# :sfgiantshat: #SFGiants #NegroLeague #MLB #GOAT

#WillieMays who, IMO, was and still is the greatest MLB position player of all time, is supposed to be honored at a Negro League "tribute game" to be held in Birmington, AL (not far from his hometown) in June, 2024.

Willie, who is 92 now, deserves it. I just hope he lives long enough to be there to enjoy the tribute in person.

I just feel privileged to watch him play in his prime at Candlestick Park along with 4 other HOF players (McCovey, Marichal, Cepeda & Perry) when I was just a boy in the 50's & 60's.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37885593/mlb-honor-hall-famer-willie-mays-negro-leagues-24-game

Whoa! A Negro League baseball stadium that still exists! And is played in. Near me!

https://www.gq.com/story/hinchliffe-negro-league-baseball#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16872695121850&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gq.com%2Fstory%2Fhinchliffe-negro-league-baseball

#baseball #negroleague #negroleaguebaseball

#WDEFWeather: Hazy, warm and dry tonight for Friday's match between #ChattanoogaLookouts vs. visiting team #BirminghamBarons. #PlayBall

Also: The 2nd Annual #NegroLeague Appreciation Weekend presented by the #BessieSmithCulturalCenter and #FoodCity. This two-day celebration will feature appearances from former Negro Leagues players. #FireworksSpectacular after the game.

Jerry Benjamin played 16 years in the Negro Leagues, most notablely for the Homestead Grays, helping them to the 1943 and 1944 Negro World Series Championship. Benjamin hit over .300 8x and led the league in stolen bases 3x and triples 2x.

The 3x All-Star also led the league in AB 5x - the only players to lead the league in AB more often was Ichiro (8x) and Doc Cramer (7x).

#baseball #negroleague

Dewey Creacy was the starting 3B for the St Louis Stars dynasty, helping them to Negro League pennants in 1928, 1930, and 1931.

His best season was in 1926 when he hit 340/389/632 w 23 HR and 107 RBI in a 92 game season.

#baseball #BaseballMastodon #negroleague

The 1948 Homestead Grays won the last Negro World Series 4-1 over the Birmingham Black Barons.

While future HOF Buck Leonard was on the Grays, the best player was Luke Easter who led the Negro League in HR, slugging, and OPS in 1948.

On August 11, 1949, Easter became the 11th African American to play in MLB (post 1947). From 1950-1952, he hit at least 25 HR and accumulated 307 RBI.

#baseball #negroleague

Leroy Matlock was one of the top pitchers on two of the Negro League's all-time great teams: 1930-31 St Louis Stars and the 1933-1936 Pittsburgh Crawfords, winning 6 pennants combined. Matlock led the Negro League in wins 2x and at one point won 26 straight games.

HOF Buck Leonard said that Satchel Paige and Leroy Matlock were the two toughest pitchers he faced.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/leroy-matlock/

#baseball #baseballmastodon #negroleague

Willie Wells led the Negro National League in runs, hits, doubles, homeruns, RBI, stolen bases, walks, and batting average in 1930 (90 games). If you extrapolate his numbers to a 162 game season they would be: 248 H, 201 R, 61 2B, 31 HR, 205 RBI, 32 SB, 94 BB and 411/492/682.

Wells was elected into the HOF in 1997 and is one of the great SS of alltime. His 1930 St. Louis Stars are one of the great teams of alltime.

#BaseballMastodon #baseball #negroleague

Roy Parnell played 13 years in the Negro Leagues w four different teams. In 1928, his rookie year, he led the league in avg (.422) and hits (141) while helping the Birmingham Black Sox to the championship series. In 1932 he lead the Negro Southern League in doubles, triples, RBI and ERA (after trying out pitching), while playing for the Monroe Monarchs.

Parnell, a 2x All Star, finished his career w a .328 batting average.

#BaseballMastodon #baseball #negroleague

Bill Gatewood led the Negro National League in wins during the inaugural 1920 season, going 15-5 for the Detroit Stars, and threw the 1st no hitter in league history.

