Parnell Woods

Few people can say that their job made it possible to travel around the entire world. Parnell Woods traversed North and Central America while playing baseball, being selected to eight East-West All-Star Games along the way. After his baseball career, he was able to travel throughout Europe and Asia as the traveling secretary for the Harlem Globetrotters, visiting a total of 87 countries.1

Parnell LaPonte Woods was born on February 6, 1912, to Bernard and Bell (Brewton) Woods in Cordova, Alabama, a textile-mill town some 30 miles northwest of Birmingham.

Little is known of Parnell’s childhood. He attended Powderly High School in Birmingham, then Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University), a historically Black public university in Montgomery.

In the early 1930s Woods became a teacher in his hometown. He decided to play baseball during the summer to supplement his small teacher’s salary.2 He was “a strong hitter, a successful base stealer, and a good fielder whose only liability was a weak arm.”3

Records are scarce, but according to James A. Riley, author of The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, Woods joined the Birmingham Black Barons in 1933 while they were associate members of the Negro National League, and was still with the team when they joined the Negro American League in its inaugural year of 1937.4 This was the first year that Woods was on a team now considered to be in a “major league,”5 and his stats show that he was a productive hitter. In 27 games against other Negro major-league teams, he hit .303 with 21 RBIs, 27 runs scored, and an .867 OPS.

In 1938, while still playing with the Black Barons, Woods made his first East-West All-Star Game, grounding out to second in a pinch-hit at-bat for Frank Duncan in the sixth inning. (The Black Barons ended the Negro American League season in last place with a record of 13-44.) On July 19 of that year, Woods married Lessie B. Pinson in Alabama. (His first name is spelled “Pernell” on the marriage license, and in his signature on the document.)

The 1939 season found Woods playing for the Cleveland Bears. The Bears were formed when the Jacksonville Red Caps moved to Cleveland for the 1939 Negro American League season. Woods once again excelled at third base, again being selected by fan vote for the East-West All-Star Game. He pinch-hit again, this time laying down a sacrifice bunt in the seventh inning. The Bears finished in fourth place with a record of 24-29. The most up-to-date statistics show that Woods batted .262 with 7 stolen bases in 26 games played.

During the winter of 1939-1940, Woods played for the Leones de Ponce (Ponce Lions) in the Puerto Rican League, batting .269. This was the first of his many trips south of the border to play baseball.

Woods started the 1940 season playing for the Cleveland Bears, but the team folded by mid-July. He finished the season playing again for the Birmingham Black Barons. Through all this turmoil, Woods for a third year played in the East-West All-Star Game, starting at third base for the West team and hitting a single to center field in the eighth inning.

After failing to finish out the 1940 season, the Bears moved back to Jacksonville and reassumed the Red Caps name for the 1941 Negro American League. Woods played third base for the team and starting in the East-West All-Star Game, his fourth straight year of being voted an all-star. The Red Caps finished fifth in the league with a record of 15-28-2.

After starting the 1942 season with the Red Caps, Woods, by then 30 years old, was traded to the Cincinnati-Cleveland Buckeyes in mid-May. The Red Caps also sent Duke Cleveland to the Buckeyes in exchange for cash and players to be named later.6 Soon afterward he was named manager of the team. Besides leading the team to a 38-43 record, the well-respected “gentleman manager of baseball”7 also started both East-West All-Star Games that were played that year.

In mid-August of 1942, John Foster, sports editor of the Cleveland Call and Post, asked Alva Bradley, president of the Cleveland Indians, to give Woods, Eugene Bremer, and Sam Jethroe tryouts. The request was written in Woods’ name. After promising a tryout for early 1943 (which made national news8), Bradley said that based on their performances in the second East-West All-Star Game, none of the three players were major-league worthy. In that All-Star Game, played at Cleveland Stadium, Woods went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Was his performance in this one game enough to keep him out of the still-segregated major-league baseball?

In 1943 Woods managed the Buckeyes to a second-place finish behind the Kansas City Monarchs. He was voted a starter in the East-West All Star Game but did not play because he had been “bothered by a bad shoulder.”9 Instead, he was a coach.

In March 1944, with World War II raging, Woods was ordered to report for military induction. He had been reclassified as 1-A, available for unrestricted military service.10 Archie Ware managed the Buckeyes while Woods was gone. But subsequently he was rejected by his draft board.11 A reason for the rejection was never given. Woods then returned to manage the Buckeyes and play third base.

