Negro League Scrapbook: Lesson Plan

Pictured are the 2006 Hall Of Fame inductees that Carol Boston Weathrford mentions in the previous post: Effa Manley, Jose Mendez and Biz Mackey
The lesson plan from Carole's site

LESSON PLAN A Negro League Scrapbook by Carole Weatherford Boyds Mills Press, 2005 Vocabulary
segregation, barnstorm, clown teams, color barrier
Discussion Questions
1. How did Negro League players feel about being barred from the major leagues?
2. How did the retired Negro League players feel when the major leagues began signing black players?
3. Who were the greatest Negro League players?
Activities
1. Create names for pitches like Satchel Paige did.
2. Draw a Hall of Fame plaque for a Negro League player.
3. Design a poster for a Negro League game.
4. Write road diary for a Negro League player on a barnstorming team.
5. Learn about baseball statistics.http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/teachers/lesson1.html
6. Study newspaper, radio and TV sports reports to find synonyms for "defeat." List those synonyms.
7. During segregation, African-Americans were barred from many restaurants. Thus, when Negro League teams traveled they dined in black-owned restaurants, residents’ homes or on team buses. What types of foods might they have prepared and eaten on the bus? Write a menu and recipes for a meal that does not have to be heated or refrigerated. You may include canned foods and staples. Remember that many convenience foods used today were not available in the first half of the 20th century.
Online Resources
Negro League Baseball Players Association and Museum www.nlbpa.org

Carol Boston Weatherford: Negro League Scrapbook

from February 28, 2006 from npr

The Baseball Hall of Fame announces 17 of its newest members, all associated with The Negro League and Pre-Negro League. Commentator Carole Boston Weatherford remembers some of the leagues achievements. Weatherford is the author of A Negro League Scrapbook.

mixed in with the pictures are former Brooklyn (LA) Dodgers, Roy Campenella, Jim "Junior" Gilliam and Joe Black

Baltimore Elite Giants
Thomas T. Wilson helped to form the semi-pro Nashville Standard Giants in 1918 and guided them to build a strong reputation throughout the South.
In 1921, the club was renamed the Elite Giants as the team’s success and popularity continued to grow.
By 1928, Wilson was ready to move his Elite Giants into the national arena and made several attempts to gain entry into the Negro National League and the Southern Negro League, the two leagues of the time.
In 1930, Wilson had the opportunity to join the Negro National League. Unfortunately, the league disbanded the following year but Wilson kept his team alive by joining the Southern Negro League in the 1932 season.
The Negro National League was reincarnated in 1933 and the Elite Giants rejoined the league for two additional seasons in 1933-34. Due to a declining economy, Wilson was forced to move the club to Columbus (1935), then Washington (1936-37), and Baltimore (1938-47)
Their nickname is pronounced "EE-light" with a Southern twang. They migrated from Nashville to Columbus, Ohio to Washington D.C. and finally Baltimore in 1938. They won the Negro National Title in 1939 and 1949. The Elite Giants gave Joe Black, Junior Gilliam and Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella their initial exposure to professional baseball before becoming bums with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The 1942 season was the best-ever for the club when they posted a 37-15 record, tops in the Negro National League.
During the team's career the Homestead Grays were the dominant team. The Elites would play them every year and finally in 1939 the Elites claimed the championship, beating the Grays in a four-team post season tournament. In 1948 the league folded. In 1949, after the league had been reconstructed and under the new management of Lennie Pearson, the Elites won the Eastern Division and Western Division. In 1946 Tom Wilson sold the franchise due to health problems. In 1950 after the team got second place in the East, while suffering financial problems, the team was sold to William Bridgeforth for $11,000. The team returned to Nashville for a final season, and subsequently was dissolved.

