Carl Glass

In the 1920s, Carl “Lefty” Glass was an ace of the Memphis Red Sox in the Negro Southern and Negro National Leagues. He was a savvy curveballer whose pitching career spanned 40 years, from the 1910s to the 1950s. In the late 1940s, he managed the semipro Hustlers of Lexington, Kentucky, said to be the first integrated team in the South.

Born in Lexington on February 26, 1898, Carl Lee Glass was among the youngest in a family of at least eight children born to John Peter Glassco, a farmer, and Sallie (Logan) Glassco. The name “Glassco,” possibly derived from “Glasgow,” was shortened by the family to “Glass.”

As a young man, John had been a Buffalo Soldier, that is, a soldier in an all-Black regiment of the US Army. He served in the Tenth Cavalry from 1872 to 1877, mostly in west Texas during the American Indian Wars. Carl, too, became a Buffalo Soldier and served from age 16 to 22 in the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries.1

In the Army, Glass played baseball for recreation. The Chicago Defender reported that the Ninth Cavalry won the baseball championship of the Philippines in 1916 and 1917, and that Glass was a pitcher and left fielder on the team.2 On September 4, 1919, in Army’s 4-2 victory over Navy at Recreation Park in San Francisco, he pitched a complete game and struck out 10 batters.3

On August 8, 1920, Glass led the Tenth Cavalry to a 9-7 victory at Warren Park in Bisbee, Arizona. That day he fanned 15 Bisbee batters in 11 innings and hit a single, double, and triple.4 At the time, he was stationed at nearby Fort Huachuca. On November 4, 1920, he was discharged from the Army, and four days later he married Lillian M. Bivens in Bisbee.

According to Seamheads.com, Glass was left-handed in batting and throwing and measured 5-feet-10 and 180 pounds. His World War II draft registration gives his height as 5-feet-8½. Indeed, he had a stocky build.

At 23, he began his professional baseball career as a pitcher and first baseman on the 1921 Chattanooga Tigers of the Negro Southern League (NSL). At Chattanooga’s Andrews Field on June 11, 1921, he slugged an inside-the-park home run in each game of a doubleheader against the Mobile Braves.5 The next day, he struck out 14 Montgomery Grey Sox, yet the Tigers lost, 8-3.6

For the Memphis Red Sox of the NSL, on August 14 at Field’s Park in South Memphis, Glass pitched a four-hitter in a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Black Crackers.7 Six days later, he was back with the Tigers at Andrews Field, and he pitched and won both games of a doubleheader against the Knoxville Giants.8

Glass was a shining star on the 1922 Memphis Red Sox. On Opening Day, May 1, at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field, he went the distance in a 12-inning, 2-1 victory over the Birmingham Black Barons. He struck out 22, walked one, and allowed only five hits – and he held hitless Birmingham’s 21-year-old left fielder, George “Mule” Suttles, a future Hall of Famer.9 The Memphis Commercial Appeal called Glass “the strike-out king.”10

Against the Louisville Stars, Glass hurled a three-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts on June 7 and a four-hit shutout with nine strikeouts on June 10.11 And he delivered a four-hit shutout on June 16 against the Knoxville Giants; three of the four hits were made by Forrest Maddox, the Giants’ one-armed left fielder.12 These games were played at Russwood Park, home of the Memphis Chickasaws, a White minor-league team.

The NSL folded in July without declaring a champion. Surviving records indicate that the Red Sox were below Nashville and Knoxville in the standings.13 Yet it was the Red Sox who were invited to play the Dallas Black Giants, champions of the Texas Colored League, in a Dixie Series for the Black championship of the South.

Memphis won the series decisively, six games to three. Each game was played at Riverside Park in Dallas. On September 10, Glass pitched brilliantly in Game Two, allowing only three hits and fanning 10 batters, but Dallas prevailed 1-0. It was a “nerve racking, dust biting, hair raising” thriller, said the Dallas Express.14 A week later, Glass and Darltie Cooper pitched for the Red Sox in Game Nine, a 14-4 Memphis triumph.15

In the seven games of the series for which complete box scores were published, the Red Sox player with the most hits was 21-year-old Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, a future Hall of Famer. The next year, Stearnes joined the Detroit Stars of the Negro National League (NNL). Founded in 1920 by Rube Foster, the NNL was in a higher tier and more stable than the NSL. In 2020, Major League Baseball officially recognized the NNL as a major league.