On Sunday, June 25, 1944, the Buckeyes held Parnell Woods Day at League Park. This occasion was the “result of suggestions arising out of notice of the brilliant playing and strategy of Parnell Woods.”12 Cleveland swept a doubleheader against the Chicago American Giants in front of 6,600 fans.13

For the 1944 season, All-Star voting was no longer based on fan votes. The Negro League team managers picked the two teams. W.S. Welch, manager of the Birmingham Black Barons (1943 Negro American league champs), selected Alex Radcliffe to start at third base, with Woods selected as a reserve.

During the winter of 1944-1945, Woods played in the California Winter League for the Kansas City Royals. Teammates included Chet Brewer, Wild Bill Wright, Ray Dandridge, Hilton Smith, Willie Wells, and Sam Jethroe. While there, Woods learned that he would no longer be manager of the Buckeyes. Quincy Trouppe was named the new manager. He had played for Rojos del Mexico in the Mexican League the prior year. Woods was named team captain and kept his same salary.14 He played third base and hit .273. Under Trouppe, the 1945 Buckeyes won both halves of the Negro American League split season. They met the Homestead Grays in the Negro World Series. The Grays had Hall of Fame players such as Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, Ray Brown, and Jud Wilson on their team. Even with such star power, they were swept by the Buckeyes in four games.

After the World Series Woods joined the All-American All Stars, made up of Negro League players, and toured South America. The team included Jackie Robinson playing shortstop.15 By this time, Robinson had signed with the Dodgers, and would report to the Montreal Royals training camp in February. According to Buck Leonard, Woods hit .419 on the tour.16 Woods seemed to have a good time; he wrote to the Pittsburgh Courier, “I’m the guy who is winning all the money in the card games. Merry Christmas.”17

Woods, along with Willie Jefferson, failed to report to the Buckeyes for the start of the 1946 season. Wilbur Hayes, owner of the Buckeyes, reported that Woods’ and Jefferson’s passports were held up by Venezuelan officials. Finding themselves unable to return home, they decided to play for the Caracas team.18 As a result of this, Woods was suspended by the Negro National League and Negro American League for five years.

On August 10, 1946, the Cleveland Call and Post reported that Woods wanted to play for the Buckeyes again, but because of his five-year ban, only a special action by the league could allow him back.19 No such action was ever performed.

In 1947 Woods again tried to come back to the Buckeyes, but his suspension was upheld. Ernie Wright and Wilbur Hayes tried their hardest to get him reinstated, but to no avail. Woods ultimately played in Venezuela again. He batted .354 and led the league with 21 stolen bases in 36 games. He made that league’s all-star team and was awarded an “$800, specially made ring.”20

Woods enjoyed his time in Venezuela. He went to school there to learn Spanish. He was quoted as saying that “[T]here is no color line. … The natives like their baseball and they show their appreciation for good players, regardless of color.”21 Woods was invited to sit on a panel sponsored by the newspaper Ultimas Noticias that discussed racial discrimination in American baseball. “One only realizes the extent of prejudice when experiencing the fair treatment [in Venezuela],” Woods said.22

During the winter of 1947-1948, Woods played in Cuba’s Players Federation League. He began with the Santiago club, then joined the Cuba team after Santiago folded in December. Teammates on both of these teams included future Hall of Famer Ray Brown, Sal Maglie (himself in the middle of a five-year ban from the US major leagues for jumping to the Mexican League) and Luis E. Tiant, father of US major-league pitcher Luis Tiant.

The summer of 1948 found Woods, thanks to promoter Abe Saperstein, playing third base for the Harlem Globetrotters baseball team.23 The team barnstormed against the Hawaiian All-Stars. They played 50 games against each other, including games at Wrigley Field, Shibe Park, Forbes Field, and Yankee Stadium.24 Saperstein, owner of the Globetrotters, offered Woods a career after baseball, and Woods called Saperstein “the greatest man he’d ever known.”25

At the start of the 1948-1949 offseason, Woods returned to Venezuela to play with the Caracas team again. On November 24, he witnessed a coup d’etat. Romulo Gallegos, the elected president of Venezuela, was overthrown by a group led by Marcos Perez Jimenez. “We’re in the center of all the shooting,” Woods told the Cleveland Call and Post. “I haven’t been out of the hotel for two days and we haven’t been able to play ball here for a week.”26 The uprising began while Woods was at practice, he told the newspaper, adding, “All of a sudden people starting running. The hotel was surrounded with tanks and machine guns.”27 Woods was able to return to the United States soon afterward.

