“In baseball there’s always tomorrow. Maybe you got me today, but tomorrow – I’m coming back.”
– Buck O’Neil
Monday Baseball Motivation
Negro Leagues
Monday Baseball Motivation for Juneteenth
“I am not ashamed of my color… It would have meant renouncing my family. One of the agreements was that I was never again to visit my mother or to have anything to do with colored people, I refused, I am clean morally and physically.” – John Donaldson
Films on Friday: Women of the Negro Leagues
Happy Women’s History Month! This is VERY cool – click on the link in the tweet to watch:
Happy Friday!
~ baseballrebecca
Jud Wilson
Ernest Judson “Jud” Wilson was born on February 29, 1896, although his birthdate has also been listed as listed as February 28, 1894, as indicated on his Hall of Fame plaque, and February 29, 1893, which was listed on his World War II draft registration card. According to SABR, Wilson noted in 1939, “These fellows in our league lie too much about their ages.”
Wilson was born in Remington, Virginia, and moved to Washington D.C. when he was a teenager. He served in the Army in World War I as a corporal in Company D of the 417th Service Battalion. After the war, he returned to DC where he played semipro baseball.
In 1922, Wilson was discovered by Scrappy Brown of the Baltimore Black Sox. Wilson eventually signed with the team, whom he played for from 1922 to 1930. During this time he spent at least one winter with the Habana Leones of the Cuban Winter League. While a member of the Black Sox, Wilson earned the nickname “Boojum,” which, according to SABR, which was the sound his line drives made when they hit the outfield walls.
Wilson would go on to play for the Homestead Grays (1931-32, 1940-45), Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932), Philadelphia Stars (1933-39), and New York Cubans (1936). During his career he was the Eastern Colored League batting champion (1927-28) and played on two Negro World Series champion teams (Homestead Grays, 1943 and 1944). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Negro Leagues Committee in 2006 and honored by the Washington Nationals with inclusion the Ring of Honor at Nationals Park in 2010.
Wilson passed away at the age of 69 on June 24, 1963, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
~ baseballrebecca
Films on Friday: Adam Jones and Bob Kendrick Talk Negro Leagues
Check out The Adam Jones Podcast and his discussion with Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum:
Happy Friday!
~ baseballrebecca
Films on Friday: Including Negro Leaguers in the MLB Record Books
In 2020, MLB announced that Negro League records would be added to MLB records, essentially elevating the Negro Leagues to the Major League level. Here’s a 2021 interview regarding the issue with Sean Gibson, Josh Gibson’s great grandson:
Happy Friday!
~ baseballrebecca
The First Negro Leaguers Elected to the Hall of Fame
On this date in 1972, Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the second and third Negro Leaguers to be elected, following Satchel Paige who had been enshrined in 1971. Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella had been honored in 1962 and 1969, respectively, in recognition of the MLB careers though both had played in the Negro Leagues as well.
Paige’s election and induction into the Hall were not without controversy. A Special Committee on the Negro Leagues, chaired by Monte Irvin, had been set up to elect Negro League players. However, when the committee was created, it was noted that the players they selected would be part of a special exhibit on the Negro Leagues. According to the Washington Post:
“In February 1971, MLB established a 10-man committee that would name one Negro League player a year ‘as part of a new exhibit commemorating the contributions of the Negro Leagues to baseball.’ The rationale for not including Negro Leaguers with their White contemporaries was that Negro League players didn’t meet the minimum 10 years requirement of MLB service. Critics immediately panned that plan as separate-but-equal treatment.”
According to the Post, at the time their sportswriter Bill Gildea wrote, “’This lone Negro will be admitted to Cooperstown’s anterooms, but not beyond. He will have gotten out of the bus and into his own little corner of the Hall. To be consistent, the ceremony ought to be held at the back door.’” Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times echoed this, stating “’The notion of Jim Crow in Baseball’s Heaven is appalling. What is this — 1840? Either let him in the front of the Hall — or move the damn thing to Mississippi.’”
