Following on the heels of the Comiskey classic, Pittsburgh Crawfords Secretary Roy Sparrow and Pittsburgh Courier editor Bill Nun discussed the idea of having a similar game pitting the best players from the newly constituted Negro National League against each other.1 Their initial idea was to hold the game at Yankee Stadium, but after receiving a tepid response to that suggestion, Crawfords owner Gus Greenlee recommended that the game be held at Comiskey because it would appeal to the Windy City’s large black population. The West won the first game, 11-7, on September 10, 1933, in front of approximately 20,000 rain-soaked fans. The game was a success and a new tradition was born.

With the organization of the Negro American League in 1937, the game pitted the best players from the two circuits against each other. Because Negro National League teams were based in the East, and Negro American League teams played in the Midwest, it was easy to continue calling the event the East-West All-Star game.

The game grew in popularity as the pressures of the Depression eased. It helped that neither league dominated, as the two sides split the first games evenly, with three wins apiece. The first six games set the stage for one of the classic matchups in the event’s history. On August 6, 1939, the West used home-run power in the seventh and eighth innings to overcome a 2-0 East lead in front of 40,000 fans, a record attendance for the classic up to that time.

Fans voted for the players on each side from ballots available through America’s three leading black community newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier, the Kansas City Call, and the Chicago Defender.  Even though they were only voting for baseball All-Stars, the right to do so was important to many African-Americans because many were denied the right to exercise their franchise under existing Jim Crow laws.

“(D)uring the 1930s, voting was so difficult for blacks that many did not bother,” wrote Bo Smolka in his history of the Negro Leagues. “So the chance to vote for the East-West All-Star Game players was a big deal.  More than 17 million ballets were submitted for the 1939 East-West Game.”2

“That was a pretty important thing for black people to do in those days, even if it was just for ballplayers,” said Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil.3

Those votes resulted in a lot of talented players participating in the game, including future Hall of Famers Willie Wells, Josh Gibson, Mule Suttles, Leon Day, and Buck Leonard for the East squad, and Hilton Smith for the West.

The weather was perfect as heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis arrived wearing a snazzy gabardine suit to throw out the first pitch to Greenlee. Once the game started, the favored Easterners scored two runs in the second inning off starter Theolic Smith of the Memphis Red Sox. The rally started when Leonard was safe on an error by shortstop Ted Strong. Leonard advanced to third on Pat Patterson’s single, and after Patterson stole second, both runners scored on a single by Sammy Hughes.

Both sides pitched well over the next several innings as the score remained 2-0. In fact, keeping East sluggers Gibson, Suttles, and Leonard hitless (the three went 0-for-10) allowed the West to mount their comeback. 

“At this point (the second inning) the hopes of the thousands of Western rooters hit a new ‘low,’ but still the West’s pitching continued on a high plane,” wrote Chester L. Washington Jr.  “Eastern base hits were as scarce as hen’s teeth and soon the hopes of the West started to soar again.”4

That soaring began in the seventh inning when Neil Robinson broke the East’s shutout bid, blasting Roy Partlow’s first offering 380 feet into the second tier of the left-field stands. The West completed their comeback in the eighth. Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe singled to center, and was sacrificed to second by Parnell Woods. Dan Wilson followed that with a two-run homer that put the West in the lead to stay. After Bill Holland replaced Partlow, Double Duty’s brother Alec greeted him with a base hit. Robinson then hit a fly ball that Suttles lost in the sun. Radcliffe reached third on the play while Robinson landed on second with a double. The West showed what small ball is about when Billy Horne hit a sacrifice that brought Double Duty home with an insurance run. Double Duty Radcliffe pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and earned the victory for the West while Partlow was tagged with the loss.5

“With one bold stroke of his bat, this artist of the diamond painted a picture before the astonished eyes of some 40,000 fans … a painting as dramatic in its highlights and shadows as Rembrandt’s [sic] ‘Blue Boy,’” wrote Bill Nun about Wilson’s homer.6 “Dan Wilson today stole the thunder of the vaunted power-hitters of the East.”7

The West’s victory gave them a 4-3 lead in the series, and helped them maintain a dominance they held for the duration of the series’ existence. The East-West All-Star Game was held annually at Comiskey Park until 1960, with the West winning 16 of the 28 matchups. The last two Classics were held at Yankee Stadium in 1961 and at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium in 1962, with the West winning both contests, 7-1 in 1961 and 5-2 in 1962.

Sources 

In addition to the sources listed below, the author also used:

Negro League Baseball E-museum.

Thenationalpastimemuseum.com.

Finder, Chuck. “Negro Leagues Converged in an East Meets West Powerball Summit,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 9, 2006. 

Kleinknecht, Merl F. “East Meets West in Negro All-Star Game,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, 1972.

Lester, Larry. Black Baseball’s National Showcase (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001).

Newman, Roberta. Shadow Culture, Shadow Game: The Negro Leagues.

Sullivan, Floyd, editor. Old Comiskey Park: Essays and Memories of the Historic Home of the Chicago White Sox, 1910-1991 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2014).