Josh Gibson: A Biography

from wikipedia

Joshua Gibson (December 21, 1911 - January 20, 1947) was an American catcher in baseball's Negro Leagues. He played for the Homestead Grays from 1930 to 1931, moved to the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936, and returned to the Grays from 1937 to 1939 and 1942 to 1946. In 1937 he played for Ciudad Trujillo in Trujillo's Dominican League and from 1940 to 1941 he played in the Mexican League for Veracruz. He stood 6-foot-1 (185 cm) and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg) at the peak of his career.
Baseball historians consider Gibson to be among the very best catchers and power hitters in the history of any league, including the Major Leagues, and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Gibson was known as the "black Babe Ruth." He never played in Major League Baseball because, under their unwritten "gentleman's agreement" policy, they excluded non-whites during his lifetime.
Gibson was born in Buena Vista, Georgia on or about December 21, 1911. In 1923 Gibson moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father, Mark Gibson, had found work at the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company. Entering sixth grade in Pittsburgh, Gibson prepared to become an electrician, attending Allegheny Pre-Vocational School and Conroy Pre-Vocational School. His first experience playing baseball for an organized team came at age 16, when he played third base for an amateur team sponsored by Gimbels department store, where he found work as an elevator operator. Shortly thereafter, he was recruited by the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which in 1928 were still a semi-professional team. The Crawfords, controlled by Gus Greenlee, were the top black semi-professional team in the Pittsburgh area and would advance to fully professional major Negro league status by 1931.[3]
In 1928, Gibson met Helen Mason, whom he married on March 7, 1929. When not playing baseball, Gibson continued to work at Gimbels, having given up on his plans to become an electrician to pursue a baseball career. In the summer of 1930, the 18-year old Gibson was recruited by Cum Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays, which were the preeminent Negro league team in Pittsburgh, and on July 31, 1930 Gibson debuted with the Grays. A few days later, on August 11, 1930, Gibson's wife Helen, who was pregnant with twins, went into premature labor and died while giving birth to a twin son, Josh Gibson, Jr., and daughter, named Helen after her mother. The children were raised by Helen's parents.
The Negro leagues generally found it more profitable to schedule relatively few league games and allow the teams to earn extra money through barnstorming against semi-professional and other non-league teams.[4] Thus, it is important to distinguish between records against all competition and records in league games only. For example, against all levels of competition Gibson hit 69 home runs in 1934; the same year in league games he hit 11 home runs in 52 games.
In 1933 he hit .467 with 55 home runs in 137 games against all levels of competition. His lifetime batting average is said to be higher than .350, with other sources putting it as high as .384, the best in Negro League history.
The Josh Gibson Baseball Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" homers in his 17-year career against Negro League and independent baseball. His lifetime batting average, according to the Hall of Fame's official data, was .359.[4] It was reported that he won nine home-run titles and four batting championships playing for the Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. In two seasons in the late 1930s, it was written that not only did he hit higher than .400, but his slugging percentage was above 1.000. The Sporting News of June 3, 1967 credits Gibson with a home run in a Negro League game at Yankee Stadium that struck two feet from the top of the wall circling the center field bleachers, about 580 feet from home plate. Although it has never been conclusively proven, Chicago American Giants infielder Jack Marshall said Gibson slugged one over the third deck next to the left field bullpen in 1934 for the only fair ball hit out of Yankee Stadium.
There is no published season-by-season breakdown of Gibson's home run totals in all the games he played in various leagues and exhibitions.
The true statistical achievements of Negro League players may be impossible to know, as the Negro Leagues did not compile complete statistics or game summaries. Based on research of historical accounts performed for the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues, Gibson hit 224 homers in 2,375 at-bats against top black teams, 2 in 56 at-bats against white major-league pitchers and 44 in 450 AB in the Mexican League. John Holway lists Gibson with the same home run totals and a .351 career average, plus 21 for 56 against white major-league pitchers. According to Holway, Gibson ranks third all-time in the Negro Leagues in average among players with 2,000+ AB (trailing Jud Wilson by 3 points and John Beckwith by one. Holway lists him as being second to Mule Suttles in homers, though the all-time leader in HR/AB by a considerable margin - with a homer every 10.6 AB to one every 13.6 for runner-up Suttles.
Recent investigations into Negro League statistics, using box scores from newspapers from across the United States, have led to the estimate that, although as many as two thirds of Negro League team games were played against inferior competition (as traveling exhibition games), Josh Gibson still hit between 150 and 200 home runs in official Negro League games. Though this number appears very conservative next to the statements of "almost 800" to 1000 home runs, this research also credits Gibson with a rate of one home-run every 15.9 at bats, which compares favorably with the rates of the top nine home-run hitters in Major League history. The commonly-cited home run totals in excess of 800 are not indicative of his career total in "official" games because the Negro League season was significantly shorter than the major league season; typically consisting of less than 60 games per year. [6] The additional home runs cited were most likely accomplished in "unofficial" games against local and non-Negro League competition of varying strengths, including the oft-cited "barnstorming" competitions. Though these numbers are still based on incomplete evidence, this study does at least provide concrete proof that Josh Gibson was a power hitter of very high caliber.
Despite the fact that statistical validation continues to prove difficult for Negro League players, the lack of verifiable figures has led to various amusing "Tall Tales" about immortals such as Gibson.[7] A good example: In the last of the ninth at Pittsburgh, down a run, with a runner on base and two outs, Gibson hits one high and deep, so far into the twilight sky that it disappears from sight, apparently winning the game. The next day, the same two teams are playing again, now in Washington. Just as the teams have positioned themselves on the field, a ball comes falling out of the sky and a Washington outfielder grabs it. The umpire yells to Gibson, "You're out! In Pittsburgh, yesterday!"
In early 1943, Josh Gibson fell into a coma and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Apparently coming out of his coma, he refused the option of surgical removal, and lived the next four years with recurring headaches. Gibson died of a stroke in 1947 at age 35, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just three months before Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern major league history. The stroke is believed by a few to be linked to drug problems that plagued his later years. He was buried at the Allegheny Cemetery in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville, where he lay in an unmarked grave until a small plaque was placed in 1975.
In 2007 the Washington Nationals decided to honor Josh Gibson as one of the "greatest players to play baseball in Washington, D.C." with a statue as part of their new baseball stadium in Southeast DC. The statue is to be dedicated sometime in 2008.
His son Josh Gibson, Jr. played baseball for the Homestead Grays. His son was also instrumental in the forming of the Josh Gibson Foundation

