When Satch and Josh and Jackie and Willie Came to Town: Negro League Baseball at Shibe Park

This article was originally published in “From Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium: Great Games in Philadelphia’s Lost Ballpark” (SABR, 2022), edited by Gregory H. Wolf.

Black ballplayers first set foot on the field at Shibe Park at the end of the 1919 season when the Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City, New Jersey faced off against the Hilldale club of Philadelphia on September 8.1 The Bacharachs, behind the pitching of Dick “Cannonball” Redding, won the game 10-0.2 It was the ninth meeting of the season between the two clubs. Each team had won four of the prior eight games. By winning, the Bacharachs laid claim to the title of eastern champions of America, a distinction that was mythical at best. There was, at that point, no formally recognized Negro League in baseball.

The Negro National League was formed the following season and the Eastern Colored League came into existence three years later. The first Negro League game at Shibe Park, between the Kansas City Monarchs and Hilldale, took place on October 8, 1925. It was the fifth game of the Negro League World Series. The Monarchs had won the pennant in the Negro National League and Hilldale had prevailed in the Eastern Colored League. On October 8, Hilldale defeated the Monarchs. Rube Curry hurled scattered eight hits for the winners, who went up four games to one in the best of nine Series.3 Two days later, back at Shibe Park, Hilldale won, 5-2, to win the Series in six games.

Shibe Park did not become a regular venue for Negro League ball until World War II. The Philadelphia Stars, beginning in 1934, were an integral part of the Negro National League, but their games were played at the 44th and Parkside Ballpark.

After a 17-year absence, Negro League baseball returned to Shibe Park during the 1942 Negro League World Series and did so with the two top players in the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige of the Monarchs and Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays.

The fifth game of the Negro League World Series between the Homestead Grays and the Kansas City Monarchs was played at Shibe Park on September 29, 1942. The Monarchs had won the first three games of the Series and the fourth was ruled a “no-contest” after it was discovered that the Homestead Grays, in winning, had used ineligible players in the game. The Monarchs needed only one more win to clinch the title. Eight players from that game have made it to the Hall of Fame.

The Monarchs were led by star pitcher Satchel Paige4 and won the game 9-5 in front of 14,029 spectators. The Grays took a 5-2 lead after three innings. Paige entered the game with two on and two out in the fourth inning and the Grays did not score again. Paige allowed no hits while striking out seven and walking two over the game’s remaining 5⅓ innings. Why hadn’t Paige started the game? He was late after being arrested for speeding through Lancaster, Pennsylvania, en route from Pittsburgh.5

The Monarchs scored in the first inning when Bill Simms tripled and came home on a single by Newt Allen. The Grays tallied three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two out, Howard Easterling walked, advanced to third on a two-base error and scored on an infield hit by Buck Leonard. Josh Gibson, who had reached on the error, scored along with Leonard on a double by Ray Brown. The Monarchs got one of the runs back in the third inning. Willard Brown reached on an error, went station to station on a single by Joe Greene and a bunt by Buck O’Neil, and scored when a grounder by Bonnie Serrell was misplayed. After the Grays scored a pair in the bottom of the third to take a 5-2 lead, the Monarchs got back into the game when Greene launched a two-run homer off John Wright in the fourth inning. They took the lead with a pair in the seventh and blew the game open with three in the eighth. Wright was the losing pitcher.6

With both the Phillies and Athletics using Shibe Park, there were few open dates, and there was a concern as to how many people of color would attend games on a weeknight in a predominantly White part of the city. During the years when the Stars played at Shibe Park, most of their home games were still played at Parkside. Shibe Park was used primarily on Monday and Tuesday nights. Quite often, the opposition was provided by the Kansas City Monarchs and Homestead Grays, and doubleheaders were common.

The first Philadelphia Stars appearance at Shibe Park occurred on June 21, 1943. The Monarchs’ Paige was matched up against Barney Brown of the Stars. Brown was backed up by a lineup that featured slugging first baseman Jim West, along with Henry Spearman, player-manager Homer Curry, Henry Kimbro, and outfielder Felton Snow. Pitchers Bill Byrd and Bob Clark were also available.7 The Stars won the game, 8-5, in front of 24,165 fans, which would be the biggest turnout ever to see Negro League ball at Shibe Park. Hitting stars for Philadelphia as they came from behind to win were Homer Curry with three hits, including a double, and center fielder Gene Benson with three singles.8 Benson played with the Stars from 1938 through 1948.