Notes

1 The first Negro National League, founded in 1920, could not survive the Great Depression and folded in 1931.

2 Bo Smolka, The Story of the Negro Leagues (Minneapolis: ABDO Publishing Company, 2013), 9.

3 Ibid.

4 Chester L. Washington Jr., “Sun Rises in the West,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 12, 1939: 17.

5 Partlow later played briefly with the Montreal Royals in 1946, the same year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Organized Baseball.

6 Blue Boy was painted by the Englishman Thomas Gainsborough.

7 William G. Nunn, “Homers by Dan Wilson, Robinson Decide Battle,” Pittsburgh Courier, August 12, 1939: 17.

For the Elite Giants and Eagles, their resolutions for the 1939 season came true. Although Baltimore’s overall record for 1939 was 29-25 (their NNL2 record was 21-23), the Elite Giants “ran away with the second half championship.”4 In fact, they had been in first place in early June, “a position they clung to until the last week of June, when their fortunes headed south,”5 and the team finished the first half of the season in third place. However, the Elite Giants then posted the best mark in the NNL2’s second half, which began in July.

The Newark Eagles had finished the 1939 season in second place with a record of 32-23-1. They played consistently; although they were not quite good enough to win either half of the season, they were strong enough to stay in the mix for the playoffs.

Before the 1939 season had begun, the New York Yankees had offered the Jacob Ruppert Memorial Trophy, named after their recently deceased team owner, to the Negro National League II team that won the most games at Yankee Stadium each year. Yankees President Edward Barrow now had established a tournament to honor Ruppert that consisted of five four-team doubleheaders to be played on Sundays at Yankee Stadium. After all the games had been played, the team with the best overall record would receive the trophy and $500.6 It was hardly a selfless gesture since the Yankee organization was profiting from the games, too. They charged teams between $2,000 and $3,000 per date to play at Yankee Stadium.7

The second such doubleheader took place on July 2. The Eagles handily defeated the Philadelphia Stars 8-1, while the Elite Giants blanked the New York Black Yankees, 4-0. Baltimore’s “three-run rally in the ninth clinched the outcome.”8 Before the games, the Negro National League paid tribute to its Hall of Fame. According to the New York Times, “Pioneers of the sport in Negro circles [were to] be guests of honor at the games.”9 The nominations for the Hall of Fame included Newark’s first baseman Mule Suttles and shortstop Willie Wells.10

As the season progressed, a decision was made to award the trophy to the winner of the Negro National League II pennant. Normally, the winners of each half of the season competed in a two-team playoff series to determine the pennant winner. Under a new format introduced in 1939, the four teams (out of the six total) that had won the most games throughout the entire season would compete in a set of playoff series. From a revenue standpoint, more teams in the playoffs meant more games played, and “more games meant more gate receipts.”11 In any event, under the expanded playoff format, the top-seeded Homestead Grays faced the fourth-seeded Philadelphia Stars, while the second-seeded Newark Eagles took on the third-seeded Baltimore Elite Giants.12 Both series were scheduled for early September.

The Newark Eagles came into the series against Baltimore having slugged 32 home runs in 56 games during the regular season. Mule Suttles and Ed Stone paced the team with seven homers each. The Elite Giants had played only 44 games but had swatted 12 homers, led by Henry Kimbro and pitcher Bill Byrd (three homers each). Additionally, each ballclub had stars who had played in the East-West All-Star Game on August 6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.13

Game One: September 6, 1939
Newark Eagles 8, Baltimore Elite Giants 6
Ruppert Stadium, Newark, NJ

Game One took place on September 6 at Ruppert Stadium in Newark. The contest was characterized, and eventually decided by, the long ball. Newark’s Bob Evans and Baltimore’s Emery Adams had the starting mound duties. Evans had been playing in Newark since 1934, first for the Newark Dodgers and then, beginning in 1936, for the Eagles. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was a workhorse for his first five seasons, but in 1939 he had made just four appearances on the mound, pitching 19 2/3 total innings. His 1.780 WHIP contributed to a 7.32 ERA. Conversely, this was Adams’s first season with Baltimore. He was also a righty but stood only 5-feet-8, and he had pitched the previous three seasons for the Memphis Red Sox. In 1939 Adams had five appearances (two starts).14 Although he sported a 2-0 record, his ERA was 5.85, and he had allowed more walks than strikeouts; his strikeout-to-walk ratio was 0.86.

Baltimore jumped ahead with a run in the top of the third, and then the Elite Giants exploded for four more runs in the fourth, sending Evans to the showers. Over the next three innings, the Eagles “pulled an almost certain defeat ‘out of the fire.’”15 In the bottom of the fourth, Newark rookie Freddie Wilson reached first with a hit. Suttles, already known as “one of the greatest power hitters in Negro League history,” [16 clouted a home run into the left-field stands. The Newark Star Eagle reported that the blast traveled 425 feet.17

Max Manning, a 20-year-old rookie, relieved Evans to start the fifth and “held the Giants effectively.”18 In the home half of the fifth, Wilson homered into the center-field stands with two men aboard to tie the game. Suttles followed him with a solo shot over the left-field wall, his second home run in as many innings. This gave the Eagles the lead, and now it was Baltimore’s turn to make a pitching change. Byrd was summoned to the mound to relieve Adams.

