From the Negro Leagues to the Quebec Provincial League
This article appears in SABR’s “Bittersweet Goodbye: The Black Barons, the Grays, and the 1948 Negro League World Series” (2017), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.
Most baseball fans recognize that Jackie Robinson playing for the Montreal Royals of the International League on April 18, 1946, marks the date of the first black player in Organized Baseball outside the Negro Leagues in the twentieth century.
Quebecers were proud that Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, had chosen Montreal as the team to take part in “the great experiment” of integrating blacks into a previously all-white professional sport. Rickey has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest general managers in the history of baseball, and he was not one to make his choices without tremendous consideration. Fewer people know that, only five years later, Rickey would again break new barriers by hiring the first black manager in Organized Baseball, once again in Quebec.
At that time a commonly heard argument was that blacks did not have the ability to play in the major leagues. By signing Jackie Robinson to a minor-league contract with Montreal, Rickey enabled Robinson to prove his ability in the top minor league before the next great step would be made, that of the first black player in the major leagues in the modern era. Rickey had also chosen wisely the venue for Robinson’s debut. The mostly French-speaking fans of Quebec were not used to the discrimination shown to blacks in parts of the United States and showed their disapproval of such treatment at every opportunity. Less known, however, is the earlier history of blacks in baseball in Quebec.
In the 1920s there were black players in mixed Montreal baseball leagues, and even an all-black team, managed by former Negro League star George “Chappie” Johnson, who had several former Negro Leaguers on his squad, including Ted Page, Alphonso “Duke” Lattimore, Elias “Country” Brown, Wayne Carr, and Don Perry. Chappie Johnson was the first great Negro League catching star and had a lengthy career from the late 1890s to 1921, and then managed until 1939. Ted Page was an outfielder and first baseman with several Negro League teams, including the 1934 Pittsburgh Crawfords, who included the legendary Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, and Oscar Charleston. Alphonso Lattimore was a catcher who played in the Negro Leagues from 1929 to 1933, including the Columbus Blue Birds of 1933 under manager William “Dizzy” Dismukes, where one of his teammates was star Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. Elias “Country” Brown was a second baseman and third baseman who played in the Negro Leagues from 1918 to 1933. Wayne Carr was a pitcher with nine Negro League teams from 1920 to 1928, and Don Perry was a first baseman with three teams from 1920 to 1927.1
By 1935 the Provincial League lost its affiliation with Organized Baseball by signing three black players, pitcher-outfielder Alfred Wilson of Granby, pitcher-infielder Charlie Calvert of the Montreal Jos. Choquette team, and second baseman-catcher Chico Bowden of Sorel. Wilson was a major star, had been signed away from Chappie Johnson’s touring team, and went 5-0 with a 3.56 ERA as a pitcher and hit .392 in 72 games. Calvert and Bowden were Canadian-born blacks who had played on various teams for several years before the integration of the Provincial League.2
The following year, encouraged by the support given to the three players, Johnson sponsored an all-black team in the Provincial League called the Montreal Black Panthers, with Charlie Calvert as player-manager. The team went 13-16, finishing in fourth place, as it made frequent player changes and used many inexperienced players.
In 1937 the Black Panthers’ fortunes deteriorated to a 10-50 record and the team was disbanded, with some of the players signing with local semipro town teams, and others joining barnstorming teams traveling across North America and playing local semipro squads.
By September 1939 Canada was at war in Europe, the borders were closed to casual travel, and there were no more Negro players in the Provincial League. It once more became an affiliated league within Organized Baseball, but it collapsed at the end of the 1940 season, and was not revived until 1947.
Town semipro teams continued to play, particularly in towns near military bases, after the Provincial League disbanded in 1940 and the Canadian-American League followed in 1942. In 1945 Drummondville signed Alfred Wilson, one of the best black players of the wartime leagues.
Branch Rickey did not want Jackie Robinson to room alone, so he added a black journeyman pitcher from the Negro League Homestead Grays, John Wright, to the Royals squad. Wright had an inauspicious time with the Royals in 1946 and was sent down to the Class-C Three Rivers Royals, where he posted a 12-8 record.
