The Path to the Cubs and White Sox from the Negro Leagues: 17 Barrier Breakers

 

Numerous talents from the Negro Leagues made their way into the employ of the American and National League franchises in Chicago. Integration did not come to these clubs until four seasons after the debut of Jackie Robinson with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, and even then, the pace of integration was frightfully slow. This article details the journeys of 17 pioneers.

MINNIE MIÑOSO

On May 1, 1951, Minnie Minoso became first Black player to play in Chicago for either the Cubs or White Sox. The White Sox were the third American League team to integrate, sixth overall.

Miñoso, from Cuba, had first played professionally in the United States with the New York Cubans in 1946. He spent three years with the Cubans and in 1948 batted .344. Late in the 1948 season, he was sold to the Indians and spent the latter part of that season at Dayton in the Central League. At Dayton, he played second base and third base and went 21-for-40 at the plate. When he made his debut with the Indians on April 19, 1949, he was the seventh Black player in the big leagues after Jackie Robinson and the first from outside the United States.

He played nine games with the Indians before being sent to the minors. Cleveland sought to convert him to the role of an outfielder, and they positioned him in the outfield with San Diego. In his first game with the PCL Padres, he was charged with two errors. When he made it to the majors to stay, nobody questioned his ability in the outfield. During the late 1950s, he was the preeminent left-fielder in the American League, leading the league in games played at that position for six consecutive seasons and garnering three Gold Gloves. With the bat, there was never any question. With San Diego in 1949, he batted .297 with 22 home runs and 75 RBI in 137 games. His average rose to .339 in 1950, with 20 homers and 115 RBIs.

Miñoso began 1951 with the Indians and appeared in eight games before Cleveland traded him to the White Sox on April 30, 1951. He had his best seasons in Chicago. During his first seven years with the White Sox, he was on five All-Star teams and received the first ever Gold Glove (1957). He led the league in being hit by a pitch six times. After the 1957 season, he was traded back to the Indians, where his stellar performance continued. During two years with Cleveland, he batted .302, continued to lead the league in being hit by a pitch, was named to his sixth All-Star team (1959), and garnered his second gold glove (1959).

By 1959, Bill Veeck—the owner who had signed Miñoso to his first Indians contract—had taken over at Chicago, and he traded for Miñoso prior to the 1960 season. Minnie was ecstatic about the return to Chicago and got off to a great start with a pair of homers (including a grand slam) in a 10-9 win over Kansas City. In 1961, at the age of 37, he played in 152 games.

The White Sox brought the ever-smiling Miñoso back for token appearances in 1976 and 1980, giving him the distinction of having played in five decades. Miñoso was a happy man. As he said, “When you come from nowhere—cutting sugarcane in Cuba—and get somewhere, you have to be happy.”1

SAM HAIRSTON

Sam Hairston got his start in the Negro Leagues with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1944 and was with them through 1949. In 1948, he led his team in batting with a .357 average. In July 1950, during the midst of another banner season with the Clowns, he was acquired by the White Sox and sent to Colorado Springs in the Western League, for whom he played in parts of six seasons. In 1951, he had a cup of coffee with the White Sox, appearing in four games, during which he went 2-for-5 with a pair of walks, before returning to the minors. When he debuted on July 21, 1951, he became the second Black player to play for the White Sox. In 1955 at Colorado Springs, he posted a .350 batting average with 48 extra-base hits and 91 RBIs, but he never got a return call to the White Sox.

Hairston’s legacy in Chicago goes far beyond those few games, however. He was with the White Sox organization for 48 years as player, scout, and coach. Two of his sons played major league baseball in Chicago. John Hairston played with the Cubs, and Jerry Hairston played for the White Sox, after Sam scouted him. Two of his grandsons also played for Chicago teams. Scott Hairston, in 11 major league seasons, spent one season with the Cubs. Jerry Hairston, Jr., in 16 major league seasons, spent two seasons with the Cubs.