Byrd pitched for the Baltimore Elite Giants from 1938 through 1948 (and for the Cleveland Red Sox and the Columbus and Washington Elite Giants before that).19 The right-hander later led the league in wins three times (in 1942, 1945, and 1948)20 and in ERA once (1941). His 1939 statistics included a 7-2 record and a 3.32 ERA in 76 innings pitched. As a member of the Baltimore teams, he appeared in seven different East-West All-Star Games; he started both All-Star Games in 1939 for the East squad.21 Byrd is also known as “the last Negro league pitcher to legally throw the spitball.”22 On top of that, in 1939 he batted .378 and had an OPS of 1.086.

Newark padded its advantage in the bottom of the sixth after 42-year-old Biz Mackey singled and advanced a base on Manning’s sacrifice. Mackey had begun the season with Baltimore but after 13 games with the Elite Giants, was sold to the Eagles.23 Joe Eckles doubled, plating Mackey, and Eckles later scored on Dick Seay’s single to make it an 8-5 game in favor of Newark.

Manning cruised through the rest of the game as he fanned two Baltimore batters and yielded only four hits, although the Elite Giants did get another run in the seventh. The Eagles battered Adams and Byrd for 11 hits that included three homers. Suttles added a double to his two round-trippers to lead the Eagles’ assault, driving in three runs. Wilson, Seay, and Mackey each contributed two hits as well. Baltimore pounded out 13 hits total, but most of them came off Evans in the first four frames. Newark’s 8-6 victory was an exciting start to the playoff series.

WP: M. Manning, LP: E. Adams.

Game Two: September 9, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 11, Newark Eagles 3
44th and Parkside, Philadelphia

The second game of the series was played three days later in Philadelphia, at the 44th and Parkside ballpark. The Eagles still played as the home team. Baltimore again outhit the Eagles, and this time, the Elite Giants prevailed. Jonas Gaines started for Baltimore and pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits. In six appearances during the regular season, he had made five starts and tossed four complete games. Future Hall of Famer Leon Day started for Newark. He had tied for the league lead in starts in 1939 (with Philadelphia’s Jim Missouri – each had 11), winning seven of 10 decisions with seven complete games. However, in this playoff game, he was soon replaced by Evans, in part because he walked five batters during his brief time on the mound.24

Baltimore scored two runs in the top of the first. Felton Snow’s two-out double drove in both Kimbro and Sammy Hughes. Hughes later blasted a solo home run for Baltimore in the second inning, and Baltimore added single tallies in each of the next two innings as well. In the sixth, the visitors scored four more times to put the game out of reach. Each team scored twice in the eighth inning. Suttles hit his third homer of the series, a two-run round-tripper, to prevent Newark from being shut out. The Eagles added a run in the bottom of the ninth on Mackey’s single that scored Wilson.

The Newark defense made five errors in the game, which contributed to the rout.25 Hughes and Red Moore led the Elite Giants with three hits each, and half of Baltimore’s 12 hits went for extra bases; in addition to Hughes’s homer, the Elite Giants hit five doubles. Newark’s leadoff batter, future Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, had done his utmost for the losing team on this day and joined Wilson and Mackey as Newark batters who had two hits each.

WP: J. Gaines, LP: L. Day.

Game Three: September 10, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 7, Newark Eagles 3
Oriole Park, Baltimore

With the series tied at one game apiece, the two ballclubs headed to Baltimore for a game to be played on Sunday, September 10, at Baltimore’s Oriole Park, as the first game of a scheduled doubleheader. Newark sent rookie Harry “Big Train” Cozart, its “six feet four-inch chucker,”26 to the mound. Baltimore countered with Byrd. Each team hoped to “continue their campaign for a place in the finals of the Negro National League playoffs.”27

Byrd held the visiting Eagles scoreless through the first four innings. Meanwhile, the Elite Giants tallied twice in the bottom of the third. Byrd helped his own cause with a solo home run while Kimbro doubled and was driven in by Hughes. Baltimore added two more runs in the fourth for a 4-0 lead. Newark responded by scoring once in the fifth and then twice in the sixth, with one run coming on Ed Stone’s homer, to make it a one-run game.

Baltimore got both runs back in the bottom of the sixth and added a final run in the eighth to win the game, 7-3. In spite of heavy hitting by both sides, the two starters pitched complete games. For the third consecutive game, the Elite Giants put up double-digit hits (10), and the Eagles banged out 13 hits in the losing cause.

WP: B. Byrd, LP: H. Cozart.