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, By Kadir Nelson

I bought this book recently. A great story and the illustrations are incredible.
The audio is from an NPR broadcast of 1/29/08 . The first four images in the slide show are from the book, then there's a grouping of Josh Gibson and finally an assortment of Negro League memorabilia

The vivid, detailed and realistic pictures in a new book for children transport readers to the past and the world of baseball's Negro Leagues.
Award-winning artist Kadir Nelson wrote and illustrated the book, We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, which is his first as an author.
The project took Nelson nearly eight years to complete.
"It started off as a few paintings and then it grew into more than 40 paintings," Nelson tells Michele Norris.
Each painting required a tremendous amount of research. Nelson read a number of books about the Negro Leagues and interviewed former players, including Walt McCoy, who lives in San Diego, as does Nelson.
"It helps a lot to hear the history directly from someone who lived it, rather than reading it in a textbook," Nelson says.
"I felt that if I [wrote the book] in that way — like a grandfather telling his story to his grandchildren — it would make the history all the more real," he says.
Nelson describes how the men and women who played in the Negro Leagues — faced with discrimination and a ban against their playing in the Major Leagues — created their own "grand stage" to showcase their talents.
It was characterized by rough-and-tumble play; Nelson notes that Negro League players threw pitches that were banned in the Major Leagues and, as a result, learned how to hit anything.
"By the time integration came, when Jackie Robinson crossed the color barrier in 1947, African-American ballplayers were prepared to hit anything and to play at that high level of play," Nelson says.
The title of the book comes from a quote from the founder of the Negro Leagues, Rube Foster: "We are the ship, all else the sea."
Nelson says it was a "declaration of independence" of the Negro Leagues from the Major Leagues — and a fitting title for his book.
"This story is presented in the first-person plural. We played baseball. This is how we lived, and this is what we did to enable African Americans and people of color to follow in our footsteps."