Good news was awaiting Woods when he returned home. The Negro Leagues Winter Meeting not only included a merging of the Negro National League and the Negro American League, but the owners also agreed to restore to good standing players who had jumped to other leagues in previous years. Woods was now free to rejoin the Negro leagues.

Woods started 1949 spring training with the Louisville Buckeyes in Panama City, Florida. The Buckeyes had moved from Cleveland to Louisville for the 1949 season. He played with this team until early May, then jumped back to the Globetrotters baseball team. His time with the Globetrotters did not last long, because by July 13, as part of the slow trickle of integration, he was playing for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. The Oaks were looking for an infielder when Wilmer “Red” Fields refused to report to Oakland after they bought his contract from the Homestead Grays.

Woods played 40 games for the Oaks, backing up Cookie Lavagetto at third base. In early August, Woods was beaned by a pitch from Charley Schanz, a right-handed pitcher for the Seattle Rainiers. He was knocked unconscious and played sparingly the rest of the season.

After the 1949 PCL season ended, Woods joined an all-Black all-star team sponsored by Abe Saperstein that scheduled games on the West Coast. Luke Easter headlined the team, which also featured Dan Bankhead, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, and Artie Wilson.28 In one of the first games, played at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium, Woods hit a walk-off double off the left-field fence.29 In a game against Bob Feller, Woods had three hits, including a three-run homer.30

By 1950, at the age of 38, Woods had a new job as traveling secretary for the Globetrotters basketball team. He also found time to play for the Globetrotters baseball team. On October 10, Roy Campanella included him on his barnstorming all-star team that included Don Newcombe, Luke Easter, Monte Irvin, Hank Thompson, and Larry Doby.

In 1951 Winfield Welch bought the Chicago American Giants. Welch had managed teams owned by Abe Saperstein, including the Birmingham Black Barons. Woods played for the American Giants and was also the traveling secretary. Satchel Paige played for the team briefly before signing with the St. Louis Browns. Woods, then 39 years old, was selected for the East-West All-Star Game at Comiskey Park on August 12. For the season, according to the Kansas City Call, Woods’ batted .375, second to the Monarchs’ Willard Brown (.417).31

In late October, Roy Campanella’s All-Stars, which again featured Newcombe, Irvin, Thompson, Doby, and Easter, in addition to Willie Mays, played against the Negro American League All-Stars. The latter team included Woods at third base.

By 1952, Woods was the full-time business manager of the Harlem Globetrotters. The schedule was very intense. The team played seven nights a week, with doubleheaders on Sundays. “On the long jumps, we sometimes will travel a hundred miles after playing and I have to hustle food and hotel accommodations,” he said. “You just cannot play a game, eat and fall into bed.”32 One time, Woods remembered, “we were driving from Rochester [Minnesota] to Minneapolis and it was 20 below zero. The motor fell out of the bus. I told the guys to try to keep warm any way they could and I flagged down a car to ride 25 miles to Rochester for help.”33 True to their name, the Globetrotters, and Woods, traveled the world. In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, the team traveled to Russia and Woods was able to meet Nikita Khrushchev.34

In 1962 Woods and Lessie divorced. They were married for 23 years and had two children, Charron (Cox) and Mickey. Soon after, he married Charlotte Williams, a teacher from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They met in her hometown when the Globetrotters played an exhibition game there. They had four children together, Beauford, Brenda, Parnell Jr., and Jeffry.

Charlotte was heavily involved in the Democratic Party and in 1964, was the first Black woman to run for the state legislature in Indiana. In 1965 she hosted the inaugural dinner for President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968 she began to work with Pegleg Bates for his country club (Bates Country Club) in Kerhonkson, New York. Parnell worked there as general manager over the summer before heading out on the road with the Globetrotters in the fall. Charlotte also owned Charlotte’s Lounge in Wawarsing, New York. Parnell would also help there in the summers.

Woods married Rosa McGivens in 1973. Rosa owned a KFC restaurant in Cleveland and was a member of the Negro Professional and Business Women’s organization. She would travel with Woods as he performed public-relations work with the Globetrotters.