The Montreal Royals were not the only Quebec team to have black players in 1946. Wright and Roy Partlow starred with Three Rivers of the Class-C Can-Am league, and the Sherbrooke Canadians of the Class-C Border League, a Pittsburgh farm team, added shortstop Manny McIntyre, a Canadian better known as a hockey player. Wright and Partlow both played for many years in the Negro Leagues, Partlow from 1934 to 1950, and Wright from 1937 to 1954.
In the spring of 1947 Jackie Robinson was promoted to the Brooklyn Dodgers, thereby integrating major-league baseball. The integration of Organized Baseball, although lamentably late in coming, had the unintended effect of weakening the Negro Leagues as major-league teams signed top stars away, often without compensating the Negro teams. The Negro National League folded after the 1948 season, and its players were distributed among surviving teams from the remaining Negro Leagues. With most teams in Organized Baseball in the United States, including the minor leagues, still segregated in the late 1940s and fewer positions available in the Negro American League, many black players sought the opportunity to play against white players by coming to Canada. Often they found positions after touring Western Canada with barnstorming squads, while many others opted for Quebec’s Provincial League. At least 53 former Negro Leaguers played in the Provincial league between 1948 and 1952.
The Provincial League reached its zenith of popularity in the late 1940s as a Class-C minor league, with many black and Latin players starring in the league along with major leaguers who had been temporarily banished due to their flirtation with Mexican baseball. Playing on the Drummondville team in 1949 were major leaguers Sal Maglie and Max Lanier, young Puerto Rican first baseman Vic Power, and former Negro Leaguer Quincy Trouppe. Among the many former Negro Leaguers who played in the Provincial League in this era were Dave Pope, Buzz Clarkson, Len Hooker, Willie Pope, Lazaro Medina, Maurice Peatros, Clarence Bruce, Nap Gulley, Terris McDuffie, Quincy Barbee, Claro Duany, and Silvio Garcia.
Power had played with Trouppe in the Mexican League before he came to Drummondville, where he hit .345 in 1949 and .334 with 105 runs batted in during the 1950 season. Clarkson was a power-hitting third baseman who had played in the Negro Leagues since 1937 and had a tremendous year with the St. Jean Braves in 1948 with a .401 batting average and 29 home runs. He later reached the majors in 1952 with the Boston Braves at the age of 37.
Garcia was another veteran of the Negro Leagues as well as the Mexican League, and he won the Provincial League’s triple crown in 1950 with the Sherbrooke Athletics, hitting.365 with 21 home runs and 116 runs batted in. He never was given the opportunity to play in the majors and retired in 1954 at the age of 40.
Duany was known as the “Puerto Rican Babe Ruth” and had been selected to play in the Negro Leagues’1947 East-West All-Star game as an outfielder for the New York Cubans. He starred with the Sherbrooke Athletics for three years and reached his high point of a .388 batting average, 23 home runs, and 77 runs batted in for the 1948 season.
Bob Trice, a right-handed pitcher, had played on the Negro Leagues’ Homestead Grays before coming to Farnham of the Provincial League in 1950 and 1951. In 1952, while pitching for St. Hyacinthe, he led the league with a 16-3 record. The next year, he led Ottawa of the International League with a 21-10 record before graduating to the big leagues with the Philadelphia Athletics.
In 1951 Branch Rickey, now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, continued his crusade to integrate baseball by naming Sam Bankhead, brother of Dodgers pitcher Dan Bankhead, as manager of Pittsburgh’s Class-C farm team in Farnham, Quebec. Sam had been a star shortstop in the Negro Leagues from 1930 to 1950, including eight seasons with the Homestead Grays, and was an inspirational leader on and off the field. His leadership skills led to Bankhead becoming the first black manager in Organized Baseball at Farnham.
