Although this installment is about heroes of the Negro Leagues, there was a dark side to this enterprise that some students of this game share.
The Negro League players were little more than a bunch of rag-tag players moving from team to team. If another owner made an attractive offer, a player would pack his bags and relocate.
And, the conduct on the field left a lot to be desired in some cases. Some players would sharpen their spikes and serve notice that they were there to win at all costs. On several occasions a collision at a base would see players attack each other with knives.
In 1920, Rube Foster called together all of the owners of Black baseball teams in the Midwest, and they agreed on a set of rules that would put a stop to raids between teams and police the behavior of players on the field.
Rube, along with other owners, formed the Negro National League. This league had eight teams: the Cuban Stars, the Detroit Stars, the Chicago American Giants, the Chicago Giants, the Kansas City Monarchs, the St. Louis Stars, the Indianapolis ABC’s and the Dayton Marcos.
- From this league came the birth of future Hall of Famers such as “Smokey” Joe Williams. “Smokey” Joe was once described as throwing so hard that blind people would come out to the park just to listen to him pitch. “Cannonball” Dick Redding – the name “Cannonball” says it all for this guy.
- Oscar Charlston. My Pop argued that the greatest third basemen of all time were Billy Cox (Dodgers), Brooks Robinson (Orioles), and Oscar Charlston (NNL). Pop said the three of them could play in the same shadow.
- Among these Hall of Famers was John Henry “Pop” Lloyd. I believe “Pop” Lloyd played from the Stone Age to the space age. When he hung up his spikes, “Pop” strapped on some umpire gear and took a stand behind the plate. He finished his career as the manager of the Atlantic City Baccarats. The modern day patrons of the park where the Baccarats played would have a “Pop” Lloyd Day every year, and I was fortunate enough to be invited as keynote speaker on a couple of occasions. Being housed in a luxury suite in one of the towers ain’t a bad duty. It didn’t take my wife long to find the casino. This came as no surprise because this is the lady who donated $25 to a slot machine in the Vegas Airport. This was in the 1960s where $25 was a week’s groceries and some pocket change left over. That was 48 years ago.
When some of the White owners of Negro teams saw how successful the NNL was, they formed the Eastern Colored League. The pennant winners of each league met in the Colored World Series at the end of the season. The first of these games was played on Oct. 11, 1924.
To add dignity to this experiment, the leagues would sometimes employ White umpires. However, the game was so fast, the umpires often missed calls. At the end of the day, the umpires apologized and congratulated the Negro owners on their brand of baseball and predicted that it wouldn’t be long before White teams adopted that style of play.