AL SMITH

One of the players for whom Miñoso (and Fred Hatfield) was traded when he left the White Sox at the end of the 1957 season was Al Smith, a teammate with the San Diego Padres in 1950. Smith first played in the Negro Leagues in 1946 with the Cleveland Buckeyes. The Indians obtained him in 1948, and he was sent to Wilkes-Barre in the Eastern League. He batted a teamleading .316 in 1948 and .311 in 1949. In 1950, he was promoted to San Diego of the PCL and debuted with Cleveland in 1953. In his best season with Cleveland, 1955, Smith was named to the American League AllStar team and finished third in MVP balloting. When he joined the White Sox in 1958, he became their eighth Black player—seven of those eight having spent time in the Negro Leagues. He was a big part of their pennant-winning team in 1959 and was again named to the All-Star team in 1960, when he batted a career-high .315.

 

 

HECTOR RODRIGUEZ

Hector Rodriguez spent all but one of his early years in the Mexican League. In 1944, he played with the New York Cubans. On October 1, 1944, he played in an All-Star game in New Orleans and went 4-for-5 with one double and an RBI as his Northern All-Stars defeated the Southern All-Stars 6-1. Against Satchel Paige, who pitched the first five innings, he went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI single. He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization prior to the 1951 season and was traded to the White Sox after batting .302 at Montreal in 1951. With Chicago in 1952, he played in 124 games and batted .265.

 

 

CONNIE JOHNSON

The first Black pitcher for the White Sox was Connie Johnson who debuted on April 17, 1953. He had first pitched in the Negro Leagues with the Toledo Crawfords in 1940, and he was named to the East-West game in his very first season. The following year, he joined the pitching-rich Kansas City Monarchs where he pitched alongside Hall-of-Famers Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith. In 1946, he had his best season with the Monarchs, winning 12 games (5 championship games) and striking out 10 or more batters in four games. He made his second East-West appearance in 1950 and was named the winning pitcher. In his first game with the White Sox, he came in to relieve in the eighth inning against the St. Louis Browns. Pitching in relief for the Browns was Satchel Paige. The matchup marked the first time that Black pitchers had ever faced each other in an American League game.

SAM JONES

Pitcher Sam Jones was with the Buckeyes in 1947 and 1948 and hurled in the Negro League World Series in 1947, making one appearance in relief. After the 1948 season, when the Negro Leagues were consolidated to one 10-team Negro American League, the Buckeyes split their time between Louisville and Cleveland. Jones remained with them until the Indians obtained him in 1950. In one of his least glorious NAL appearances, he entered a game in relief, on May 22, 1949, and did not retire a single batter, walking two, hitting one, and allowing a base-hit to the fourth. He was charged with four runs in an 18-8 loss to Birmingham.2

His first stop in the Indians minor-league system was at Wilkes-Barre where he went 17-8. The next season, he was with San Diego, going 16-13. He had brief stints with Cleveland in 1951 and 1952 before being traded to the Cubs prior to the 1955 season. When he made his debut on April 11, 1955, he became the Cubs’ fourth Black player—after Ernie Banks, Gene Baker, and Luis Marquez—each of whom who had played in the Negro Leagues. He continued to have control problems in his days with the Cubs. In his rookie season, he lost 20 games and led the league in walks with 185. However, he also led the league in strikeouts (198). His best season was with the Giants in 1959, when he led the league in wins with 21.

MONTE IRVIN

Although Monte Irvin is best remembered for his years with the Giants—he and Hank Thompson had broken their color line in 1949—he joined the Cubs in 1956, becoming their fifth Black player.

While playing with the Newark Eagles in 1941, Irvin once homered in three games on the same day: August 17. A doubleheader was played in the afternoon at Columbus, Ohio, and a night game was played at Dayton, Ohio. The Newark Eagles defeated the Homestead Grays in each game. He was 22 years old at the time.3

 

 

LARRY DOBY

Another notable player known for his career with another team, in this case the Indians, was Larry Doby, who debuted with the White Sox on April 17, 1956. He had previously starred with the Newark Eagles, appearing in both East-West games in 1946. On July 5, 1947, he had become the first openly Black player in the AL when he joined Cleveland. He remained in baseball after his playing days and became the second Black manager in the history of the AL when he took over as White Sox manager during the 1978 season.

