James Edward Boyd was born on March 31, 1918, in Winnsboro, South Carolina. He was the second child of farmer Dennis Boyd and his wife, Minnie; the couple eventually had nine children – eight boys and one girl. The 1940 census shows that James Boyd worked as a granite crusher. Presumably he found time to ply his trade as a baseball player during parts of the year, perhaps as a member of a company team.

Any prospective pitching career in the Negro major leagues was put on hold as Boyd served in the US Army from February 17, 1942 to October 18, 1945, during World War II. Seven months  after his military discharge, he signed with the Newark Eagles to play for $225 per month.1

As Boyd’s statistics show, he was seldom used. His lone relief appearance came in a game against the New York Cubans, Newark’s bitter rival, on June 10 at Dexter Park in Queens, New York, the home of the renowned semipro Brooklyn Bushwicks team. After starting pitcher Cecil Cole had allowed four runs in seven innings, Boyd pitched a scoreless eighth, though he did surrender a base hit and two walks that put him in a tenuous position. The Cubans did not score on Warren Peace in the ninth inning either. They won the game, 4-1.2

After Newark clinched the Negro National League’s first-half pennant with a doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Stars on June 30, Boyd made his lone start, against the New York Black Yankees at Ruppert Stadium on July 2. Larry Doby hit a three-run homer as part of Newark’s four-run outburst in the third inning and the Eagles triumphed, 7-1.3 Although the box score for the game is incomplete, Boyd’s season statistics make it clear that he pitched six full innings before being relieved by Len Hooker. Newark’s victory was Boyd’s sole pitching win as a member of the Eagles.

In spite of Boyd’s successful outing, Effa Manley may have decided to reassign him as part of the Eagles’ preparations for the NNL’s second-half race since manager Biz Mackey had used him so sparingly. She wrote a letter that was postdated July 7 – one day before Boyd was to report to Asheville – to C.L. Moore, the owner and manager of the Negro Southern League’s Blues. In a rarity for the Negro leagues, the Blues served as a farm team for the Eagles. Boyd was supposed to present Manley’s letter to Moore when he reported to his new team.

Manley’s missive made clear the reason for Boyd’s reassignment, as she wrote:

I believe him to be a nice person so far as conduct is concerned, and if he gets his control he will be a good pitcher. I have seen him pitch some good games.

I believe in your league he may not be pressing so hard, and it will give him a chance to loosen up a little.4

Boyd’s statistics do not seem to indicate that he was performing poorly and Manley appears still to have considered him to be a good prospect, so he might have had a future with the Eagles. However, it is clear that Boyd was not yet prepared to go to Asheville. He may have felt that he had not been given enough of a chance to prove his mettle or that his success in his brief appearances merited keeping him on the Eagles’ roster; thus, he took actions to try to invalidate his reassignment to the Asheville club.

Evidence for Boyd’s actions is found in another letter that Manley wrote, this time to team attorney Jerome Kessler and also dated July 7, 1946, though the content indicates that it actually was written on July 8. The fact that Boyd was threatening to sue – whether for breach of contract or to have his contract voided – becomes apparent from the second paragraph, in which Manley wrote:

I am enclosing the letter from the Atty. Also a copy of the letter I had written to Mr Moore of our Ashville N. Carolina farm club. This letter was to have been delivered by Mr. Boyd. Also enclosing the contract. In the contract paragraph 3, and 5, and 5b, seem to me to take care of this situation.5

She also informed Kessler that Newark had issued a paycheck to Boyd dated July 7 and that the Asheville club had “agreed to pay him the same salary we were.”6 She expressed her concern that, “(i)n view of what has happened, if Asheville learns about it, I doubt if they will want him. No club wants what is known as a bad actor on the team. They can cause so much trouble.”7 Boyd’s actions had obviously changed Manley’s earlier opinion of him as “a nice person so far as conduct is concerned.”

In reference to the pertinent sections of Boyd’s contract that Manley referenced, they are as follows:

3) The player will faithfully serve the Club or any other Club to which, in conformity with the agreements above recited, this contract may be assigned and pledges himself to the American public to conform to high standards of personal conduct, of fair play and good sportsmanship.

5. (a) In case of assignment of this contract to another Club, the Player shall promptly report to the assignee club; accrued salary shall be payable when he so reports; and each successive assignee shall become liable to the Player for his salary during his term of service with such assignee, and the Club shall not be liable therefor. If the player fails to report as above specified, he shall not be entitled to salary after the date he receives notice of assignment.

     (b) This contract may be terminated at any time by the Club or by any assignee upon five days’ written notice to the Player.8

Based upon these clauses in Boyd’s contract, it is obvious that he had no legal leg to stand on. However, no further documents exist to confirm whether he finally reported to Asheville or simply quit playing professional baseball; given the lack of any further news accounts or statistics on Boyd, the latter option is more likely.

Little is known of Boyd after the events of July 1946. He eventually married Lillie Bell, the daughter of Henry and Ida Bell of Fairfield County, South Carolina. (Boyd’s hometown of Winnsboro is in Fairfield County as well.) It is unknown whether the couple ever had children. James Boyd died of cerebral thrombosis at the youthful age of 47 on October 14, 1965, in a Columbia, South Carolina, Veterans Administration hospital. He is buried in Saint John Baptist Church Cemetery in Winnsboro. His widow, Lillie B. Boyd, died in Winnsboro at the age of 71 on March 3, 2001; she is buried beside James.

Acknowledgment

Gratitude is here expressed to Bob Golon, who made several trips to the Newark Public Library, scanned every document in the Effa Manley Collection, and made them all available to the authors of the present volume. Bob’s actions show the spirit of collegiality that is so often present among those who endeavor to research the history of the Negro Leagues.

Sources

All player statistics and team records listed in this article were taken from Seamheads.com.

Ancestry.com was consulted for census, military service, and death information.

Notes

1 Negro National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Uniform Player’s Contract for James Boyd, 1946, Effa Manley Collection, Newark Public Library.

2 “N.Y. Cuban Nine Trounces Eagles in Dexter Game,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 11, 1946: 14.

3 “Eagles Beat Yanks, 7-1,” Newark Star-Ledger, July 3, 1946: 15.

4 Effa Manley, Letter to Mr. C.L. Moore, July 7, 1946, Effa Manley Collection, Newark Public Library.

5 Effa Manley, Letter to Atty. Jerome Kessler, July 7, 1946, Effa Manley Collection, Newark Public Library.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Uniform Player’s Contract for James Boyd, 1946.

Harry Thomas Butts was born in Whaleyville, Virginia, on February 2, 1922, to Walter Norfleet and Mary (Downing) Butts. Whaleyville is in the southeastern corner of Virginia, in what was once known as Nansemond County, which in 1974 was reorganized as the Independent City of Suffolk. Today, the region in which Suffolk is situated is generally known as Hampton Roads.

Harry Butts’s father, who was known by his middle name, Norfleet, was a truck farmer whose land was on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. The surname Butts, and his father’s middle name Norfleet, were both last names of slave owners in the region, some of whom were among the area’s earliest settlers. Norfleet Butts named his son Harry, after his own father. Harry had three brothers and a sister.

While Norfleet operated the truck farm in the 1920s and 1930s, Mary worked in a nearby factory.1 The Whaleyville area’s largest employers were packers of Virginia hams and local peanut processors, including Planters Peanuts, which was founded in Suffolk in 1912.2 Mary died in 1933, and sometime between then and 1940, the family moved from their farm into the city of Suffolk.3 In 1935 Norfleet married Odessa B. Shambley, who was nearly 20 years his junior.

Two of Harry’s brothers left Suffolk after 1940 and headed north to Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. It is possible that Harry’s brief career with the Newark Eagles was facilitated through visits to the two brothers. It is more likely, however, that the Newark Eagles learned of the left-handed pitching prospect during their frequent exhibition and league games in the Hampton Roads area during the 1930s and 1940s, the earliest visit being a game against Washington’s Hilldale Giants in 1938.4

Little is known of Harry’s life before 1942, when he registered for the World War II draft. Was he the teenager named Harry Butts who was shot in the legs during a late-night fight at a club in Suffolk in 1937?5 Did he attend Booker T. Washington High School, the first high school for African-Americans in Suffolk? Is it possible that Butts pitched for the Suffolk Giants in the segregated Virginia-Carolina League prior to his service during World War II?6 With the passage of time and the lack of documentation, the answers to these questions might never be confidently answered. It is unlikely, however, that Butts graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. His Army draft card credits him with only a “grammar school” education.7

The 1940s brought tremendous changes to Butts’s life. It was a complicated decade replete with triumphs and turbulence. In June 1942, when Harry registered for the draft, he was 20 years old, unemployed, and living with his father in Suffolk.8 Later that year, he married Carrie Letha Rollins in Suffolk. At the time, both worked at a local packing plant.9 Four months after their wedding, Butts was a private in the US Army. His enlistment papers list his height as 5-feet-8 and his weight at 148 pounds.10 Less than nine months later, on September 24, 1943, Butts was honorably discharged with a Certificate of Disability for Discharge, the first formal indication that he suffered from mental illness.11 Butts was not alone in this regard. In 1942, roughly 40 percent of all early discharges from the Army were CDDs.12

It is not known if Butts received any treatment after his diagnosis by the Army, or if he played in any professional baseball games between 1943 and 1945. One thing is certain, however: His life was beginning to change. The first of his nine children, Harry T. Butts Jr., was born in Suffolk in 1946, a few months before Harry made his debut as a left-handed pitcher for the Newark Eagles.

On June 5, 1946, Butts took the mound for the first time for the Eagles, in a game against the Baltimore Elite Giants at Memorial Field in Hagerstown, Maryland.13 There was another Butts on the field that evening: Tommy “Pee Wee” Butts, the crack shortstop for the Elite Giants, who was unrelated to Harry. It was not a pleasant experience for the rookie southpaw from Suffolk. Harry Butts was roughed up for seven runs in the second inning and the Eagles fell to the Elite Giants 13-2.14

A week after his forgettable debut, Butts pitched for the Eagles in an exhibition game against the Lloyd Athletic Club in Chester, Pennsylvania. This time the outcome was more positive. Butts (whose first name was given as Harvey in the Chester newspaper) and the Eagles won, 7-2, with Warren Peace sealing the deal in relief.15 Butts struck out two and walked two. He scored one of Newark’s seven runs, on a double by Clarence “Pint” Isreal.16

After the victory over the Lloyd A.C., Butts was never seen in a Newark Eagles uniform again. Why he was cut from the roster is unknown. Possibly he was injured. Perhaps he was a classic example of a “cup of coffee” player – just a temporary hire to fill in a gap in the lineup. Regardless of the cause, Butts did not play another game for Newark.

It was nearly a year before Butts returned to baseball. This time it was for a semipro team, the Norfolk Royals of the Negro Carolina League. On July 15, 1947, Butts took the mound in relief for the Royals in an 8-6 loss to the Durham (North Carolina) Eagles in Durham.17 Later that season, an account of another Royals game mentioned a pitcher named Walter Butts.18 This appears to be a reporting error.

Harry Butts returned to pitch for the Royals in 1948. That year the team had a new name, the Norfolk Newport-News Royals, and a new league, the Negro American Association. In July the Royals played Butts’s old team the Eagles and Butts was the starting pitcher in the 9-7 victory at High Rock Park in Norfolk.19 A month later, on August 22, at Mooers Park in Norfolk, Butts was on the losing end of a battle against his former Newark Eagles teammate Warren Peace, who was pitching for the Richmond Giants.20 Peace and the Giants won, 9-3, over Butts and his Negro American Association All-Stars.21 That game appears to have been Butts’s final start in 1948. The unhappy end to his season was compounded by personal grief: Harry’s father, Walter Norfleet Butts Sr., died in Suffolk on October 24, from brain and stomach cancer at the age of 64.

In 1949 Butts pitched for teams in in two distinctly different geographic regions. He started the year by playing for San Juan in the Puerto Rican Winter League.22 In March he signed with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League.23 For Butts, 1949 was also the year in which he reinvented himself as an untested younger man – as a 20-year-old “rookie find” for the Clowns.24 In truth, he was 27 years old. While it was not uncommon for ballplayers to shave a few years off their ages, not everyone described Butts as a fresh face, and there seemed to be some confusion as to his real age and experience. An article in the Chicago Defender called Butts one of the Clowns’ “veteran performers.”25 Later in the season, however, the Defender ran a photo of Butts and described him as a “prize rookie” and a “youthful southpaw [who] got off to a slow start, which was blamed on a lack of experience, but is hitting winning form. …”26

After the Clowns season ended, Butts traveled with the team for a barnstorming tour in the South. He played in several games in Florida, including one against the Miami Giants in which he was described in the local newspaper as a “prize rookie” and a “stellar sepia” hurler.27 His last start and win for the Clowns in 1949 was a sparkling five-hitter against the Miami Giants on October 9 at Miami Stadium.28 Although he had some tough losses for Indianapolis in the summer of 1949, he was good enough to represent the East in the annual East West All-Star Game and was asked to return to the Clowns for the 1950 season.29

For Butts the early 1950s were hallmarked by familiar surroundings, new beginnings, and an abrupt end to his professional baseball career. In 1950 he was one of the top hurlers for the Clowns. He struck out 107 batters, second only to a teammate, 19-year-old Cuban native Raul Galata, who led the NAL with 120 strikeouts.30 Again Butts also was named to the East All-Star squad.31 As the 1950 season came to a close for the Clowns, it was widely reported that Butts had caught the attention of major-league baseball. In September rumors were swirling that Butts was being scouted by the Boston Braves after a one-hit performance against the Philadelphia Stars.32 Were the Braves really interested in Butts, or was this just a public-relations stunt orchestrated by Clowns owner Syd Pollock? News of the possible signing of Butts by the Braves was picked up by dozens of newspapers. Such an addition to the Braves roster was not outside the realm of possibility; the team had already signed an African-American player, Sam Jethroe, earlier in the year.33 Pollock later lamented that Butts “missed out on an opportunity to move up,” and claimed that he had been scouted by the Chicago White Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers.34 After the 1950 NAL season was over, Butts joined the Clowns on a barnstorming tour facing Jackie Robinson’s All-Stars. One notable performance for Butts was his 7-6 victory over the All-Stars in Miami.35 When all was said and done, at the end of 1950 no major-league club had made an offer to Butts.

Butts returned to play for the Clowns in 1951 but left the team in midseason, jumping to the Brandon Greys of the semipro ManDak League.36 At the time he was one of the NAL’s leading pitchers with a 6-1 record.37 It was reported that Pollock was incensed at Butt’s defection, but he was not the only Clowns player to head northward to play in the ManDak League, presumably for a better payday and a higher quality of life.38 Pollock, however, may have also been a bit disingenuous with his outrage. According to the Minot (North Dakota) Daily News, three players were furnished to the Minot Mallards by “Syd Pollock of the Indianapolis Clowns, who supplies colored players to Brandon.”39

Butts was one of dozens of African-American baseball players (many from then-failing Negro League teams) who headed north to the Mandak League, which straddled the US-Canadian border. Even Satchel Paige was lured to the league after he was released by the Cleveland Indians. Paige pitched a handful of games for the Minot Mallards – all that the team’s owners claimed they could afford.40 Butts played for the Brandon (Manitoba) Greys in 1951 and 1952. In 1951 Lloyd “Pepper” Bassett, former star catcher for the Birmingham Black Barons, was his backstop.41 Butts finished his first season with an impressive 9-0 record, one of only three Mandak League pitchers with perfect seasons through the mid-1950s.42 When the 1951 League season ended, Butts played one season in the Dominican Summer League, for the Estrellas Orientales.43 After his hitch in the Caribbean was over, he barnstormed as a member of the Negro League All-Stars, traveling with Jackie Robinson’s Major League Negro League All-Stars.44

Butts embarked on a new baseball adventure in 1952 when he signed with the Vancouver Capilanos of the Class-A Western International League. He was the fourth African-American to sign with the Capilanos.45 As he had done when he had joined the Indianapolis Clowns, Butts shaved a few years off his real age. He was advertised as a 23-year-old “rookie” even though he had turned 30 the month before.46 Vancouver classified Butts as a rookie because it was his first year in Organized Baseball, and touted his 1.94 ERA with the Clowns and recent success pitching in winter leagues.47 The club claimed that Butts had amassed an impressive 20-4 record while playing for three different teams in 1951.48 The Capilanos actively promoted Butts as their next star player, describing him as a “left-handed hurler who comes off the mound as though jet propelled.”49 In a preseason article, the Vancouver Sun heaped praise on the southpaw.50 Capilanos manager Robert “Bob” Brown noted Butts’s diverse résumé and powerful physique and observed that “all that jumpin’ didn’t hurt his throwin’” and as a “5-foot-11, 168-pounder, Butts is regarded as major league timber, especially if he ever stops bouncing around like a Mexican jumping bean.”51 The descriptions of Butts’s physical characteristics were likely as accurate as his age. It is unlikely that Butts grew three inches taller after he was measured by the Army in 1942, and again in 1943, as being 5-feet-8.52

Butts was unable to live up to the Capilanos’ hype. His brief association with Vancouver in the spring of 1952 was not a memorable one. During spring training, Butts showed some promise as a starter and reliever but as the regular season unfolded, his wildness on the mound became a more frequent occurrence. It was not uncommon for Butts to hit a batter with a pitch, and at least once, he clocked two.53 In addition to his control problems, by early May of 1952, Butts seemed to be “running out of gas with each of his starts.”54 Manager Brown’s frank assessment: “I am disappointed in Harry Butts … a young man with all the ability in the world.”55 Brown felt that Butts “doesn’t concentrate enough on the club he’s with.”56 He added that Butts, “always has aspirations elsewhere, a habit that could cost him a wonderful career.”57 Butts appears to have been unmoved by his manger’s criticisms and embraced his vagabond lifestyle. In a letter he wrote to former Capilanos teammate Paul Jones, he said that he “liked the wheat country just fine.”58

By the third week in May, Butts was released.59 He headed 1,200 miles east to Brandon, to play for the Greys in the Mandak League. His lack of success in Vancouver was not a fluke. His glory days as a marquee pitcher were in his rear-view mirror and the road ahead was not an easy one to travel. The control problems that plagued Butts in Vancouver continued to haunt him in 1952 season in the Mandak League.  In a game against the Carman Cardinals in June, Butts gave up 10 runs in three innings in a relief appearance.60 Later in the season, he threw a workmanlike six-hitter to give the Greys a 4-3 win over the Cardinals.61 But his walks were starting to outnumber his strikeouts and he was losing more games than he was winning. Butts’s struggles were mirrored by the financial challenges faced by the Mandak League and the Greys. By early summer there were concerns that the Greys would not be able to field a nine-man roster.62 The club finished the 1952 season $18,000 in the red.63

Butts earned the dubious honor of leading the league in losses – nine, against five victories.64 He pitched 111 innings and gave up 103 hits, walked 73 batters, struck out 96, and tossed seven wild pitches.65 There are several possible reasons for Butts’s decline in 1952. First, as historian Barry Swanton concluded, Butts underperformed in the Mandak in 1952 because opposing hitters were “catching up to him.”66 But two other factors may have also played a role: the stress from being 1,800 miles away from his family in Suffolk, which, by 1952 included four young children, and possibly his struggles with mental illness that had been diagnosed by Army physicians a decade earlier.

After the Mandak season ended in August 1952, Butts returned home to Virginia and pitched a handful of games for the Newport News Royals. On September 14, 1952, at Peninsula War Memorial Stadium. Butts threw a one-hitter against Vic Zodda’s All-Stars, winning the game 8-1.67 Some of the batters he faced were former minor-league players Pres Elkins and Ed Wopinek, the latter of whom spoiled Butts’s no-hit bid with a two-out double in the ninth inning.68 Although the attendance was just 594, Butts’s nearly flawless nine innings on the mound were so memorable that the game was included in the year-end list of Newport News sports highlights.69 Chances are that few of the 594 in attendance came to see Harry Butts. The real star of the game was Willie Mays, who played for the Royals during his Army service at nearby Fort Eustis.70 It is worth noting that Vic Zodda, who was the catcher for his All-Stars, was in 1952 the general manager of the all-white Newport News Dodgers minor-league team. In March Zodda predicted that 1952 was the year in which the color line would be broken in the all-white Piedmont League.71 Zodda said, “I know of one club that is already dickering with two Negro players in an attempt to sign them for this season,” and that it will be accomplished because “none of the Piedmont League cities have laws against Negroes playing on white teams.”72 Actually the Piedmont League did not integrate its squads for another year. It was not until 1953 when Butts and a handful of other black players helped make Zodda’s prediction come true.