A September 8, 1943, encounter matched the Monarchs and the Homestead Grays. It was Paige vs. Gibson, the slugging catcher of the Grays. The Grays won the game 12-2 in front of 12,198 spectators. The only Monarchs runs came on a two-run homer by Willard Brown in the fourth inning off John Wright, who was otherwise flawless in the complete-game victory.9 It was the third homer in as many 1943 appearances at Shibe Park for Brown, whose talents were recognized by the Hall of Fame in 2006.

In a doubleheader on July 18, 1944, the Homestead Grays played the Baltimore Elite Giants in the opener and the Philadelphia Stars in the nightcap. In the opener, Josh Gibson homered in an 11-4 Grays win. It was his first homer in three visits to Shibe Park and he would go on to hit home runs in each of the big-league parks he played in. Roy Campanella of Baltimore had three hits in a losing cause. In the nightcap, the game was halted by curfew after 11 innings with the score tied 4-4. The attendance for the doubleheader was a season’s high 15,072.10

There was a three-team event on August 28, 1944. In the first game, the Philadelphia Stars faced the Birmingham Black Barons, and in the nightcap the winner of the first game faced Paige’s Monarchs. The doubleheader drew 13,136 fans, and they saw Birmingham win the opener 6-3. The Barons jumped off to the early lead when Lorenzo “Piper” Davis slammed a three-run homer and Earl Bumpus scattered nine hits in winning the game for Birmingham. In the second game, Paige and Hilton Smith combined to shut out the Barons 10-0. Paige pitched four innings, allowing only one hit. The hitting star for the Monarchs was Bonnie Serrell, who had four hits, including a first-inning homer, and became the first Negro League player to hit for the cycle at Shibe Park.11

On May 21, 1945, the Stars played the Grays in a Negro National League game at Shibe Park. With 10,021 fans looking on, the Grays won the game 7-1 as pitcher Roy Welmaker scattered eight hits and 19-year-old Dave Hoskins had three hits, including a triple.12 Seven years later, Hoskins broke the color barrier in the Texas League.

On June 18, 1945, the Kansas City Monarchs were back in town. Satchel Paige was still the big drawing card, but readers of the Philadelphia Inquirer learned that the Monarchs also featured a rookie shortstop who had played his college ball at UCLA: Jackie Robinson. The Stars, in a fairly one-sided game, defeated the Monarchs 5-1. A Monday night crowd of 10,412 watched the Stars get to Paige for five runs and seven hits over four innings, the key blows being a double by Frankie Austin and a triple by Marvin Williams. The Monarchs’ leading hitter was Robinson. He had a single and a double in his Shibe Park debut.13

Negro League baseball was also entertainment and on Wednesday, July 11, 1945, the Cincinnati Clowns came to town with their assortment of players short and tall. There were two games that night. In the opener the Stars played the Newark Eagles to begin the second half of the Negro National League season. Pitching for the Stars was Roy Partlow, and he was matched up against the Eagles’ youngster Don Newcombe. Although Newcombe was the winning pitcher in the 5-3 contest, Partlow struck out 10 Eagles. During the intermission the crowd of 11,408 was entertained by the antics of baseball clown Circus Eddie Hamman. After the intermission, the Stars went on to defeat the Clowns 9-1.14

The fourth game of the 1945 Negro League World Series was played at Shibe Park on September 20, 1945. The Homestead Grays, appearing in their eighth consecutive Series, took on the Cleveland Buckeyes. It was the Buckeyes’ first-ever appearance at Shibe Park. They were led by their center fielder, Sam Jethroe, who had led the league in batting in 1945. Having won the first three games of the Series, the Buckeyes closed things out on September 20. With Frank Carswell on the mound and Jethroe leading the offensive onslaught with three hits, the Buckeyes won 5-0, as an estimated 5,000 fans looked on, to break the Grays’ grasp on the Negro League title. The team, which called both Pittsburgh and Washington home, had won the Series in 1943 and 1944.15 After winning the game the Buckeyes took a bit of a break and came out on the field to play the Philadelphia Stars, winning 4-1 with seldom-used John Brown besting Roy Partlow.16

Negro League baseball returned to Shibe Park in 1946. Josh Gibson tripled during Homestead’s 5-2 win over the Stars in front of 10,751 fans on May 13. Ted Radcliffe was known as “Double-Duty,” and showed why in the game. Homestead’s second-string catcher, at age 43, came on in relief of pitcher Wilmer Fields with two runs in, two men on base, two out, and the tying run at the plate in the form of Homer Curry. With a 3-and-2 count, Radcliffe was summoned into the game and struck out Curry for the final out of the game.17

