Jonathan “Clyde” Parris, an alum of the Negro Leagues and later a minor league MVP and batting champion in the Brooklyn Dodgers organization, died July 9 due to complications from liver cancer at Franklin General Hospital in Valley Stream, N.Y. He was 93.
Clyde Parris at his home in 2011. (Photo by Nicholas Diunte)
Born Sept. 11, 1922 in Panama’s Canal Zone, Parris quickly emerged as a rising star in the country’s rich baseball scene. Following in the footsteps of predecessors Frankie Austin and Pat Scantlebury, Parris came to the United States in 1946 to play for the Baltimore Elite Giants of the Negro Leagues after being recruited by a local talent scout.
“As a kid I played softball, and then I played in the community leagues,” Parris recalled during a 2007 interview with this reporter. “I played infield—shortstop and third base. I could always hit the ball hard. That’s how I came to be recommended to play in the United States. I can’t remember the man who brought me to the Negro Leagues. I played in Panama and he saw me play so well, he recommended me to play with Baltimore.”
His stay in Baltimore was brief, as he was released from the team early in the season to make room for future Hall of Famer Willie Wells. He was quickly signed by the New York Black Yankees, giving him another chance to prove himself in the Negro Leagues.
“We played in Yankee Stadium while the New York Yankees were away,” Parris said. “I remember approaching the stadium, guys said, ‘Parris, this is Yankee Stadium.’ I went inside to the lobby to see the pictures of the stars. It was something unreal. The field was just so nice to play on, thinking about all of the greats that played there.”
Despite being on a last-place club, Parris still had to compete against all of the great talent present in the league in 1946, including Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Leon Day, and Buck Leonard.
“I had to face guys like Satchel Paige, Leon Day, and Bill Byrd,” he recalled. “Byrd only pitched at home. I batted against Day the first and second year and he was hard to hit. It wasn’t anything outstanding like Gibson or Drysdale. I played with Drysdale too. I think his better years were behind him, like Gibson.”
Parris also went up against Satchel Paige at Yankee Stadium. He clouted a home run off of the famed hurler, though not without controversy.
“We were facing Satchel Paige in Yankee Stadium,” Parris said. “They had him pitch there because he brought in huge crowds. It was near the end of the game when I hit one to right field. The right fielder in Yankee Stadium went to field the ball near the fence and it hit off of him to go over the fence. They started arguing about it. The umpire said it didn’t make a difference; it was a home run.”
After getting through his first year in the Negro Leagues, Parris didn’t want to come back. The low pay, the unforgiving schedule, and segregated conditions wore greatly on the Panamanian. However without the prospect of other work, he returned to the Black Yankees in 1947.
“After my first year in the Black leagues, I didn’t want to go back, but I didn’t have a job,” he said. “We went barnstorming to make some money, but we didn’t make anything substantial. I made $275 per month.”
Just as Parris was getting ready to return to the United States in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were stationed in Panama for spring training, faced a team of Panamanian All-Stars before they headed north. History unfolded right before Parris’ eyes.
“The first time Jackie took that first baseman’s glove was against our team in Panama,” he said. “They had Newcombe, Campanella, Robinson, and Partlow.”
He stayed in the Negro Leagues through 1949, playing with the Black Yankees and Louisville Buckeyes. He returned home to Panama, starring in their winter league, where he would eventually set a number of career batting records.
Parris made his way to the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1952, signing with Dodgers scout Joe Cicero after playing for St. Jean of the Canadian Provincial League. By 1954, he earned Class-A league MVP honors with Elmira, besting future New York Yankees World Series MVP Bobby Richardson for the title.
The Dodgers promoted Parris to AAA Montreal in 1955, pushing him ever so close to the major leagues. Making good on his promotion, he led the International League with a .321 batting average in 1956. Despite his outstanding performance, the Dodgers didn’t bring him up to get even a taste of major league life.
“I went to AAA after leading Class-A in hitting,” he said. “In 1956, I led AAA in hitting. A lot of people thought I was going to be called up. Deep down inside, I didn’t expect to go to the big leagues, I guess because of my age. I was 34, kind of old, right?”
Those that played with Parris felt that he deserved a shot in the major leagues. Former teammate Evans Killeen, who played with the Kansas City Athletics, told Lou Hernandez in the book “Memories of Winter Ball,” that Parris first came to mind when thinking of outstanding teammates.
“To me, he was one of the great hitters I have ever seen in my life,” Killeen said. “He would have been a great major leaguer. But he never got the chance. All Parris hit was line drives, and he was a tough out. What a hitter. Could you imagine him today? This guy was some hitter.”
Parris continued playing almost year-round in the minors and in the Panamanian Winter League through the age of 37 in 1960. Despite the rigors on his body of extended seasons, he said it beat getting a job.
“As far as I thought, it was better than going to work,” he said. “A whole lot of time, I didn’t have a house of my own. I stayed with my folks, so I didn’t have to pay rent or a mortgage. I just kept playing. A whole lot of times, you only play six-to-seven months out of the year, five-to-six up in the USA, and two months winter ball. I didn’t work.”
In his post-playing days, he moved to Springfield Gardens in Queens, N.Y. He purchased a home in the 1960s where he and his wife Eugenia raised three children, including two sons and a daughter. He worked various government jobs, eventually retiring from the MTA in 1988.
His playing career went largely unnoticed in retirement, and was overlooked during the Negro League renaissance of the early 1990s. It wasn’t until 2007, when this reporter was put in touch with Parris, that he spoke on the record for the first time since his 1960 retirement about his life in baseball.
“I haven’t been asked about my career since I was a player,” he said at the time.