In the spring of 1953, for the first time in its 34-year history, Piedmont League teams started signing African-American players.73 It should be noted, however, that with the addition of the York White Roses (formerly of the then-defunct Interstate League), a team that already had African-American players on its roster, the Piedmont League was integrated by default.74 York had at least two African-American players on its roster prior to joining the Piedmont League. Samuel Green was added to York’s bullpen in 1951 and William “Bill” Springfield, was assigned by the St. Louis Browns to the White Roses in the spring of 1952.75 Springfield signed with the White Roses on February 12, 1953, which made him the first African-American to play for a Piedmont League team.76

The first Piedmont League team that was member of the league prior to 1953 to “officially drop the color bar” and invite black players to tryouts was the Portsmouth Merrimacs.77 Harry Butts was one of them and thus helped to make Piedmont League history. His tenure with Portsmouth, however, was brief and unsatisfying. After Butts took spring training with the Merrimacs, he lost his first and only game for Portsmouth, on May 1, 1953, against the Roanoke Red Sox, 3-2.78 Butts was called out of the bullpen in the bottom of the 10th with the score tied, 2-2.79 Butts issued two walks in the 10th which helped Roanoke to score the winning run.80 Less than two weeks later, Butts was gone from the Merrimacs and signed with the league’s Richmond Colts (also known as the Mustangs).81 Butts was not the first black player for Richmond. A month earlier, the Colts had signed their first African-American player, right-handed pitcher Whit Graves, Butts’s former Indianapolis Clowns teammate.82 The two had something else in common: Both were suspended from playing in the Negro American League when they jumped from the Clowns to teams in the Mandak League in 1951.83

Butts lost his first start for Richmond, on May 23 against his former Portsmouth Merrimac teammates.84 In the 6-3 loss before 887 spectators, Butts issued six walks, struck out four, and hit one batter.85 His first win for the Colts came five days later, when Richmond edged York, 5-4.86 It was true that the only team with a worse record in the Piedmont League than the “Hapless Colts” was the York Roses, but for Butts, a win was a win.87

By July 1953 Butts had developed a reputation in the Piedmont League; his flashes of brilliance were diminished by his chronic control problems. Such was the case in a start on July 14, when he threw a “sparkling four-hit, 3-0 shutout” against the Hagerstown Braves.88 It was just his second win of the season. One reporter wrote that Butts, a “lefty whose usual characteristic is wildness, settled down tonight,” and issued one walk and struck out nine.89 The Petersburg Progress-Index agreed and noted that “Hagerstown fell victim, more or less, to an oddity, a steady, almost walk-less performance by the Richmond wild man, lefty Harry Butts … who usually walks himself right out of the box.”90 Sportswriter Steve Guback of the Richmond Times-Dispatch described Butts as a, “slender Negro left-hander,” who was a “habitually wild” pitcher, and that it was “rumored before the game that [Butts] might be released if he failed to come through, and apparently he knew it.”91 Hagerstown manager Dutch Dorman was likely neither impressed by Butts nor surprised at his nine’s poor performance. In June, he expressed his disappointment in the level of play the Piedmont League by blaming the Korean War draft for the lack of good players, the lure of jobs with better paydays than “B” leagues could offer, and television for lack of fan support.92 Dorman may have just been venting his frustrations with his team’s lack of success and tasting some sour grapes. He and his Hagerstown Braves were the Interstate League champions prior to migrating to the Piedmont League.93

The summer of 1953 was a roller-coaster for Butts’s career as a pitcher in the Piedmont League. There were more valleys than peaks, and the ride came to screeching halt in September. After a few promising performances early in the season, the expectations dimmed significantly. By August, Butts had lost 11 starts and earned the title of “losingest pitcher” in the Piedmont League.94 On September 7, 1953, in a losing effort against the Norfolk Tars (the eventual League champions), Butts “couldn’t find the plate [and] threw eight bad pitches to walk [two players].”95 With the loss, 31-year-old Harry Butts’s tenure with the Tars ended with a dismal 3-13 won-lost record. It was also his last start as a professional ballplayer. The season finale was a bitter end for Butts and the Richmond Colts. The team finished in last place in the Piedmont League.96 Not only had Butts played his last game, but the Richmond team itself said farewell to the Piedmont League. In December 1953, owner Eddie Mooers sold the Richmond club to Harry C. Seibold, who changed the team’s name to the Richmond Virginians and it became a member of the Triple-A International League.97

After his baseball career ended in September 1953, Butts faded into baseball anonymity. It is possible that he could have continued playing for one of the local amateur nines in the Suffolk area, but if he pitched in another game, it was not reported. His days playing for teams from such far-flung locations as San Juan and Vancouver behind him, Butts and his wife, Carrie, focused on raising their nine children in their house in Suffolk. As adults, five of their nine children remained in southeastern Virginia. Four of their seven sons headed northward to New York, eventually settling on Long Island.

Harry Thomas Butts died on April 7, 1977, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hampton, Virginia. He was just 52 years old. Before being admitted to the hospital, he was employed at the Virginia Packing Company, a meat packing and processing plant in Suffolk.98 The cause of his death was cardiac arrest as a result of a collapsed lung (pneumothorax).99 Two conditions that contributed to his death were “encephalomalacia of the left parietal lobe” and “chronic schizophrenia.”100 Butts was survived by his wife Carrie, all nine of his children, and two siblings.101 His obituary mentioned that he “played baseball with several leagues.”102 Butts is buried in the George Washington Carver Memorial Cemetery in Suffolk with a bronze veteran’s marker to honor his Army service.

Harry Butts overcame many challenges to pursue a career in baseball. He spent eight years as a pitcher in semipro and professional baseball, and played for teams in at least four countries. One of those teams was the Newark Eagles. Butts played in only two games in an Eagles uniform and did not play for Newark in the 1946 Negro World Series. His association with the Eagles was so brief that his full name is rarely mentioned in the team’s records. When his name did appear on the sports pages, it was sometimes misspelled as Harvey Butts, as it was in a newspaper account of his second start for Newark.103 Others referred to him as Hank, Henry, or sometimes as Lefty Butts.104 Based on the numbers, Butts will likely be remembered more for his peripatetic career, wild southpaw pitches, and inconsistent performances than for his periodic flashes of brilliance. Those memories, however, should not obscure his legacy that has been overlooked by sportswriters and baseball historians. And that is that he was one of the first African-American players to take the field in the Piedmont League in 1953, and helped to integrate what had been an all-white league. That accomplishment, more than any won-lost statistic, is his enduring contribution to baseball.

Notes

1 US Census Bureau, 1920 Census; US Census Bureau, 1930 Census.

2 Patrick Evans-Hylton, The Suffolk Peanut Festival (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia, 2004), 38.

3 Commonwealth of Virginia, Certificate of Death, August 31, 1933; US Census Bureau, 1940 Census.

4 “Hilldale Play Two,” Richmond Times Dispatch, June 29, 1938: 12; “Crack Negro Nines to Play Here Tonight,” Newport News Daily Press, September 10, 1941: 8.

5 “Negro Youth Shot, Another Arrested,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, September 28, 1937: 15.

6 “Tidewater Giants Defeat Suffolk in Loop Opener,” Newport News Daily Press, May 6, 1940: 5.

7 US Army World War II Draft Record, January 28, 1943.

8 US Army, Selective Service Enlistment Record, Registrar’s Report, June 30, 1942.

9 Commonwealth of Virginia, Certificate of Marriage, September 28, 1942.

10 US Army, Selective Service Enlistment Record, Registrar’s Report, June 30, 1942.

11 US Army Selective Service Enlistment Record, Discharge Document, September 24, 1943.

12 Hans Pols and Stephanie Oak, “War and Military Mental Health: US Psychiatric Response in the 20th Century,” American Journal of Public Health, December 2007: 2132-2142.

13 “Elite Giants Win,” Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland), June 6, 1946: 14.

14 Ibid.

15 “Lloyd Falls Prey to Newark Eagles, 7-2,” Delaware County Times (Chester, Pennsylvania), June 13, 1946: 26.

16 Ibid.

17 “Durham Eagles Win,” Durham (North Carolina) Morning Herald, July 15, 1947: 9.

18 “Johnson Hurls Victory Over Royals by 4 to 3,” Richmond Times Dispatch, September 5, 1948: 26.

19 “NN Down Jersey City Nine,” Newport News Daily Press, July 14, 1948: 8.

20 “Giants Divide Pair of Games with All-Stars,” Richmond Times Dispatch, August 23, 1948: 13.

21 Ibid.

22 Center for Negro League Research, “Negro Leaguers in Puerto Rico,” accessed online, cnlbr.org/Portals/0/RL/Negro%20Leaguers%20in%20Puerto%20Rico.pdf.

23 “Clowns Ready for Workouts,” Chicago Defender, March 5, 1949: 14.

24 “Expect a Crowd at Flaherty Field Tuesday Night,” New Castle (Pennsylvania) News, July 23, 1949: 15.

25 “Clowns Ready for Workouts,” Chicago Defender, March 5, 1949: 14.

26 “No Buts About It,” Chicago Defender, July 23, 1949: 16.

27 “For [sic] Top Hurlers Here as Clowns,” Miami (Florida) News, October 3, 1949: 19.

28 “Negro Teams Play Second Game Here,” Miami News, October 10, 1949: 17.

29 “Chandler to Open East, West Game,” Chicago Tribune, August 14, 1949: 67.

30 “NAL Revises Plans for College Stars,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 10, 1951: 8; “Indianapolis Clowns Win Three Exhibition Games,” Atlanta Daily World, April 7, 1951: 5.

31 Russ J. Cowans, “Fans Storm Chicago for East-West Game,” Chicago Defender, August 19, 1950: 1.

32 Les Matthews, “Sports Train,” New York Age, September 30, 1950: 27.

33 Bob Holbrook, “Streakin’ Sam Proud of His Speed, Hopes to Be Worthy of Braves Cap,” Boston Globe, March 1, 1950.

34 “Peeples Sold to Dodger Farm Club,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 7, 1951: 14.

35 Howard Kleinberg, “Clowns Nose Out All-Stars by 7-6,” Miami News, November 6, 1950: 18.

36 Peeples Sold to Dodger Farm Club,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 7, 1951: 14.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid.

39 “Pitcher to Appear in 3 [sic] Tilts,” Minot (North Dakota) Daily News, May 11, 1950.

40 “Caps’ Hitters Take Command,” Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader-Post, May 22, 1950: 18;

 (“Satch’s Back,” Regina Leader-Post, May 26, 1950: 19.

41 “Leafs Capture Baseball Gravy,” Regina Leader-Post, July 26, 1951: 20.

42 John Owen, “The Bucket,” Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune, May 25, 1955: 20.

43 Center for Negro League Baseball Research, “Negro League Players Who Played Baseball in the Dominican Summer League, accessed online, cnlbr.org/Portals/0/RL/Negro%20Leaguers%20in%20the%20Dominican%20Republic.pdf.  

44 “Major League All-Stars Play Here Tonight,” Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times, October 22, 1951: 10.

45 “Capilanos Have Four Negro Players,” Nanaimo (British Columbia) Daily News, March 4, 1952: 6. 

46 “Meet Harry Butts,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Sun, March 4, 1952: 10.

47 “Capilanos Have Four Negro Players.”

48 Keith Matthews, “Vancouver Capilanos Will Be Favored to Take Western International Honors,” Roseburg (Oregon) News-Review, April 16, 1952: 8.

49 Dick Beddoes, “Caps Rooks Look Good, Says Carse,” Vancouver Sun, April 8, 1952: 10.

50 “Meet Harry Butts,” Vancouver Sun, March 4, 1952: 10.

51 Ibid.

52 US Army World War II Draft Record, January 28, 1943: 2; US Army Selective Service Enlistment Record, Discharge Document, September 24, 1943: 2.

53 Dick Beddoes, “Lundberg Shatters Ol’ No. 13 Hoodoo,” Vancouver Sun, May 6, 1952: 8.

54 “WIL Baseball – 1952,” Blog, accessed online: wilbaseball52.blogspot.com/2007/12/sunday-may-11-1952.html.

55 Don Carlson, “Caps Best Ever,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Province, May 27, 1952: 8.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.

58 Al Cottrell, “But Listen!” Province, June 28, 1952: 14.

59 Clancy Loranger, “Heat Haunted Snyder,” Province, May 20, 1952: 8.

60 “Players Swing Fists,” Regina Leader-Post, June 17, 1952: 22.

61 “Out of the Cellar for One Hour,” Leader-Post, August 14, 1952: 22.

62 “Lou Tost to Boss Brandon,” Leader-Post, June 5, 1952: 22.

63 “From the 4 Corners,” Leader-Post, September 20, 1952: 17.

64 Western Canada Baseball, “1952 Statistics, Mandak League,” Accessed online: attheplate.com/wcbl/1952_2.html.

65 Ibid.

66 Barry Swanton, The Mandak League: Haven for Former Negro League Ballplayers (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2006), 83.

67 Dick Welsh, “Royals Rout ‘Stars,’ 8-1; Butts Misses No-Hitter,” Newport News Daily Press, September 15, 1952: 5.

68 Ibid.

69 Day-by-Day Chronology of Busy 1952 Year in Peninsula Sports Circles,” Daily Press, December 31, 1952: 13.

70 James S. Hirsch, Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 157-159.

71 “Piedmonters May Break Color Line,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 24, 1952: 18.

72 Ibid.

73 “Colts are Fourth Piedmont Club to Get Negro Player,” Newport News Daily Press, April 20, 1953: 5.

74 Ed Young, “Piedmont League Negro Stars Show Up Well,” Petersburg (Virginia) Progress-Index, July 29, 1953: 16-17.

75 “York Roses Acquire Bill Springfield, First Negro Player on Local Roster,” York (Pennsylvania) Gazette and Daily, April 8, 1952: 22.

76 First of Roses on the Line,” Gazette and Daily, February 13, 1953: 29.

77 “Portsmouth Club Tryout 10 Players,” Atlanta Daily World, April 8, 1953: 5.

78 “Roanoke Red Sox Nip Macs in Ten Inning Hill Battle, 3-2,” Roanoke (Virginia) Daily Press, May 2, 1953: 9.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid.

81 “Macs in 5th Straight Win, Bounce Colts,” Daily Press, May 24, 1953: 25.

82 “Colts Are Fourth Piedmont Club”; Swanton, 207.

83 “Peeples Sold to Dodger Farm Club,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 7, 1951: 14.

84 “Macs in 5th Straight.”

85 Ibid.

86 “Dewey Wilkins Doing Usual Fine Job for Hapless Colts,” Staunton (Virginia) News Leader, May 29, 1953: 6.

87 Ibid.

88 “Colts Slow Up Hagerstown on 4-Hit Job,” Newport News Daily Press, July 15, 1953: 11.

89 Ibid.

90 Colts Slow Up Hagerstown.”

91 Steve Guback, “Left-Hander Claims Nine on Strikes,” Richmond Times Dispatch, July 15, 1953: 22.

92 Shelley Rolfe, “War, Higher Pay Elsewhere Cited by Dorman for Poor ‘B’ Baseball,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, June 4, 1953: 26.

93 “Hagerstown Cops Interstate Loop Playoff Crown,” York (Pennsylvania) Gazette and Daily, September 22, 1952: 18.

94 “Johnson Comeback Helps Norfolk in Bid to Cop Piedmont Pennant,” Staunton (Virginia) News Leader, August 4, 1953: 9.

95 “Dodgers Open Playoffs Tonight in Hagerstown,” Newport News (Virginia) Daily Press, September 8, 1953: 5-6.

96 “Piedmont Playoffs Begin Tonight as Norfolk Tars Capture Pennant,” News Leader, September 8, 1953: 9.

97 “Offer Possessions to Save Richmond Club,” Ottawa Journal, January 6, 1954: 22.

98 Commonwealth of Virginia, “Certificate of Death” for Harry Thomas Butts, April 7, 1977.

99 Ibid.

100 Ibid.

101 “Obituaries,” Suffolk (Virginia) News-Herald, April 10, 1977: 2.

102 Ibid.

103 “Lloyd Falls Prey to Newark Eagles, 7-2,” Delaware County Daily Times (Chester, Pennsylvania), June 13, 1946: 26.

104 Dick Beddoes, “Caps Rooks Look Good, Says Carse,” Vancouver Sun, April 8, 1952: 10; Keith Matthews, “Vancouver Capilanos Will Be Favored to Take Western International Honors,” Roseburg (Oregon) News-Review, April 16, 1952: 8; “Newark Eagle [sic] Plays Royals Here Tonight,” Newport News Daily Press, July 21, 1948: 10.

The question made Cole smile. “Yeah, on occasion I wonder what I might have done if I had had the chance, but you can’t dwell on things like that,” he replied. “I had my chance to play professionally with the Eagles and I had a good time doing it.”2

Cecil Edward Cole was born in Connellsville on September 23, 1919, to Virginia and Andrew Jackson (A.J.) Cole. His brother, Elmer, had been born about a year earlier. The 1920 and 1930 censuses show that the four of them lived with A.J.’s parents, Reuben and Minnie, on Connellsville’s west edge among Italian immigrants and their families. Connellsville, which is about 45 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, had a population hovering around 13,500 during the 1920s.3 Minnie Cole ran a laundry business out of their home. Reuben had lost his right arm in a mining accident around the turn of the century but was a dairyman on the side.4

A.J. Cole had made a name for himself by mid-1914 while attending Dunbar Township High School. In March he appeared with four white students in a photo on the front page of nearby Uniontown’s Morning Herald. They were members of the Fricksonian Society, a competitive speech team.5 His oration, a tribute to mothers, was so highly regarded that it was reprinted in Connellsville’s Daily Courier 35 years later.6 Soon enough, he was mentioned in the context of a committee of Union Baptist Church, and then served a few months in the military in 1918, at the end of World War I.7

Between the 1919 and 1921 city directories the family’s address changed from 206 North Twelfth Street to 201, where Cecil Cole lived at least until his marriage in 1946.8 As a result, he had easy access to Connellsville’s Twelfth Street Field for baseball games and the like. A game of “mushball” (16-inch softball) at that field in mid-1932, when Cecil was 12, was reported in the Daily Courier, and that may have been the first time the Cole brothers were mentioned in any newspaper. Cecil and Elmer’s H.D. Club defeated a “junior” team of the Betters Athletic Club, 7-6.9 The Cole brothers’ team may have been attached to a local Home Demonstration Club, an equivalent to the 4-H Clubs that still exist today.10 In any case, less than a month later the brothers were again on the winning side of a mushball game, except with the U.B. Juniors. That may have been a Union Baptist team. In both instances the newspaper helped drum up additional contests for the Cole brothers. “Teams desiring games with the Juniors are requested to call No. 986 on the telephone and ask for Cecil or Elmer Cole,” the latter account concluded.11

Based on first initials, it appears that in 1933 Cecil Cole pitched for the Liberty Heights Juniors (caught by a kid from his same block, Mickey Delligatti), while in 1934 both Cecil and Elmer were on the DePaul All Stars. In November of that year a C. Cole and E. Cole were also in the lineup of the Liberty Heights Juniors’ football team.12

Connellsville High School didn’t have a baseball team while Cecil Cole attended, so as an athlete he was known there primarily as a javelin thrower.13 In May of 1936 he was among the 52 students who represented his school at a county track and field competition.14 About a year later, in a summary of a dual meet against Georges Township High School, Cole was listed among the top three finishers in the pole vault and high jump as well as the javelin.15 Three weeks later he repeated that performance against Scottdale.16 On June 5, 1937, Cole graduated from Connellsville High.17

The very next month he burst onto the local baseball scene. In a seven-inning Works Progress Administration-YMCA Junior Baseball League game on July 7, 20 of the 21 outs he recorded on the mound were by strikeout and he yielded only one hit. From the box score it appears that the remaining putout was a baserunner thrown out by Cole’s catcher. Cole’s Bowmans upset the “highly touted Cubs,” 14-2. “He completely baffled the hard hitting Cubs with his curves and blinding speed,” wrote the Daily Courier after calling Cole the “new pitching sensation in the Junior League” and crediting him with “one of the most dazzling performances of twirling yet seen at Fayette Field.” The paper characterized attendance as very high.18 Less than two weeks later, in another seven-inning game but against a different team, he struck out 17 opponents and gave up only two hits. Then, on August 9, he again dominated the Cubs. In a six-inning nightcap he struck out 14 and again limited them to one hit in a shutout.19

In 1938 Cole wore two different baseball caps. During the first half of May he was twice listed by his local newspaper on the roster of the Connellsville Tigers. It was only after a game later in May that the Courier mentioned the fact that the Tigers were a “Negro” nine. Cole played shortstop in that game against a Merchants team. In mid-June Cole was the winning pitcher against the Scottdale Grays at that foe’s ballpark. He also pitched the Tigers to victory in Normalville during July.20

Cole’s other team that summer was the American Legion’s squad in the WPA-YMCA Junior Baseball League. On June 28 he reminded fans of his success a year earlier by striking out 11 Dunbar batters on his way to a four-hit shutout that the Courier called “masterful.” He followed that up on July 5 with a one-hit shutout in which he struck out 16.21

On July 19 Cole continued to astound, with a 5-0 no-hitter against a team called the Pirates in which he fanned 17. One walk kept him from a perfect game. He began August with a 2-0 two-hitter in which he whiffed 12 foes. In a game on August 24 he suffered an ankle sprain that forced him to leave the mound in the fourth inning of his start the next day, and that signaled the end of his staggering accomplishments for the season.22

Oddly, Cole was hardly mentioned by first name during the 1939 season. His time on area diamonds was seemingly limited to the local Church Softball League, hurling for a new team organized by the Payne African Methodist Episcopal Church.23 Cole was their pitcher in the box score printed by the Daily Courier on June 2; most of his teammates’ surnames match the rosters of the Connellsville Tigers a year earlier.24

Reuben Cole was in poor health throughout the first half of 1939, but he and Minnie celebrated 50 years of marriage in May. He died in July at the age of 77. The family was so overwhelmed by the resulting sympathy, kindness, and floral tributes that it placed a classified ad to express its gratitude. Minnie died in February of 1943, at the age of 67 or 68, days after suffering a stroke. 25

In 1940 Cecil was working 44 hours a week as a janitor for a retail grocery, according to the federal census. His military draft card that year specified his height as 5-feet-10 and his weight as 161 pounds. He apparently pitched for two teams that summer, as he had two years earlier. “C. Cole” pitched for Payne A.M.E. again,26 but by the end of June he also debuted with the West Side team of the City Recreation Center-YMCA Schoolboy Baseball League. In his first outing he immediately re-established his credentials as a pitching star by not yielding a hit in a 1-1 tie. He struck out 12 opponents in the seven-inning contest, and their only run resulted from an error.27

On August 20 Cole his match against his league’s Davidson team, when both pitchers tossed a two-hitter and struck out 19. Cole’s team was shut out and Davidson scored three times with the aid of three errors, four walks, and a hit batsman. Nevertheless, Cole impressed enough that season to be one of only two pitchers to hurl for “Team One” in both league all-star games on consecutive days in late August.28

In November Cole was named in a Daily Courier article about local men who were potentially facing military service, and in February of 1941 the paper identified him among 13 new volunteers. Word of this reached a newspaper in New York, where it was noted that the Newark Eagles had been working to recruit “the promising rookie hurler.”29 According to Cole’s Application for World War II Compensation, filed in 1950, he began domestic service on February 24, 1941.