The Stars hosted the New York Black Yankees and Newark Eagles on May 31, 1946, and the 11,990 fans witnessed three homers. In the opener, Wes Dennis homered for the Stars and pitcher Barney Brown scattered six hits in the 7-2 win. In the nightcap, the Eagles, with Larry Doby and Johnny Davis providing long balls, won 9-2, with Leon Day taking care of the pitching duties.18

On August 12, 1946, in a first for the Negro Leagues, the Cincinnati Clowns traveled by air from Birmingham, Alabama, to Philadelphia to take on the Stars in the second game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park. In the first game, the Stars hosted the Newark Eagles. The Eagles won 6-2 as their keystone combination of Larry Doby and Monte Irvin each had an RBI double. In the nightcap, the game was stopped by curfew after nine innings with the score tied 7-7.19 Newark was back on September 3 to play in the nightcap of the final Negro League doubleheader of the season at Shibe Park. The Stars beat the Eagles 12-7. Three of the Eagles’ 13 hits, including a double and homer, were struck by Doby.20

On May 26, 1947, Doby stopped by with the Newark Eagles, and he began his 1947 season at Shibe Park the same way he had ended 1946. His eighth-inning three-run homer off Bill Byrd was the margin of victory as Newark defeated the Baltimore Elite Giants 3-2. In the second game that night, the Stars and New York Black Yankees were tied 2-2 when play was halted after the 12th inning.21 By the end of the season, Doby was with the Cleveland Indians, and he came back to Shibe Park on many occasions. He had five major-league homers there, the first coming on July 15, 1948.

On June 16, 1947, a crowd of 7,189 saw the New York Cubans defeat Baltimore in the opener, 3-1, and the Stars defeat the Grays 7-2 in the nightcap, with pitcher Eugene Smith homering and 21-year-old Harry Simpson going 3-for-3 with a double and a triple.22 On June 23 the Eagles were back in town and Larry Doby had two hits as the Eagles defeated the Cubans, 7-4, with three runs in the 11th inning. The Stars fell to Baltimore’s Bill Byrd, 3-1.23

On July 7 the Stars hosted the Monarchs. Kansas City, with Connie Johnson pitching and Hank Thompson homering, defeated the Stars 13-8 in a game that was stopped after six innings to allow the Monarchs to catch a train. Stars highlights included a homer by Mahlon Duckett and Bill Cash becoming the first Negro League player to have two homers in the same game at Shibe Park.24

On August 18 the opening game of a doubleheader featured the New York Cubans and Baltimore Elite Giants. Luis Tiant of the Cubans pitched nine innings as his team won 9-2. Joe Black took the loss for Baltimore. The Cubans’ attack included three hits from Minnie Miñoso. Junior Gilliam went 1-for-4 for Baltimore.25

Another Negro League World Series game was held at Shibe Park in 1947. The New York Cubans faced the Cleveland Buckeyes. Rafael Noble was the hitting star as the Cubans won on September 24 to take a 2-1 lead in the Series. His grand slam in the fifth inning off Eugene Bremmer (the first grand slam ever hit at a Negro League game at Shibe Park) powered his team to a 7-0 lead. and Dave Barnhill, except for a glitch in the eighth inning, overpowered the Buckeyes in pitching the complete-game win. The crowd was only 1,739.26 Attendance for the entire season at Shibe Park was down dramatically from 1946. For nine dates, the total was 50,211. The Cubans won the Series in five games. It was the next to last Negro League World Series.

In 1948 the Stars continued to appear at Shibe Park and there were still some talented players around who would in the coming years make it to the big leagues. Harry Simpson spent the season with the Stars, Monte Irvin with the Newark Eagles, Minnie Miñoso with the New York Cubans, and Luke Easter with the Homestead Grays. Each would be in Organized Baseball the next season, Irvin going to the Giants and Simpson, Miñoso, and Easter signing with the Cleveland Indians.

On August 9, 1948, Shibe Park witnessed an exhibition of greatness by Miñoso. The New York Cubans star homered and tripled in a 4-1 win. Miñoso, early in his major-league career, was traded from the Indians to the Chicago White Sox. Two of his major-league homers came at Shibe Park, the first on August 1, 1951.

The 1948 season was the last season for the Negro National League. In 1949, ten teams, including the Stars, were in the Negro American League. The Birmingham Black Barons, who had played in the last Negro League World Series, in 1948, losing to the Homestead Grays, had not visited Shibe Park in 1948, but they were in town on July 6, 1949, losing to the Baltimore Elite Giants 11-8. Birmingham’s lineup included a player who would go on to the best major-league career of the players who played Negro League ball at Shibe Park.