Game Four: September 10, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 5, Newark Eagles 2
6 innings
Oriole Park, Baltimore

At some point, a decision was made to play a doubleheader, perhaps to expedite determining a winner of this series that was to go a maximum of five games. The third game had taken 2 hours and 35 minutes, so the two teams began to play Game Four in the late afternoon. Willie Hubert started for Baltimore while Manning, who had pitched in relief in Game One, started for the Eagles.

Wells led off the game for Newark and reached on an error by third baseman Snow. Wells used his speed to steal a base and came around to score on catcher Roy Campanella’s subsequent throwing error. Two errors had led to a run. In 1939 future Hall of Famer Campanella was just 17 years old, but he already was playing in his third season with the Elite Giants. Campanella credited Mackey as his mentor and catching coach, saying, “He just asked me to sit beside him. He helped me to learn everything.”28 After Mackey was sold to Newark in midseason, Campanella became Baltimore’s starting catcher.

In the bottom of the first, Hughes singled with one out and scored on Wild Bill Wright’s double. Wright had finished 10th in the NNL2 in 1939 with a .365 batting average, and he scored next on Snow’s single.

Both pitchers notched scoreless second and third innings, but Baltimore added a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Through five innings, Manning had allowed 11 hits and a walk. Meanwhile, Hubert had shut down the Eagles. Stone launched his second home run of the series in the top of the sixth, but that was one of only two Newark hits in the game.

After six innings, the contest was called due to darkness. The Eagles had batted in all six frames; thus, the Elite Giants were named champions of the series, which gave them the opportunity to play for the Ruppert Trophy. Baltimore scored 29 runs in 31 innings in the four games. Although the Eagles had outhomered the Elite Giants, six to two, Baltimore’s team OPS of .843 bested Newark’s .795. Further, in the four games, the Elites had 44 hits, 10 more than their opponents, while each team drew 14 walks. The Newark pitching staff’s ERA was almost three runs higher than Baltimore’s.

Bill Byrd was one of Baltimore’s playoff stars. He won Game Three on the mound, putting Baltimore within a win of the series championship, and he also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run and two runs scored. For the series, Sammy Hughes banged out a team-high seven hits (in 15 at-bats), good for a .467 batting average and 1.329 OPS. For Newark, Biz Mackey was 6-for-12 and Mule Suttles went 4-for-15 (.267) with three home runs, three runs scored, and five runs batted in.

With the first-round series victory under their belts, the Elite Giants went on to face the Homestead Grays, winner of the other playoff series. It had taken the Grays five games to defeat the Stars; the first game was played at Municipal Field in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Games Two and Three consisted of a doubleheader on September 10 in Cleveland, and then the final pair of games were contested in Philadelphia (at 44th and Parkside). In a five-game championship series, Baltimore captured the pennant with three wins over the Grays (there was also a tie). According to the New York Times, in the finale, “the Baltimore nine registered a brace of runs in the seventh inning and earned a shut-out triumph, 2 to 0.”29

WP: W. Hubert, LP: M. Manning

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

The author sincerely thanks Elizabeth Young Miller, social sciences librarian at the E.W. Fairchild-Martindale Library of Lehigh University, for her assistance with searching for sources.

In addition, I thank the team at the Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center of the Newark Public Library for scans of Newark newspapers.

Line scores found at https://www.retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/1939NNL1a.html. Accessed April 2023.

Notes

1 Bob Luke, The Baltimore Elite Giants (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 43.

2 Founded in 1930 as the Nashville Elite Giants, the franchise moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1935 and then to Washington, DC, the following year, staying for just two seasons. The Elite Giants spent the next 11 years (1938-1948) in Baltimore.

3 The Eagles had been in Newark since 1936, after spending their inaugural season (1935) in the Negro National League as the Brooklyn Eagles.

4 “Elites, Grays to Vie for Ruppert Trophy, Sunday,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 23, 1939: 16.

5 Luke, 47.   

6 Luke, 47. 

7 James Overmyer, “Black Baseball at Yankee Stadium: The House That Ruth Built and Satchel Furnished (with Fans),” an article in John Graf. ed., From Rube to Robinson: SABR’s Best Articles on Black Baseball (Phoenix: SABR, 2021), found online at https://sabr.org/journal/article/black-baseball-at-yankee-stadium-the-house-that-ruth-built-and-satchel-furnished-with-fans/. Accessed April 2023.

8 “Black Yankees Bow, 4-0: Baltimore Giants Win Feature of Twin Bill at Stadium,” New York Times, July 3, 1939: 13.

9 “Negroes to Honor Stars: Baseball Pioneers to Be Guests at Doubleheader,” New York Times, July 2, 1939: S2.

10 The nominations for the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame came from Joe Louis, world heavyweight champion; Bill Robinson, veteran tap dancer; and Cab Calloway, orchestra leader. The nominees were Suttles, Wells, outfielder Fats Jenkins, pitcher Satchel Paige, catcher Josh Gibson, third baseman Little Black Francis, pitcher Cannonball Dick Redding, first baseman Oscar Charleston, pitcher José Mendez, center fielder Sam West, pitcher Bullet Rogan, and catcher Frank Duncan. See “Negroes to Honor Stars: Baseball Pioneers to Be Guests at Doubleheader.” Paige, Gibson, and Jenkins were the only players with multiple nominations.