On August 2, 1941, the Daily Courier printed a letter that Cole wrote from Fort Huachuca, Arizona, to Fred Snell, assistant county supervisor of the WPA recreation program. Cole was assigned to the 368th Infantry. The newspaper prefaced the letter by noting that for the previous three summers Cole “was the leading pitcher in the Recreation Center-Y.M.C.A. Baseball League which is a city playground loop for boys of high school age. At the time Cole was inducted into the service he was under contract to play for the colored Elks [sic] of Newark, N.J.” Cole began with an upbeat tone, and then described his duties. “I’m attached to Headquarters Company, and my work consists of map reading and radio coding,” Cole wrote. “We go to school for radio coding. I am a radio operator.”

After remarking about the beauty of the Arizona landscape, he reported on baseball: “I am now playing on the Regular 368th baseball team and we are undefeated in the six games played,” he wrote, and listed the opponents, noting that he limited the Tucson Air Corps team to two hits. “Since I’ve been on the team here in camp, I have really learned a few things in baseball that will help me,” Cole added. “I have developed a little more speed and control and my batting is a great deal improved.” In closing, he asked Snell to say hello for him to colleagues Walter Miskinis and Joe Mullen.30

In October a profile of the 368th team was published in a few papers around the country, and Cole was one of three pitchers named. The article also noted his contract with the Eagles. The starter at first base was Sergeant Thomas Turner, formerly of the Dayton (Ohio) Monarchs, who played for the Chicago American Giants in 1947.31 That same month, the Arizona Republic reported on a loss by the 368th team in which “Coles” was one of their two pitchers.32

Later in October a Daily Courier columnist summarized another letter from Cole to Snell. Enclosed with the letter was a clipping from a Tucson paper that sang Cole’s praises. “The club won 20 out of 24 games,” wrote John H. Whoric. “Cole pitched 11 and won nine.” One of those victories was a one-hitter. “The local lad hopes he’ll still be in Arizona around the first of the year when he’d like to attend the Rose Bowl in Pasadena next January 1,” Whoric concluded.33

A photo of Staff Sgt. Cecil E. Cole holding a rifle was printed in a “souvenir edition” of the Daily Courier on July 17, 1942, and one month later the paper confirmed his promotion in a story about him. In November the paper reported that both Cecil and brother Elmer, a corporal stationed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, were back in Connellsville on furlough.34 On February 19, 1944, Cecil Cole was shipped to the Pacific Theater, according to the Application for World War II Compensation.

At some point Cole was assigned to the 318th Engineer Combat Battalion and spent considerable time in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Morotai Island (off the Dutch East Indies).35 In a letter to Cole, Brigadier General Leonard R. Boyd of the 93rd Infantry Division expressed his appreciation for “outstanding performance of duty as first sergeant,” specifically from March 31 to April 2, 1945. “The manner in which you accomplished all assignments of duties was a material aid to the accomplishment of the division’s missions,” Boyd wrote.36 On April 4 the decision was made for the 93rd to invade Morotai.37 World War II in the Pacific ended on September 2, 1945, with Japan’s formal surrender, and Cole continued overseas until December 27. The extra service time allowed him to play some additional baseball; during his military service, he reportedly hurled five no-hitters.38

Cole’s active duty ended on January 9, 1946, and thus began the most momentous year of his life. Three days later the Daily Courier announced that both Cecil and Elmer had returned home. The paper noted that each brother had received “decorations for meritorious service.”39

Cecil Cole soon received a letter, dated January 19, from Newark Eagles co-owner Effa Manley. She informed him that Charles C. Williams, his baseball manager in the Army, had visited her and recommended Cole to her. “I told him you had agreed to play with us just before you entered the army, and I was expecting to hear from you when you were discharged,” she wrote. She passed along Williams’s address in case Cole wanted to contact him. Cole wrote a reply on January 26, stating, “I was more than glad to hear from you, as anxious as I am to try out for the team.” He informed her that he was 26 years old, 5-feet-10½-inches tall, weighed 175 pounds, and threw and batted right-handed. He summarized his baseball experience and concluded by asking if a frequent teammate in Connellsville, James Keith, could also try out. Mrs. Manley replied four days later. In response to Cole’s inquiry about pay she wrote, “On the strength of your recommendations I feel safe in saying I will start you at $200 a month.” She added that Keith could try out if he paid his own way. “It costs about $25.00 a week for a man in camp,” she wrote.40

In the meantime, Cecil Cole married another Connellsville High School graduate, Rose Perie Carter, an elevator operator in the Second National Bank Building. On February 20, the day before the ceremony, the Daily Courier reported in detail about a shower held in her honor. A few days later the paper also reported details of the wedding itself, and even the Pittsburgh Courier devoted four paragraphs to the event. The best man was one of Cole’s cousins, Connol Reid.41

An article in the Newark Sunday Call on March 24 may have contained the earliest print reference connecting Cole to the Eagles that year. The focus of the article was the abundance of military veterans on the team’s roster. On April 13 the Newark News reported on spring training in Jacksonville, Florida, and named Cole among three rookie pitchers “showing great promise.” Alas, the next day the Call reported that Cole “was confined to his room with an attack of chickenpox.” Nevertheless, the paper asserted that he was “almost certain to win a starting assignment with the Eagles.”42 Other papers praised Cole as well, reporting that he had “fine control, a good fast ball and handle[s] himself like a veteran on the mound. He is also a powerful hitter and can be used in the outfield.”43

The first regular-season game for Newark was on May 5, but Cole didn’t debut until May 30, against the Philadelphia Stars. Accounts in three newspapers differed in some respects, but Biz Mackey apparently broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning by driving in a runner from third base while pinch-hitting for starting pitcher Rufus Lewis. Cole retired the first two Stars he faced in the ninth and reached a full count against the third. Accounts state that this batter was opposing pitcher Henry McHenry, but one box score indicates that Goose Curry batted for him instead. Whichever man batted, the result was a home run. Cole then allowed additional runs before Max Manning came on in relief to secure the final out. Thus, Cole’s debut resulted in a blown save and a loss.44

Cole’s second game – and first start – came on June 10 against the New York Cubans at Dexter Park in Queens, New York. Cole lasted six innings in a 4-1 loss. “Three of the four runs the Cubans scored came with the aid of errors and bases on balls,” said Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “but his lack of control proved to be his downfall.” A wild pitch plated the first run for the Cubans, and the six walks Cole issued hurt as well.45

Cole started again on June 15, this time against the Baltimore Elite Giants at Dunn Field in Trenton, New Jersey. Cole and the Eagles won, 7-4. Details are scarce. One newspaper said Leon Ruffin pitched at some point, but Ruffin was a catcher; also, statistics published in the New York Amsterdam News on July 7 suggest that Cole pitched most of the game, if not all of it, and was the winning pitcher.46

More details about Cole’s next game are available. He started against the New York Black Yankees in the second game of a doubleheader at Newark’s Ruppert Stadium. The Eagles scored at least twice in four different innings, and the Yankees never had a chance. “Cecil Coles [sic] turned in a brilliant two-hit shutout in the nightcap,” wrote the Newark News. “Alex Newkirk singled in the second inning and Emil [actually Ameal] Brooks touched his offerings for another single in the sixth for the Yanks’ only two hits of the game.” The final score was 11-0.47

Over the next few weeks Cole started and relieved at least twice each, but his next noteworthy outing was on July 28 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, when he started the second game of a doubleheader against the Homestead Grays in front of a crowd of 6,000. He scored the game’s first run after tripling to left field and came home on a teammate’s single. He pitched six scoreless innings in Newark’s 4-3 win, but credit for the victory likely went to either Warren Peace or Max Manning after the Grays tied the score late in the game.48 This was presumably the only time Cole pitched in that ballpark, and he recalled the site and occasion vividly many years later.

Cole was asked how many homers he surrendered to Josh Gibson. “I can truthfully tell you that Gibson never hit one home run off me,” he replied, then paused, chuckled, and added, “and for two very good reasons. We were playing Gibson’s team in Griffith Stadium, and I think the only field that had a deeper centerfield was the Polo Grounds in New York City. Anyway, I put a fastball up there, a little on the outside, about belt high, and Josh got hold of it. I thought the ball was going to clear the fence in center, but fortunately there was a lot of room to run and Larry Doby was playing center for us. Doby went back as far as he could, leaped, and gloved the ball. So, thanks to Larry Doby and that deep centerfield, I can always say that Gibson never homered off me.”49

For the next four weeks Cole was used sparingly, but he made an important relief appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, on August 26 against the New York Cubans. Cole entered the game in the eighth inning with the Cubans in the midst of a four-run rally that tied the score. In Cole’s two-thirds of an inning he at kept them from taking the lead. Newark soon pushed across two runs, and Cole was the winning pitcher.50

Cole’s last hurrah for 1946 was apparently on September 6 at Dunn Field in Trenton. This was another game for which details are scant, but Cole received credit for the 11-7 win against the Cubans. Seven of the Cubans’ nine hits were for extra bases. Monte Irvin helped counter that with four hits in five times at bat. The attendance was reported as 1,427.51

A sportswriter’s profile of Cole in 2012 noted that there was inconsistent reporting of his record for 1946. “For example, the Negro Baseball Encyclopedia lists Cole with a record of 2-2,” wrote George Von Benko in the Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Herald-Standard. “Baseball-Reference.com lists Cole with a record of 0-3 and a 9.00 ERA. In a Nov. 5, 1946, newspaper story, Cole is credited with a record of 6-2.” All told, documentation compiled by SABR researchers exists for at least 13 games pitched by Cole, of which he won four and lost three. “Cole said his record was 4-3,” Von Benko noted, and he had “earned three of the victories in starting assignments.”52 As far as is known, Cole did not play in the 1946 Negro World Series, which Newark won. Nevertheless, he was one of seven pitchers on the Manleys’ list of players who were to receive commemorative tie clasps bearing their surname and a letter or two designating their position.53

On December 15, 1946, Cecil and Rose Perie welcomed their first child, Cynthia.54 “If you don’t have it made in baseball at 26, you’d better find something else to do,” Cecil decided at that point. “I was making $350 a month and that wasn’t enough to be dragging a new wife and a baby all over the country.” Therefore, he quickly set aside further pursuit of a professional baseball career. After a short stint at a local enamel plant, he worked for the Connellsville Housing Authority for 40 years as a maintenance man.55

On the side, though, Cole always maintained a passion for baseball. By mid-1947 he was an all-star pitcher in the local Fay West Baseball League, and he continued to pitch for teams in Connellsville until at least 1967.56 A poignant high point occurred in 1955, when he was named to a local all-star team that played a reconstituted Homestead Grays squad. One of his teammates, who was also named an all-star, was the father of major-league pitcher Bob Galasso.57

As his pitching career wound down in the Connellsville area, Cole began a long tenure as a regional scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His most notable signing occurred early on. Bruce Dal Canton recalled, “[O]ne of my teammates was a guy named Cecil Cole and he was a bird dog for the Pirates and he kept bugging them to take another look. Finally it was arranged for me to have a private workout at Forbes Field. The result of that workout was a contract.”58 Dal Canton began in the minors in 1966 and debuted with the Pirates the next year. He had an 11-year career as a major-league pitcher and spent more than 25 years as a pitching coach. Cole’s work for the Pirates also created opportunities to reminisce with 1946 teammates and opponents. For example, on separate occasions in 1971 he was in a position to reconnect with Larry Doby and Monte Irvin for the first time in many years.59

The Coles became parents again in mid-1951 with the birth of daughter Marva Jo. Late that decade he was ordained a deacon of the Union Baptist Church. By the early 1960s he and his brother Elmer were members of a singing group called the Amalgam Male Chorus.60

By the mid-1960s Cecil Cole had become a popular magician locally, sometimes billed as “The Silent Knight of Magic.”61 This sideline happened to connect with his scouting in a 1979 article about a Pirates good-luck charm. Executive Vice President Harding Peterson was a bit embarrassed to confess that when the Pirates faced trouble, he turned to a rectangular red pen that Cole gave him about five years earlier. “When Cecil gave it to me he told me, ‘Anytime things aren’t going too good, just pull out this pen and hang onto it,’” Peterson said. “So a couple weeks ago when things weren’t going too good (during the Pirates’ stretch race with Montreal in the National League East), I got it out of my drawer and I’ve been using it ever since.”62

In 1968 the Cole family celebrated Cynthia’s graduation from Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, West Virginia, and did likewise in 1973 when Marva Jo graduated from Lock Haven State College in Pennsylvania.63 Elmer Cole died in 1969 and A.J. in 1970. Virginia died in 1975. Cecil Cole had three grandchildren and lived long enough to know three great-grandchildren. Marva Jo died in 1999. Three years later, Cecil died at the age of 82 on June 21, 2002.64 Jim Kriek had written much about his friend Cecil Cole over the years, and on this occasion he declared that “the world in general, but the world of baseball in particular, is so much the poorer for his passing.”65

Notes

1 Jim Kriek, “After Talking with Cole, Day Got Brighter,” Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Herald-Standard, June 25, 2002.

2 Ibid.

3 “Connellsville Will Come Back Stronger Than Ever,” Connellsville (Pennsylvania) Daily Courier, May 10, 1930: 4. The city’s population declined by more than 500 residents from 1920 to 1930.

4 One source for Cecil’s date of birth is his military draft registration card in 1940. One source for Virginia Cole’s maiden name is her Social Security Death Index entry. Information about Reuben Cole is partly from his obituary (in which his first name was misspelled as Reuban): See “The Grim Reaper,” Daily Courier, July 10, 1939: 6.

5 Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Morning Herald, March 21, 1914: 1. See also “Dunbar Societies” on page 8 for praise about “Andrew Coles.” For earlier instances of his developing and deploying leadership skills, see Lavada Burd, “Connellsville,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 21, 1911: 2 (where he was presumably the “Andrew Coles” mentioned), and “Connellsville,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 6, 1912: 2.

6 “Oration of 35 Years Ago Has Mother’s Day Message,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 7, 1949: 8. The 1940 census confirmed that Andrew did in fact complete four years of high school.

7 “Card of Thanks,” Connellsville Daily Courier, April 3, 1916: 7. Regarding his military service, Pennsylvania WWI Veterans Service and Compensation Files indicate that Andrew J. Cole of Connellsville was inducted on August 3, 1918, and honorably discharged on December 26, 1918, without overseas service. He was also listed in “Negro Draftees Bound for Camp Get an Ovation,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 3, 1918: 1.

8 That was identified as his address a month before his marriage, in “Area Soldiers Get Discharges at Fort Knox,” Connellsville Daily Courier, January 18, 1946: 5. His parents lived there until their deaths in the 1970s. His mother died after his father, and Virginia’s address was mentioned in an announcement of her hospitalization just before her death. See “Mount Pleasant,” Connellsville Daily Courier, March 10, 1975: 13.

9 “H.D. Club Beats Betters Juniors,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 15, 1932: 12.

10 For one overview (available on the internet) of how the Home Demonstration and 4-H programs engaged and served African-Americans in Eastern states at the time, see the Atlanta University thesis of Lillian Camilla Weems, “A Study of the Negro Home Demonstration Program in Georgia, 1923-1955” (1956). ETD Collection for AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library. Paper 692.

11 “U.B. Juniors Win Mushball Contest,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 8, 1932: 8.

12 “Sipe’s Specials Conquer Juniors of Liberty Heights,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 20, 1933: 10. “DePauls Conquer Findley Club, 9-1,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 16, 1934: 9. “Liberty Heights Juniors Win Ninth Gridiron Contest,” Connellsville Daily Courier, November 19, 1934: 8.

13 George Von Benko, “Cecil Cole Enjoyed His Time in Baseball,” Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Herald-Standard, August 21, 2012: C3.

14 “Announce Entries and Officials for Track Meet,” Uniontown (Pennsylvania) Daily News Standard, May 8, 1936: 15.

15 “Cokers Win over Georges in Dual Meet,” Connellsville Daily Courier, April 24, 1937: 5.

16 “Cokers Triumph over Scottdale Hi [sic],” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 13, 1937: 12.

17 “Class of 1937, C.H.S.,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 5, 1937: 10.

18 “Cole Whiffs 20; Bowmans Upset Cubs,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 8, 1937: 9. Cole’s catcher was named Marcondi, which was the surname of C. Cole’s catcher on the 1934 DePaul All Stars.

19 “Bowmans Top Bears, Occupy First Place,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 20, 1937: 7; “Bowmans Win, Lose in Junior Loop,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 10, 1937: 8.

20 “Tigers Baseball Team Seeks Games,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 5, 1938: 10; “Tigers Baseball Team Will Meet Wednesday,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 10, 1938: 10; “Merchants Win Exhibition Game from Tiger Club,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 28, 1938: 10; “Tigers Topple Scottdale Grays,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 16, 1938: 8. “Tigers Annex Two Victories,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 11, 1938: 10.

21 “Legion Moves Ahead, Spills Dunbar Team,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 29, 1938: 8; “Cole Allows One Hit, Legion Wins,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 7, 1938: 8.

22 “Cecil Cole Has No-Hitter, Legion Ahead,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 22, 1938: 13; “Cole Blanks Dunbar Team,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 3, 1938: 5; “Dunbar Whips Legion, St. Rita Ties for Lead,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 27, 1938: 8.

23 There was no American Legion team in the City WPA-YMCA Schoolboys League standings during 1939 e.g., see Daily Courier, August 12, 1939: 8. The Davidson team had an outfielder named Cole in box scores occasionally but he apparently never pitched. The fact that the Payne team was new to the church league was reported in “Church Softball Loop to Open Season Friday with Exhibition Game,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 17, 1939: 7.

24 “Christians Trip Paynes in Softball,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 2, 1939: 13. “C. Cole” was also their pitcher in a brief account a few days later, “Christians, Paynes, Methodists Capture Church Loop Games,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 6, 1939: 8. Two other examples of Cole pitching: “Payne A.M.E. Defeats Christians in Second Game of Church Series,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 14, 1939: 12; “Christians Win First Half Softball Crown; Beat Payne Methodists,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 23, 1939: 10. (The game to decide the first-half championship kept getting delayed, and ultimately was played close to the end of the second half.) In late August “Cecil Cole” was assigned to umpire some league playoff games, as reported in “Brethren Defeat I.C. for Participation in Second Half Play-Off,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 24, 1939: 10.

25 “The Grim Reaper,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 10, 1939: 6; “Announcements,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 14, 1939: 14; “The Grim Reaper,” Connellsville Daily Courier, February 15, 1943: 2. Minnie’s obituary stated her date of birth as May 22, 1875, but her findagrave.com entry shows May 22, 1874.

26 As examples, see box scores accompanying these two articles: “May’s Softball Club Shuts out Payne A.M.E.,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 13, 1940: 7; and “Paynes Topple Merchant Team in Second Game,” Connellsville Daily Courier, September 27, 1940: 16.

27 “Pitches Hitless Ball Yet Gets Only Deadlock in City Softball Group,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 26, 1940: 10.

28 “Gough, Back in Line-Up, Wins Game,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 21, 1940: 10. Accounts of the two all-star games were printed on the same day and page: “Team One Victor in First Game” and “Team Two Evens All Star Ball Series,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 30, 1940: 14.

29 “50 More Conscriptees Given Questionnaires for Selective Service,” Connellsville Daily Courier, November 8, 1940: 13; “13 Volunteers Fill Next Draft Quota; Will Report Monday,” Connellsville Daily Courier, February 18, 1941: 1; Dan Burley, “Confidentially Yours,” New York Amsterdam Star-News, March 15, 1941: 18.

30 “Map Reading and Radio Coding Work Done by Cecile [sic] Cole, Who Writes He Likes Life in Army,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 2, 1941: 10. See also “Fred Snell Member of Advisory Body, Allegheny Fair,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 27, 1940: 7.

31 “Army Camp News,” Evansville (Indiana) Argus, October 3, 1941: 2, 7. A shortened version of this article was printed in the New York Age on October 11, 1941: 11, under the headline, “Baseball Popular at Ft. Huachuca.” For more on Turner and this team, see thomasturnernegroleague.org/fort-huachuca-arizona.php and Brent Kelley, Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1998), 244-249.

32 “Birds Rout Soldiers, 9-3,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), October 6, 1941, section 2, page 2.

33 John H. Whoric, “Sportorials,” Connellsville Daily Courier, October 23, 1941: 6.

34 “Men of Region Battling for Perpetuation of American Way of Life,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 17, 1942: Section 2, page 3. “Cecil Cole Made First Sergeant,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 17, 1942: 1; “Brothers Get Furloughs,” Connellsville Daily Courier, November 4, 1942: 2. On June 26, 1943, the Courier’s front page featured an eloquent letter from Elmer, by then a Staff Sergeant with an engineer battalion in North Africa, appealing to a reported “400,000 slackers” to consider volunteering for military service. See “Soldier at Front Asks Miners for ‘Break,’” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 26, 1943: 1.

35 “Former Local Boy Pitches for Newark,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 27, 1946: 9.

36 “Sgt. Cecil E. Cole Wins Warm Praise,” Connellsville Daily Courier, March 11, 1946: 1.

37 See Stephen D. Lutz, “The 93rd Infantry Division: The Only African-American Division in the Pacific Theater,” warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-93rd-infantry-division-the-only-african-american-division-in-the-pacific-theater/, December 15, 2017.

38 Von Benko: C3; see also note 34 above.

39 “Personal Mention,” Connellsville Daily Courier, January 12, 1946: 2. Elmer served in Tunisia, in the Rome-Arno campaign of 1944, and in Central Europe.

40 On February 7 Cole typed up a brief reply, and on March 21 Manley sent him a one-page letter confirming details about traveling as a team to their camp from Newark. Thanks to SABR member Bob Golon for providing scans of these letters from the Manley Papers at the Newark Public Library.

41 “Rose Carrie [sic] Carter, Bride-Elect, Honored,” Connellsville Daily Courier, February 20, 1946: 2; “Miss Rose Perie Carter Weds Cecil E. Cole, Former Sergeant,” Connellsville Daily Courier, February 25, 1946, 2; “Popular Pair Marries at Bride’s Home,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 9, 1946: 9. Among the out-of-town guests named was Lieutenant Scipio White. See Chris Buckley, “Retired Monessen Mail Carrier, Veteran, Still Loves to Travel the World,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 1, 2015 at triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmonvalley/yourmonvalleymore/9010287-74/monessen-war-army, which sheds light on Cecil Cole’s service in the South Pacific.