an excerpt

"It was a rough life — ride, ride, ride, and ride." — Hilton Smith, pitcher
We played in a rough league. We had a number of really unsavory characters like Charleston or Jud Wilson to contend with, as well as pitchers who didn't have a problem throwing at us, but that was something we had accepted as part of the game. I think what made our time a bit harder than most is what we had to deal with in addition to that. White fans would call us names and throw stuff at us on the field, and we couldn't say a word. In some places we traveled to, we couldn't get a glass of water to drink, even if we had money to pay for it — and back then, water was free!
We did an awful lot of traveling, mostly in buses. They were nice buses to begin with, but they weren't the kind that were made for ridin' every day. We ran those poor buses ragged. Many a time we'd ride all day and night and arrive just in time to play a game. Then we'd get back on that hot bus and travel to the next town for another game, often without being able to take a bath. This was all season long. All of that traveling would wear on you. Many times the only sleep we got was on the bus. But that could be hard because we had to take the back roads to get to some of those little towns, and they were so bumpy they'd have us bouncing around the bus like popcorn on a hot stove. Fastest we could go was about thirty-five to forty miles an hour. If the driver got sleepy, a couple of the guys on the team would take turns driving the bus. To pass the time we played cards or sang old Negro spirituals or barbershop numbers. Just about every team had a quartet. They'd be our entertainment for most of the way. Some guys could really sing. Most people don't know it, but Satchel Paige had a wonderful singing voice, and so did Buck Leonard. We would listen to them and try to join in.
Traveling was even rougher down South. They didn't take too kindly to black folks down there — especially if you were from up north. We would have to travel several hundred miles without stopping because we couldn't find a place where we could eat along the way. It's a hurtful thing when you're starving and have a pocket full of money but can't find a place to eat because they "don't serve Negroes." And you could forget about trying to use the restroom in those places. You would just have to hold it, or stop the bus and do your business in the woods. We had to get used to it. After a while, we learned which places we could stop at and which ones we couldn't. They didn't have any fast-food places back then. Many times we wouldn't get food to eat before a game, and if we did, it usually wasn't much. We would have to play a doubleheader on only two hot dogs and a soda pop. If we couldn't buy food from a restaurant or a hot dog stand, we'd stop at a grocery store and get some sandwiches or sardines and crackers. Sometimes those grocery store clerks didn't want to serve us, either. One time a store clerk told us to put our money in an ashtray if we wanted to buy something. He grabbed the money out of the ashtray and put the change back in it. He didn't want to touch our hands, but he sure did touch that money. I guess he had to draw the line somewhere. Just didn't make any sense.
It was segregated in the North, too. They wouldn't serve us inside a restaurant, so we had to get our food from the back door and eat on the bus. We'd send one guy to buy food for the whole team. Hotels were segregated, too. Many times we would get to a town after riding all day, only to spend a few more hours searching for a place to stay. The minute we arrived, inexplicably, every hotel would be full. If we couldn't find anyplace to stay, we would have to sleep on the bus.
Some of the smaller clubs slept crammed in their cars or even in the ballpark because they couldn't afford to stay in a hotel. Some teams slept at the YMCA, the local jail, even in funeral homes. In cities, we stayed in Negro hotels or Negro rooming houses. We slept two, three guys to a bed. That's all the team owner could afford. A number of the Negro hotels were very clean and neat. But more than a few times, we'd run into those places — and I won't call out any names — that had so many bedbugs you'd have to put a newspaper between the mattress and the sheets. And then in other places, we had to sleep with the lights on because the bedbugs would crawl all over you when the lights were out. Can't sleep with a bug on your leg — I don't care how tough you are.
In small towns we'd stay with local families. During the game, the manager would send someone to find people who would put us up for the night. By the time the game was over, we all had places to stay. Sometimes the colored church would fix us a meal, and I'll tell you, that was some good eating. If we got to a town and we had a little time to kill, we'd go fishing or catch a movie. Back then, a movie ticket only cost about twenty-five cents, and you could stay in the theater all day if you wanted to. We had to go through the back entrance, though, because they only allowed Negroes to sit in the balcony. There would usually be three levels in the theater, and the white audience would sit at the bottom. That whole middle section would be empty, as if the owners wanted us to be as far away from the white audience as possible. That kind of thing seems silly today, but that's how it was back then.
From WE ARE THE SHIP: THE STORY OF NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL by Kadir Nelson. Text and illustrations copyright (c) 2008 by Kadir Nelson. Rerinted by permission of Hyperion Books for Children. All rights reserved.

The Untold Truth Of The Negro Leagues

The Story of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Kansas City, MO from theuntoldtruth.com

