4
St. Louis   020  000   011 — 4  7  6
Det – DEAN. StL – HENSLEY (8), Radcliffe (1)

GAME FIVE
Saturday, September 20 in Detroit

So the series was even at two games apiece as the two Stars headed for Detroit for the final five games, if necessary. Two travel days were allowed for the trip, both teams traveling by bus, and the series resumed on Saturday, September 20th. Owner John Roesink’s new Hamtramck Stadium was in its inaugural season and was one of the showcases of Negro League ball. Unlike the cramped quarters of Stars park in St. Louis (at least in left field), the Hamtramck park was spacious all around, with the right field line measuring a distant 407 feet.

St. Louis sluggers Wells and Suttles were able to clear the left field fence with 400-foot drives in Game Five, but once again poor fielding cost the Missourians the contest. A double error by Branch Russell gave the home team two unearned runs and a 3-0 lead in the second inning. A pair of Detroit errors helped St. Louis tie the count in the fifth, but a two-run two-bagger by Stearns gave Detroit the lead again in the bottom half. Wells and Suttles put their homers back-to-back to tie the score again in the sixth with Suttles’ drive clearing the wall with at least 30 feet to spare.

The visitors could have taken the lead in the seventh but for a baserunning blunder by Cool Papa Bell. Cool laced an apparent triple to center field but was called out for missing second base. Giles immediately followed with a double, but St. Louis failed to score. The home team then won the game, 7-5, with two out in the eighth on singles by Clarence Palm, Lou Dials, and Jake Dunn plus a sacrifice fly by Grady Orange. Wilson Redus gave the visitors some brief hope in the ninth with a long hit into the right field corner, but the drive was called foul. Relievers Lefty Powell and Ted Radcliffe were the pitchers of record.

St. Louis    000  032  000 — 5   9   3
DETROIT 030  020  02x —  7  12  2
StL – Trent (5), RADCLIFFE (3)
Det – Shaw (5), POWELL (4)

GAME SIX
Sunday, September 21 in Detroit

Sunday’s game was the first really well-played contest of the series, St. Louis winning out, 4-3. Willie Wells was the star, poling another homer, adding two RBI singles, and fielding beautifully. Turkey Stearns kept Detroit in the game with a homer in the fourth and a triple in the sixth. His four-bagger was the first ever to clear the new park’s right field fence. But St. Louis pushed the winning run across in the eighth when Dewey Creacy singled, moved to second on an infield out, and raced home on a hit by Cool Papa Bell. Slap Hensley pitched a seven-hitter for the win.

ST. LOUIS 101  010  010 — 4  15  1
Detroit       001  101  000 — 3   7  0
StL – HENSLEY. Det – A.DAVIS

GAME SEVEN
Monday, September 22 in Detroit

St. Louis reverted to its loose-fielding ways in Game Seven on Monday, committing five errors, but this time they overcame them with a 19-hit attack. Bell was out of the lineup with a foot injury, so Giles moved into the leadoff spot and responded with two doubles and two singles. The lead seesawed until the fifth, when a two-run double by Giles and a two-run single by Wells gave St. Louis a 10-7 advantage. It stayed that way until the visitors added three more in the ninth for a 13-7 final. Roosevelt Davis, making his first appearance of the series, went the distance for the winners, allowing 10 hits and only 3 earned runs.

ST. LOUIS 401  140  003 — 13 19 5
Detroit       130  300  000 — 7  10 4
StL – R. DAVIS. Det – DEAN (8), Cooper (1)

The St. Louis Stars now had a 4-games-to-3 lead, and the series seemed to be headed for a rousing climax, but it was washed out in a whimper, instead. Crowds in Detroit had been disappointing, and after rainouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, the remainder of the series was called off. The premier stars had been Wells for St. Louis and Stearns for Detroit. The Devil had collected 13 hits and 11 RBIs, while the Turkey had poled 14 hits and driven home 9 runners.

St. Louis claimed the NNL title and with it the western Negro League championship. They had previously beaten the Eastern champion Homestead Grays in four games out of five and had swept four straight from the Southern champ, the Houston Black Buffaloes, so the local black weekly, the St. Louis Argus, touted them as world champions, exulting, “Give Them ‘More World to Conquer!’”