Center fielder Willie Mays was two months past his 18th birthday when he first played at Shibe Park. Two weeks before the Barons next returned to Shibe Park in 1950, Mays, who was batting .340 for the Barons, had been sold to the Giants. On July 12, 1950, Mays was at Trenton.27 He made his major-league debut at Shibe Park on May 25, 1951, and, won the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year Award. Over the course of his career, he hit 18 homers at Shibe Park. The Elite Giants also fielded two future big leaguers. Junior Gilliam and Joe Black signed with the Dodgers after the 1950 season. Black was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1952, going 15-4 with 15 saves. One year later, Gilliam joined the Dodgers and won the 1953 Rookie of the Year Award.

The Philadelphia Stars played through 1952 and appeared several times each year at Shibe Park, often hosting the Indianapolis Clowns. After the Stars folded, Shibe Park, renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953, continued to host exhibitions featuring the Clowns. The players in those years bore little resemblance to the great black players who had graced Shibe Park in the days when the legends of the Negro Leagues displayed their remarkable talent.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also found these articles helpful:

“Gibson Homer Ace: Slammed One 514 Feet,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 30, 1944: 2S.

“Satchel Paige Faces Grays Here Tonight,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 29, 1942: 26.

“Play First Game in Cleveland Thursday; Grays are Favorites,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 15, 1945: 12.

Scheffer, William J. “15,000 See Grays Lose to Kansas [sic],” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 30, 1942: 35, 38.

Smith, Wendell. “Smitty’s Sports Spurts: Statistics Show How Kansas City Walloped Grays in World Series,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 10, 1942: 17.

NOTES

1 “Negro Nines Play on Shibe Grounds,” Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), September 8, 1919: 17.

2 “Bacharach Giants Crush Hilldale,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 1919: 14 and “Bacharachs Win the Championship,” Chicago Defender, September 20, 1919: 11.

3 “Hilldale Defeats Kansas City Foes,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 9, 1925: 27.

4 “Negro Series at Shibe Park: Homestead to Meet Kansas City Under Lights Sept. 29,” Chester (Pennsylvania) Times, September 18, 1942: 15.

5 Associated Press, “Kansas City Takes Negro Baseball Title,” Ottawa Citizen, September 30, 1942: 20.

6 William J. Scheffer, “15,000 See Grays Lose to Kansas,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 30, 1942: 35, 38.

7 “Paige to Hurl for Monarchs Against Phila. Stars Tonight,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 21, 1943: 22.

8 William J. Scheffer, “Phila. Stars Win Before 24,165,” tPhiladelphia Inquirer, June 22, 1943: 24.

9 Scheffer, “12,198 See Monarchs, Paige Lose,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 1943: 25.

10 “Josh Gibson Gets His Shibe Park Home Run,” Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call, July 19, 1944: 10.

11 “Paige Yields 1 Hit in Four Innings,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 29, 1944: 19.

12 Scheffer, “Grays Jar Stars Before 10,021,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 22, 1945: 21.

13 Scheffer, “Phila Stars Beat Kansas City, 5-1: Chase Paige in Fourth Before 10,412, Ricks Scatters Seven Hits,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19, 1945: 17.

14 Scheffer, “11,408 See Stars Split Twin-Bill,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 1945: 20.

15 “Cleveland Rules Baseball World,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 29, 1945: 12.

16 Scheffer, “Buckeyes Blank Grays, Win Title,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 1945: 24.

17 “Grays Beat Stars, 5-2, Under Arcs,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14, 1946: 24.

18 Scheffer, “Phila. Stars Split Before 11,990,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 1, 1946: 17.

19 Scheffer, “Stars Beaten by Newark, Tie Clowns,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 1946: 25.

20 “Stars Win 12-7; Baltimore Victor,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 4, 1946: 37.

21 Scheffer, “Eagles Win, 3-2; Stars Tied, 2-2,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 27, 1947: 32.

22 “Stars, Cubans Victors in Negro League,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 17, 1947: 25.

23 Scheffer, “Giants, Eagles Win Contests,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 1947: 25.

24 Scheffer, “Monarchs Beat Stars; Rain Halts 2d,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 8, 1947: 22.

25 Scheffer, “Stars Victors in 9th, 4-3; Cubans Win,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 1947: 25.

26 “Cubans Win 9-4, Take Series Lead,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 25, 1947: 24.

27 “Barons, Monarchs Play Phila. Stars Here,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 9, 1950: 12S.