42 Fred Bailey, “Leon Day, ETO Star, Back to Newark,” Newark (New Jersey) Sunday Call, March 24, 1946: part II, page 2. “Rookie Pitcher Impresses Eagles,” Newark News, April 13, 1946. “Fast Pitcher with Eagles,” Newark Sunday Call, April 14, 1946.

43 “2 Rookie Slabmen Bolster Eagles,” Baltimore Afro-American, April 20, 1946: 30. The same text also appeared in that day’s New York Amsterdam News.

44 Only a short narrative was provided in “Stars, Eagles Split, 7-4, 6-3,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 31, 1946: 31. However, the accompanying box score seems to indicate that Curry batted for McHenry. On June 8 the New Jersey Afro-American printed two narratives about the doubleheader, under the headlines “Eagles Break Even with Philly Stars” and “Eagles, Philly Stars Divide Two.” The former wasn’t accompanied by a box score but provided the most detail about Cole’s inning. It named Lewis as the pitcher, but at the end of the preceding paragraph the account noted that Mackey had batted for Lewis. That paper’s other account did name Cole, and added the details about Manning, though it omitted Cole from the box score (not particularly surprising given that he didn’t bat). Both Cole and Manning were included in the box score that accompanied “Eagles Split,” Newark Star-Ledger, May 3, 1946: 17.

45 “N.Y. Cuban Nine Trounces Eagles in Dexter Game,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 11, 1946: 14.

46 “Eagles Win 3 Games, Move Closer to First Half Title,” New Jersey Afro American, June 22, 1946. See also “N.Y. Cubans Tighten Lead in N.N. League,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1946, 35. League statistics published in the New York Amsterdam News, July 7, 1946: 10 showed Cole having pitched in four games, totaling 25 innings, and that he had decisions in all four: two wins and two losses. Outings of approximately one, six, nine, and nine innings would total 25.

47 “Eagles Win Two,” Newark News, June 22, 1946.

48 Ric Roberts, “Grays and Newark Eagles Divide Twin Bill 3-0, 4-3; Fields Blanks Newark,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 3, 1946: 17. “Grays Split with Eagles,” New Jersey Afro American, August 3, 1946.

49 Kriek, 2002.

50 “Eagles Nose out Cubans, 8 to 6, Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, August 27, 1946: 16.

51 “Eagles Down Cubans,” Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times, September 8, 1946: 28.

52 Von Benko: C3.

53 Manley Papers at the Newark Public Library. Cole was shown sporting a 1946 Newark Eagles Negro World Series ring late in his life. See New Pittsburgh Courier, January 10, 1998: 7. Its origin is uncertain. REA catalog description auction preview tells a fascinating story about a unique ring: The 1946 Newark Eagles Negro League World Championship Ring, sportscollectingnews.com/excl1.htm.

54 “Starting Down Baby Lane,” Uniontown Morning Herald, December 17, 1946: 5.

55 Von Benko: C3.

56 Herman Welsh, “Fay-West Baseball Stars Will Clash Sunday Afternoon at Scottsdale,” Connellsville Daily Courier, July 18, 1947: 6; Jim Kriek, “Sports Notes,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 2, 1967: 6. For a particularly long profile while Cole was still pitching, see Jim Kriek, “Sports Notes,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 8, 1964: 6.

57 The game received steady buildup: “Big Ten All-Stars Meet Grays June 26,” Uniontown Morning Herald, June 15, 1955: 18; “Youth, Speed Characterize Homestead Gray Aggregation,” Uniontown Evening Standard, June 23, 1955: 10; “Big Ten, County Stars to Face Stellar Visitors in Exhibition,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 25, 1955: 4. For the results, see “Big Ten All-Star Club Downs Homestead,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 27, 1955: 6. In August Cole’s own team was scheduled to face the Grays. See “Homestead Grays Will Field Diamond Stars in Clash with Levin’s,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 4, 1955: 6 and “Levin’s to Host Grays Tomorrow at Trotter,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 6, 1955: 4. On August 8 the Courier reported that the game was rained out; despite stated intentions, it apparently wasn’t rescheduled. This obscure Homestead Grays aggregation was managed by Walt Hughes, who played on at least two teams in the short-lived United States Baseball League and was the brother of an early member of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Charlie Hughes. “Galasso’s father, Bob Galasso Sr., pitched in the Pittsburgh Pirates chain in 1949,” according to baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bob_Galasso.

58 Von Benko: C3. It’s possible that Cole played baseball with another future Pirate, Bob Robertson, shortly before that slugger’s pro debut. See “Two Fay-West Grads Playing for Pirates,” Connellsville Daily Courier, September 19, 1970: 7. When Cole’s Negro World Series ring – see note 52 above – was auctioned off, the auctioneer’s profile of Cole said, “After [a] five-year stint with the Baltimore Orioles as a scout, he enjoyed the same position with the Pittsburgh [Pirates] for 35 years.” See robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2010/spring/1723/1946-newark-eagles-negro-league-world-championship-ring/. However, Cole’s name wasn’t in any of the lists of Baltimore Orioles scouts printed in that team’s media guides from 1954 through 1967. See mlb.com/orioles/history/media-guides.

59 Jim Kriek, “Sports Notes,” Connellsville Daily Courier, November 3, 1971: 6.

60 “Three Births at Hospital,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 29, 1951: 1; “Baptists Will Ordain Deacon at Service,” Connellsville Daily Courier, May 22, 1959: 24; “Musical Program Given at Meeting of Cameron PTA,” Connellsville Daily Courier, December 6, 1962: 18.

61 For example, see “50 Attend WSCS Dinner and Program,” Connellsville Daily Courier, March 23, 1965: 5. He was identified as “a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.” See especially “Black Arts events,” Lock Haven (Pennsylvania) Express, March 9, 1972: 6, above which was a large photo of Cole.

62 Pohla Smith, “Charms Big with Pirates,” Huntingdon (Pennsylvania) Daily News, October 12, 1979: 5.

63 “English Major,” Connellsville Daily Courier, June 18, 1968: 3; “Accepts Position,” Connellsville Daily Courier, September 12, 1974: 24.

64 “Death Notices,” Uniontown Evening Standard, October 16, 1969: 29; “Obituaries,” Connellsville Daily Courier, August 5,1970: 17; “Funeral Notice,” Daily Courier, March 24, 1975: 4. Regarding Marva Jo, see billiongraves.com/grave/MARVA-JO-cole-DEBEARY/3731648. See also “Cole,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 22, 2002, D4.

65 Jim Kriek, “After Talking with Cole, Day Got Brighter,” Uniontown Herald-Standard, June 25, 2002.

John Howard Davis was probably born on February 6, 1918.2 In a questionnaire he filled out for the Hall of Fame in 1975, he listed this date and apologized for not knowing his place of birth.3 Davis grew up an orphan, spending most of his childhood in a Catholic protectory in the Bronx.4 He would often run away, get caught and be placed with a family, and then run away again. “I’d run away from the homes. I was probably looking for something, but who in the heck knows what I was looking for?” he said. “Maybe I was trying to find my mother. I was seven or eight. Just take off and run. Cops’d find me. OK, back in another home.”5 Davis played stickball and, later, baseball at the protectory. He claimed to be the biggest kid in his division.6

At 17, Davis left the protectory and joined the merchant marine. Between 1936 and 1939 he sailed the world, overcoming seasickness, learning Spanish, and experiencing life in way that he would fondly look back on later. “I always wanted to see what’s on the other side of the street, different people, different places, different foods. Eighteen years old, and I’d seen half the world already.”7

After leaving the merchant marine, Davis returned to baseball in Schenectady, New York. His play soon attracted the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Al Campanis. Campanis sent Davis to the Mohawk Giants in the Upper New York State Independent League and also secured him a job at American Locomotive to help make ends meet.8

In 1940 Abe and Effa Manley, the husband-and-wife owners of the Negro National League’s Newark Eagles, expressed an interest in Davis and attempted to acquire him from the Giants. The Giants’ white owner, Henry Bozzi, was willing to sell Davis, but Davis was on parole for a crime committed as a minor and he wasn’t allowed to move from the state.9 Effa Manley campaigned hard, later giving credit to the unnamed “biggest negro politician in New Jersey” in the transfer of Davis’s parole to New Jersey.10 Halfway through the 1941 season, her persistence paid off and Davis became a full-time member of the Newark Eagles.

Davis often referred to himself as part Cherokee Indian and his nicknames reflected a Native-American heritage.11 His Newark teammates called him Cherokee; in Puerto Rico he was known as Chief; and thanks to the legendary Josh Gibson, the Homestead Grays called him Geronimo. This came about when, after a mammoth home run at Ebbets Field early in his career, Davis jumped onto home plate after rounding third and Gibson shouted, “Geronimo.”12

The 1942 season saw Davis hitting his stride with a .310 average. Teammate and future Hall of Famer Leon Day said of Davis’s hitting style: “He was a good fastball hitter. Don’t try to throw the fastball by him. He hit the ball a long way.”13

Davis had a solid 1943 season, hitting .324 and settling in nicely with the star-studded Newark Eagles. Newark pitcher Max Manning described his teammate this way: “He used to act kind of wildish, he was a really big kid more than anything else. He’d do a lot of kiddish things. He loved to drive the bus. He liked to be alone, but he was a good mixer too.”14

With some of their best players, including superstar outfielder Monte Irvin, off to war, the 1944 Newark Eagles finished in fifth place, nine games behind the champion Homestead Grays.15 This didn’t stop Davis from having one of his finest seasons. He batted .353 and chipped in on the mound with a 3-3 record. Davis was also honored with the starting center-field spot in the 1944 East-West All-Star Game, in which he rapped out two hits while sandwiched between greats Josh Gibson and Sam Bankhead.16 Davis, power-hitting Hall of Famer Mule Suttles, and a few other veterans were able to take the field during wartime thanks to 4-F classifications by their draft boards.17

The 1945 season brought more success for Davis as he hit .333 and earned another trip to the East-West All-Star Game. He spent the offseason barnstorming for a team called [Biz] Mackey’s All-Stars, when they played a five-game series against the [Charlie] Dressen All-Stars, a white major-league team that included Ralph Branca, Virgil Trucks, Eddie Stanky, and Tommy Holmes. Standouts Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, and Willie Wells also suited up for the Mackey team.18 Davis went 3-4 in limited action in the series.

Newark Eagles publicist J.L. Kessler wrote of Davis for the 1945 season: “John Davis, No. 31 – OF. Johnny is a fence buster and has been banging them to the far corner, but some of his longest ‘wappos’ have been long outs. He still sports a .300 batting average, and when they start falling where they ain’t, watch out for Davis!”19

The 1946 Eagles were the stuff that legends are made of, and the squad became one of the greatest teams in baseball history. They ran away with the Negro National League with a 56-24-2 record20 for a .700 winning percentage, finally ending the Homestead Grays’ nine-year grip on the title. Davis was a member of what was known as the “Big Four” – the power-hitting quartet that also included Monte Irvin, Larry Doby, and Lennie Pearson.21 The team also featured pitching standouts, Rufus Lewis, Leon Day, and Max Manning. Together the three pitchers combined for an other-worldly 42-8 record.22

The 1946 Negro League World Series was a nailbiter between the Eagles and the Buck O’Neil-led Kansas City Monarchs. The series went down to a deciding seventh game in which Davis delivered one of his career-defining moments. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with the score tied, 1-1 after an O’Neil homer in the top of the inning, Davis laced a double to left field that scored Doby and Irvin and put the Eagles up 3-1.23 Irvin’s run turned out to be the game-winner as the Eagles took the game, 3-2, and the championship, four games to three. Davis was 7-for-24 in the series for a .292 average. He said about his legendary team: “The 1946 Eagles would have beat anybody. We wanted to play the Brooklyn Dodgers. Wouldn’t play us, would not play us.”24

Davis managed to squeeze another highlight into an already memorable 1946 when he signed on with the Satchel Paige vs. Bob Feller barnstorming tour. The two star-studded teams played 12 games between September 29 and October 17. Feller’s team was made up of such stars as Stan Musial, Mickey Vernon, Charlie Keller, Phil Rizzuto, Spud Chandler, Johnny Sain, Dutch Leonard, and Bob Lemon. The Paige All-Stars fielded a team that included Buck O’Neil, Quincy Trouppe, Hank Thompson, Ed Steele, Howard Easterling, Hilton Smith, and Davis. It was truly a heavyweight bout.25 The white major leaguers took a very competitive series, nine games to seven. Davis’s heroics happened in game nine on October 12.26

Davis described that day’s game: “In Kansas City in ’46 Bob Feller’s team was leading us in the ninth inning with two outs and a man on, and I hit Spud Chandler’s fastball over the left-field fence. I picked Phil Rizzuto up at shortstop and carried him piggy-back from shortstop to third base, and we both slid in at home plate together.”27 Davis experienced another career highlight during the tour when he stroked two hits off Bob Feller in a game at Yankee Stadium.28 As if that wasn’t enough, Davis rounded out the year playing for league champion Matanzas of the Cuba Federation.29 He batted a paltry .238 (26-for-109), but chipped in with 12 runs for the winning club.30

The 1947 Newark Eagles were not able to recapture the magic of their championship season, possibly due to the uncertainty of superstar players jumping to the now-integrating major leagues. Newark did manage to do well in the first half of the season, but took a nosedive in the second half when Larry Doby was snatched up by the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player to play in the American League. Davis had another stellar year smacking 13 home runs, second in the league, and hitting 17 doubles, two behind the leader.31

Davis enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in the Latin American winter leagues, where he was more famous as a pitcher than a hitter. For the 1947-48 season, Davis hooked up with the iconic Mayaguez Indians of the Puerto Rican League and immediately felt right at home. “To me, the best thing was just going from city to city. I just wanted to see the next town. I like to go from here and see what’s on the other side of the street. That’s what intrigued me, going to different places to play baseball. I guess that’s why I liked it so much.”32

Davis went 12-7 with a 3.22 earned-run average and led the league with 100 strikeouts for the 1947-48 Mayaguez team. In what he described as his most outstanding achievement in baseball, Davis pitched a no-hitter on February 8, 1948, beating the Aguadilla Sharks 1-0.33 Joining sluggers Luke Easter, Wilmer Fields, and Alonzo Perry, Davis also slugged 11 home runs and played an integral part in leading the Indians to their first of many Puerto Rican championships.34

The Negro Leagues began to struggle mightily during the 1948 season and records became even more scarce. The integration of the major leagues and the Negro Leagues’ uncertain future were no doubt factors. The Homestead Grays finished the year winning the Negro National League title with a record of 44-23-1, but only seven games of statistics have been found for Johnny Davis.35 With the league barely hanging on, the Eagles were sold and moved to Houston after the season ended. Looking back on her team with a tinge of melancholy, Effa Manley talked about her players: “We had others who would have developed into great stars had they been given the chance. Leon Day, Rufus Lewis, Willie Wells, Johnny Davis, Terris McDuffie, Joe Ruffin, Mule Suttles, Dick Seay. There were a dozen Newark Eagles who would have been major league stars, not just major league material, but stars.”36

Davis headed south for the winter again for the 1948-49 season, returning to the Mayaguez Indians. He drove in over 50 runs in the 80-game season.37 Star players Artie Wilson, Wilmer Fields, Luke Easter and Alonzo Perry all rapped out over 100 hits for player-manager Wilson and his championship Indians. Davis returned to Mayaguez for the winter of 1949-50 and managed the team for a short stint.38

Davis spent his last two seasons in the Negro Leagues playing for the Houston Eagles. In 1949 he led the league with 14 home runs39 and played in his third and final East-West All-Star Game. Although the season started out well enough – in one May game Davis hit a homer completely out of the park while also pitching a 4-0 shutout – the Houston incarnation of the Eagles performed poorly.40 By midsummer the local press had turned on the team and was blaming the players, including Davis. A Houston Informer reporter wrote, “Johnny Davis’s bat has wilted. Of all things Tuesday night, he had the audacity to strike out when he knows his public expects him to knock one over the left field fence every time he comes to bat.”41 Things did not get any better in 1950, when the team was almost entirely ignored by Houston reporters; no statistics are available for the 1950 season.

With baseball opportunities dwindling in the United States during the steep decline of the Negro Leagues, Davis, along with many other former Negro League players, headed north to Canada. In 1951 he starred for the Drummondville Cubs of the Quebec Provincial League. Davis finished the year batting .347 with 31 home runs and 116 RBIs, all second in the league.42

Davis joined the Santurce Crabbers for the 1951-52 Puerto Rican Winter League season, playing the outfield and pitching. The following year he would take the field with 17-year-old Roberto Clemente.43

The closest Davis ever came to the major leagues was a stint with the Lefty O’Doul-led San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League in 1952.44 Davis had this to say about his experience:

They wanted me to go to the Chicago White Sox to hit behind Eddie Robinson, but I broke a leg. Before I broke my leg I was hitting about .400 and I was only one home run behind Max West for the league lead. When I came back my average dropped, but the way I started the season, I believe that I could have gone up there (to the majors) and kept on doing what I was doing. I regret not going to the majors … just a little. I’d love to go up there in August or September just to see what it was like.45

It wasn’t all bad news for Davis in 1952. He was married to Adamit Hasselmyer in Puerto Rico on September 9, 1952.46

Davis wasn’t quite ready to hang up his spikes and signed with the Pepper Martin-led Fort Lauderdale Lions of the Florida International league for the 1953 season.47 Proving he still had some fight left in him, while wielding his 35½-inch, 33-ounce bat,48 Davis broke the league home-run record with 35, drove in 136 runs, and batted .331.49

Davis closed out his professional baseball career in 1954 with the Montgomery Rebels of the South Atlantic League. He walloped 8 home runs in 40 games and batted .263.50

Davis spent his post-baseball days living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his wife and their two daughters, Diana and Camille. He worked as an auctioneer’s assistant at the Galt Plaza Gallery. Davis died on November 18, 1982. He was 64. Probably.51

A powerful slugger and pitcher, Johnny Davis stood 6-feet-2 and is listed as weighing 215 pounds during his playing career. He batted and threw right-handed.52 Davis had a remarkable career and a genuine zest for life, and he deserves more recognition for his accomplishments. Davis reflected on his career shortly before his death: “I had a ball. I really had a ball. Baseball has been very good to me.”53

Sources

All statistics, unless otherwise noted, are from seamheads.com or John B. Holway’s The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History (Fern Park, Florida: Hastings House Publishers, 2001). In three places where the stats differed, the more recent Seamheads stats are presented.

Notes

1 Timothy M. Gay, Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 237.

2 February 16 is also listed as Davis’ birthdate by numerous sources.

3 Clifford Kachline, questionnaire of Davis for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 1975.

Seamheads.com lists Davis’s birthplace as Ashland, Virginia.

4 John B. Holway, Black Diamonds: Life in the Negro Leagues from the Men Who Lived It (New York: Stadium Books, 1991), 158.

5 Ibid.

6 Holway, Black Diamonds, 160.

7 Holway, Black Diamonds, 160-161.

8 James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Leagues (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1994), 216.

9 James Overmyer, Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles (New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993), 194.

10 Ibid.

11 Kachline questionnaire.

12 James A. Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2012), 188.

13 Ibid.

14 Holway, Black Diamonds, 157.

15 John B. Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History (Fern Park, Florida: Hastings House Publishers, 2001), 415.

16 Larry Lester, Black Baseball’s National Showcase: The East-West All-Star Game, 1933-1953 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,2001), 237.

17 Bob Luke, The Most Famous Woman in Baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues (Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, Inc., 2011), 103.

18 William F. McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007), 105.

19 Robert L. Cvornyek, Baseball in Newark (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2003), 96.

20 Seamheads.com

21 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 189.

22 John Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues, 437.

23 Overmyer, 207.

24 Holway, Black Diamonds, 163.

25 Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues, 441-443.

26 Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues, 442-443.

27 Holway, Black Diamonds, 165.

28 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 190.

29 Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues, 444.

30 Jorge Figueredo, Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History 1878-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003), 284-85.

31 Figueredo, 447-448.

32 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 190.

33 For Davis’s valuation of his game, see Clifford Kachline, questionnaire of Davis for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 1975. For the game itself, see “Davis Pitches Second Puerto Rico No-Hitter,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1948: 24,

34 Thomas E. Van Hyning, Puerto Rico’s Winter League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995), 140.

35  Van Hyning, Puerto Rico’s Winter League, 211.

36 John Holway, Voices From the Great Black Baseball Leagues (New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1992), 318.

37 Van Hyning, Puerto Rico’s Winter League, 140.

38 Lou Hernandez, The Rise of the Latin American Baseball Leagues, 1947-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2011), 243.

39 Dick Clark & Larry Lester, The Negro Leagues Book (Cleveland: SABR, 1994), 276.

40 Rob Fink, Playing in Shadows: Texas and Negro League Baseball (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2010), 115.

41 Ibid.

42 Barry Swanton & Jay Dell Mah, Black Baseball Players in Canada (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009), 56-57.

43 Thomas E. Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers: Sixty Seasons of Puerto Rican Winter League Baseball (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1999), 223-224.

44 Holway, Black Diamonds, 163.

45 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 191.

46 Kachline questionnaire.

47 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 191.

48 Dick Meyer, “Time Out for Sports,” Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 3, 1953.

49 Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 217.