SCOUTS: JOHN MORRIS AND JOHN DONALDSON

A discussion about the early Black players with the Cubs and White Sox is incomplete without reference to the Black scouts who came to work with the clubs. The Cubs hired their first Black scout, John “Yellow Horse” Morris in 1949.4 He had pitched for Kansas City, Detroit, and Chicago in the Negro Leagues from 1924 through 1930. Although the Cubs would not integrate at the major-league level until 1953, Black players appeared on minor league rosters well before then, and some made it to Wrigley Field. The White Sox hired their first Black scout, John Donaldson, in 1949. Donaldson had played for the Kansas City Monarchs from 1920 through 1924. During his time with the White Sox, a few Black players were signed. His first discovery, made while he was traveling on the team bus with the Memphis Red Sox, was Bob Boyd.

BOB BOYD

Bob Boyd was with Memphis 1949 and the early part of 1950. He had first played with the NAL team in 1947 and appeared in the East-West Game from 1947 through 1949. On Opening Day in 1949, Memphis faced the Chicago American Giants at Comiskey Park, and Boyd homered. When he homered with the White Sox on August 8, 1953, he became the first player to homer at Comiskey Park in both the Negro Leagues and the American League.

The White Sox obtained Boyd during the 1950 season, and he went to Colorado Springs, batting .373 in 42 games. In 1951, he batted .342 at Sacramento in the PCL and was a late season call-up by the White Sox. When he debuted on September 8, 1951, he was the third Black player in White Sox history. He did not have much success with Chicago, appearing in 96 games in parts of three seasons, batting only .259. He was sold to the Cardinals and then drafted by Baltimore prior to the 1956 season and, in five seasons with Baltimore, batted .301. In his best season, 1957, he batted .318 and finished 16th in MVP balloting.

HARRY SIMPSON

The Philadelphia Stars were not a preeminent Negro League team. They had few star players and sent only a couple to the American and National leagues in the years following integration. The first player from the Stars to crash the barrier was Harry Simpson. After batting .300 with the Stars in 1948, he joined the Cleveland organization and made his AL debut in 1951. When he joined the White Sox on May 5, 1959— becoming their ninth Black player and the eighth Negro Leaguer to play with the team—Simpson had already played with the Indians, Athletics, and Yankees. In all, he played for five AL/NL teams, earning his singular nickname: “Suitcase.”

BOOKER MCDANIEL

Although the Cubs did not integrate until 1953, they had Black players in their minor league system as early as 1949, when Booker McDaniel, who started with the Monarchs in 1941, played with the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL. He was the first Black player with the Angels and was with them for two seasons, posting a combined record of 11-13, but, at age 36, he was considered too old to advance any further.

 

 

ERNIE BANKS

Ernie Banks and Gene Baker arrived with the Cubs on September 14, 1953. Each had played shortstop with the Kansas City Monarchs. When Baker went to the Cubs organization in 1950, Banks was still in high school. After graduation, Banks went to the Monarchs and played for the first time on June 4, 1950, getting three hits in seven at-bats in a doubleheader against Memphis.5

Banks was on a fast track to integrated baseball when he got his draft notice from the United States Army. He re-joined the Monarchs when he came out of the service in 1953 and was clearly the top player in what was left of the NAL. He played in the East- West Game at Comiskey Park on August 16, 1953. John Donaldson suggested that the White Sox sign Banks, but they passed on the opportunity. Banks was sold to the Cubs on Tuesday September 8 and reported on Monday September 14.6 In his last Negro League at-bat, on September 13, he singled, stole second base, and scored the winning run in a 2-1 win over Birmingham at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field.7 In his first batting practice swing with the Cubs the next day, he hit a ball over the fence at Wrigley Field.8

He made his Cubs debut on September 17, 1953. By the time he had finished playing with the Cubs in 1971, more than 30 Black players had been with the team, nine of whom had played in the Negro Leagues.

GENE BAKER

Baker spent four seasons in the Cubs’ minor-league system after playing with the Monarchs in 1948 and 1949. After beginning the 1950 season with Springfield in the International League, he was sent down to Des Moines in May, breaking the color line in the Western League. In the beginning of July, after batting .321 in 49 games in Class A, he was promoted to the Los Angeles Angels in the PCL, where he batted .280 in 100 games. His first game with the Cubs was on September 20, 1953.

