September 12, 1948: Willie Mays’ two-out double in 9th saves the day for Black Barons

A teenage Willie Mays with the Birmingham Black Barons. Mays’ father did not allow him to join the Black Barons full-time in 1948 until school was over at the end of May. (Courtesy of Memphis Public Library)

The Birmingham Black Barons and the Kansas City Monarchs met at Rickwood Field for Game Two of the Negro American League Championship Series on September 12, 1948. Birmingham won the first game, 5-4, in 11 innings the previous day.

For Game Two, Monarchs manager Buck O’Neil started a 29-year-old right-hander Ford Smith, who had won 10 games during the season and posted a 2.64 ERA. Birmingham’s Piper Davis gave the nod to right-hander Alonzo Perry, a 26-year-old who had also won 10 games, but whose 4.73 ERA was significantly higher than Smith’s.

Sunday games were always popular in Birmingham, and 8,000 fans poured into Rickwood to witness the matchup.1 Unlike the previous game, which had been scoreless through four innings, both teams scored early in this one. Artie Wilson led off the bottom of the first with a triple and John Britton drove him in, giving Birmingham an early 1-0 lead.

In the top of the second, the Monarchs’ bats came alive. Willard Brown opened with a single to left and advanced to third on an error by Jim Zapp. Another error, this one by third baseman Britton, allowed the next hitter, Johnie Scott, to reach first as Brown scored the tying run. Elston Howard then walked. After Gene Baker made an out, Curtis Roberts walked, and the bases were loaded. After another out, Herb Souell singled to bring home Scott and Howard. O’Neil made the last out of the inning, but the Monarchs led, 3-1.

In the fourth inning, Gene Baker homered over the left-field fence to increase Kansas City’s lead to 4-1. Willie Mays, who drove home the winning run in Game One, singled in the bottom of the inning and was on base with two outs when Davis stepped to the plate. With the Black Barons’ hopes beginning to fade, “Davis hit one of the longest balls in Rickwood history … a terrific drive well above the right end of the 33 foot scoreboard which is 381 feet from home plate.”2 The home run cut the deficit to 4-3.

Davis was not only having a big series as a hitter. As Birmingham’s manager, he had already made several key decisions to help his team win Game One. Before the top of the fifth started, he knew he had to make a decision. Perry had struggled during his four innings on the mound. Although he had stuck out five, his performance was uneven as he had walked four, given up three hits, and surrendered four runs. Davis had no choice but to replace him.

Davis called on 23-year-old right-hander Bill Greason. Greason had pinch-hit the previous day and had already pitched one inning in the series.3 He immediately rewarded Davis for his decision by recording two outs, setting down Buck O’Neil and Hank Thompson. Brown, however, hit a home run to left field; and Greason gave up consecutive singles to Scott and Howard. With two on and two out, Greason retired Baker to end the fifth inning, but the Monarchs had padded their lead to 5-3.

Neither team scored over the next two innings, though both threatened. In the bottom of the sixth, Mays led off with a walk, but Ed Steele grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. In the top of the seventh, Thompson walked with one out but was caught trying to steal second base.

The Monarchs had an even better chance to score when Howard doubled to open the eighth, He was left stranded at second, though, after Greason retired the next three batters. In the bottom of the inning, the Black Barons scored a run on consecutive singles by Britton, Mays, and Steele. However, after loading the bases with one out, neither Pepper Bassett nor Jim Zapp could get a hit, and the Monarchs clung to a 5-4 lead.

The Monarchs failed to score in the top of the ninth as Greason hung tough. In the bottom of the inning, Wilson hit a one-out double and made it to third on Britton’s groundout. With two outs, Mays hit a double to right that scored Wilson and tied the game at 5-5.4 For the second day in a row, the teams played extra innings.

In the 10th inning, Greason flirted with trouble. Scott led off with a walk but Greason picked him off. Greason got Howard out, but Baker singled and advanced to second on an error by Britton. Roberts singled to right, but Steele’s throw to Bassett caught him at the plate and kept the score tied.

In the bottom of the 10th, Souell’s error at third allowed Davis to reach first. Scott moved him to second on a well-executed bunt down the third-base line. Catcher Bassett, who had been involved in arguably the biggest defensive play of the game in the previous inning, singled to score Davis. The Black Barons won, 6-5.

Wilson, Mays, and Davis proved to be a three-headed monster: Each had three hits. Despite his somewhat rocky start, Greason scattered eight hits over seven innings in a gutsy performance, allowing only one run and gaining the win. Brown led the Monarchs with three hits and Howard and Baker had two hits each. Ford Smith gave up 14 hits and walked three over 9⅓ innings and took the loss.

The best-of-seven championship series continued with Birmingham winning, 4-3, in Memphis on September 15. The Monarchs won Game Four, 3-1, at Blues Stadium in Kansas City on the 19th. The teams played a 3-3 tie on the 20th with the game called because of rain in the sixth inning. The Monarchs won, 5-4, on September 21 and again, 5-3, on the 22nd. The deciding game was also in Kansas City, on September 26. Behind the three-hit pitching of Bill Greason, Birmingham won, 5-1, and celebrated a championship.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the box score and play-by-play of the game presented by Retrosheet. This piece mostly uses official NAL pitching statistics compiled by the Howe News Bureau, as they cover more games than Seamheads, which includes only games for which box scores could be found.5

https://retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/boxesetc/1948/B09120BIR1948.htm

NOTES

1  “Repeats Over Monarchs,” Kansas City Times, September 13, 1948: 15.

2  Tim Cary, “Slidin’ and Ridin’, at Home and on the Road with the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons,” Alabama Heritage, Fall 1986: 31.

3  https://retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/boxesetc/1948/B09110BIR1948.htm.

4  “Birmingham Grabs First 2 Games in Playoff Series,” Chicago Defender, September 18, 1948: 11.

5  According to Gary Ashwill, “Seamheads statistics and the official Howe News data are not directly comparable, as Seamheads is based only on games for which box scores were published at the time (roughly half of Negro League games in the 1940s), and Seamheads regular season statistics include official NAL games as well as two categories of games that were not counted in the official numbers: unofficial games against NAL opponents, and interleague games against NNL teams. The Howe News Bureau statistics, by contrast, cover only official NAL regular season games, though they are more complete than Seamheads numbers in that category, as they include many games for which box scores were not published at the time.” Email from Gary Ashwill, February 14, 2023.