11 Luke, 47.

12 It is difficult to reconcile this seeding with the won-lost records for each team. Using Baseball-Reference, Homestead won 36 games. Newark was second-best, with 32 wins. Philadelphia won 24 games, and Baltimore won 21 games. The author has not found evidence to support why Philadelphia and Baltimore were switched in the seedings. A possible explanation was to give the Elite Giants some weight for having won the second half, thus combining the old and new playoff systems.

13 Norm King, “August 6, 1939: Late Home Runs Lift West to Win in Negro League All-Star Game,” SABR Games Project, sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-6-1939-the-east-west-all-star-game-got-their-vote/. Accessed April 2023.

14 Adams also played two games in 1939 as an outfielder. In eight games at the plate, he batted .417 (5-for-12, all singles).

15 “Homers Give Eagles Victory,” Newark Star Eagle, September 7, 1939: 16.

16 Stephen V. Rice, “Mule Suttles,” SABR Biography Project.

17 “Homers Give Eagles Victory.”

18 “Homers Give Eagles Victory.”

19 Byrd also made three total appearances for the Philadelphia Stars in 1943 and 1944.

20 In 1942 Byrd tied for the league lead in wins with Ray Brown of the Homestead Grays. In 1945 Byrd tied for the league lead in wins with Homestead’s Ray Welmaker.

21 Byrd appeared in seven East-West All-Star Games while pitching for Baltimore. In each of 1939 and 1946, Byrd played in two contests, while in 1941, 1944, and 1945, there was only one game.

22 Luke, 37. 

23 To help them in the second half of the season, the Elites picked up five players from the Atlanta Black Crackers (first baseman James “Red” Moore, Tommy “Pee Wee” Butts, pitchers Ed Dixon and Felix Evans, and catcher Oscar Brown). The Black Crackers began the 1939 season playing in Indianapolis as the Indianapolis A.B.C.’s, but the team could not find a ballpark and broke up, allowing for the players to join Baltimore (see Luke). This meant that the Elite Giants had to make room for the new additions to the roster, so they sold Jim West to the Philadelphia Stars and Mackey to the Eagles.

24 For the regular season, Day had walked 25 batters in 87 innings pitched.

25 Retrosheet’s box score of the game leaves one column blank: the number of earned runs. Newspaper clippings do not list the number of earned/unearned runs in the game, so we cannot assess the impact of Newark’s errors.

26 “Newark Eagles Are Eliminated,” Newark Star Eagle, September 11, 1939: 14.

27 “Diamond Chips,” Newark Sunday Call, September 10, 1939: 22.

28 Luke, 34.

29 “Elite Giants Gain Title,” New York Times, September 25, 1939: 26.

Baltimore Elite Giants pitchers at Oriole/Terrapin Park, 1940. Left to right: Emery Adams, Satchel Davis, Eddie Dixon, Woody Williams, Willie Hubert, and Bill Barnes. (Courtesy of David Stinson and Bernard McKenna)

The 1939 Negro National League Championship Series featured a matchup between the Homestead Grays, in pursuit of their third consecutive league championship, and the Baltimore Elite Giants. The Grays, led by their principal owner, future Hall of Fame member Cumberland Posey, and their player-manager, the veteran outfielder Vic Harris, finished atop the Negro National League for the third year in a row in 1939. The Elite Giants, owned by Tom Wilson and led by player-manager Felton Snow, finished fourth in the league, primarily on the basis of a strong second half of the season.

The powerhouse Homestead Grays featured three future Hall of Fame players: Ray Brown, who is in the Hall of Fame as a pitcher but who appeared in this series as an outfielder and first baseman; first baseman Buck Leonard; and catcher Josh Gibson. Leonard and Gibson were two of the most fearsome sluggers to ever grace a baseball diamond. In 1939 Gibson was 27 years old and Leonard was 31, and each was at the height of his ability. Other great players on the team included second baseman Sam Bankhead and pitcher Roy Partlow.

The Baltimore Elite Giants were also a talented team, with outfielders Bill Hoskins and Wild Bill Wright, and second baseman Sammy Hughes. They featured two future Hall of Famers, Biz Mackey, who did not appear in the Championship Series, and starting catcher Roy Campanella, who was only 17 years old. The matchup between Gibson and Campanella made this Series special in that it was a battle between two of the greatest catchers of all time.