The NSL restarted in the spring of 1923. In the season opener at Birmingham on April 30, Glass pitched for the Red Sox and lost to the Black Barons, 4-0.16 On May 18, he pitched the first game ever played at Lewis Park in Memphis, and the Red Sox were again defeated by the Black Barons.17

The new ballpark was named for Red Sox owner Robert Stevenson “Bubber” Lewis Sr.18 A Black-owned ballpark, it was a rarity for its times. For nearly 40 years, it hosted events for the Black community of Memphis.

A capable hitter, Glass played in the outfield when not pitching. At Lewis Park on June 2, 1923, he made six putouts in left field and hit two doubles in an 11-6 victory over the New Orleans Ads.19 He pitched the next day and homered to deep center field as the Red Sox edged the Ads, 3-2.20

The Red Sox and Black Barons were the best teams in the NSL. In July 1923, they left the league to join the NNL as “associate members,” and became full members the following season. Their departure caused the NSL to collapse yet again.21

In 1924 Glass managed the Red Sox, and according to Seamheads.com, his team compiled a 17-25 record in the NNL. As a pitcher, he posted a 3-6 record and 2.61 ERA in league play, and opponents batted .213 against him (the league average was .272). At Lewis Park on April 14, 1924, he pitched a complete game and hit two doubles, but the Red Sox were defeated by Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants, 4-2.22

For a road game against Sol White’s Cleveland Browns on June 21, manager Glass chose Square Moore as the starting pitcher. Moore struggled and the Red Sox trailed 4-2 after two innings. Glass relieved him and blanked the Browns for nine innings as the Red Sox rallied to win, 6-4 in 11 innings.23

At home on July 20, Glass fanned 11 St. Louis Stars en route to a 4-2 triumph. The Stars’ lineup that day included future Hall of Famers Willie Wells, 19, and Cool Papa Bell, 21. Facing Glass, these youngsters combined for one hit (a double by Bell) in eight at-bats.24

The 1925 Memphis Red Sox finished fifth in the eight-team NNL. Dizzy Dismukes managed the team, and Glass compiled a 7-7 record in league play with a 4.04 ERA (the league average was 4.50). In Glass’s 5-1 victory at St. Louis on May 12, Bell’s home run accounted for the Stars’ lone tally.25 Future Hall of Famer Andy Cooper, ace of the Detroit Stars, achieved a 12-2 record in 1925, but Glass beat him, 3-2, in Memphis on August 21.26

After beginning the next season with the Red Sox in a revived NSL, Glass returned to the NNL as a member of the St. Louis Stars. In his St. Louis debut on July 13, 1926, he went the distance in an 11-1 triumph over the Cuban Stars.27 Four days later, he hurled a three-hitter as St. Louis routed the Indianapolis ABCs, 12-1.28 On August 28, he faced the Memphis Red Sox in an interleague game at St. Louis; he pitched and hit a single and two doubles in a 10-2 victory over his old team.29

In 1927, the Red Sox returned to the NNL and Glass rejoined them. Managed by Charles Wesley, the Sox were a weak team that finished seventh in the eight-team circuit. Used as a starter and reliever, Glass posted a 6-10 record and 4.05 ERA; the league average was 3.98. Among personal highlights were the four-hitter that beat the Cuban Stars, 3-2, on April 30 and the one-hitter that stymied the Detroit Stars, 8-1, on July 31.30 Late in the season, Glass also pitched in four games for the Kansas City Monarchs, the league’s second-place team.

Divorced from his first wife, Glass married Love Ophelia Johnson on November 26, 1927, in Crittenden County, Arkansas.