50 Ibid.

51 Kachline questionnaire.

52 Ibid.

53 Riley, Of Monarchs and Black Barons, 191.

So much of Leon Day’s story is caught up in his last years and his long wait for the Hall of Fame call. For Day, who spent a lifetime exceeding at his professional calling, punching his card at every level of baseball but one, the word from the Hall came in what were to be his final days. “I thought this day would never come. I’m feeling pretty good,” he said when he received word from the Hall at his hospital bed on March 8, 1995. “I’m so happy, I don’t know what to do. I never thought it would come.” He was joined that day in the hospital (where he had been admitted for diabetes and heart troubles) by his wife, family, teammates, and friends to share the good news of his induction with him.1

There had been times when he said this accolade was not important. He had said as much about the money, too. “When they told me they was gonna pay me to play baseball, I said they must be crazy. I said I’d play for nothing.” He valued his career in the Negro Leagues, especially knowing that it gave him the memories and sense of accomplishment it did. “I was glad to play in the Negro Leagues. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”2 However, in a 1992 interview in conjunction with his throwing out the first ball at a September 24, 1992, Baltimore Orioles game, Day acknowledged that “it would mean a lot to me to get into the Hall of Fame, to be grouped with some of the greatest players in history.”3

In the end, the call meant everything to him, perhaps giving him the impetus he needed to enter the next world. For Day died on March 14, 1995, at the age of 78, five days after he got word of the ultimate honor. “I think that’s what he was waiting for,” said his sister Ida May Bolden.4 And so it was his wife, Geraldine, who tearfully spoke on his behalf at the induction ceremony in Cooperstown that summer, surrounded by the many Hall of Famers on stage Day wanted to have as peers.

With his induction, Leon Day became the 12th Negro League representative in the Hall and the first to be voted in since 1987, when Ray Dandridge was inducted.

Timing is everything or nothing, and Day’s overdue induction in 1995 came after an increasingly more demonstrative campaign on his behalf over several years that finally bore fruit. In 1993 Day fell one vote shy in Veterans Committee deliberations, star-crossed by the unfortunate absence due to sickness of Veterans Committee member Roy Campanella (a former Negro leaguer himself and three-time MVP for the Brooklyn Dodgers). In 1995, the votes were there.

*****

Leon Day’s signature was the matter-of-fact, low-key manner through which he approached his craft. This was evident both in terms of his pitching style and his personality.

Day was often overshadowed by more colorful players. Most notable was Satchel Paige, whom, records show, he defeated in three of four head-to-head pitching contests. Paige’s delivery was over the top, both in terms of mechanics and showmanship. In the eyes of some, it was all about self-promotion. In contrast, according to Monte Irvin, “Leon was as good as Satchel Paige, as good as any pitcher who ever lived, but he never made any noise. Leon was never the promoter Satch was.”5 Max Manning, a former Newark Eagles teammate of Day’s, said, “If Satchel Paige is like the Negro League icon, Leon Day is the warrior.”6

When it came to Day’s pitching, his famous no-windup delivery was his trademark. It masked an intensity and effectiveness that likely won him around 300 games. “Day could throw as hard as anyone. I didn’t see anyone in the major leagues who was better than Leon Day. If you want to compare him with Bob Gibson, Day had just as good stuff. Tremendous curveball and a fastball at least 90-95 miles an hour. You talk about Satchel. … I didn’t see anyone better than Day.”7 These were the words of Larry Doby, who played alongside Day on the Newark Eagles and who later broke the American League color barrier by joining the Cleveland Indians in 1947 after Jackie Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League.

The Satchel Paige comparison was common—on all levels. Paige’s flamboyance versus Day’s quiet, workmanlike approach; Paige’s tall stature versus Day’s 5-feet-8, 170-pound frame; Paige’s self-promotion versus Day’s reluctance to draw attention to his exploits. And perhaps most important, the infrequent but remarkable head-to-head competition that had Leon winning three of four games against Satchel. 

Day admitted that he did not remember the details of that many of his games, but he did recall the Paige/Day matchups. “I faced him about four times. I beat him three. They were all low-scoring games. … [In one game] we were playin’ and the score was 0-0. My team wouldn’t get me a run, so I came into the ninth inning, got lucky, and hit a home run to win it 1-0.”8

According to Negro league historian Todd Bolton, “He was never a self promoter. If he were, he might have been elected [to the Hall of Fame] years ago. But he was a humble man and let his record speak for itself.”9 In Leon’s own words, “I could hold my own.”10

Buck O’Neil’s “scouting report” on Day, filled out on a Kansas City Royals scouting form years later described his pitching as follows, “Front line starter, short arm type, everything quick, strike out pitcher, very durable, worked with three days rest, played 2B or LF between starts, top athlete, very desirable.”11 O’Neil’s reference to short-arming merits a little more elaboration.

Gene Benson, an infielder with the Philadelphia Stars and a friend of Day’s, described Leon’s pitching method of throwing the ball from his ear, as he did when he was an infielder when playing as a youth in Baltimore’s Mount Winans neighborhood. This short-arming, as it was called, went something like this, according to Benson: “He threw that ball more or less from his hip. He didn’t rear back and come right over his shoulder. He came right from his thigh, but he would whistle the ball and make it move. He could bring it!”12 Day admitted the motion was not natural. “I think I pitched that way from the way I threw the ball from second base. I think that’s where that came from.”13 Said Day, “When I threw overhand, it would hurt my shoulder…but from here [his ear], I’d feel nothing. I threw my fast ball straight up. I couldn’t throw overhand, so I jerked it at them. It fooled a lot of hitters.” 14

After a dozen years of professional ball, with only sporadic play during his time in the armed forces, the delivery might have expedited his arm troubles in 1946.

Leon, like many Negro League pitchers, played on his “offdays.” Second base, left field, center field—Leon provided good, consistent fielding and a decent bat to go along with his pitching every third day. Monte Irvin said, “He’s played center field as good as or better than or starting center fielder did. The center fielder at that time was me.”15

*****

Born in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 30, 1916, Leon Day was of an age to take part in some stellar years of the Negro Leagues, from 1934 to 1946. Yet, as fate would have it, the color line was broken too late and he was too old to be seriously considered for the majors. His only chance might have come just as he returned from his military service. As the story goes, Jackie Robinson asked Day to join him in the Dodgers organization with the Montreal Royals in the spring of 1946. Dat demurred, having already signed with the Newark Eagles so that he could return to his old ballclub, which had been very good to him over the years. Who knows what might have happened for Day had he joined Robinson in Montreal?

Looking further back in Leon’s life, to his earliest years, it was his family’s move from Alexandria to Baltimore when he was 6 months old that would pair him forever with what would become one of his two hometowns—Baltimore (with Newark as the other). His father, Ellis Day, got a job at the Westport glass factory so that he and his wife, Hattie, could make enough to help raise their six children. They lived in nearby Mount Winans, then a poverty-stricken, all-black community in Southwest Baltimore in a house with no electricity or running water. For Leon, baseball became an early fixture. He would do anything to see the Baltimore Black Sox play at Maryland Baseball Park in Westport (another Baltimore neighborhood). “I had to go over the fence, under the fence. … I got in there some kind of way,” he said.16 

By the time Day was 12 he was playing with the Mount Winans Athletic Club. He was good at ball and in the tenth grade, much to the disappointment of his mother, he left Frederick Douglass High School because it had no baseball team. This was 1934, when Day was 17. He began playing with a semipro team, the Silver Moons, and soon his second base and pitching skills caught the attention of Rap Dixon, the manager of the Baltimore Black Sox. Dixon signed Day to play the rest of the 1934 season with the Black Sox, who were now playing in nearby Chester. For Day the significance of this move was the mentoring he received from Laymon Yokely, a pitcher for the Black Sox.  According to Yokely, “I’d tell him what to do, hate not to do. He was my boy.”17 One can only imagine the tutoring that an impressionable teenager received about the Negro Leagues and pitching.

The instability of the Black Sox franchise led Dixon, Yokely, and Day to jump to the Brooklyn Eagles in 1935. Ben Taylor, the Eagles manager, liked Day’s pitching and used him almost exclusively as a starter. The luxury of being able to refine his delivery and pitch consistently must have helped Leon; he pitched a one-hitter that year, compiled a 9-2 record, and pitched in his first of seven Negro League All Star games. Max Manning, his teammate of five seasons, recognized early that Day’s fastball-curve- changeup assortment was lethal. Manning said, “I still think that the players, if you said to the team at any given time, who would you like to pitch, they would all choose Leon. When he was right, I don’t think there was anybody his equal.”18

Doubtless Manning appreciated this as it propelled the Eagles into the upper echelon of the Negro Leagues for quite a few years.

The Eagles moved to Newark in 1936 and there they stayed — and Day with them for much of the next decade, save for arm troubles in 1938, brief stays with Philadelphia and Homestead, his brief foray in search of a higher salary to Vargas, Venezuela, and then Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1940 (where he helped both teams win their league championships), and then military service. As for 1938, Leon told the story this way: “Well, I was in Cuba in the winter of 1937. I was playing in Cuba, and I’m in the shower and I slipped and caught myself with my right arm. I felt something pull right then. Then, in ’38, when I came back, my arm was messed up.”19

*****

Negro League seasons were short, at 40 to 60-plus games, only about a third or more the length of a 154-game major-league schedule. That did not mean there was no other baseball to be had for Leon and his peers. The rest of the time was filled with barnstorming exhibitions, sometimes against a mix of major-league talent, and invariably winter-league ball. For Leon, Puerto Rico and Cuba were his offseason havens. The records that exist show that he played for Almendares (1937-38) and Santiago (1947-48), winning two-thirds of his games. Statistics are spotty for these campaigns, but Day’s Puerto Rican sojourn is the stuff of celebrity. He played winter ball for six years in Puerto Rico, most notably with the Aguadilla Sharks. Records show that he went 34-26 for the team, struck out 19 in one game in 1939-40 (a Puerto Rican baseball record), batted over .300 each year, and struck out a league record 168 in 1941-42. In 1993 the Puerto Rico Baseball Hall of Fame stole a march on Cooperstown and inducted Leon in recognition for his exploits.

Day’s decade of Negro League excellence had several signature moments. Best of all, according to Day himself, was 1937, which he considered his best all-around season. A 13-0 record and 3.02 ERA went along with his .320 average and eight home runs. The Eagles and their all-star (million-dollar) infield of Ray Dandridge, Willie Wells, Dick Seay, and Mule Suttles came in second to the Homestead Grays, led by Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard.

On July 31, 1942, Day set a Negro League record by striking out 18 Baltimore Elite Giants in a one-hitter. The only hit was a bloop single by Pee Wee Butts to short left field.

Also in 1942, after Game Three in one of the quirkier Negro World Series stories, Cum Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays, signed four players (three Newark Eagles and one Philadelphia Star) to fill out a depleted roster. The primary signing was Leon Day, who pitched Game Four (the Grays were down three games to none at the time) against Satchel Paige. Day pitched a complete-game five-hitter and won, 4-1. The game was subsequently protested by Kansas City and overturned by league officials because of Homestead’s use of ringers. Game Four was replayed and won, along with the Series, by the Monarchs.

The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most respected African American papers covering the Negro Leagues, ranked Leon Day ahead of Paige as best pitcher in 1942 and 1943. In 1942 the article naming its All-American Team for the Negro Leagues said, “Leon Day is the best pitcher in Negro baseball … despite the fact he is used daily either as a pitcher, outfielder, or infielder.”20 And again in 1943 the Courier named him the “outstanding moundsman in Negro baseball [over Satchel Paige].”21

Much is made, and for good reason, of Ted Williams, Bob Feller, and others who sacrificed the prime of their baseball careers for their country. Leon Day belonged to this fraternity, too. He was drafted into the Army on September 1, 1943, and served America during the Normandy invasion and its aftermath. Leon served with a segregated amphibious unit (the 818th Amphibious Battalion), and helped land supplies at Utah Beach on June 12, six days after D-Day. “I was scared as hell. I’ll never forget Jun 12th. I lost a lot of good friends.”22

Day served until February 1946 and while under military orders, wore a second uniform as a pitcher for the integrated Overseas Invasion Service Expedition (OISE) All Star Baseball team, an aggregation run by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Sam Nahem that competed against teams from other units.  He and his team were good enough to play in and win the European Theater of Operations World Series against the 71st Infantry Division team featuring a number of major leaguers led by Ewell Blackwell. Day was 1-1 against the 71st in OISE’s 3-2 series victory. Records show that crowds in excess of 50,000 watched each of the games, held at Nuremberg Stadium in Germany. If barnstorming wasn’t proof that Negro League players could hold their own against white players, Day’s performance in Game Two of the Series, a 2-1 four-hit, ten-strikeout victory, should offer strong evidence.

Day returned to the US in 1946 in time to rejoin his Newark Eagles teammates for the season. His first game back was the stuff of legends—a May 5 Opening Day no-hitter against the Philadelphia Stars. However, Leon said that owing to the combination of a decade of pitching and two years missed because of military service, he was past his prime as a pitcher. He knew his arm didn’t feel right. “It wasn’t the same no more.”23 And, in fact, he hurt his arm more in that May 5 game on a fielding play, but nonetheless finished the no-hitter to the acclaim of the hometown crowd. Remarkably, despite Day’s arm troubles, he compiled a 13-4 record, led the league in wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and complete games that year (all of this and a batting average of .469), and led Newark to the Negro National League pennant.

Despite his dead arm, Day pitched in Game One of the 1946 World Series for Newark, the Negro National League winner, against Kansas City (the Negro American League champion), but came out of the game after the seventh inning with the game tied at 1-1. The game took place in front of what might have been a major-league audition before many baseball scouts who also were seeing the likes of Satchel Paige, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Hank Thompson, and Willard Brown, all of whom eventually played in the majors. Day pitched in another game, but was ineffective and did not play again in the Series. Newark won the World Series in seven games, with the last matchup noteworthy due to Satchel Paige’s unknown whereabouts.

The season of 1946 was not the end for Leon Day. He would go on to play in Mexico and Cuba in 1947 and 1948, drawn by the financial remuneration he could obtain. He played for the Mexico City Red Devils both seasons with an 18-20 combined record and an ERA around 4.00. “I made more money in Mexico than I did here in the States,” he said. “I played about four months a year and made about $5,000.”24 Although Negro League officials banned players for five years for going to Mexico, the ban was lifted after one year and Day returned to the US to play in what would be his last year for a Negro League team. In 1949 he returned to Baltimore to help lead the Baltimore Elite Giants to the Negro American League Eastern Division pennant and then playoff victory over the Chicago American Giants by four games to none. The following year, his journey took him to the semipro ManDak League in Canada, where he played for the Winnipeg Buffaloes. 

Perhaps the most compelling legacy that Day left in the annals of Negro League history was his record seven appearances in the East West All-Star Game: 1935, 1937, 1939 (two games), 1942, 1943, and 1946. In addition to appearing in more games than anyone else, he held the record of 14 total strikeouts. This acknowledgement by the Negro League hierarchy that the All-Star Game was better off with Day in it spoke volumes.

Day’s next-to-last career move in 1951 placed him for the first time in Organized Baseball, albeit the minors. He and a number of other Negro Leaguers, some young and others past their prime, are credited with the hard work of integrating the minors, just as Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, and their peers did so on the major-league stage.

To be involved in any part of Organized Baseball at all remained important to him and when the chance to play in the minors arose, Leon signed with Toronto of the Triple-A International League in 1951, pitching in 14 games with a 1-1 record and an ERA of 1.58. He played two more years in the minors (Scranton, Double-A Eastern) in 1952 and Edmonton (Class-A Western International) in 1953. This must have been an immeasurably harder task for Day and his black brethren, for they had to ply their trade at times in deeply segregated towns without the gratification of major-league status or a decent paycheck. “We didn’t worry about that,” he said of playing in segregated ballparks. “See, we loved to play baseball. As long as we played, we didn’t care where we played.”25

When asked if he was upset that he did not make it to the majors, Leon said that he and other Negro Leaguers who played minor-league ball “never talked about it. We figured we were in the major leagues [by playing in the minors]. We were as high as we could go.”26

Day’s career ended back in the semipro ManDak League, where he played for Winnipeg in 1954 and Brandon in 1955.

In the years after his retirement from baseball, Day lived first in Newark, where he worked as a bartender, and then returned to Baltimore, the town to which his family moved when he was a child. He continued to work, mainly as a security guard, and retired in 1979. A widower, he remarried and upon his death on March 14, 1995 in Baltimore was survived by his wife and sister.

Notes

1 Brad Snyder, “’You made it, man’: Day named to Hall of Fame,” Baltimore Sun, March 8, 1995: 1A.

2 Tom Keyser, “It’s Day’s turn to throw again,” Baltimore Sun, September 24, 1992: 6D.

3 “Baltimore’s Day had Hall of Fame numbers,” Daily Mail, September 25, 1992.

4 Brad Snyder, “Day dies a week after greatest honor,” Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1995: 1A.

5 “Leon Day, Selected Last Week for Hall of Fame, is Dead at 78,” New York Times, March 15, 1992.

6 Brad Snyder, “Day dies a week after greatest honor.”

7 Rick Hines, “Leon Day: the man Cooperstown forgot,” Sports Collector’s Digest, March 13, 1992: 70.

8 Ibid., 71.

9 Brad Snyder, “Day dies a week after greatest honor.”

10 Tom Keyser.

11 The Baseball Hall of Fame holds copies of a number of Buck O’Neil’s scouting reports on Negro League ballplayers, completed on forms routinely used by the Kansas City Royals for whom O’Neil served as a scout from 1988 to 1998. The report noted that Day’s overall makeup was a 4 or excellent.

12 Tim Wendel, “In His Day, Leon Day was the Best,” National Pastime Museum, March 5, 2013. https://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/his-day-leon-day-was-best

13 Rick Hines, 71.

14 John Holway, Blackball Stars (Westport, Connecticut: Meckler Publishers, 1988), 345.

15 Brad Snyder, “Negro League Star Leon Day Waits for Fame,’ Baltimore Sun, March 5, 1995.

16 James A. Riley, Dandy, Day, and the Devil (Cocoa, Florida: TK Publishers, 1987), 78.

17 John Holway, 347.

18 Brad Snyder, “‘You made it, man’: Day named to Hall of Fame,” Baltimore Sun, March 8, 1995: 1A.

19 Rick Hines, 70.

20 Cum Posey, “Kansas City, Homestead Grays Stars Dominate ‘Dream Team’,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 7, 1942” 17.

21 “To Make Plans for 1943 at Meeting,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 23, 1943, 16.

22 John Steadman, “Integration couldn’t keep up with Day’s best fastball, either,” Baltimore Sun, February 3, 1992.

23 James A. Riley, 75.

24 John B. Holway, “Day Crossed a Road Less Traveled to Cooperstown,” Washington Post, March 19, 1995.

25 Tom Keyser.

26 Ibid.

Lawrence Eugene Doby was born on December 13, 1923, in Camden, South Carolina. Larry’s father, David, met his future wife, Etta, while playing baseball on the street in front of her home.3 Biographer Joseph Thomas Moore wrote that the Dobys were “one of the most prosperous Black families in Camden.”4

David Doby was a stable hand, grooming the horses of many wealthy New Jersey families. The marriage, however, was strained because of David’s frequent travel and Etta’s strong attachment to her own mother, leaving young Larry often in the care of his grandmother, Augusta Moore. She recounted how Doby said that Augusta “made me go to church with her all the time. I liked what I heard in the Twenty-Third Psalm and the Ten Commandments. Somehow I got the feeling that the church helped Black people to be themselves. I liked that feeling.”5

When Larry was eight years old, his father died in a tragic accident.6 David had gone fishing on a day off, and he drowned after falling from a boat while fishing on Lake Mohansic, in upstate New York.7 His death began a tumultuous time for Larry, during which he moved frequently and was cared for by his aunt and uncle.8 Four years after his father’s death, Larry and his mother left South Carolina and moved to Paterson, New Jersey.9

It wasn’t easy for Doby in Paterson. “I was lonely living alone,” he said. “But I just kept trying to be me.”10 In Paterson, Doby began following in the footsteps of his father, who had been a semipro ballplayer. He developed his skills playing sandlot baseball close to home, at the Newman Playground and on Twelfth Avenue. Doby lettered in baseball at Paterson Eastside High School, where he was one of about 25 Black students in the school. He won letters in three other sports, a total of 11 in all. Initially, Doby had thoughts of finishing high school and then becoming a physical education teacher or perhaps a coach.11

Doby was more introspective than demonstrative, and his personality could confuse his teammates. As recounted by biographer Moore, high-school teammate Al Kachuadurian never felt he could slap Doby on the back, and thought Doby kept his teammates at a distance.12 “I remember distinctly that if things didn’t go just right, he’d sulk. Deep down, he’s a warm-hearted guy. But you didn’t know if he was sulking at you personally, or whether he was sulking inwardly at himself.”13 Doby, however, later countered that he wasn’t sulking at all but had gotten accustomed to being alone based upon the circumstances in his life.14 In some sense, Doby’s self-reliance may have been mistaken for aloofness.

Even before graduating from high school, Doby began playing second base under the assumed name of Larry Walker in the Negro Leagues for the Newark Eagles.15 He was an immediate star, and team owners offered him $300 to play between high school and college.16 Although statistics from his first season are inexact, Doby believed he had batted around .400 during that summer.17

Doby enrolled at Long Island University. Part of his motivation was to play for renowned basketball coach Clair Bee. Another reason was to be able to visit Helyn Curvy, whom Doby had begun dating at Eastside High School when he was a sophomore.18 Curvy’s father had died, however, and responsibilities for taking care of her siblings prevented Curvy from attending any of Doby’s high-school baseball games.19 “But when I had a game,” Doby recalled, “I’d take her brother George to the game with me, then I’d bring him back to her house.”20

At the time, Doby had concern about being drafted into the military during World War II.21 He made the difficult decision to transfer from Long Island University to Virginia Union College, where he would play basketball for coach Henry Hucles.22 Doby believed he could transfer into an ROTC program there.23 Yet he was drafted into the Navy at the conclusion of the basketball season. The mandated racial segregation of the military at the time left a deep impression on him.24 He was assigned to Camp Robert Smalls, the Black division of the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, outside Chicago.25

Due in large part to his outstanding physical condition, Doby was able to become a physical education instructor there.26 He kept his baseball and basketball skills sharp by playing in the afternoons. Doby got to know future NFL Hall of Famer Marion Motley while on his tour of duty.27 Later, while stationed in the Pacific, Doby began what became a lifelong friendship with Washington Senators star Mickey Vernon.28 Vernon wrote to Senators owner Clark Griffith, touting Doby’s playing abilities. After their military service was done, “[Vernon] sent me a gift of some bats when I started the 1946 season with the [Newark] Eagles,” Doby recalled.29 “It was a gift I’ll never forget.”30

In 1945, general manager Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to a contract to play baseball in Montreal. The move made Doby reconsider his options, as playing baseball in the major leagues now seemed a possibility. “My main thing was to become a teacher and coach,” Doby said. “But when I heard about Jackie, I decided to concentrate on baseball. I forgot about going back to college.”31

Doby was honorably discharged from the military in January 1946. After playing two months of winter ball with the San Juan Senators for $500 a month at the invitation of Monte Irvin, a prewar teammate on the Newark Eagles, Doby subsequently rejoined the Eagles. Being close to home also allowed him to date Helyn again. “She told me if we didn’t get married that year, 1946, to forget it,” Doby said.32 “We got married on August 10, 1946, in Paterson.”33 The night of their wedding, the couple drove to Trenton, where Doby was scheduled to play.34 The game was rained out.35 A few days later, Doby played in a Negro Leagues All-Star game against a team including Josh Gibson.

