SEAHO Report - Holiday 2020 - 22

FEATURE ARTICLES
These are the twenty former Negro Baseball League
players whose signatures are on the bat I received at
the ACUHO-I Foundation fundraising event:
1. Joe Barnes
2. Ollie Brantley
3. Sherwood Brewer
4. Melvin Duncan
5. Joe Henry
6. Cowan " Bubba " Hyde
7. Thomas Jackson
8. Josh Johnson
9. Verdell Mathis
10. Gib Meeks
11.Lee Moody
12. Buck O'Neil
13. Marvin Price
14. Ted " Double Duty " Radcliffe
15. Bobby Robinson
16. Joe B. Scott
17. Al Spearman
18. Gene Smith
19. Sam Taylor
20. Jim Zapp
So, who of these Negro League contributors might be
worthy of more frequent consideration by the Hall of
Fame? Here are 10 deserving of at least another look:
1. Buck O'Neil: Perhaps the worst moment in Hall of
Fame history came in February 2006 when 94-yearold O'Neil had a chance to be among the 17 Negro
League inductees that year but inexplicably wasn't
selected. O'Neil died within a year. But it's not too
late to correct an injustice and give him a plaque in
Cooperstown. He's the greatest ambassador in baseball
history. He was also one of the finest first basemen the
Negro Leagues ever knew.
2. Gus Greenlee: A pioneering Negro League owner,
Greenlee's possibly gotten short shrift because he
accumulated some of his fortune through bootlegging
and running illegal lotteries in Pittsburgh in the 1920s
and '30s. But the 2006 committee enshrined Alex
Pompez, who once fled the country and later turned
state's evidence to beat a murder rap. Several other
Negro League executives made money through illicit
means as well. Meanwhile, Greenlee built the first
black-owned ballpark in black baseball. He also had a
hand in scouting Jackie Robinson for the majors.
3. John Donaldson: Donaldson ranks as one of the
best black pitchers of the 1910s, pitching for J.L.
Wilkinson's integrated All Nations barnstorming team.
The challenge for Donaldson? He starred before the
founding of the Negro Leagues, overlooked in a similar
way to white players such as Jim Creighton from before
the founding of the first major league in 1871.

4. Bud Fowler: Decades before Jackie Robinson, Fowler
played with whites in the majors of the Reconstruction
Era 1870s. African Americans were pushed out of
the majors in the 1880s, though Fowler's page on
Baseball-Reference.com shows professional credits as
late as 1895.
5. Home Run Johnson: Johnson was a candidate for
the 2006 special election. His candidate page for that
election makes him sound like he should have been
a shoo-in, noting him as the best shortstop in black
baseball before John Henry Lloyd (an inner circle Negro
League selection to Cooperstown) and attributing his
nickname to him once hitting 60 home runs in a season.
6. Spottswood Poles: A speedy centerfielder of the
1910s, some called Poles the black Ty Cobb. Negro
League historian John Holway wrote, " We can only
guess what (Poles) might have hit in the major
leagues. The hints we do have are eye-popping, to
say the least. In ten games against the best white big
leaguers of his day, Poles came to bat an estimated 41
times and drilled 25 hits for an average of .610! "
7. Newt Allen: No less an authority on black baseball
than Buck O'Neil considered Allen a first-ballot Hall
of Famer, Negro League Baseball Museum President
Bob Kendrick tweeted a few years ago. The website
CooperstownExpert.com also noted that O'Neil included
Allen on his all-time Negro League All Star team.
8. Bingo DeMoss: DeMoss' page on Baseball-Reference.
com doesn't make him out to be among the greatest
second basemen in Negro League history, with him
showing for just a .227/.301/.278 slash line. The thing
to remember about Negro League statistics - they're
spotty at best, with some teams refusing to keep stats
because of the cost. A 1952 Pittsburgh Courier poll
listed DeMoss as the second-best Negro League second
baseman behind Jackie Robinson.
9. Dick Lundy: Like many Negro Leaguers, Lundy had
an epic career spanning 22 years from 1916 through
1937. It was a superb one, too, with legendary New
York Giants manager John McGraw labeling Lundy the
best shortstop in baseball aside from Honus Wagner,
according to Lundy's candidate profile in 2006.
10. Ted Radcliffe: Famed sportswriter Damon Runyon
nicknamed Radcliffe " Double Duty " after watching
him pitch one end of a doubleheader and catch the
other. Remarkably durable, he played until he was 52.
More than likely, this list just scratches the surface.
Negro League baseball remains enigmatic, with some
elements that may never be fully known. But that
doesn't mean the Hall of Fame shouldn't at least try to
paint a better picture.

http://www.Baseball-Reference.com http://www.CooperstownExpert.com

SEAHO Report - Holiday 2020

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