Woods continued working with the Globetrotters in some capacity until around 1975. Throughout his time with the team, he saw five Hall of Fame baseball players suit up to play basketball with the Globetrotters: Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, and Satchel Paige.

Woods died of colon cancer on July 23, 1977, in Cleveland. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland.

Acknowledgments

Gratitude is extended to Brenda Coleman and Jeffry Woods, who took the time to answer my emails about their father.

Photo credit: Parnell Woods, courtesy of Jeffry Woods.

Sources

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics and team records were taken from Seamheads.com.

Notes

1 Al DeSantis, “The Happiest Globetrotter Face,” Middletown (New York) Times Herald Record, July 12, 1972: 79.

2 “Parnell Woods Rated Top Third Baseman,” Atlanta Daily World, September 8, 1942: 5.

3 James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1994), 879.

4 Riley, 879.

5 On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball announced that seven distinct Negro Leagues would be recognized as major leagues.

6 “Buckeyes Lose Pair,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 18, 1942: 14.

7 “Parnell Woods Rated Top Third Baseman.”

8 Numerous newspapers ran this story, including the Jackson (Mississippi) Advocate, the Phoenix Index, and the Sioux City Journal.

9 Fay Young, “Through the Years: Past-Present-Future New Recruit,” Chicago Defender national edition, August 7, 1943: 11.

10 “Cleveland Pilot Placed in 1-A,” New Pittsburgh Courier, March 25, 1944: 12.

11 Bob Williams, “Sports Rambler,” Cleveland Call and Post, April 22, 1944: 9B.

12 Bob Williams, “Expect 15,000 to Witness Chi-Cleveland Contest; Teams Split 2 in Chicago,” Cleveland Call and Post, June 24, 1944: 6B.

13 “Buckeyes Sweep 2, Play Chicago Again Tonight,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 26, 1944: 14.

14 Bob Williams, “Press Barred from Closed Meeting; Negro Baseball’s Joint Meeting at New York,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 23, 1944: 6B.

15 Wesley Rollo Wilson, “Through the Eyes of W. Rollo Wilson,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 27, 1945: 12.

16 John Holway, Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues; Revised Edition (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Inc., 2010), 267.

17 Wendell Smith, “The Sports Beat – Holiday Greetings from Venezuela,” Pittsburgh Courier, December 22, 1945: 22.

18 Cleveland Jackson, “3 Buckeye Stars Seek Reinstatement from Baseball Ban: Canizares, Woods, W. Jefferson May Return to Buckeyes; Travel Trouble Kept Stars in S.A.,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 22, 1947: 8B.

19 “Baseball Notes: Canizares Gripes,” Cleveland Call and Post, August 10, 1946: 11B.

20 “Parnell Woods Likes Play in South America,” Cleveland Call and Post, October 4, 1947: 9B.

21 “Parnell Woods Likes Play in South America.”

22 “Parnell Woods Likes Play in South America.”

23 “Parnell Woods to Play with Harlem Globetrotters Club,” Chicago Defender, April 3, 1948: 11.

24 Frank Ardolino, “The Hawaiian All-Stars and the Harlem Globetrotters: A 1948 Barnstorming Tour,” Baseball Research Journal (Cleveland: SABR, 2005).

25 “Trotters Mourn Death of Saperstein,” Greensboro (North Carolina) Record, March 16, 1966: 30.

26 “Caracas Uprising No Picnic – Woods,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 4, 1948: 13B.

27 “Caracas Uprising No Picnic – Woods.”

28 “Luke Easter’s Baseball Stars Will Play Here,” Fresno (California) Bee October 11, 1949: 26.

29 “Easter’s All-Stars Face Fain Nine,” Oakland Tribune, October 16, 1949: 34.

30 Art Paymiller, “Luke Easter’s All-Stars Put Slug on Valley Nine by 12-8 Margin,” Visalia (California) Times Delta, October 20, 1949: 12.

31 “Official Negro American League Statistics for the 1951 Season,” Kansas City (Missouri) Call, February 1, 1952: 11.

32 “Trotters Attract 9,428 Here,” Omaha World-Herald, February 15, 1967: 55.

33 Dwight Chapin, “Trotters’ Old Act Still Keeps ’Em Laughing,” Los Angeles Times, January 30, 1972: 46.

34 “Harlem Globetrotters Win Friends During Their 12-Day Tour of Russia,” Kansas City Call, July 24, 1959: 12.