Rickey had started his major-league management career in 1914 with the St. Louis Browns before leaving to develop the productive farm system of the St. Louis Cardinals from 1917 to 1942. By the time he left St. Louis for the Dodgers in October 1942, Rickey had developed with his son and right-hand man, Branch Rickey Jr., the finest and largest minor-league farm system. Rickey then replicated this wide-ranging player training and development system throughout the Dodgers organization, reaching a pinnacle of 24 minor-league teams in 1947. With almost 40 years of major-league management experience, Rickey had an unsurpassed network of scouts and former players who funneled leads and prospects to his attention. When he was forced out in Brooklyn and joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951, he greatly increased the budget for scouting and development and tripled the number of scouts, bringing several key former Dodgers staff members to the Pirates. Rickey also used his extensive contacts with the Homestead Grays organization – Homestead being a suburb of Pittsburgh – to bring many promising young black players to his farm team in Farnham once the Provincial League re-entered Organized Baseball in 1950. The Farnham squad, operating first as the Black Sox, then the Pirates beginning in 1951, employed 18 former Negro Leaguers in the period from 1948 to 1952, almost double the number of the second highest team, the Drummondville Cubs, who had 10 black players on their roster in the same period. More than a dozen of Farnham’s players had previously played for the Homestead Grays.
Canada, particularly Quebec, has played a major role in the integration of baseball. Most people know of Jackie Robinson’s integration of Organized Baseball by way of the Montreal Royals, but the eager acceptance of former Negro League players onto the teams representing the smaller cities of Quebec was also an important factor in removing the color barrier from baseball.
JACK ANDERSON is an Urban Planning graduate of Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal, Canada, and has worked in the construction supply manufacturing business for 40 years. He has written articles for local and regional history societies and is a life-long baseball aficionado, having grown up a fan of first the Montreal Royals, and then the Montreal Expos. He is an active member of SABR in Quebec, and has a longtime franchise, the Montreal Royals, in the Diamond Mind Historical Baseball simulation league, the Hall of Fame League. He and his wife expect to complete their pilgrimage to every major-league park within the next two years, and then intend to start on the minor-league parks. The Andersons live in Montreal, Canada.
Appendix: Former Negro League players in the Quebec Provincial League, 1948-52
Sam Bankhead
P/IF/Mgr., played for seven Negro League teams, 1930-50
1951 – Farnham Pirates, player/manager
Quincy “Bud” Barbee
OF, 1B, P, played for eight Negro League teams, 1937-49
1949 – St. Jean Braves, .342, 26 HR, 86 RBIs/4-1 pitching record
1950 – St. Jean Braves, .284, 11 HR, 35 RBIs
1951 – Granby Red Sox, .289, 8 HR, 79 RBIs
Hiram Alonso Brathwaite
OF/1B – Newark Eagles, Philadelphia Stars, 1944-48
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .270, 3 HR, 39 RBIs
1952 -St. Hyacinthe Athletics, .256, 12 HR, 75 RBIs
Chet Brewer
P, played for six Negro League teams, 1925-48
1949 – St. Jean Braves, 4-2 record
Ray Brown
P/OF, played mostly for Homestead Grays, 1930-48
1950 – Sherbrooke Athletics, 1-5 record
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, 11-10, 3.31 ERA, team won title
Clarence Bruce
2B, played for Homestead Grays, 1947-48
1949-50 – Farnham Pirates, utility infielder
Ernest Burke