From the mid 1800’s to modern day, black baseball has had a rich history in America. The story, the history, and the accounts of black baseball in America in 1990 were neither documented in baseball record books or prevalent in African-American history educational programming. Though the stories were very much alive in the black baseball communities, in the families of the players, fans, and associates the black baseball stories were considered little more than folk tales.
The highlight of black baseball in America was the forming and surgence of the Negro Baseball Leagues. This powerful part of American history impacted many “modern day” African American successes. From Jesse Jackson’s father playing barnstorming exhibition games to Tiger Woods' father being the first black baseball player in the Big Seven Conference, it is the untold piece of our country’s Identity.
One of the more significant and vibrant hot beds for this history is Kansas City, MO. Not only is it the home of the famous Kansas City Monarchs, but it’s where the National Negro Baseball Leagues were formed (at the Paseo YMCA.) As in Pittsburgh, Pa., Birmingham Al., Newark N.J., and other cities that hosted Negro Baseball Leagues franchises, Kansas City’s community was greatly impacted by the existence of the Negro Baseball Leagues.
The Negro Baseball Leagues had a strong business and financial infrastructure that not only paralleled the Major Leagues in a lot of areas, but exceeded the standards set by Major League Baseball. The Negro Baseball League executives were strong leaders and innovators. For example, Monarch’s owner D.L. Wilkerson built the first lighting systems for night games and the leagues demonstrated diversity by accepting Hispanic and female players on their teams.
The players and the league itself had a lot of adversities to overcome. America was dealing with racism and unfair prejudice in social and business practices while struggling as a young country trying to find its identity.
Like the Major League Baseball All-Star games, the Negro Baseball Leagues All-Star games drew large crowds. The two leagues paired in exhibition All-Star games for a short while. The results were not pleasing to Major League Baseball. There is a story of Satchel Paige in an All-Star exhibition game, where he had the defense sit down on the field while he struck out the side. The dream of being in the Majors was a dream of playing baseball at its highest level and the Negro Baseball League players were doing just that.
The Negro Baseball Leagues gave players with the best ability the opportunity to play the game. Set in a time and place where the urban culture was Negro Baseball League; players like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Buck O’Neil and Hank Aaron; gangsters and politicians like Tom and Dave Pendergast, Charles Binaggio, and Harry Truman; and jazz musicians like Jay Mcshann, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, Billy Holiday, Duke Ellington and Big Joe Turner, lighting up the streets, clubs, newspapers and baseball parks.
The Journey
A group of people from Kansas City led by Horace Peterson, creator and Executive Director of the Black Archives, took the approach of bringing certain awareness to the Negro Baseball Leagues. Their players, their great achievements, the enormous numbers of misinterpreted facts, and the lost stories were credited by forming the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
With 1,000 pounds of heart, a vision, and no real financial backing, Buck O’Neil and Don Motley along with small group of committed constituents (The Negro Leagues baseball Museum, a non-for profit organization) embarked on this ambitious task of building The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to preserve, protect, and promote the Negro Baseball Leagues rich history. Their tangible assets were their personal experiences, their relationships within the history and their personal dedication in creating the museum.
It is very much a story from Rags to Riches. The first domicile was a one room office (about 12’ x 24’.) The staff was completely volunteers. There was a great number of people with serious doubts they would be able to complete their dream of creating the museum.
The Museum begin building assets by constructing exhibits with the facts and artifacts they owned and acquired. The small group paid most of the expenses out of their own pockets. They grew the museum’s assets very fundamentally within their capabilities.
The museum met a small owner/operated Display Company out of Abilene, Ks called ESA to design a gallery for the newly renovated 18th and vine District. ESA had some experience in developing assets for various museums throughout the country. The company was owned by Ed Scheele with his partner and wife Lynda Scheele. The couple’s vision for the museum gallery had an entrance and an exit to parallel the history. As you enter the museum, you are at the beginning of Black baseball. As you pass through the museum, you visit the chronology of events not only within black Baseball but coupled to significant events outside of Negro Baseball that give clue to the life and the times. The staff at the museum felt the Scheele’s had the right vision and that they were their designers
Kansas City felt it important to promote its baseball heritage by appropriating 2 million dollars for the build-out of the museum. It came with a couple stipulations that the museum had difficulty with. One; the city would select their designer/builder and two; the city would own the gallery. Mr. Motley and his group felt the agenda for the city was not conducive to the mission of the museum and decided that they wanted the Scheeles and ESA to build their gallery as well as have control over the future of the museum. The group was thenfaced with the challenge of funding and constructing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Gallery without the city's funding.
The Negro Baseball Leagues was formed because there was no other choice, if blacks wanted to play baseball they had to organize their own leagues. If the museum wanted the stories to be a part of our history, they would have to form their own method to institute and implement the facts. When Major League baseball allowed the Negro League Baseball stars to play in the Majors, it was the eventual demise of the Negro Baseball leagues. The museum did not want another governing body or another agenda to be the demise of their plight to preserve, protect, and promote the Negro baseball history. History would not repeat itself this time.
The City was not exactly thrilled about the decision for the museum to be independent and did not go out of their way to make the construction an easy effort. Phase by Phase the team met the financial and timeline demands in the construction schedule and after one year it was Opening Day, The Moment of Truth.
Naturally the city and the community were anxious to see the results of what was a largely publicized, controversial, and busy-buzzing story of the building of a new museum in Kansas City. There was a huge turnout for the anticipated ribbon cutting ceremony.
The Destination
The city celebrated the achievements of the museum staff (Don Motley, Ray Doswell, Bob Kendrick, Tom Bush, dedicated associates and board members) and embraced Buck O’Neil as the ambassador of Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Since the opening of the new gallery the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has become a national designation by US Congress. Today the momentum has propelled the stories to reach millions of people world-wide and has instituted programming to involve the biggest stars and public figures. The museum’s outreach has impacted today’s youth to observe their past so as to build for the future, to envision the possibilities through what had been made possible, and to believe their behavior truly makes a difference.
With much yet to do, the leaders and staff of The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City Missouri have achieved their dream of preserving, protecting, and promoting the legacy of a culture in time and a time in our culture. The End? No, just the beginning.