Gatewood is also credited with giving Cool Papa Bell his nickname and teaching Satchel Paige the hesitation pitch.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Bill-Gatewood/

#baseball #BaseballMastodon #negroleague

From 1937-1946, the Kansas City Monarchs won 6 Negro American League titles, including the 1942 Negro World Series. The 1942 team featured four HOF: Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, Buck O'Neil, and Willard 'Ese Hombre' Brown.

Overshadowed by Paige, Hilton Smith led the league in wins 3x and was undefeated in 4 postseason series. Smith was also a terrific hitter, hitting over .300 6x.

#baseball #baseballmastodon #negroleague

The 1924 Negro World Series was the 1st championship series between the Negro National League Champ (Kansas City Monarchs) and Eastern Colored League Champ (Hilldale). The Monarchs would fall behind 3-1, but would rally to win 4 of the last 5 games to win the series 5-4.

Future HOF Bullet Rogan was the star for the Monarchs as he won two games and led everyone w a .350 batting average.

#BaseballMastodon #baseball #negroleague

In 1934 Slim Jones had one of the best pitching seasons in Negro League history when he won the Triple Crown going 20-4 w 1.24 ERA, 164 K's, 20 CG, and 6 SHO in 22 starts. His season helped propel the Philadelphia Stars to the championship.

#baseball #BaseballMastodon #negroleague

Heavy Johnson was an early Negro League star, winning batting titles in 1922 and 1923 plus the 1923 Triple Crown. He hit 20 HR and had 120 RBI for the 1923 season in just 98 games. He would follow up that season by helping the Kansas City Monarchs win the first Negro World Series in 1924 against Hilldale.

Before Josh Gibson grabbed the moniker, Johnson was called the 'Black Babe Ruth'.

#BaseballMastodon #baseball #negroleague

So the Smithsonian just made millions of images from across their network of museums and databases public domain and free to use and share! If you want to see some really cool #baseball items going back to the #NegroLeague and the earliest days of the sport, type in “baseball” in the search engine at https://www.si.edu/openaccess

#MLB

Yo, #Pittsburgh baseball history (which reflects cultural history)....

This Hill has always appealed to me for the layers and layers of history it contains. My interest in the area's Central Amusement Park was piqued by a 2019 piece in the Heinz History Center journal by Angelique Bamburg: https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/63015/62019

And now, David Rotenstein
@dsrotenstein has a new piece that really expands its known history:

https://themetropole.blog/2023/01/18/erased-and-forgotten-sports-history-in-pittsburghs-crossroads-of-the-world/

#PittsburghHistory #PittsburghBaseball #NegroLeague

My review of the movie The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings – Baseball Meets Sanford and Son #baseball #baseballmovies #BillyDeeWilliams #JamesEarlJones #moviereview #NegroBaseball #NegroLeague #RichardPryor

https://thoughtsfromthemountaintop.com/2022/12/27/movie-review-the-bingo-long-traveling-all-stars-and-motor-kings-baseball-meets-sanford-and-son/

The 1947 New York Cubans won the Negro World Series 4-1 against the Cleveland Buckeyes. Future HOF Minnie Minoso led the Cubans w a .356 average while Luis Tiant (the father of the future Red Sox star) was 9-0 w a 2.37 ERA.

This was the only title the Cubans would win before they disbanded in 1950.

#baseball #BaseballMastodon #negroleague

Birthday treats from my wife, daughter and in-laws.

Lots to enjoy here.

#DCComics #JackStaff #NegroLeague #RetroCade

Bill Foster is considered one of the greatest LHP of all time. From 1926-28 he was 47-17 w a 2.22 ERA, leading the Chicago American Giants to back to back Negro World Series championships. His 1926 playoff performance is legendary. In the NNL Championship Series he pitched shutouts in both ends of a double header to clinch the pennant, then he pitched a shutout in the deciding World Series game to win the championship. Foster was elected to HOF in 1996.

#BaseballMastodon #baseball #negroleague