Game One: September 16, 1939
Homestead Grays 2, Baltimore Elite Giants 1
44th and Parkside, Philadelphia

The best-of-five-games Championship Series began on the evening of Saturday, September 16, before approximately 3,000 spectators at the ballpark at 44th and Parkside in Philadelphia. The Homestead Grays played as the home team at this neutral location, selected to capitalize on the sizable Negro League fan base in Philadelphia. Bill Byrd got the start for the Elite Giants, facing lefty Roy Partlow of the Grays. In the bottom of the first inning, the Grays got off to a quick start when leadoff hitter David Whatley, Vic Harris, and Sam Bankhead singled, with singles, with Whatley scoring on Bankhead’s hit. Josh Gibson then came to the plate and grounded to Giants second baseman Sammy Hughes, who forced Bankhead out at second. Buck Leonard followed with runners on the corners and grounded the ball to shortstop Tommy “Pee Wee” Butts, who bobbled the ball long enough to allow Harris to score.

In the fourth inning, the Elite Giants tried to rally back. Sammy Hughes led off with a double to right field. He advanced to third on an out by Red Moore and scored when Bill Wright grounded out to third base. Although Byrd allowed 10 hits in the game, including doubles by Whatley, Bankhead, and Leonard, he kept the Grays from scoring after the first inning. Meanwhile Partlow was equally good, preventing any scoring aside from the Giants’ fourth-inning run. Both pitchers threw complete games, with Partlow getting the victory and the Grays taking a 1-0 lead in the series.1

Game Two: September 17, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 7, Homestead Grays 5
Oriole Park, Baltimore

The second game of the Series was played as the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday, September 17. The game was played in Baltimore at Oriole Park, previously known as Terrapin Park, one of the Elites Giants’ two home fields, along with Bugle Field. An estimated 3,000 fans were in attendance for the afternoon doubleheader. Tom Parker was the starter for Homestead, up against Jonas Gaines, southpaw hurler for the Elite Giants. Unlike the low-scoring first game of the Series, this game featured offensive explosions from both teams.

The Grays got on the board in the top of the first with a two-out rally. Sam Bankhead reached base on a single. Josh Gibson followed and pulled a home run over the left-field wall to give the Grays a two-run lead. The Grays continued to threaten as Buck Leonard ripped a single up the middle and Henry Spearman reached on a dropped third strike. Country Davis then drove a ball to deepest center field, but center fielder Henry Kimbro tracked it down with an impressive running catch to end the inning. The Elite Giants tallied their first run in the bottom of the second when Bill Wright drove a ball to left field for a double, and scored on a single by Felton Snow. In the top of the third, Kimbro made another athletic play in center field when he chased down a towering fly ball struck by Vic Harris.

In the top of the fourth, the Grays scored another run to extend their lead. Buck Leonard drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and scored on a two-out Texas Leaguer by Jelly Jackson. In the bottom of the frame, the Elite Giants had their biggest rally of the game. Red Moore walked to lead off the inning. Bill Wright’s double scored Moore, and Felton Snow followed with another double, plating Wright. Next up, Bill Hoskins singled to score Snow for the Elite Giants’ third run of the inning, giving Baltimore a 4-3 lead. The Grays answered back in the top of the fifth. Sam Bankhead singled, Josh Gibson walked, and Buck Leonard singled to drive in Bankhead and tie the game, 4-4. The Elite Giants were able to manufacture runs in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Felton Snow singled for his third hit of the game and took second on an error by Grays shortstop Jackson. Roy Campanella struck out, but Josh Gibson dropped the third strike and threw wildly to first, allowing Snow to score. In the seventh, Henry Kimbro singled, made his way to third on sacrifices by Hughes and Moore, and scored on a single by Wright. The score now stood 6-4 in favor of the Elite Giants.

In the top of the eighth, the Grays threatened once more. With one out, Henry Spearman singled. Country Davis followed with a single to center. Henry Kimbro fielded the ball and threw to third to try to cut down Spearman, who was attempting to take the extra base, but Kimbro’s throw flew over third baseman Snow’s head and into the Grays dugout, allowing Spearman to score and Davis to advance to third. The Elite Giants prevented more runs from scoring with two great defensive plays. First, Bill Wright made a strong throw from right field on Jelly Jackson’s fly out, keeping the runner at third. Then with two outs, Red Moore made a great play at first on a hard-hit groundball off the bat of Sam Bankhead. The Elite Giants now led 7-5.

The Grays refused to go down without a fight in the ninth. Ray Brown, pinch-hitting for David Whatley, singled to lead off the inning. But the Elite Giants defense came through once more, turning a third-to-second-to-first double play. Gaines then struck out Sam Bankhead to end the game and give the Elite Giants the victory.

The Elite Giants were able to win despite the Grays collecting 10 hits and 9 walks. Buck Leonard reached base all five times he came to the plate. The Elite Giants defense quelled several Grays rallies, and Baltimore tied the Series at one game apiece.2

Game Three: September 17, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 1, Homestead Grays 1
5 innings
Oriole Park, Baltimore

The second game of the doubleheader pitted the Elite Giants starter, lefty Tom Glover, against the starting hurler for the Grays, Edsall Walker. The Grays struck first, scoring a run in the top of the second inning. Country Davis led off the inning with a walk but was cut down at second on a groundball hit by Jelly Jackson. Jackson proceeded to steal second, go to third on Roy Campanella’s error, and score on another Campanella miscue, this time a passed ball. The Elite Giants scored in the bottom of the third. Campanella reached first on a muffed fly ball by Grays left fielder Vic Harris. Glover’s sacrifice advanced Campanella to second and brought up the top of the order. Henry Kimbro grounded out for the second out of the inning, but Sammy Hughes followed with a single to score Campanella and tie the game. Red Moore then drew a walk and Bill Wright was intentionally walked to load the bases. Grays pitcher Walker worked his way out of the jam by striking out Felton Snow.