SAMMY DRAKE

One of Banks’s teammates on the 1953 Monarchs was Sammy Drake. Drake joined the Cubs organization in 1954 but did not get to the big leagues until 1960. He was the 13th Black player for the Cubs and the eighth whose path to the Big Leagues included a stint in the Negro Leagues. Most of the Black players that joined the Cubs had played in the Negro Leagues prior to 1949, the only exceptions being Drake and Banks.

LUIS MARQUEZ

Joining Banks and Baker with the Cubs in 1954 was Luis Marquez. Marquez starred in Puerto Rico and played in the Negro Leagues from 1946 through 1948, batting .324 in 1947. In 1949, he broke the color line with the Portland Beavers of the PCL, and, in 1951, joined the Boston Braves, becoming their second Black player. He was the first colored Puerto Rican player to make it to the AL/NL major leagues. On April 13, 1954, when he entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, he became the third Black player in the history of the Cubs.

THE FINAL THREE: GEORGE ALTMAN, LOU JOHNSON, AND WILLIE SMITH

In the last years of the Negro Leagues there were as few as four teams at the top echelon. Three players from this era joined the Cubs. On August 25, 1955, the Cubs bought three players from the Kansas City Monarchs, two of whom made it to the Cubs roster. George Altman played with the Monarchs for three months in 1955 before joining the Cubs organization. He made his Cubs debut on April 11, 1959, and played nine seasons in the majors. He was an All-Star in 1961 and 1962. Lou Johnson also played for the Monarchs in 1955. He first signed with the Yankees organization in 1953 and took a circuitous route to fame. After leaving the Pirates organization in 1955, he went to the Monarchs. He finally got to the majors with the Cubs on April 17, 1960, but is best remembered for his time with the World Champion Dodgers in 1965.

The last of the three was Willie Smith, known as Wonderful Willie Smith. He played in the Negro American League with the Detroit Stars and Birmingham Black Barons from 1957 through 1960 and played in the 1958 East-West All-Star Game. He was signed by the Detroit organization during the 1960 season and made it to the majors with the Tigers in 1963. He had his best years with the Angels and joined the Cubs in 1968. He played in parts of three seasons for the Cubs.

BUCK O’NEIL

One more name must be mentioned. In Kansas City, Altman and Johnson were managed by Buck O’Neil. After the 1955 season, O’Neil, who had brought Banks to the Monarchs in 1950, joined the Cubs as a scout, and later coached for the team. In 2022, O’Neil and Minnie Miñoso were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, joining Banks and Doby. 

ALAN COHEN chairs the BioProject fact-checking committee, serves as Vice President-Treasurer of the Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter, and is a datacaster (MiLB first pitch stringer) for the Hartford Yard Goats of the Class AA Eastern League. His biographies, game stories and essays have appeared in more than 65 SABR publications. He is currently involved with the Retrosheet project on Negro League Games from 1920 through 1949. His story on Willie Mays in Birmingham (1949-50) appeared in the recent SABR publication on Mays. He has four children, nine grandchildren, and one great grandchild and resides in Connecticut with wife Frances, their cats Ava, and Zoe, and their dog Buddy.

 

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used

Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Seamheads.com and:

Costello, Rory. “Sam Hairston,” SABR BioProject.

Lester, Larry and Wayne Stivers. The Negro Leagues Book Volume 2 (Kansas City, Noir-Tech Research, 2020).

Rives, Bob. “Bob Boyd,” SABR BioProject.

 

Notes

1. Danny Peary, We Played the Game (New York, Hyperion, 1994), 101.

2. “Black Barons Win Two, Play Wednesday,” Birmingham News, May 23, 1949: 14.

3. “Eagles Whip Grays Twice to Extend League,” Columbus Dispatch, August 18, 1941: B-3, “Satchel Paige and Mates Coming Back; Grays Lose,” Dayton Daily News, August 18, 1941: 17.

4. “Cubs Sign Negro Scout,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 2, 1949: 24.

5. “KayCee Monarchs, Memphis Red Sox Split Doubleheader,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 10, 1950: 23.

6. “Two Negro Stars Bought by Cubs,” Boston Globe, September 8, 1953: 39.

7. “Monarchs Top Barons Twice,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, September 14, 1953: 18.

8. “Four Recruits Joins Cubs for Fall Workout,” Chicago Tribune, September 15, 1953: F-3.