In 1928, Glass managed the Red Sox to a sixth-place finish in the NNL. As a pitcher, he compiled a 12-10 record and led the league with 200⅔ innings pitched, and his 3.32 ERA was far better than the league average of 4.27. On July 28 in Kansas City, Glass was at his best: He allowed four hits in a 13-inning shutout of the Monarchs.31

Umpire Bert Gholston praised Glass’s managerial style. He was an effective leader, said Gholston, because he was “easy going” and not a “slave driver.” And he was “a splendid coach, a close student of baseball, clever and original.” Gholston added, “He inspires the team with the spirit of true sportsmanship, and fair play along with the aggressiveness that wins.”32

Future Hall of Famer Bullet Rogan, pitcher and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, took a team of Black stars, including Glass, to southern California. Named the Cleveland Giants, Rogan’s team dominated the 1928-29 California Winter League with a 30-13 record against White teams. Glass posted a 6-3 mark for Rogan’s squad.33

The 1929 Memphis Red Sox fared poorly in the NNL. Glass’s 8-10 record was commendable in light of the team’s 21-51 record. But his 5.25 ERA (the league average was 4.53) suggests that his effectiveness had waned. The 1929 squad was managed by Harry Kenyon until Glass became manager late in the season. The next year Glass pitched briefly for the Red Sox and Louisville Black Caps.

Home for Glass was Lexington, and during the 1930s he played for and managed semipro teams, including the Lexington Hard Hitters and Lexington Hustlers. Local newspapers referred to him as “Butch” Glass. During World War II, he worked for the Lexington Signal Depot, an Army supply depot.

Beginning in 1947, the Lexington Hustlers, managed by Glass, were integrated. A 1949 Ebony magazine article brought national attention to his team, said to be the first integrated baseball team in the South.34 The 1949 Hustlers had seven White and 12 Black players. Home games were played at integrated Blue Grass Park and were attended equally by White and Black patrons.

Bobby Flynn, the Hustlers’ White second baseman (and father of major-leaguer Doug Flynn), said years later, “The team as a whole was just like a family. … We never thought of being White or Black. We just played ball.”35

Glass still pitched for the Hustlers, albeit infrequently. In 1947, at age 49, he threw two-hit shutouts against the Cincinnati Tigers on May 30 and Ashland (Kentucky) Aces on July 13.36 In the Hustlers’ 8-2 victory over the Cincinnati Chivos on August 21, 1949, Glass pitched a five-hitter; he “fed his slow stuff to the Chivo batters and had them guessing all the way.”37

On the Fourth of July, 1954, the 56-year-old Glass pitched a complete game in the Hustlers’ 7-5 triumph over their archrival, the Athletics of Georgetown, Kentucky.38 Despite his age, he “demonstrated a sniper’s accuracy with his offerings along with a sweeping curve ball,” noted the Lexington Leader.39

Glass worked for the Lexington Signal Depot till the 1960s.40 And in the 1960s, he coached youth baseball and scouted for the Baltimore Orioles.41 By this time, he was married to his third wife, Blanche Merchant.

On October 19, 1972, Glass died in Lexington at age 74 after a brief illness. His obituary made no mention of any children.42 He was interred at the Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Sources

Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, and Seamheads.com, accessed January to April 2026.

Leckie, William H., with Shirley A. Leckie. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West, Revised Edition (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).

Plott, William J. The Negro Southern League: A Baseball History, 1920-1951 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015).

Wood, Keith B. The Memphis Red Sox: A Negro Leagues History (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2024).

Photo of Carl Glass on the 1926 St. Louis Stars (public domain).

Notes

1 Photo caption in the Lexington (Kentucky) Leader, April 15, 1965: 27.

2 “Ninth Cavalry Wins Championship,” Chicago Defender, July 7, 1917: 12.

3 Harry B. Smith, “Army Baseball Team Triumphs over the Navy,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 5, 1919: 10.

4 “Tenth Cavalry Wins Exciting Baseball Game,” Bisbee (Arizona) Review, August 10, 1920: 2.

5 “Tigers Break Even with Mobile Club,” Chattanooga Times, June 12, 1921: 19.

6 “Tigers Defeated by League Leaders,” Chattanooga Times, June 13, 1921: 8.