The game remained a 1-1 tie as the 6:00 P.M. Sunday curfew approached. In the bottom of the fifth, the Elite Giants came within inches of winning the game. With one out, Sammy Hughes reached base on a walk. Red Moore struck out for the second out of the inning. Bill Wright followed and drove a ball to right field. Hughes raced around the bases attempting to score, but the Grays defense was solid, with Harris firing to cutoff man Bankhead, who threw a bullet to Gibson to cut down Hughes on a close play at the plate. The curfew ended the game, tied 1-1.3

Game Four: September 23, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 10, Homestead Grays 5
44th and Parkside, Philadelphia

The Series resumed at 3:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 23, back in Philadelphia at the ballpark at 44th and Parkside. The Grays were the home team once again and gave the start to Specs Roberts in his adopted hometown of Philadelphia. Baltimore manager Snow gave Bill Byrd the start, his second of the series. The umpire behind the plate was Cool Turner and covering the bases was Phil Cockrell.

Baltimore got the scoring started in the top of the second inning. Bill Hoskins slugged a triple and was driven home on a single to left by Roy Campanella, who then scored on a double off the bat of Byrd. Homestead came back in the bottom of the inning when Josh Gibson smashed a leadoff home run over the center-field wall. The Grays tacked on another run in the bottom of the third, and two more in the fourth to extend their lead to 4-2.

The fifth inning was rather tempestuous and demonstrated the competitive fire of both teams. Elite Giants center fielder Henry Kimbro led off the top of the inning with a single. Sammy Hughes then grounded out to short for what seemed like a routine play. However, Kimbro broke for third on the play. Grays first baseman Buck Leonard fired the ball across the diamond to shortstop Jelly Jackson, who ended up on top of Kimbro as he slid into the base. Kimbro was called safe on the play but, taking exception to Jackson’s physical play, hopped up and threw punches at him. Jackson readily took part in the fisticuffs himself until the players were pulled apart. Both Kimbro and Jackson were ejected from the game, but the rhubarb seemed to bring new energy to the Elite Giants. Hoss Walker replaced Kimbro on third base and was driven home by Red Moore to bring the Elite Giants within one run. In the sixth inning, Roy Campanella cracked a solo home run to left field to tie the game, 4-4.

In the seventh, the Elite Giants broke the game open. Hughes led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Moore. The Grays took the bat out of the hands of Elite Giants cleanup hitter Bill Wright with an intentional walk. Felton Snow followed with a smash to shortstop, where Sam Bankhead was playing in place of Jackson. Bankhead bobbled the ball, and the bases were loaded. Bill Hoskins followed with a single, driving in two runs. Pee Wee Butts singled, loading the bases again, and Campanella continued the barrage with a single to drive two more runs home. The Elite Giants scored their fifth run of the inning when pitcher Bill Byrd’s fly ball to right scored Butts from third. When the dust had settled for the inning, the Elite Giants were leading 9-4. Both teams scored a single run in the ninth inning and the Elite Giants walked away with a 10-5 victory.

Both pitchers gave up 15 hits in the game, but Elite Giants hurler Byrd was able to stay out of much trouble and earned the victory. Notably, both Josh Gibson and Roy Campanella homered and had four hits each. However, all of Gibson’s at-bats came with the bases empty, while Campanella’s hits drove in five runs in leading his team to victory. The victory gave the Elite Giants a two-games-to-one lead in the series.4

Game Five: September 24, 1939
Baltimore Elite Giants 2, Homestead Grays 0
Yankee Stadium, New York 

Yankee Stadium was the location of the next game in the Series, played in the afternoon on Sunday, September 24. This was the fourth game the Elite Giants and the third game the Grays played in Yankee Stadium in 1939. Yankee Stadium being the location of this game allowed the Black press additional opportunities to market the game, and in turn to draw a much larger crowd and make for a significant payday for the teams. A crowd of 8,000 to 15,000 (depending on the game account) attended. The game also gave the teams the opportunity to vie for the Ruppert Memorial Trophy, named after the recently deceased owner of the Yankees, Jacob Ruppert. Beginning in 1939, the trophy was given to the Negro National League team that won the most games at the Stadium that year. For 1939, the winner of this game would take home the trophy.5

Baltimore was the home team for the game and started Jonas Gaines, who had won Game Two. Homestead started its ace, Roy Partlow, the winner of Game One. Just before the start of the game Elite Giants second baseman Sammy Hughes passed out on the bench and was taken to Harlem Hospital. (He was able to return to the Stadium before the end of the game.) Felton Snow took Hughes’s position at second for the game and Hoss Walker took Snow’s regular spot at third.