The Eagles went on to win the Negro Leagues World Series in 1946. Doby batted .272 with one home run in that series against the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. He tagged a runner out at second base for the second out of the ninth inning of the seventh game, and he caught a popup for the final out of the series. “To play the Monarchs in the World Series!” Doby later exclaimed. “They had Satchel Paige and all those guys. That was a great team. To beat those guys, you were in the upper echelon of baseball.”36

With Doby’s notoriety high after the 1946 championship season, Bill Veeck, the owner of the Cleveland Indians, took notice. Veeck, who had long been eager to racially integrate the American League, hatched a plan for Doby to join Cleveland right after the 1947 All-Star break. Doby had played the first half of the season with the Eagles, and he had hit a home run in his final Newark at-bat. The Cleveland team quietly purchased Doby’s contract and brought him to Cleveland. A scoop by local writer Bob Whiting forced the team to move up Doby’s first game from July 10, which was the original intention, to July 5.37

Teammates, however, did not immediately welcome Doby, averting their eyes and not speaking to him as he made his entry to the clubhouse at Comiskey Park to meet with player-manager Lou Boudreau.38 “Shrug it off,” Boudreau reportedly said.39 Still, Doby in 2002 recalled, “I knew it was segregated times, but I had never seen anything like that in athletics. I was embarrassed. It was tough.” As Bill White later noted, Doby had to go to the Chicago clubhouse to get a first baseman’s glove since none of his Cleveland teammates offered him one.40

Pinch-hitting for Bryan Stephens against Earl Harrist of the White Sox, Doby struck out in his first American League at-bat. On July 6, in the second game of that day’s doubleheader, Doby made his only start of the season at first base. He got his first AL hit, a single off Orval Grove in the third inning that also gave him his first RBI.41 During that difficult first season, Doby batted only .156 in 29 games with two RBIs. “It was 11 weeks between the time Jackie Robinson and I came into the majors. I can’t see how things were any different for me than they were for him,” Doby said.42

He had to wait until the start of the 1948 season to win a starting job in Cleveland’s outfield. During his first full season, Doby hit 14 home runs and had 66 RBIs. That fall, Doby became the first Black player to hit a home run in the World Series when he connected off the Boston Braves’ Johnny Sain in Game Four. His blast helped lead Cleveland to a 2-1 win and a lead of three games to one in the Series. A photo taken after the game showing Doby embracing Cleveland pitcher Steve Gromek has become one of the most famous in baseball history, symbolizing an erosion of racial divisions and Doby’s acceptance as a member of his new team.

The 1948 season was the first of 10 consecutive years in which Doby hit at least 14 home runs and drove in at least 50 runs. He was selected to the All-Star team in every year between 1949 and 1955 and finished in the top 10 in the American League MVP voting in 1950 and 1954. Doby’s finest statistical season was 1952, when he led the American League in slugging percentage (.541), home runs (32), and runs scored (104). He hit for the cycle that year against Boston on June 4 at Fenway Park. The last time an American Leaguer accomplished that feat until Mickey Mantle did it in 1957.43

In 1954, Doby was Cleveland’s most dominant offensive player, leading the American League in home runs (32) and runs batted in (126). He also played a stellar center field, committing only two errors in 153 games while finishing second in the league in putouts. Doby’s regular season success that year, like that of many of his teammates, did not extend into the World Series, as he was able to manage only two singles in the four games against the New York Giants. Still, for his regular-season efforts, Doby finished second in the 1954 American League Most Valuable Player award voting to Yogi Berra.

After the 1955 season, during which Doby battled a wrist injury, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Busby and Chico Carrasquel. At the time, Chicago manager Marty Marion said that Doby’s arrival was “the end of the search for a No. 4 hitter.”44 Marion later said, “This guy used to murder us when we played Cleveland. Last year, I definitely felt that, when we could get him out, we could handle the Indians. But we couldn’t — and the record shows that they had a season break on us, 12-10.”45

Doby immediately delivered with Chicago, hitting 24 home runs and knocking in 102 runs. During a nine-game winning streak in June 1956, Doby hit five home runs, leading White Sox owner Charles Comiskey to remark, “Larry Doby, he’s our guy. You know, when we dealt for Doby, we weren’t worried about Larry. We knew he’d come through.”46

Doby was involved in one of the bigger melees of the 1957 season. In a game on June 12, Art Ditmar of the Yankees threw a pitch inside, causing Doby to fall to his knees. Both benches emptied, and Doby knocked Ditmar down with a punch to his jaw. Doby also got into an on-field fight with Billy Martin after the umpires had restored order. Doby, teammate Walt Dropo, and the Yankees’ Enos Slaughter and Martin were all thrown out of the game. The Yankees, feeling that penalties against their players by the league were unjustified, paid all fines of their players assessed after the incident.47

After his power numbers faded a bit during the 1957 season, Doby was traded to Baltimore that December with Jack Harshman, Russ Heman, and Jim Marshall in return for Tito Francona, Ray Moore, and Billy Goodman. Manager Al Lopez explained the deal, saying, “We wouldn’t start another season with Doby because the fans are down on him.”48 A contemporary article noted that the fans often booed Doby at Comiskey Park, leading to resentment on Doby’s part.49 Doby never played with the Orioles, being traded again before the season began on April 1. This time he went back to the Cleveland Indians along with Don Ferrarese for Dick Williams, Gene Woodling, and Bud Daley.

By then, however, injuries had taken their toll, and Doby was a part-time player. In 1958, he hit 13 home runs and batted in 45 runs in only 89 games. Just before the 1959 season, Doby was traded to the Detroit Tigers for Tito Francona. Finally, on May 13, 1959, he was purchased from Detroit by the Chicago White Sox for $30,000.

Chicago was Doby’s last major-league stop as a player. By then 35 years old, he played in only 21 games, batting .241 with no home runs and only nine runs batted in. His final game in the major leagues was on July 26. Sent down to the White Sox’ San Diego farm team in the Pacific Coast League, Doby fractured an ankle sliding into third base on a triple on August 23.50 Doby finished his American League career with a .283 batting average, 243 doubles, 253 home runs, and 970 RBIs.

In 1960, Doby signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League, but because of the lingering effects of his ankle injury, he was released in May without getting into a game. In 1962 he played for the Nagoya Dragons in Japan. He went on to coach with Montreal, Cleveland, and the White Sox.51 He also owned a lounge and a liquor store in Newark, and he worked in the Essex County prosecutor’s office in New Jersey for three years.52

During that time, Doby wrote letters to major-league teams seeking the opportunity to be a major-league manager.53 In 1971, when he was a batting coach for the Montreal Expos, Doby spoke of the possibility of managing in the major leagues in an interview: “The Expos know what I want to do,” he said. “But they want me to work my way up. …They want me to wait. I don’t mind waiting because right now I’m learning. But I can’t wait for the rest of my life.”54  Doby remarked that he enjoyed working with kids in part because he had good training — he had five children of his own.

Doby received the chance to manage in 1978, becoming the second Black manager in major-league history when he took over the White Sox. He succeeded Bob Lemon, who was fired, but took over the Yankees and led them to the pennant. Doby’s time managing was filled with frustration, however, as he had a record of only 37-50 during the portion of the one season in which he managed during his career. Doby cited injuries for the team’s failures, saying, “When you have to use people you hope can play, rather than those you know can play, you are in a bad situation.”55

He also maintained strong feelings about why he had to wait until the age of 53 to receive the Chicago managerial job: “Why did it take this long? You tell me. I don’t mean to sound prejudiced, but you can look at the system and see that, until I was named (to replace Lemon on June 30), there was no Black manager in the major leagues.”56

After the 1978 season, Doby was fired as the team’s manager. “I can’t truly say what kind of manager I was or could’ve been because I didn’t have enough time,” he said.57 “I thought I could have been successful. I thought I had those intangibles.”58

After his managerial career was over, Doby remained active with baseball. He was an administrator for the Former Players Licensing Branch of Major League Baseball, helping to license people or companies that wanted to use players or their trademarks for card shows or speaking engagements.59 In 1995, Doby was named special assistant to American League president Gene Budig, who said at the time, “Few have done more for Major League Baseball than Larry Doby, and we are excited about having him associated with us.”60 Doby later was also named to the Baseball World board.61

In 1997, the Indians retired Doby’s number 14 on the 50th anniversary of his American League debut.62 He became the fifth Cleveland player to be so honored, joining Bob Feller, Earl Averill, Mel Harder, and Lou Boudreau.63 A banner was displayed in left field on July 5, 1997, at Jacobs Field, showing Doby and Jackie Robinson, saying “50 years: 1947-1997.”64 At the ceremony, Hank Aaron said to Doby, “I want to thank you for all that you went through, because if it had not been for you, I wouldn’t have been able to have the career that I had.”65 In 1998, Doby was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.66

Doby’s health plagued him in retirement. He battled a cancerous tumor in 1997 and had to have a kidney removed.67 Helyn, his wife of 55 years, died in 2001 after a six-month battle with cancer.68 Larry Doby died of cancer in Montclair, New Jersey, on June 18, 2003. More than 300 mourners attended his funeral at Trinity Presbyterian Church.69 He is buried in Montclair. He was honored posthumously by appearing on a U.S. postage stamp released in July 2012.70

An updated version of this biography is included in the book “The Newark Eagles Take Flight: The Story of the 1946 Negro League Champions” (SABR, 2019), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin. It also appears in SABR’s “Pitching to the Pennant: The 1954 Cleveland Indians” (University of Nebraska Press, 2014) and “Go-Go To Glory — The 1959 Chicago White Sox” (ACTA, 2009).

Notes

Charles Macon England was born on September 6, 1921, in Newton, the county seat of Catawba County in the uplands of west-central North Carolina. His parents were Guy Leroy and Katie (Duncan) England. His grandparents were born into slavery not long before the end of the Civil War. England’s family has deep roots in Catawba County. Charlie had two brothers and two sisters who survived to adulthood. His older brother, Horace, enlisted in the US Army during World War II. He re-enlisted to serve in the Korean War, was captured by the enemy in North Korea, and died as a prisoner of war. His remains were never found. Charles’s younger brother, Warren, also served in the Army during World War II. After he was discharged from the Army, he returned to Newton. Charles’s two sisters were Marion England Burgin and Betty Jean England Gibbs. His parents and all of his siblings except Horace are buried in Catawba County.

Life for the England family in Newton during the Jim Crow era was full of challenges, setbacks, tragedies, and accomplishments. Guy England worked a variety of jobs. He was the janitor for the Catawba County Courthouse and a fireman at a textile mill, where he had the backbreaking job of stoking the mill’s boilers. Katie also did tedious labor – she was a laundress in the days before modern washing machines. Their hard work paid off and by 1930, they owned their home in Newton and made sure their children attended school.

During the 1930s the England household began to unravel. In 1933, when Charles was 12 years old, his mother died at age 39 from pneumonia, a complication of influenza. A year later his father was remarried to Vanda Hewitt Frye, also recently widowed. Less than a year later, Vanda’s son, Richard Frye Jr., was killed in a truck accident that also took the lives of nine other African-Americans who were on their way to a picnic. In the midst of family turmoil and grief, Charles England went to live with his maternal grandparents, Warren and Alice Duncan. Warren was a house painter and Alice Duncan toiled as a washerwoman.1 Charles was living with his grandparents when he graduated from Central High School in Newton.2

The first mention of a baseball game in the Newton Enterprise came on July 14, 1883, when the Newton Nine lost the first game of the season to the Statesville Nine.3 As early as the 1870s, “colored nines” competed in organized leagues at the local, regional, and state levels. Some cities, like Asheville, had more than one team. The success of black baseball teams in the decade after the Civil War prompted the Tarboro Enquirer Southerner to complain, “Is it not time that the whites retire from the game?”4

Coverage of colored baseball teams continued sporadically in Catawba County newspapers through the early 1900s. One such nine, the Newton Colored Base Ball [sic] Team, traveled throughout western and central North Carolina to play local and college teams, often playing their home contests on the now-defunct Catawba College diamond.5 By the 1930s, numerous colored nines were playing in local and regional leagues.

Local newspapers’ attention to sporting events at Charles’s Central High School were virtually absent. The school offered little in the way of extracurricular activities. In the late 1930s, when Charles attended the segregated school, it was described as having “broken windows, bare light bulbs suspended from the ceiling, and only one pot-bellied stove.”6 Athletic facilities were nearly nonexistent save an outdoor patch of dirt that passed for a basketball court – there was no gym.7 Any opportunities for Charles to play competitive baseball came from elsewhere. While records are scarce and evidence slim, it is likely that England had his first baseball experiences in the 1930s with one of the colored nines in Catawba County before he graduated from Central High School to head off to college.

England enrolled at the historically black Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, for the 1940-1941 academic year. He was a star pitcher for the Bears and played on the basketball team. Shaw engaged in intercollegiate baseball skirmishes as early as 1898 against their crosstown rival, St. Augustine’s School (now St. Augustine’s University). Shaw began fielding an intercollegiate-conference baseball team in the 1910s. All of their games were against black colleges and most were in North Carolina.

England was a student at Shaw University in 1942 when he registered for the World War II draft. At the time he was unmarried, and he named his grandmother Alice as the “person who will always know your address.”8 Besides attending the university, he took welding classes at a vocational-technical school in Rocky Mount. When he enlisted in the US Army at Fort Bragg on January 19, 1945, England had two years of college and a skillset that included welding and “flame cutting.” He was described as being 5 feet-7½ inches tall, and weighing 150 pounds. But it was not his welding skills that got him through his military service – it was his firepower on the mound.

England completed all of his Army service in the United States. Fourteen months after he joined the Army, he was a sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps. At Camp Lee, Virginia, he was a pitcher for the Travelers, the Camp Lee baseball team.

The Travelers played military and civilian teams throughout the mid-Atlantic region. (Its home field was Nowak Field, named in honor of Sgt. Henry “Hank” Nowak, a St. Louis Cardinals minor-league pitcher who was killed in action in Belgium on January 1, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge.)

Major-league players who played for the Travelers included Jim Greengrass, Granny Hamner, Johnny Lindell, and Porter Vaughan, as well as two future Hall of Famers, Luke Appling, who was a player-manager for the Travelers in 1944; and Red Ruffing, who pitched at least one game for Camp Lee in the spring of 1945.

During World War II, US military bases organized traveling baseball and football teams that played against military and civilian squads. Four years before Jackie Robinson broke major-league baseball’s color barrier, the Army was already fielding mixed-race teams. The relatively progressive attitudes of the military stood in stark contrast to the segregated teams on college campuses and civilian life. But the Army saw integrated sports teams as a means to foster unity and patriotism, and promote some semblance of racial harmony in its forces.9 Camp Lee, named for the Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee and situated in the heart of Jim Crow country, was among the Army installations that allowed white and black players on the same teams. (The baseball team, the Travelers, was nicknamed for Lee’s favorite horse.) Cpl. Ernest R. Rather in the Chicago Defender observed, “On the buses, though segregation is the rule in Virginia, it is not observed in practice within the Camp Lee limits”10 

According to a 1967 newspaper article, Charles England was the first African-American to play on the Travelers baseball team.11 That assertion is likely incorrect. Before England arrived at Camp Lee in 1946, other black ballplayers had integrated the squad. As early as 1943, George Crowe played first base on what had previously been an all-white nine. After World War II Crowe played for the New York Black Giants (1947-1949) and played nine major-league seasons (1952-1953; 1955-1961) for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals. Crowe also played professionally for several basketball teams including the Harlem Globetrotters and the Los Angeles Red Devils in the National Basketball League, where one of his teammates was Jackie Robinson. In 1944, two years before Charlie England reported to Camp Lee, former Negro League player William McKinley “Sug” Cornelius was pitching for the Travelers. Sug’s résumé included stints on the mound for the Nashville Elite Giants, Memphis Red Sox, Birmingham Black Barons, Chicago American Giants, and Cincinnati Buckeyes. So clearly England was not the first African-American to play for the Travelers. But that historical correction does not diminish his baseball accomplishments or his contributions to racial equality and the civil-rights movement.

The first mound appearances by Sgt. Charles M. England for the Camp Lee Travelers took place in the spring of 1946. In his first outing, on April 10, he pitched two innings in relief in a losing effort against the Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Barons of the Class-A Eastern League, a farm team of the Cleveland Indians.12 The winning pitcher for the Barons was Joe Tipton, who after the war played seven seasons for American League teams between 1948 and 1954. The losing pitcher for the Travelers was Bob Chakales, who also spent seven seasons in the majors, pitching for several American League teams. About two weeks later, Charlie England pitched in relief against the Binghamton (New York) Triplets of the Eastern League, a New York Yankees farm team. This time, England and the Travelers came out on top, 4-3, before a crowd of 5,000 at Camp Lee.13 England gave up 11 hits but yielded just two runs to notch the win.

The last mound appearance by England in a Travelers uniform came on June 29, 1946. He pitched a three-hitter against Quantico as the Travelers defeated the Marines, 8-1. Less than three weeks later, England was honorably discharged. He spent his Army service – one year, eight months, and two days – as an “athletic instructor.” Clearly, some of his instructing took place on the pitcher’s mound. His service awards included the American Theater Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, the Meritorious Unit Award, and the World War II Victory Ribbon.  His final mustering-out pay was $265.92, including compensation for his travel costs to return home to Newton.14

Less than a month after his discharge, England was in Newark making his debut on the mound for the Eagles. His first start, at Ruppert Stadium on August 15, 1946, was not a memorable game for England or the Eagles. The game was scheduled on the same day as the Negro League All-Star Classic at Griffith Stadium in Washington, three days before the East-West Game was to take place at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eagles stars Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Leon Day, and Lennie Pearson were absent from the lineup; they were slated to play in the Washington and Chicago games. England and the Eagles lost to the Memphis Red Sox, 11-4. An account of the game in the Atlanta Daily World noted that in the fourth inning the Red Sox “launched their bunting attack and combined six hits, along with three Eagles errors to score eight runs and clinch the contest.”15 The Chicago Defender also noted that the “sensational bunting attack” by Memphis was what won the game.16

On August 19, the day after the Comiskey Park game, England made his second start for Newark. The outcome again was not in his favor: a loss to the Baltimore Elite Giants, 7-1, in the first game of a doubleheader. England gave up 12 hits and his teammates committed five errors. He walked five and made a wild pitch before a crowd of 3,000 at Bloomingdale Oval Park in Baltimore. (Today this field is known as Leon Day Park, named in honor of the former Negro League standout and England’s teammate and leading pitcher for the 1946 Eagles.)

On September 1 the Eagles were in first place in the second half of the season with a record of 14-3. Two of the three losses were charged to England. By then England was no longer with the team. In all likelihood he had been hired by the Eagles to help replace the missing players. After Doby and the others returned from their all-star appearances, England was released. He headed back to Raleigh and re-enrolled in Shaw University. Although it appears that his Negro League career ended with those two Newark losses, some newspaper articles decades later said that England also pitched for the Philadelphia Stars. Even the Baseball in Wartime website links him to the Stars.17 While these assertions are not beyond the realm of possibility, no box scores and/or game summaries exist to support them.

After his stint in the military and his brief career with the Eagles, England resumed his life as a student-athlete on the Shaw Bears’ 1947 and 1948 championship football and baseball teams. He was the team captain and place kicker for the Bears when they won the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship by defeating South Carolina A&T in the title game in Washington, DC.18 In 1948 England was the team captain and most valuable player for the Shaw team that captured the CIAA baseball crown. He also played basketball at Shaw and was an active member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. But one has to wonder how England was eligible to play collegiate baseball after his stint, albeit brief, with the Eagles. This is especially puzzling given this entry in the 1948 Shaw University yearbook: “We find Charles Macon England playing hand to hand with Jackie [Robinson] on the world’s greatest baseball team.”19 The yearbook’s writers were likely referring to Jackie Robinson’s All-Stars, who barnstormed across the country in 1947, the roster including England’s former Eagles teammate, Larry Doby.

England graduated from Shaw University in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree. He was recognized for his academic and athletic accomplishments with a biographical entry in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. England’s nickname at Shaw was “Life,” and he “willed” his ability to “keep cool” while pitching to an underclassman. But England was not done with baseball. After graduation, he left Raleigh and picked up a pitching gig with the North Carolina Twins, a semipro team based in Winston-Salem and playing in the Carolina Baseball Association. He had played in the same league in 1940 when he appeared on the roster for the Raleigh Grays. On July 10, 1949, he took the mound for the Twins in a game against the Asheville Black Tourists. He was billed as the “well known former pitcher for Shaw University and later the Philadelphia Eagles [sic].”20 

In the fall of 1949 England was hired to teach science and physical education and coach football at W.A. Pattillo High School in Tarboro, North Carolina. He was on the faculty at Pattillo through 1958 and continued to play baseball during his summer breaks. On April 16, 1950, described as a “former Shaw star who now plays with the Chicago American Giants,” he was scheduled to pitch three innings for the Raleigh Grays in a charity game against the Central Prison Giants.21 That same month, England was among “six collegians” who joined the Giants in their spring-training camp in Columbus, Mississippi.22 His tenure with the team was brief and likely ended shortly after the team broke camp in Mississippi because his name was not mentioned again that season as part of the Giants’ regular lineup.

