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James Lee “Jimmie” Newberry was a starting pitcher for the Birmingham Black Barons from 1942 to 1950. Most newspapers and historical sources refer to “Jimmy” as the diminutive of Newberry’s first name. However, the best evidence, which includes two autographs, signed “Jimmie Newberry,” is that he preferred to use the variant “Jimmie.”1 Newberry was born […]

The case of 1920s Negro League pitcher Dave Brown provides a classic example of the oft-quoted line, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” a maxim that stems from a John Ford-directed film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In that movie, reporter Maxwell Scott (Carleton Young) discovers that his subject, Senator Ransom Stoddard […]

“He’s either the poorest great third baseman or the greatest poor third baseman.”1 In perhaps one of the best non-Yogi-Berra quotes in baseball history, this was Branch Rickey’s assessment of Frenchy Bordagaray, a colorful outfielder/third baseman who played for several teams in the 1930s and 1940s. He was free-spirited enough to fit in with both […]

William H. Powell is not a household name like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, or Satchel Paige. He never matriculated into the majors, is not listed in the pantheon of Negro League greats, and failed to acquire a nickname other than Bill. He had a good fastball and claimed, “I was the hardest-throwing pitcher on the […]

The son of a successful Nebraska merchant, Henry Clarke was a well-educated young man who was athletic enough to play a little major-league baseball before the turn of the twentieth century. While on summer break from college and law school, he pitched six games and played three more in the outfield for the Cleveland Spiders […]

Thomas Turner, a Chicago American Giants first baseman, heard with mixed emotions the news about Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He appreciated this momentous breakthrough, but he did not allow the report to draw his attention away from the game underway that day in the […]

John Beckwith was a tremendous slugger who has received more attention for home runs hit outside of regular season Negro League play than for his superlative production during Negro League games. However, he has yet to receive induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This lack of recognition may reflect his frequent position and team […]

Emery Adams pitched during 11 years in the top Negro Leagues, from 1932 to 1947, with military service during World War II explaining one break in his statistical record. Two earlier gaps seemingly resulted from run-ins with the law, but a jury acquitted him of the serious charge that might have cost him the entire […]

Baseball teams rely on their stars and regulars to make the greatest impact. Of course, backups also play important roles, giving starters a rest and filling in when injuries occur. Oscar Boone assumed the role of second-string catcher behind future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella for the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1939 after Biz Mackey […]

Norris O’Neill, one of three nineteenth-century baseball figures nicknamed Tip, made a name for himself on the West Coast, where he captained the Oakland squad for several years. He played and/or managed in the minors from 1885 to 1899. In his youth, O’Neill was an acclaimed catcher, but after turning pro he tired of the […]

“Now Ol’ Rebel Oakes come up from the South With some tan on his face and a chew in his mouth; When asked if he thought he could build up a team That can drag down a pennant and fulfil a dream, Ol’ Oakes, he say: ‘Mebbe so!’”1 Ennis Telfair Oakes was born in the […]

If one had to summarize Bill Madlock’s career in song, the best two numbers to choose would be Noël Coward’s “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” and Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing if You Ain’t Got That Swing.” The former because “Mad Dog” was his nickname, the latter because it took only one cut for […]

Considered one of the hardest throwers of his era, two-time National League strikeout king Wild Bill Hallahan lived up to his name by leading the league in walks and wild pitches three times each in the early 1930s. The left-hander, who had a reputation as a big-game pitcher during his best years with the St. […]

Who was George Whiteman? This is oversimplifying things, but in some ways he was a cross between Roy Hobbs and Crash Davis. Eleven years after having a cup of coffee with Boston and five years after having another one with the Yankees, he became an unlikely World Series hero for the 1918 Red Sox. Then he went back […]

Jim Willis began his baseball career with the New Orleans Black Pelicans in 1926 and ended it in 1949 as player-manager of the Evansville (Indiana) Dodgers. Over the 23-year arc of his life in baseball, Willis spent at least 12 seasons in an Elite Giants uniform. He made his last appearance on the mound for […]

Edward D. Steele was an Alabama fixture through and through. He was born in Selma on August 8, 1916, to Ezekial Steele and Viola Dawson, about whom nothing is known except that they were apparently married. Steele made it through the 10th grade before he began his own career both as a laborer and baseball […]

In 1964 columnist Dick Young cracked, “Battered plate umps will insist upon double Blue Cross coverage if Jesse Gonder continues to do all the catching for the Mets.”1 The humor in the reference to Gonder’s league leading 21 passed balls was lost on the African-American backstop. Until later in life, when he appeared to come […]

Relocated, renamed, and piloted by two generations of Black baseball royalty, the Columbus Buckeyes opened the 1921 Negro National League season to fanfare, hosting the Chicago Giants on April 30. But Chicago’s John Taylor struck out 12 Buckeye batters and the Giants capitalized on shaky Columbus defense for a 5-3 win at Neil Park. The […]

The 24,220 fans attending the second game of the day-night doubleheader might have expected a pitching duel: Both starting pitchers were former Cy Young Award winners.1 However, most fans would have understood if Max Scherzer had skipped this start or gone on the injured list. He had broken his nose just the day before during […]

Considered one of the best defensive shortstops of his era, Hall of Famer and 10-time All-Star Pee Wee Reese was the quiet yet forceful captain of the postwar Dodgers. (Photo: SABR-Rucker Archive)   Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field was hosting the All-Star Game for the first time, the last of the major league locations in existence in […]

One of the more exciting days on the baseball calendar is the trade deadline on July 31.1 Networks and sports talk shows fuel the speculation and rumor mill about who could be on the move. Team officials must determine if their club is a pretender or a contender, a buyer or a seller. With the […]

June 1914 had seen the Indianapolis Hoosiers go on the longest winning streak in the history of the Federal League, winning 15 games in a row from the 11th through the 24th, which propelled them to a half-game lead over the ChiFeds going into July 2, 1914. The winning streak had moved the once lowly […]

Photo entitled “Famous Gate City Baseball Club of 1867” appeared in Atlanta Constitution, October 21, 1906, page 26. Left to right: Tom Johnson, Hugh Angier, Jim Gregg, Billy Sparks, Bob Dohme, Willis Biggers, George Cassin, Rube Tidwell and John Collier.   In the spring of 1866, a year after the end of the Civil War, […]

This article appears in SABR’s “When the Monarchs Reigned: Kansas City’s 1942 Negro League Champions” (2021), edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin.   Were it not for the Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Baltimore Afro-American, and other African American newspapers, there would have been scant coverage of Black professional baseball. […]