P, 3B, played for Baltimore Elite Giants, 1947-48
1950 – St. Jean Braves, 15-3, 4.34 ERA
1951 – St. Jean Braves, 8-8, 4.92 ERA
Luis Cabrera
P, Indianapolis Clowns, 1948
1950 – St. Jean Braves, 7-6, 4.37 ERA
1951 – St. Jean Braves, 2-8, 4.97 ERA
Avelino Canizares
SS, Cleveland Buckeyes, 1945
1950 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .294, 0 HR, 37 RBIs
James “Buzz” Clarkson
SS/OF/2B, six Negro League teams 1937-50
1948 – St. Jean Braves, .408, 31 HR
Johnny Howard Davis
OF/P, Newark/Houston Eagles, 1940-50
1951 – Drummondville Cubs, .347, 31 HR, 116 RBIs
Claro Duany
OF, New York Cubans, 1944-47
1948 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .388, 23 HR, 77 RBIs
1949 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .290, 22 HR, 99 RBIs led league
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .337, 23 HR, 84 RBIs
Silvio Garcia
SS/3B, New York Cubans, 1940-47
1949 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .315, 4 HR, 76 RBIS
1950 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .365, 21 HR, 116 RBIS
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .346, 12 HR, 82 RBIS
Alphonso Gerrard
OF, three Negro League teams 1945-49
1951 – Three Rivers Royals, .337, 1 HR, 55 RBIs
1952 – Granby Phillies, .303, 0 HR, 46 RBIs
Stanley “Doc” Glenn
C, Philadelphia Stars, 1943-50
1952 – Quebec Braves, .248, 5 HR, 27 RBIs
Napoleon “Nap” Gulley
P/OF, Cleveland Buckeyes/Newark Eagles, 1943-47
1949 – Farnham Black Sox/St. Jean Braves, 0-3 record
George Handy
2B/3B, Memphis Red Sox/ Houston Eagles, 1946-49
1950 – St. Hyacinthe Saints, .352, 5 HR, 60 RBIs
1951 – St. Hyacinthe Saints, .333, 13 HR, 72 RBIs
Walter Hardy
SS/2B, NY Black Yankees, NY Cubans, KC Monarchs, 1945-50
1950 – St. Jean Braves, .200, 1HR, 9 RBIs
1951 – St. Jean Canadians, .251, 6 HR, 30 RBIs
1952 – St. Jean Canadians, .276, 4 HR, 45 RBIs
Lennie Hooker
P, Newark/Houston Eagles, 1940-49
1950 – Drummondville Cubs, 11-6, 2.53 ERA
1951 – Drummondville Cubs, 10-9, 3.79 ERA
Clifford “Connie” Johnson
P, Indianapolis Crawfords, KC Monarchs, 1940-50
1951 – St. Hyacinthe Saints, 15-14, 3.24 ERA
Lester “Buck” Lockett
OF, eight teams in Negro Leagues 1937-50
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .217, 1 HR, 21 RBIs
Max Manning
P, Newark/Houston Eagles, 1938-49
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, no record available
Everett Marcelle
P/OF/C, played for six teams in Negro Leagues, 1939-48
1950 – Farnham Pirates, .272, 7 HR, 42 RBIs
Fred McDaniels
OF, played for four teams in Negro Leagues, 1940-51
1952 – record unknown/listed in league registry, 1952-53
Terris McDuffie
P/OF, played for 12 teams in Negro Leagues, 1930-45
1948 – St. Jean Braves, 19-8, batted .342, 5 HR, 20 RBIs
1949 – St. Jean Braves, 12-10, batted .267, 3 HR, 13 RBIs
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, 6-1, 4.86 ERA
Curtis McGowan
P, Memphis Red Sox, 1950
1951 – Drummondville Cubs, 2-2, 5.76 ERA
Leonardo “Lazarus” Medina
P, Indianapolis Clowns, 1944-46
1949 – Drummondville Cubs, 0-1
Lee Moody
IF/OF, KC Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons, 1944-47
1951 – Three Rivers Yankees .242, 0 HR, 16 RBIs
Eudie Napier
C, Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords, 1941-50
1949 – Farnham Black Sox, .266, 4 HR, 54 RBIs
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .285, 8 HR, 42 RBIs
Alex Newkirk
P, New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans, 1946-49
1950 – St. Jean Braves, 3-2, 3.54 ERA
1951 – St. Jean Braves and Granby, 7-12, 3.67 ERA (combined)
Pedro Pages
OF, New York Cubans, 1939 and 1947
1951 – Sherbrooke Athletics, .244, 2 HR, 34 RBIs
Tom “Big Train” Parker
P, played for 14 teams in Negro Leagues, 1929-48
1949 – Farnham Black Sox, 4-5 record
Jonathan Clyde Parris