The 1950s brought many changes to England’s personal and professional life. As a newly minted college graduate, he embarked on what would be a long career as an educator and high-school sports coach. In 1951 he pitched for two semipro baseball teams in North Carolina. In May he took the mound for the semipro Rocky Mount All-Stars. By June he was pitching for the Asheville Blues, formerly of the Negro Southern League. England was touted as an all-star twirler for the Blues and “one of the top hurlers in Negro baseball.”23 Given that Rocky Mount and Asheville are more than 300 miles apart, it is unlikely that he played in too many games.

England’s most remarkable year in baseball was 1952, when he coached his Pattillo High School baseball team to the North Carolina state championship.24  He also garnered headlines for integrating the Rocky Mount Leafs of the Class-D Coastal Plain League. He was signed to a contract with the Leafs by owner Charles Franklin “Frank” Walker, an outfielder for five seasons between 1917 and 1925 for the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics, and New York Giants. Walker’s motivation for integrating the Leafs was more of an effort to boost attendance than a brave challenge to racism and Jim Crow, as evidenced when he announced that England would not travel with the team, and would pitch only at home in Rocky Mount.25 

Walker’s decision to use England to integrate the Rocky Mount Leafs was not a random choice. England was well-known in the community for his play in the Negro Leagues and semipro circuits, his meritorious military service, his college baseball triumphs at Shaw University, and his roles at a teacher and coach at Pattillo High School. Howard Criswell Jr., a white sports columnist for the Rocky Mount Telegram, wrote that Walker was “not averse” to signing an African-American player, but that “finding one who would be able to take the proper attitude in playing and have the ability” was the challenge.26 According to Criswell, Walker “was not the first one to look at England. … [T]he St. Louis Browns showed a great deal of interest in [England] and had him at a tryout camp they held in Asheville.”27 Criswell said that England turned down a chance to play for the Browns because it would have “interfered with [his] coaching at (Pattillo),” and that after his debut game, England was emotional, understood the historic importance of the moment, saw his chance with the Leafs as a “great honor,” and did his best to “live up to the code of the club and the league. …”28

England made two starts for Rocky Mount. Things did not go well. In both outings, he was knocked out in the fourth inning. For his debut, on June 18, 1952, England stood on the mound before nearly 3,100 boisterous fans, nearly one-third of whom were African-Americans.29 He struck out the first Kinston Eagles batter and retired the second on a routine fly ball. But the third Kinston batter, Herb Grissom, blasted a home run and then the flood gates were wide open. By the time England got the hook in the fourth inning, the Eagles had scored 16 runs, not all of them earned. England was understandably nervous and his teammates didn’t do much to help. The Leafs fielders made three errors in the first four innings. There were also a variety of distractions including a pregame beauty contest, multiple arguments between players, managers, and umpires, and a “negro boy” described as an “illegal person,” who broke the rules by warming up a Kinston player on the field.”30

For England’s second start, on June 24 in Rocky Mount, against the Tarboro Tars, the crowd was noticeably smaller – about 2,000. England had a better outing, giving up six hits in four innings but the Leafs lost, 3-2. And despite his marked improvement over his first outing, two days later he was released. Walker declared that “England didn’t have enough on the ball to pitch in the Coastal Plain League.”31 England brushed off being cut from the team by saying that he was treated fairly, was appreciative for the opportunity, and in short order was planning to leave Rocky Mount for New York University, where he was working on a master’s degree in physical education.32 R.D. Armstrong, in his “News About Negroes” column in the Rocky Mount Telegram, wrote, “England’s short stay here was a credit to himself, his race, and to organized baseball and his anxiety to get in school for the remaining summer months is indicative of his determination to go forward.33 (Within days Walker signed another African-American pitcher, Lafayette Stallings, a native of Nash County, North Carolina. Like England, Stallings did not win a single start with the Leafs and was likewise released.

Charles England was the first African-American to play for the Rocky Mount Leafs but was not the first to be signed by a Coastal Plain League team. That credit went to Charlie T. Roach, a 29-year-old graduate of Winston-Salem Teachers College (today Winston-Salem State University), who made his debut as the first black player for the New Bern Bears on June 10, 1952, eight days before England’s debut,34 and was gone after playing in one game. England and Roach had much in common. Both were grandsons of slaves and lifelong residents of North Carolina. Each served in the Army during World War II, earned bachelor’s degrees at historically black colleges, attended graduate schools, and had successful careers as educators.

England’s and Roach’s fleeting tenures in the Coastal Plain League received similar coverage by the white press. The Rocky Mount Telegram’s Criswell wrote that England “didn’t get rattled” by the large crowd at his debut game and that “Everyone in the stands were behind him.”35 Criswell added that England was not permitted to share the locker room with his white teammates and that there were “only a few minor boos.” The columnist’s sanitized perception of England’s debut did not go unchallenged. Criswell neglected to mention that some Leafs’ players refused to take the field with an African-American. A “letter to the editor” by a white writer defended England’s poor showing by noting, “(T)he Rocky Mount team presented a makeshift lineup with a pitcher playing left field and a third baseman – who last year fielded like a sieve and batted less than .200 – filling in at shortstop.”36 The letter writer summed up his disgust with the uncritical press coverage of England’s performance by adding that he heard “one Negro fan [comment] quite bitterly that Bob Feller couldn’t have won with such a team behind him.”37 White sportswriters made similar assumptions regarding Charlie Roach’s one-and-done appearance. Local newspapers reported that Roach, in his performance for New Bern, “fitted into the club without friction.” Reality was quite different.38 Roach endured racial slurs and boos from the majority white crowd and was sold three days later to the Danville Leafs of the Class-B Carolina League.39 England and Roach made headlines in the summer of 1952 for breaking the color barrier for their respective teams. Their performances generated a momentary spike in gate receipts and public interest, but in the end, they were used for little more than a failed publicity stunt and then were summarily dismissed. The average attendance at Leafs games in 1952 had slumped to just 600 and Frank Walker predicted that the Coastal Plain League would fold and fail to field any teams in 1953.40 And he was right.

After his brief career in the Coastal Plain League, England returned to his teaching and coaching duties at Pattillo High School in Tarboro.41 But he did not quit baseball. Through the 1950s he sporadically pitched games in local leagues. One of his last appearances on the diamond was in 1957, when he managed the Rocky Mount native and Hall of Famer Buck Leonard and an aggregation called the Eastern North Carolina All Stars in an exhibition game in Tarboro against the Kansas City Monarchs. He left Pattillo for teaching and coaching assignments at Dunbar High School in Lexington, North Carolina, until the school closed in 1967. England coached Dunbar’s baseball and football teams to numerous titles and in 1960 was named Coach of the Year in Davidson County, North Carolina.42 In 1968 England was hired to teach and coach at the integrated Lexington Senior High School, where he enjoyed similar success as an assistant football coach and head baseball coach.

The 1960s also marked a major change in England’s personal life. On April 15, 1960, he married Julia May Chisholm in Mecklenburg, North Carolina. She had graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Johnson C. Smith University in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Like her husband, she went to New York City for her graduate education and earned a master’s degree at the Teachers College of Columbia University. She was a teacher for 32 years when she retired in 1985. Charles and Julia raised three children in Lexington. They had something else in common – their commitment to the civil rights movement. Both were members of the NAACP and activists for racial equality and social justice in their community. In the early 1990s, Charles England tried unsuccessfully to convince the Davidson County Commission to recognize MLK Day as an official holiday for county employees. After England’s death in 1999, members of a committee created by England continued the fight for recognition. One committee member said of England that he “taught me how to walk with dignity” and that he saw England as a “replica” of Dr. Martin Luther King.43 Another three years elapsed before Davidson County acknowledged MLK Day in 2002 as a legitimate holiday, one of the last of North Carolina’s 100 counties to do so.

After England retired from teaching and coaching in the 1980s, he received numerous awards and accolades for his athletic achievements and dedication to education and serving the community. In 1982 he was inducted into the Shaw University Hall of Fame. In 1988 he received the A. Odell Leonard Humanitarian Award from the Lexington Civitan Club. Even after his death in 1999, England continued to be honored. Less than a month after he died, the Dunbar Intermediate School, where he began his teaching career, was renamed the Charles England Intermediate School.44 In 2000 he was inducted into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.45 When a new Charles England Intermediate School was built in Lexington in 2008, his son, Charles Macon England Jr., recalled one of his father’s favorite sayings: “A man never stood so tall as when he stooped to help a child.”46 In 2016 the nonprofit Charles and Julia England Foundation was created to provide grants for teachers who are engaged in “creative learning opportunities for students” in the Lexington city schools.47 The theme for the Charles England school and foundation is based on another frequent exhortation by Coach England – “Be somebody.”

Charles M. England died on January 23, 1999, in Salisbury, North Carolina. He was 77 years old. He was survived by his wife, Julia, and their three children. Only one of his siblings survived him, his sister Marion Evelyn England Burgin, who lived her entire life in Catawba County. Julia Chisholm England died in 2015. Charlies and Julia are buried in Forest Hill Memorial Park in Lexington.

Charles Macon England lived a dignified and meritorious life in difficult times. In spite of the barriers placed before him in the Jim Crow South, he graduated from college, excelled in his academic and athletic pursuits, and helped break down racial barriers in US Army baseball teams and the Coastal Plain League. England had a dismal two-start career with the Newark Eagles in 1946 but was not daunted by the defeats. He moved forward in his life and made quantifiable differences in the lives of hundreds of students and student-athletes who benefited from his tutelage and tried their best to “be somebody.” England was a sterling role model in the classroom and on the baseball diamond. It is quite possible that he is one of the most lauded former Negro League players in history who was not a superstar on the mound but was a stellar member of society as a whole. Charles England did not make a major mark in the Negro League record books, but his name, his wide-ranging contributions, and his reputation are still very much present.

Notes

1 US Census Bureau, 1940 Census.

2 Ibid.

3 “Base Ball,” Newton (North Carolina) Enterprise, July 14, 1883: 3.

4 “Base Ball,” Enquirer Southerner (Tarboro, North Carolina), October 2, 1874: 4.

5 “Locals,” Newton Enterprise, June 5, 1903: 3; “Locals,” Newton Enterprise, April 15, 1909: 3; “Locals,” Newton Enterprise, April 11, 1912: 2; “Locals,” Newton Enterprise, March 27, 1913: 3.

6 Betty J. Jamerson, School Segregation in Western North Carolina: A History, 1860s-1970s (Jefferson, North   Carolina: McFarland, 2011), 213.

7 Jamerson, 215.

8 World War II Draft Registration Card, 1942, for Charles Macon England, Order No. 10170.

9 Wanda E. Wakefield, Playing to Win: Sports and the American Military, 1898-1945 (Albany, New York: State University Press of New York, 1997), 128.

10 Ernest R. Rather, “Camp Lee Training Band,” Chicago Defender, September 15, 1945: 11.

11 “Lexington Dunbar Coach Speaks at Final Carver Sports Banquet,” Daily Independent (Kannapolis, North Carolina), April 30, 1967: 11-A.

12 “Wilkes-Barre Nine Trips Camp Lee,” Washington Post, April 11, 1946: 13.

13 “Rally by Camp Lee Defeats Binghamton Nine by 4-3 Count,” Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, April 25, 1946: 18.

14 US Army, Enlisted Record and Report of Separation Honorable Discharge, for Charles Macon England, July 17, 1946.

15 “Memphis Red Sox Top Newark Eagles, 11-4,” Atlanta Daily World, August 15, 1945: 5.

16 “Memphis Trims Eagles,” Chicago Defender, August 17, 1945: 11.

17 baseballinwartime.com/negro.htm.

18 1948 Shaw Bear Yearbook (Shaw University), 54. The CIAA is a collegiate athletic conference of mostly historically black colleges.

19 1948 Shaw Bear Yearbook, 33.

20 “Asheville Black Tourists Face N.C. Twins Today,” Asheville (North Carolina) Citizen-Times, July 10, 1949: 36.

21 “Raleigh Grays Play Prison Squad Today,” Raleigh News and Observer, April 15, 1950: 19.

22 “Gate Attractions Sought on College Campuses,” Atlanta Daily World, April 18, 1950: 3.

23 “Firefighters Play Blues,” Jersey Journal (Jersey City, New Jersey), June 22, 1951: 17.

24 R.D. Armstrong, “News About Negroes,” Rocky Mount (North Carolina) Telegram, June 22, 1952: 5.

25 “Leafs Lose but Turkey Protests Game in Ninth,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 19, 1952: 14.

26 Howard Criswell Jr., “Sports Talk: The First One,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 17, 1952: 10.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 “Full House,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 19, 1952: 15.

30 Ibid.

31 “England Released,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 27, 1952: 10.

32 R.D. Armstrong, “News About Negroes: Two Big Events,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 22, 1952: 5.

33 Ibid.

34 “Negro Makes Debut in Coastal Plains,” Asheville Citizen-Times, June 10, 1952: 14.

35 Howard Criswell Jr., “Sports Talk: Big Night,” Rocky Mount Telegram, June 20, 1952: 10.

36 W.G. Williams, “Charlie England,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 10, 1952: 10.

37 Ibid.

38 “Negro Makes Debut in Coastal Plains.”

39 Bill Hand, “New Bern Hosted the First Black Player in an All White League,” New Bern (North Carolina) Sun Journal, November 4, 2012. newbernsj.com/article/20121104/Opinion/311049940.

40 “Closed Out,” Rocky Mount Telegram, September 2, 1952.

41 “Monarchs Will Play All-Stars at Tarboro, Raleigh News and Observer, July 3, 1957: 12.

42 “Charlie England Coach of the Year,” Chicago Defender, January 23, 1960: 24.

43 “In Memory of Coach Charles England,” Lexington (North Carolina) Dispatch, January 27, 1999. the-dispatch.com/news/19990127/in-memory-of-coach-charles-england.

44 Deneesha Edwards, “New Charles England Intermediate School Opens,” Lexington Dispatch, August 21, 2008. the-dispatch.com/news/20080821/new-charles-england-intermediate-school-opens.

45 “Charlie England, Lexington Dispatch, September 6, 2002. the-dispatch.com/news/20020906/born-thomasville-may-22-1946.

46 “New Charles England Intermediate School Opens.”

47 besomebodyfund.com.

Seeking Felder’s replacement, team owner Abe Manley and manager Biz Mackey turned their eyes to Givens, an outstanding athlete at Morgan State Teachers College in Baltimore.2 Aware of his maturity and athleticism, they had viewed him as a prospect for Newark prior to World War II, but that conflict had delayed his being signed to a contract. This time, Givens joined the Eagles as soon as his spring semester ended.3

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound all-around player was 23 years old and became the heir-apparent to Felder. His athletic ability was his calling card, but in his first professional game with Newark, on June 9, at Wilmington Park against Homestead, he was hitless in three plate appearances though he did not make an error.

During the season Givens appeared in only 17 games at shortstop and moved to third base in one of them. He collected 17 hits in 52 at-bats, including a double and home run, and had five RBIs, but his potential was overshadowed by his lack of production. The July 3 Brooklyn Eagle listed Givens as shortstop for that night’s game between Newark and the Brooklyn Bushwicks,4 but the published box score showed Calvin Irvin at that position.5 On July 5 Mackey gave Felder another chance at shortstop.6

It appears Mackey had given up completely on Givens by then, and was unsure about who his starting shortstop would be. Felder was named to the position on July 17 for two games the next day against the Cleveland Buckeyes in Rochester,7 but he was replaced by Monte Irvin, who was brought in from the outfield to finish the season at shortstop.8 Givens returned to Morgan State for the fall semester and resumed playing football, the sport that would give him his most fame.

Oscar Cornellnes (possibly Cornelius) Givens was born on July 5, 1922, and grew up in Linden, New Jersey,9 11 miles from Newark. His mother, Florida, a homemaker, and father, Jasper, an oil refinery worker, were born in Georgia. His siblings were Rosears (Rosie), the eldest, who was born in 1910, Nathaniel (Noonie), born in 1912, Freddie (1913), sister Mattie (1915), and Jackson (1919). When Oscar was 17 and in his third year of high school, there were 11 other family members living in the Givens home. Oscar followed in the footsteps of his older brothers at Linden High School, where every brother had played nearly every sport; he played multiple sports and starred in basketball and football.

Oscar, like his brothers, was destined to develop into a notable Linden High graduate. The school boasts a list that includes Tiffany Andrade, Miss New Jersey 2008; John Charles, a former cornerback and safety who played eight seasons in the National Football League; Eddie Kasko, an infielder, manager, scout, and front-office executive in major-league baseball; Vincent Obsitnik, an American diplomat of Slovak descent; Jon Rua, an actor, singer, and choreographer who appeared in the Broadway hit Hamilton; Troy Stradford, who played for six seasons in the NFL; Craig Taylor, a running back for three seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals; and Muhammad Wilkerson, a defensive end for the New York Jets.10

Linden’s football coach, Ted Cooper, noting that he may have been the first coach in the state to coach six brothers, said, “They were all great men.”11

Nine-year-old Oscar represented his hometown in a marbles tournament in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and went to the semifinals, where he was defeated and was awarded the bronze medal.12

Oscar began to excel at sports in junior high school, even as a reserve. When the Linden High junior varsity met the Plainfield reserves on October 8, 1934, it was Givens who led the way. With the score tied 0-0, he tossed two touchdown passes in a 13-0 triumph.13 In the fall of his sophomore year, he was a steady fullback.14

As a junior on his high-school basketball team, he was known for his ball-handling skills and teams were aware of his being a team leader. A sportswriter noted, “He is an extremely clever ball handler. He is remembered rather for his method of commanding the team and setting up plays than for his individual scoring prowess.”15 Linden’s basketball team finished 21-1 and captured the Union County championship.16

When the baseball season began, Givens held down third base and was a good hitter. Against North Plainfield High School on May 1, he had a single, double, and triple in his team’s 8-3 win.17 He added a single and another triple against Carteret on May 22,18 and hit another triple on May 30.19

A bruising fullback on the Linden football team his senior year, Givens was called “the spearhead of the Terriers attack and bulwark of the defense in every game.”20 He was named Honorable Mention on the Writers All-State Football Team.21

Once Linden’s basketball season began, his reputation on the court picked up where it had left off the previous year, but with an added dimension: scoring. With nine points against North Plainfield in a blowout, others took notice: “Givens, although not the high scorer, was the big gun of the visitors, making plays, setting up his teammates and then for a change scoring himself almost at will.”22 After a successful run during the regular season, Linden lost in the semifinals of the Group III state tournament to Bound Brook High School, 42-22. Both Givens and teammate Butch Woytowicz had 280, combining for 500 points during the year.23 Both made Honorable Mention on the Writers All-State Basketball Team.24

At Morgan State, Givens immediately established himself on the football team. In a 22-0 win over Virginia Union on October 12, 1940, he ran for a touchdown,25 and on November 9 he paced the team to its sixth straight victory in a win over North Carolina A&T, 34-0. He scored two touchdowns and kicked three extra points in the game.26

Named an All-American in football in 1941, Givens was almost as good on the court as he was on the football field. Elected captain of the basketball team, he was instrumental in getting his team to the top of the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association standings. But on March 2, 1942, before the season ended, Givens and six basketball teammates were called up to military service.27

In the fall of 1946 Givens returned to Morgan State and resumed his position on the football team as a passing fullback and punter. Memorably, he led the squad to a 13-12 win over West Virginia State in Baltimore, a team that included Linwood Greene, a 1945 All-American selection, who was tossed from the game for fighting.28

In the third game of the season, in Baltimore, Morgan State thumped Grambling 35-0. The Bears’ second touchdown was scored when Givens “whipped a perfect strike to Joe Black in the end zone.”29 Black, the future major-league pitcher, was on a football scholarship (there was no baseball program at Morgan State), and played the same position as Givens. When Black realized he would never beat out Givens for the position, he became an end.30

On Thanksgiving Day in Petersburg, Virginia, Morgan State won the CIAA championship by a 6-0 score when Givens “dug his cleats into the soft turf and then rammed his way through left guard from the one-foot line and over for the most precious touchdown Morgan has scored all season.”31

In 1947 the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference signed Givens, who had been named to the Negro All-American team in 1941 and 1942.32 When the Dons opened camp, there were 40 players, including eight blacks. Givens was one of them, listed at 6-feet-2 and 200 pounds.

In Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football in Their Own Words, Andy Piascik quotes John Brown, one of the first black players to play pro football, on Givens’ abilities:

We had another black guy in camp, a quarterback from New Jersey, Oscar Givens, and he could throw with both arms. He went to Morgan State, and I played basketball against him in college. DeGroot wanted to keep him but somebody higher up made some decisions and they got rid of him. DeGroot was a fair-minded person. … [T]hey sent Givens to Hawaii to play and he played over there for a year, but he never came back to the pros. Oscar Givens was one hell of a football player.33

Givens could win neither the starting quarterback position nor the backup slot. When a team in Honolulu, the Hawaiian Warriors of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League, let it be known they were searching for backfield help, the Dons loaned Givens and Charles Price to the Warriors. Los Angeles wanted them to return to the Dons for the 1948 season.34

Givens impressed F.J. Brickner, general manager of the Warriors, in his first two workouts. “Givens has been particularly impressive in passing and he looks like a good bet to replace Joe Kaulukukui at the quarterback spot,” said Brickner.35

The unusual schedule against the San Francisco Clippers, Sacramento Nuggets, Salt Lake Seagulls, and Los Angeles Bulldogs allowed the Warriors to play all 10 of their games at home. Givens led his team to a 14-12 opening day win against the Clippers. When the team played Sacramento on October 30, Givens was not dressed.36 It was later revealed that he had a leg injury but that he would be in the lineup against Sacramento on November 7.37 The injury was more serious than first determined, as he did not return to action until November 14 against Salt Lake City, when he played as a backup.38

The team had a 7-2 record for the season. (Its final game of the season was canceled.) Givens’ finished with 38 rushing yards, and 549 passing yards on 36-for-59 passing.39

The season may have been successful for the Warriors, but there had been trouble looming. On December 13, 15 members of the team were fined in district court for betting on football games, though Givens was not one of them.40 On the 15th league Commissioner Rufus Klawans announced that four of the Hawaiian Warriors were suspended from professional football for life: halfbacks Melvin Abreau and Ray Scussel, guard Floyd M. Rhea, and center Jack Keenan.41 The two backs were the league’s leading ground gainers.