Ultimately, the idea of the separate display was scrapped and Paige was inducted alongside six white players and honored in the main hall in August 1971. The following year, the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues elected Gibson and Leonard, who were inducted into the Hall on August 7, 1972, with Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, Early Wynn, Lefty Gomez, Ross Youngs and Will Harridge.
~ baseballrebecca
Hall of Fame plaques for Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. Photos by Delaywaves and Eric Enfermero via Wikipedia.
Edward Scott: First Black Scout for the Red Sox
On this date in 1962, the Boston Red Sox hired Edward Scott, Sr., as a scout, making him the first full-time black scout hired by the team. Prior to working for the Red Sox, Scott had been a part-time scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Indianapolis Clowns.
Edward Scott was born in Dade City, Florida, in 1917 and later moved to Mobile, Alabama. There he played for the Mobile Black Shippers a semi-pro team while working for a paper company. Scott discovered Hank Aaron at a softball game in Mobile and signed him to his first professional contract with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1951. As a Major League scout, Scott signed several players, including Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, Lynn McLaughlin, Van Edmonds, and Andre Dawson.
Scott retired after more than 30 years in the Red Sox organization. He was inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He passed away on January 11, 2010, at the age of 92.
~ baseballrebecca
12-Year-Old Pinch Hitter Breaks the Color Barrier in 1952
On July 19, 1952, Joe Reliford broke the color barrier in minor league baseball and became the youngest person to play in a professional baseball game.
Joe Reliford, whose parents were sharecroppers, was the 9th of 10 children. After his father’s death, the family moved to Fitzgerald, Georgia. The young Reliford was an avid baseball fan, following both the Fitzgerald Lucky Stars, a minor Negro League team, and the Fitzgerald Pioneers of the class D Georgia State League. Because of Jim Crow laws in the south, Reliford could not attend Pioneers games and could only watch from outside the stadium. Nonetheless, when he was 10 years old, Reliford asked if he could be the Pioneers’ bat boy. Both the team manager and president agreed and he was hired at a bi-weekly salary of $48.
When he was 12-years old, Reliford made history when he was sent in as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth inning in a game between the Pioneers and the Statesboro Pilots. Statesboro was leading 13-0 and fans had begun to chant “put in the bat boy.” The manager agreed with the crowd and, with the approval of the umpire, put Reliford in the game.
Reliford took the first pitch for a ball then hit a grounder to third for an out. He then played center field in the bottom of the inning. As reported by Baseball Reference: “The Pilots leadoff hitter and manager, Charlie “Red” Quimby, hammered a pitch into the gap for a double – but he then decided to test the youngster’s arm. After retrieving the ball, Reliford fired to the cutoff man who nailed Quimby at third. The next batter was Harold/Jim Shuster who hit a a long fly ball to center field. At the fence, Reliford made a leaping catch robbing Shuster of an extra-base hit and possibly a home run. After the game – lost by Fitzgerald, 13 to 0 – the fans streamed onto the field to congratulate the 12 year-old and stuff money in his pockets.”
Of course, the next day the league president fired the umpire who had permitted the Pioneers to make the substitutions and suspended the team’s manager. The league argued that they had “made a travesty of the game” by putting an ineligible player in as a pinch hitter, noting that race had nothing to do with the decision. Reliford was soon dismissed as bat boy as well. After that, he went to work for the Lucky Stars and appeared in a few games with them as well.
Reliford continued to participate in sports, lettering in baseball, basketball, and football in high school. He played football at Florida A&M University until a knee injury ended his career. After he graduated, he became an electrical technician in Douglas, Georgia. There he became the third African American hired to the city police force. He ultimately became the city’s deputy sheriff a position he held until his retirement in 1998.
In 2018, Reliford was honored at a Miami Marlins game. He is also featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame’s minor league exhibit.
~ baseballrebecca
Films on Friday: “Toni Stone”
The play, “Toni Stone,” will be at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in January. Check out the show’s lead, Kedren Spencer, talking about the play and Toni Stone herself:
Happy Friday and Happy New Year!
~ baseballrebecca
The Baseball Sociologist 