IF, NY Black Yankees, Louisville Buckeyes, Phila. Stars, 1946-49
1951 – St. Jean Braves, .294, 16 HR, 44 RBIs
Roy Partlow
P/OF, played for four teams in Negro Leagues, 1934-50
1950 – Granby Red Sox, 7-2, 1.97 ERA
1951 – Granby Red Sox, 8-3, 3.41 ERA
Gabe Patterson
OF/P, played for four teams in Negro Leagues, 1941-50
1948 – Farnham Black Sox, .365, 9 HR, 28 RBIs
Maurice Peatros
1B/OF, Homestead Grays, 1947
1948 – Farnham Black Sox, stats not available
Alfred Pinkston
1B, Cleveland Buckeyes, 1948
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .301, 15 HR, 72 RBIs
1952 – St. Hyacinthe Athletics, .360, 30 HR, 121 RBIs, won triple crown
Dave Pope
OF, Homestead Grays, 1946
1948 – Farnham Black Sox, .361, 23 HR, 72 RBIs
1949 – Farnham Black Sox, .306, 19 HR, 77 RBIs
Willie Pope
P, Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords, 1945-48
1948 – Farnham Black Sox, 11-15
1949 – Farnham Black Sox, 12-11
1950 – Farnham Pirates, 3-5, 2.38 ERA
1951 – St. Hyacinthe Saints, 12-11, 3.32 ERA
Bill Ricks
P, Philadelphia Stars, 1944-50
1951 – Granby Red Sox, 8-8, 4.21 ERA
Marshall Riddle
IF, played for five teams in Negro Leagues, 1936-43
1951 – Three Rivers Royals, .238, 18 RBIs
Wilfredo Salas
P, New York Cubans, 1948
1948 – Sherbrooke Athletics, 3-4 record
Carlos Santiago
2B/SS, New York Cubans, 1946
1950 – Farnham Pirates, .195, 2 HR, 21 RBIs
First black Puerto Rican in Organized Baseball
Joe B. Scott
OF, Birmingham Black Barons, Chicago American Giants, 1945-49
1950 – Farnham Pirates, .312, 8 HR, 44 RBIs
1951 – Farnham/St. Hyacinthe, .264, 4 HR, 38 RBIs
John Ford Smith
P, played for five teams in Negro Leagues, 1939-50
1951 – Drummondville Cubs, 16-8, 2.97
Sylvester “Cy” Snead
P/UT, played for three teams in Negro Leagues, 1939-46
1951 – Drummondville/St. Hyacinthe, batted .174 in 31 games
Joe Cephus Taylor
C/OF, Chicago American Giants, 1949-51
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .360, 10 HR, 29 RBIs
1952 – St. Hyacinthe Athletics, .308, 25 HR, 112 RBIs
Bob Trice
P, Homestead Grays, 1948-49
1950 – Farnham Pirates, 5-3 record
1951 – Farnham Pirates, 7-12, 5.15 ERA
1952 – St. Hyacinthe A’s, 16-3, 3.49 ERA
Quincy Trouppe
C, for eight teams in Negro Leagues 1930-49, five-time All-Star
1949 – Drummondville Cubs, .282, 5 HR, 30 RBIs
Guillermo Vargas
OF, New York Cubans, 1949
1952 – Drummondville Cubs, .282, 3 HR, 6 RBIs
Roberto Vargas
P, Chicago American Giants, 1948
1949 – Drummondville Cubs, 12-9 record
Archie Ware
1B, played for six teams in Negro Leagues, 1940-51
1951 – Farnham Pirates, .257, 6 HR, 48 RBIs
Arstando “Ladd” White
P, Indianapolis Clowns, 1948
1950 – Drummondville Cubs, 9-12, 3.77 ERA
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Christian Trudeau for his assistance in the preparation of this article.
Sources
In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted:
Carpentier, Patrick, and Paul Foisy, eds. Baseball au Québec (St-Hyacinthe, Quebec: Sport et Société, 2009).
Clark, Dick, and Larry Lester, eds. The Negro Leagues Book (Cleveland: SABR, 1994).
Heaphy, Leslie A. The Negro Leagues (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. Inc., 2003).
Humber, William. Diamonds of the North (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Lowenfish, Lee. Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007).
Swanton, Barry, and Jay-Dell Mah. Black Baseball Players in Canada (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. Inc., 2009).
Trouppe, Quincy. 20 Years Too Soon (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 1977).
Notes
1 John Virtue, South of the Color Barrier (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008), 48.
2 Christian Trudeau, “Integration in Quebec,” Jane Finnan Dorward, ed., Dominionball (Cleveland: SABR, 2005), 23.