In February 1948 Effa Manley signed Givens to a second tryout with Newark. The Pittsburgh Courier, reporting the signing, said Givens had “showed considerable promise as a shortstop on the [1946] championship team. In fact, the Eagles started their pennant spirit as soon as Givens was placed into the lineup at shortstop in June of that year.”42

While noting that Givens would be heading south with the team to begin spring training, Manley also announced that he would marry Hazel J. Hill of Baltimore on February 20.

When the team bus pulled out of Newark on March 29, heading to Jacksonville for a month, Givens was on it.43 However, during the team’s Florida games, 22-year-old Willie “Curly” Williams appeared to be upstaging Givens. Wrote the Pittsburgh Courier, “Manager [William] Bell has especially been impressed with the playing of Curley [sic] Williams at shortstop. This rookie has been covering ground like a veteran and also packs a terrific punch at the plate.”44

At some point the entire Newark team was evaluated by New York Yankees scouts. The assessment probably took place during spring training, as both Williams and Givens are mentioned in their report. Neither was seen as of major-league caliber, with Williams noted as “only fair ability” and Givens as “can’t hit, fair fielder.”45

When the 1948 season began on May 2 in Baltimore against the Elite Giants, Givens was nowhere to be found. In fact, he is given credit for appearing in one game during the entire season, and on August 29, 1949, he signed with the Wilmington (Delaware) Clippers of the American Football League.46 According to the Wilmington News Journal, he was the team’s first black player.

The newspaper said of Givens, “He lives in Baltimore, working there for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He is married and his wife is a school teacher in the Maryland metropolis.”47

After a delay waiting for the steel plant in Baltimore to transfer him to daytime work so he could play football,48 he joined the Clippers and was on the practice field as the team prepared to visit the Erie Vets. Although he was “unfamiliar with some of the plays, Givens looked right at home in the key signal-calling slot and put on an impressive exhibition of ball-handling and passing control during dummy scrimmage,” the Morning News reported.49

At that point, the trail ends on Givens’ career, although he was inducted into the Morgan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1974. The university’s website contains a glowing description of what type of athlete he had been:

Oscar “Gip” Givens, a quiet deadly efficient quarterback, became Morgan’s foremost triple-threat player. A master at T-formation, excelled as a left-handed passer and right-footed kicker. In addition to his many prowess’s [sic] on the football field, the deceased “Gip” Givens also played basketball with great skill and poise during his career at Morgan.50

Givens died on October 25, 1967, and was buried in Rosedale and Rosehill Cemetery in Linden.

Acknowledgment

The author wishes to thank Mike Cooney and Nick Diunte for providing reference materials.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Profootballarchives.com, Seamheads.com, and one book:

Ross, Charles K. Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League (New York: NYU Press, 2009.)

Notes

1 “Day Beats Stars in No-Hitter, 2-0,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 6, 1946: 22.

2 “Brief History of Morgan State University,” Morgan State website, morgan.edu/about/history.html, retrieved October 29, 2018.

3 James Overmyer, Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1993): 200.

4 “Bushwicks Tackle Newark Eagles at Dexter Tonight,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1946: 14.

5 “Madison Faces Bushwicks Under Lights Tonight,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 1946: 12.

6 “Lloyd Nips Newark Eagles in Seventh, 6-5,” Delaware County Daily Times (Chester, Pennsylvania), July 6, 1946: 10.

7 “Newark Pilot Picks Infield, Outfield Trio,” Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, July 17, 1946: 20.

8 Ibid.

9 His middle name is rendered as Cornelius in “Dons Sign Negro Star Quarterback,” Honolulu Advertiser, April 24, 1947: 16.

10 “Famous Alumni Linden High School,” PeopleMaven Website, peoplemaven.com/l/X5wOn9/Famous-Alumni-Linden-High-School-(Linden%2C-NJ), retrieved October 28, 2018.

11 Lauren Pancurak Yeats, The Making of America Series: Linden, New Jersey (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia, 2002).

12 “Marble Play Tourney Will Decide Champs,” Plainfield (New Jersey) Courier-News, April 17, 1931: 36; “Hillside Boy Wins County Marbles Title,” Courier-News, April 21, 1931: 20.

13 “NPS Junior Varsity Drops One to Linden,” Bridgewater (New Jersey) Courier-News, October 9, 1935: 17.

14 “30-Second Deadlock!,” Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press, September 26, 1937: 13.

15 “Card Cagers Meet Linden Five Tomorrow,” Bridgewater Courier-News, January 19, 1939: 12.

16 “Linden Five Tops Plainfield, 30-20,” Bridgewater Courier-News, March 2, 1939: 17.

17 “Bernardsville, Linden Supply Opposition for Borough Squads,” Bridgewater Courier-News, May 2, 1939: 14.

18 “Carteret Trips Linden, 5 to 3,” Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey), May 23, 1939: 12.

19 “Canucks Drop 2 of 3 Matches – Bears Nose Out Red Caps,” Bridgewater Courier-News, May 31, 1939: 14.

20 “Prisco Worried as Rain Keeps Squad Indoors,” Central New Jersey Home News, November 1, 1939: 12.

21 “Writer’s All-State Team,” Asbury Park Press, December 12, 1939: 12.

22 “Givens, Mulhall Lead Goodwin Quintet in 43-22 Victory,” Bridgewater Courier-News, January 4, 1940: 16.

23 “Bound Brook Gains Tourney Final, Owls Lose,” Central New Jersey Home News, March 15, 1940: 26.

24 “Champion Fives Fail to Place Man on Writers’ All-State Selections,” Bridgewater Courier-News, March 21, 1940: 20.

25 “Morgan Gridders Run Wild in Two Periods To Defeat Va. Union,” Baltimore Sun, October 13, 1940: 27.

26 “Morgan State Romps Over N.C. Gridmen, 34-0 for Sixth Triumph,” Baltimore Sun, November 19, 1940: 28.

27 Martha Joe Black and Chuck Shoffner, Joe Black: More Than a Dodger (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2015), 69. 

28 Ric Roberts, “Morgan Shades W.V. in 13-12 Thriller,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 19, 1946: 13.

29 “Younger Stars in Morgan Victory,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 26, 1946: 12.

30 Black and Shoffner.

31 Wendell Smith, “Morgan Beats Va. State, Unruly Crowd to Win CIAA Crown,” Pittsburgh Courier, December 7, 1946: 16.

32 “L.A. Dons Sign Oscar Givens, Ex-Morgan Star,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 26, 1947: 15.

33 Andy Piascik, Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football in Their Own Words (Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publications, 2009), 23.

34 “Gridders Will Arrive This Week,” Honolulu Advertiser, August 24, 1947: 17.

35 “Ex-Don Quarterback Impressive in Drills,” Honolulu Advertiser, September 5, 1947: 15.

36 Wildred Rhinelander,“Rhiney’s Roundup,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 1, 1947: 3.

37 “Molesworth Expects Battle From Sacramento on Friday, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 5, 1947: 24.

38 “Warriors Find Stubborn Foe in Salt Lake City Gridders,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 15, 1947: 22.

39 “Statistics of Warriors Released,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 7, 1947: 26.

40 “15 Grid Players Fined for Pro Game Gambling,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 14, 1947: 1.

41 “3 ‘Outsiders’ Charged With Betting on Football Here,” Honolulu Advertiser, December 16, 1947: 4.

42 “Givens Signed for Trial at Short,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 21, 1948: 16.

43 “Newark Eagles Winging Way to Sunny Jacksonville Camp,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 3, 1948: 15.

44 “Manning Signs, but Newark’s Pitcher Lewis Still a Holdout,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 17, 1948: 14.

45 National Baseball Hall of Fame, Manuscript Archives Collection, Integration correspondence and clippings, collection.baseballhall.org/PASTIME/new-york-yankees-memorandum-and-scouting-reports-circa-1948-0#page/1/mode/1up, retrieved November 1, 2018.

46 This was not the American Football League that eventually merged with the National Football League to form the current NFL. It was a post-World War II resurrection of the American Association, a minor professional league that was based in New York City.

47 “Clippers Sign Negro Star Who Played for L.A. Dons,” Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, August 30, 1949: 22.

48 “Clippers’ Squad Cut to 35 for Game With Hawaiians,” Wilmington (Delaware) News Journal, August 31, 1949: 22.

49 “Quarterback Givens Excels as Clippers Prep for Erie,” Wilmington Morning News, September 6, 1949: 14.

50 Morgan State Athletics Hall of Fame, morganstatebears.com/hof.aspx?hof=34, retrieved November 1, 2018. Givens’ nickname may have changed over the years. Earlier, he was known as Gibby.

Vernon Randolph Harrison was born on July 13, 1919, in Norfolk, Virginia. His parents, Henry J. Harrison Sr. and Anna (Milteer) Harrison, were both born in Nansemond County, Virginia (today the independent city of Suffolk), situated in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia. Vernon had seven siblings, one of whom died as an infant from measles. Six of the seven were born in Virginia and spent their early childhoods in Portsmouth, where their father, Henry J. Harrison Sr., was a carpenter and contractor. In the early 1920s, Henry’s business was successful enough that it warranted paying to have his name appear in boldface as an advertisement in the Portsmouth City Directory.2

In 1923 Henry and Anna moved their family to Pleasantville, New Jersey, a town about eight miles west of Atlantic City. That same year, Vernon’s youngest sibling, Emmett H. Harrison, was born in Pleasantville. Coincidentally, one of the Harrisons’ neighbors in Pleasantville was Maxwell C. “Max” Manning, who played for the Newark Eagles. Vernon and his family lived just one block away from the Mannings, on McKinley Street. Manning, who signed with Newark in 1939, was with the team in 1946 and pitched two games in the Negro League World Series.3

The lives of Vernon Harrison and his family were shattered on September 10, 1933, when Vernon’s father was killed in an automobile accident that also seriously injured Vernon’s two youngest brothers, Henry and Emmett Harrison.4 Harrison’s car collided head-on with another vehicle, then “bounded into a ditch and overturned” near the town of Port Republic, about 10 miles north of Pleasantville.5 Henry Sr., 45 years old, died shortly after being taken to the Atlantic City Hospital. Henry Jr. and Emmett suffered lacerations and head injuries.6

Shortly before the accident the family had moved to Atlantic City, where Vernon started his high-school education. Four years later, in 1937, Vernon’s mother moved the family to Jersey City and Vernon began attending Lincoln High School, where he was the only African-American on the varsity baseball team.7 His coach, J. Warren “Warnie” Young, told a reporter that he was “especially enthusiastic over the fine pegging turned in by Vernon Harrison, a colored southpaw … [who] has a fine fastball and in addition to his hurling ability is also a dangerous man with the willow.”8 Young’s assessment was prescient. Harrison was named to the first team Hudson County all-star high-school team at the end of his first year at Lincoln High, an honor he repeated the following year in both baseball and basketball,9 when he was described as “the slickest and most brilliant passer to appear in our midst in some time [and] is a star baseball pitcher with a trick knee.”10 Harrison chose baseball over basketball and football for his senior year, however, perhaps to protect himself (and his knee) for what he foresaw as a possible professional career.

While attending Lincoln High, Harrison also pitched for various local nines including Selmod Athletic Club of the Fifth Ward Twilight League, and the Jersey City Colored Athletics.11 He took the mound in the summer of 1937 as a member of the Loew’s Jersey theater team for a charity event at the Polo Grounds against a team representing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.12

Quitting the basketball team to concentrate on baseball paid off when Harrison was signed by the Newark Eagles shortly after graduating from Lincoln in 1939.13 He was described as “one of the best looking prospects to enter the [Negro National League] in a number of years.”14 (A week earlier, Max Manning, Vernon’s former neighbor in in Pleasantville, had been added to the Eagles’ roster.15

Harrison made his Eagles debut on July 4, 1939, in a 7-0 loss to the New York Black Yankees at Dexter Park in Queens, New York.16 He pitched two innings in relief after the Black Yankees knocked out Newark’s starter, Jim Brown, and his reliever, Big Train Cozart.17 Harrison gave up three runs but struck out two Black Yankees. The outcome did not bode well for his future with Newark. Harrison’s next start came the following day, but not for the Eagles. He was back in his old uniform for the Jersey City Frank Association of the semipro Twilight League, and pitched a no-hitter, against the McDermott Association, missing a perfect game by one walk.18 Harrison was with the Franks the rest of the summer. He did not pitch for the Eagles for the rest of the 1939 season.

In the spring of 1940, Harrison was working as a baggage porter at the Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal, not far from the home he shared with his mother, sister, and two brothers in Jersey City.19 His pitching was limited to a handful of appearances on the mound for the semipro Jersey City Negro Athletics. By August, cracks in Harrison’s game were beginning to show. In a 7-1 loss to the West Haverstraw Dunnigans, Harrison’s pitching was so unsteady that it earned him the headline “Jersey Pitcher’s Wildness Ruins Game He Tried Hard to Win.”20 In October Harrison married Althea Van Croft in Jersey City. Their expected betrothal must have been the talk of the town. Earlier that year, a cheeky gossip column in the New York Age speculated about their impending engagement by popping a question of its own:“Say, do you know when Lefty Harrison and Althea Van Croft will say I do?”21

In 1941 the couple became parents with the birth of son Vernon J. Harrison. Also, he joined the Brooklyn Royal Giants, a team that had seen better days. It had been 10 years since the Royal Giants were a member of the Negro Leagues Eastern division.22 In the intervening years, they had devolved into a semipro organization without a league and played against increasingly less prestigious opponents. In 1941 Harrison spent much of the season in the bullpen along with a teammate, Marlon “Sugar” Cain. Brooklyn played mostly local nines, regional semipro clubs, and the barnstorming House of David. At least once Harrison went on the road with the Royal Giants for a June 27 game against the Lloyd Athletic Club of Chester, Pennsylvania.23 He was the starting pitcher and was removed after giving up four runs in the first three innings.24 (His replacement, Sugar Cain, pitched six shutout innings; the Royal Giants fell, 4-2.25) After the foray to Chester, Harrison’s name did not appear in Brooklyn’s game results for the rest of the season.

Harrison resurfaced in August 1942, starting a game for his old team, the Jersey City Colored Athletics.26 The game, a World War II fundraiser for the USO, pitted the Athletics, against Local 16, a group of shipyard workers.27 Harrison started out strong but flagged by the fifth inning when he gave up five earned runs as the Colored Athletics lost, 12-5.28

Sometime later Harrison served in the US Navy, sailing mainly on patrol vessels along the Pacific Coast, searching for enemy submarines.”29 After his discharge in August 1945, he returned to Jersey City. He remained active in veterans affairs, and in 1946 he helped establish the United Negro Veterans of World War II, serving as the organization’s first treasurer.30 In 1946, he also went back to playing baseball.

Harrison joined the newly constituted Jersey City Minor Leaguers in the spring of 1946, and stayed with the team through 1947. The Minor Leaguers were mostly World War II veterans, some of whom, like Harrison, had played in organized ball.31 Harrison was the only African-American on the team.32 He started a game against the Puerto Rican Stars in May and was described in the Jersey Journal as a “Negro southpaw who hurled for Lincoln High School and served in the armed forces during World War II.”33 It was not unusual for sportswriters to mention his high-school pitching accomplishments, even though he had graduated from Lincoln High School nearly a decade earlier. There was no mention, however, of Harrison’s stint with the Newark Eagles in 1939, or of any contract offers in the offing for him for the 1946 season.

Did Vernon Harrison pitch for the Newark Eagles in 1946? An account of an Eagles game played on July 28, 1946, suggested that he did.34 The Pittsburgh Courier reported that “Harrison” (no first name given) played in the first game of a doubleheader against the Homestead Grays in Washington. But this particular Harrison turned out not to be Vernon Harrison: He played third base and batted second in the lineup. Vernon Harrison was a left-handed pitcher with no history of being used as a position player, even going back to his high-school days. Why would the league-leading Eagles call upon Vernon Harrison to play third base when he had not appeared in an Eagles uniform since 1939? In a game being played in Washington, 225 miles from Jersey City. The answer is that they wouldn’t have. If Newark’s starting third baseman, Andrew “Pat” Patterson wasn’t available, Clarence “Pint” Isreal could have stepped in to take his place. In fact, Isreal was in the dugout that night and came in as a pinch-runner in the first game and then played third base in place of “Harrison” in the nightcap. So it is highly improbable that the Harrison who played third base for Newark was Vernon Harrison. In all likelihood, there was an error in the reporting of the game and Harrison was actually Newark’s regular third baseman, Pat Patterson; the misidentification was simply a typo in the box score, something that was not at all unusual in that time.

The closest that Vernon Harrison came to having an actual association with the Newark Eagles in 1946 was when he pitched for the Jersey City Minor Leaguers against the Newark Buffaloes. The Buffaloes’ manager was Mule Suttles, Harrison’s former teammate from the 1939 Eagles. The two teams faced each other multiple times during the summer of 1946. Harrison was mostly relegated to the role of a reliever, although he did enjoy occasional success as a starter.35

Harrison resumed his pitching duties for the Jersey City Colored Athletics in the spring of 1947. Newspaper coverage of semipro baseball leagues was in 1947 spotty at best and the results of just a handful of Colored Athletics games were reported in which Harrison played, none with box scores. The 1947 season became Harrison’s baseball swan song. He had some memorable highlights to savor such as a one-hitter he tossed against the East Orange Red Sox, but after the 1947 Colored Athletics’ season was over, Vernon Harrison’s name vanished from the sports pages.36 Although it is not out of the question that Harrison continued to play on some local or amateur teams, for all intents and purposes, he pitched his last professional game in 1947. After leaving baseball, Harrison pursued careers as a firefighter and police officer in Jersey City.37 By the time he started training as a fireman, his family had expanded to four with the birth of a daughter, Christine.

When Vernon Randolph Harrison died in Jersey City on March 18, 1978, at the age of 58, he was survived by his wife, Althea, his two children, three grandchildren, and three of his seven siblings.38 He is buried in the Bay View Cemetery in Jersey City. Although he was not a member of the Newark Eagles during their memorable 1946 season, he made his own contributions to baseball history, as well as serving his country, fellow veterans, and his community.

Notes

1 “Rookie Looks Good,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 8, 1938: 17.

2 Norfolk and Portsmouth City Directory (Norfolk, Virginia: Hill Directory Company, 1922), 1197.

3 “Newark, Black Yanks Go on Barnstorming Trip,” New Amsterdam News, July 1, 1939: 19.

4 “The Dead,” Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey), September 11, 1933: 10.

5 “2 Die, Scores Hurt in South Jersey Weekend Crashes, Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post, September 11, 1933: 10.

6 The Dead.”

7 The Quill, Lincoln High School Yearbook, 1937), 89.

8 “Scholastic News,” Jersey Journal (Jersey City, New Jersey), April 2, 1937: 16.

9 “Three All-County Players of 1936 Retain Berths,” Jersey Journal, June 17, 1937: 12; James H. Haygood Jr., “All-Star Basketball Team chosen by Staff Writer of the New York Age for 3rd Time,” New York Age, April 9, 1938: 11.

10 Haygood.

11 “Monmouths Clash with Selmod A.C,” Jersey Journal, July 10, 1938: 11; “Cakeaters to Play Sunday,” Jersey Journal, June 23, 1937: 17.

12 “Loew Nine Plays in Polo Grounds,” Jersey Journal, September 17, 1937: 15.

13 “Newark, Black Yanks.”

14 “Rookie Looks Good,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 8, 1938: 17.

15 “Newark, Black Yanks.”

16 “Black Yankees, Eagles Divide,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 1939: 17.

17 Ibid.

18 “Harrison Hurls Near Perfect Game in Tioga Twilight Loop,” Jersey Journal, July 6, 1939: 15.

19 US Census Bureau, 1940 Census.

20 “Jersey Pitcher’s Wildness Ruins Game He Tried Hard to Win,” Rockland County (New York) Times, August 24, 1940: 7.

21 Andy Goldman and Harold Baker, “Soil Tiller,” New York Age, March 16, 1940: 11.

22 John Holway, The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of the History (Fern Park, Florida: Hastings House Publishers, 2001), 276-279.

23 “Lloyd Scores Impressive Win Over Brooklyn,” Delaware County Times (Chester, Pennsylvania), June 28, 1941: 14.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 “Local 16 Conquer Athletics,” Jersey Journal, August 17, 1946: 11.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 US Navy, USS PC-800, Muster Roll of Crews, April 1, 1946.

30 “Jersey Negro Vets Form Local Group,” New Amsterdam News, March 9, 1946: 5.

31 “Minor Leaguers Make Debut Against Puerto Rican Stars,” Jersey Journal, May 4, 1946: 7.

32 “Mule Suttles’ New’k Buffaloes Coming Here Sunday Afternoon,” Jersey Journal, June 6, 1946: 17.

33 “Minor Leaguers, Puerto Rican Stars in Twin Bill Tomorrow,” Jersey Journal, May 19, 1946: 9.

34 Ric Roberts, “Fields Blanks Newark,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 3, 1946: 17.

35 “Minors Face Nutley Team in Twin Bill,” Jersey Journal, June 29, 1946: 7; “Local Club Takes Pair of Clashes,” Jersey Journal, June 10, 1946: 11; “JC Minor Leaguers in Twin Bill,” Jersey Journal, July 3, 1946: 14; “Minor Leaguers Defeated,” Jersey Journal, August 13, 1946: 11.

36 “Harrison’s Hurling Is Big Feature,” Jersey Journal, April 28, 1947: 11.

37 “Funds Tight, City May Name Only 25 Cops, Less Firemen,” Jersey Journal. February 11, 1954: 6.; “Death Notices,” Jersey Journal, March 20, 1978: 3.

38 “Death Notices.”