7 “Local Negro Team Wins,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 15, 1921: 8.

8 “Tigers Take Two; Play Giants Today,” Chattanooga Times, August 21, 1921: 17.

9 “Black Barons Lose to Red Sox in Twelfth, 2-1,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, May 2, 1922: 16.

10 “Memphis Red Sox and New Orleans at Russwood Today,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 8, 1922: 12.

11 “Memphis Red Sox Beat Louisville; At Russwood Today,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 8, 1922: 17; “Negro Southern League,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 11, 1922: 30.

12 “Memphis Regains Lead Negro Southern L’ge,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 17, 1922: 15.

13 William J. Plott, The Negro Southern League: A Baseball History, 1920-1951 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015), 39.

14 “Black Giants Machine Shattered by Red Sox,” Dallas Express, September 16, 1922: 7.

15 “1922 Base Ball Season Responds to Call of the Curtain,” Dallas Express, September 23, 1922: 7.

16 “Black Barons Shut Out Memphis Team in Opener at Rick,” Birmingham News, May 1, 1923: 20.

17 “Memphis Red Sox Are Beaten in the Opener,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 19, 1923: 21.

18 In 1929, the ballpark was renamed Martin Stadium when new owners assumed control of the Memphis Red Sox.

19 “Memphis Red Sox Beat Orleans Ads; Play Again Today,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 3, 1923: 36.

20 “Memphis Red Sox Beat Orleans 3-2; A Benefit Today,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 4, 1923: 9.

21 Plott, 46, 47.

22 “Chicago Giants Take Final from Local Nine,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 15, 1924: 18.

23 “Browns Lose to Memphis in 11th,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 22, 1924: 3-D.

24 “Memphis Red Sox Beat St. Louis Stars and Even the Series,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, July 21, 1924: 8.

25 “Memphis Red Sox Win, 5 to 1, Over St. Louis Stars,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 13, 1925: 11.

26 “Memphis Sox Take 3 from Detroit Stars,” Chicago Defender, August 29, 1925: 1-9.

27 “St. Louis Stars Start New Schedule with Clean Sweep,” St. Louis Argus, July 16, 1926: 7.

28 “St. Louis Stars Take Series Opener from Indianapolis, 12 to 1,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 18, 1926: 6S.

29 “Negro Stars Defeat Memphis Red Sox, 10 to 2, in Slugfest,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 29, 1926: 12.

30 “Memphis Red Sox Win Opening Game from Cuban Stars,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, May 1, 1927: I-27; “Memphis Red Sox Split Two Games with Detroit Stars,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 1, 1927: 10.

31 “Monarchs Lose in 13th,” Kansas City Star, July 29, 1928: 2B.

32 Bert E. Gholston, “Managers of the N.N.L.,” Kansas City American, September 6, 1928: 5.

33 William F. McNeil, The California Winter League: America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002), 128-135.

34 “Dixie’s First Mixed Baseball Team,” Ebony, July 1949: 45-47.

35 “Lexington Hustlers; Lower Howard’s Creek,” Kentucky Life, Season 9, Episode 7, PBS, February 15, 2003, online at pbs.org.

36 “Purcells Make Debut; Hustlers Play Sunday,” Lexington Leader, May 31, 1947: 3; “Athens and Hustlers Turn In Shutout Wins,” Lexington Herald, July 14, 1947: 7.

37 Bill Hanna, “Hustlers Stop Chivos, 8-2,” Lexington Herald, August 22, 1949: 10.

38 “Big Third Inning Helps Hustlers Beat Athletics,” Lexington Herald, July 5, 1954: 6.

39 “Butch Glass May Start against Clowns Saturday,” Lexington Leader, July 30, 1954: 6.

40 Photo caption in the Lexington Leader, April 15, 1965: 27.

41 “Northwest League Announces Rosters,” Lexington Herald, April 20, 1967: 22; photo caption in the Lexington Herald-Leader, March 3, 1968: 27; “Oriole’s to Sponsor Local Baseball Team,” Lexington Leader, March 18, 1969: 7.

42 “Obituaries,” Lexington Herald, October 20, 1972: 2.