The game was a tense affair. Gaines and Partlow were in control and the two teams remained in a scoreless tie through the first six innings. In the bottom of the seventh, the Elite Giants offense finally broke through. After Red Moore grounded out, Bill Wright doubled and advanced to third on an infield single by Hoskins. Tommy Butts bunted foul on strike three for the second out of the inning. Hoss Walker followed with a groundball to third. Walker was safe when Henry Spearman’s throw pulled Buck Leonard off first base. Wright scored on the play and Hoskins went to second. Roy Campanella drove a ball to right field for a single, knocking in Hoskins with the second run of the inning. Partlow struck out Gaines for the third out, but the damage had been done, courtesy of two unearned runs. The Grays threatened in the eighth. With one out, Gaines walked Vic Harris, but got Bankhead for the second out. However, Gaines then walked Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard to load the bases. Elite Giants manager Snow went to his bullpen and brought in Willie Hubert in relief of Gaines. Hubert was the only reliever to pitch in the entire Series. Henry Spearman was up next for the Grays and battled, fouling off three pitches, before he was induced into hitting an infield popup to end the inning. Hubert finished off the Grays in the ninth inning, securing the victory for the Elite Giants. The Baltimore Elite Giants won the series three games to one and were the champions of the Negro National League.6

Series Postscript

After the game, the entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson presented the Ruppert Memorial Trophy to Elite Giants team owner Tom Wilson. Aside from Game Four, which the Elite Giants won 10-5, all the games were quite close, and the Grays played well. On offense, the Grays were led by their sluggers, with Josh Gibson slugging two home runs and sporting a slash line of .353/.476/.706 for the Series. Likewise, Buck Leonard had an impressive series slash line of .462/.588/.462. For the Elite Giants, Roy Campanella gave a glimpse of his future greatness, smacking the only home run of the Series for his team while leading them with six RBIs. Jonas Gaines led the Elite Giants pitchers with two wins and a 2.16 ERA in 16⅔ innings pitched. Felton Snow also received plaudits for his steady leadership in blending a team of young players and veterans to the Series win.7

The final game of the series was the first game of a doubleheader, taking advantage of the Yankee Stadium crowd. The second game of the twin bill was played between a team made up of a mix of players from the Elite Giants and the Grays against what was termed an “All-Star” team of White minor leaguers That game was ended in the seventh inning due to darkness with the game tied, 1-1.8 After the Series, several players from both teams joined separate barnstorming tours, with the Elite Giants heading South toward New Orleans, and the Grays pairing with the New York Black Yankees and heading for North Carolina.9

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted:

Clark, Dick, and Larry Lester, eds. The Negro Leagues Book (Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 1994).

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

Unless otherwise noted, Seamheads.com was used for all Negro League player statistics.

Notes

1 “Grays, Elites Divide,” Chicago Defender, September 23, 1939: 8; “Homestead Grays, Elites Divide Pair,” Chicago Defender, September 23, 1939: 8; “Partlow Bests Byrd as Grays Win Opener, 2-1,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 23, 1939: 21. The game details described are drawn primarily from the game stories provided in the Baltimore Afro-American. Different sources, including game box scores, often provided fewer details.

2 “Grays, Elites Divide,” Chicago Defender, September 23, 1939: 8; “Elites, Grays Tied in National League Title Series,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 23, 1939: 19.

3 “Grays, Elites Divide”; “Elites, Grays Tied in National League Title Series.”

4 “Campanella in Star’s Role as Elites Score,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 30, 1939: 21. Neil Lanctot, Campy: The Two Lives of Roy Campanella (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 58-60.

5 Jim Overmyer, “Black Baseball at Yankee Stadium: The House That Ruth Built and Satchel Furnished (With Fans),” Black Ball: A Negro Leagues Journal, Volume 7, 2014, 5-32. Going into this game, the Elite Giants had won three games in Yankee Stadium while the Grays had won two for the season. It was decided that the winner of this game would be awarded the Ruppert Memorial Trophy.

6 “Elite Giants Win National League Championship,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 30, 1939: 21; “Baltimore Whips Homestead Grays for Title,” Chicago Defender, September 30, 1939: 9; “Elites Drub Grays For Jacob Ruppert Trophy,” New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Virginia), September 30, 1939: 17; Dan Burley, “Baltimore Elites Cop NNL Title, Beat Grays 2-0,” New York Amsterdam News, September 30, 1939: 14; “Elites Beat Grays for Title,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 30, 1939: 16.

7 Randy Dixon, “The Sport Bugle,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 7, 1939: 17.

8 “Baltimore Whips Homestead Grays for Title,” Chicago Defender, September 30, 1939: 9; “Elites Drub Grays For Jacob Ruppert Trophy.”

9 “Elite Stars to Play in Game,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 30, 1939: 20; “Grays, Yanks Barnstorm Through South,” Baltimore Afro-American, September 23, 1939: 20.