Josh Gibson

The folks at brooklynblowback provide a great service in posting read aloud videos on youtube. Here's one they did of the book, "Just Like Josh Gibson," by Angela Johnson
from amazon

Kindergarten-Grade 3--A young narrator opens this story about her grandmother with an anecdote about the legendary Josh Gibson, a Negro League player who once hit a baseball so hard in Pittsburgh that it landed during his game in Philadelphia the next day. That was the day Grandmama was born. Her father brought a Louisville slugger to the hospital and vowed that his daughter would "make baseballs fly, just like Josh Gibson." She became as good a player as the boys on the Maple Grove All-Stars, and sometimes she was invited to practice with them. When her cousin hurt his arm during a game, Grandmama got her chance to hear the cheers as she ran the bases, "stealing home." Peck's well-designed, richly colored pastel artwork, which shows people with emotion and depth, is clearly the highlight of the book. Young Grandmama, in yellow pedal pushers or a pink dress, stands out among the boys' white uniforms and the burnt orange chest protectors of the catcher and umpire. A close-up at the end shows the narrator holding the very ball her grandmother hit, as the older woman looks on, her hand on a photo of the team. Information about Hall of Famer Gibson is appended. Although the story is slight, it imparts the message that a girl can succeed at a "boy's game" if she sets her mind to it.

Satchel Paige: Don't Look Back 2

Satchel Paige: Don't Look Back 1

The folks at brooklynblowback provide a great service in posting read aloud videos on youtube. Here's part one of a book entitled, "Don't Look Back," by David Adler, a kids' biography of Satchel Paige
from amazon

The great baseball pitcher was always larger than life: here he looms as a folk hero. Adler tells the story of Paige's life simply: the seventh of 11 children, he was sent to reform school for petty theft but was famous for his arm from his earliest years. Successful in the Negro Leagues for decades, he eventually became a major league rookie--in his early forties. Widener's acrylic paintings elongate and exaggerate the figures, using a rubbery perspective and old-fashioned hues to great effect. Although this is not as powerful as Lesa Cline-Ransome's Satchel Paige (1999), it does capture Paige's personal charisma as well as his place in baseball history.

Satchel Paige

from the official satchel paige site

It is estimated that Leroy "Satchel" Paige was born on July 7, 1905. The mere idea that his birthday is an estimate provides perfect evidence to the mystery that was Satchel Paige. In 1965, 60 years after Paige's supposed birthday, he took the mound for the last time, throwing three shutout innings for the Kansas City Athletics.
Joe DiMaggio called Satchel Paige "the best and fastest pitcher I've ever faced". His pitching was amazing and his showboating was legendary. His career highlights span five decades. Pronounced the greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues, Paige compiled such feats as 64 consecutive scoreless innings, a stretch of 21 straight wins, and a 31-4 record in 1933. For 22 years, Paige mauled the competition in front of sellout crowds. Sure, he liked the attention, but to him, there was only one goal. That goal would be to pitch in the Major Leagues.
In 1948, Paige's dream came true. The Cleveland Indians were in need of extra pitching for the pennant race. Legendary Bill Veeck tested Paige's accuracy before offering him a big league contract. As the story is told, Veeck placed a cigarette on the ground to be used as a home plate. Paige took aim at his virtually nonexistent target. He fired five fastballs, all but one sailing directly over the cigarette. Veeck was indeed pleased, and Paige helped the Indians win the pennant.
In addition to Cleveland, Paige played for St. Louis and Kansas City. When his Major League career was completed, he compiled a modest 28-31 record with a 3.29 ERA. He also served as coach for the Atlanta Braves in 1968. What made Paige so memorable was his longevity in the game. The main reason his age was so difficult to track was his seemingly endless success. He rarely answered questions about his age, and when he did, he replied with something like: "Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."
In 1971, Leroy "Satchel" Paige was given the ultimate honor, he was elected to join the very best in baseball history in the Hall of Fame. Satchel died June 8, 1982)

Bingo Long And The Traveling All Stars And Motor Kings

about the Negro Leagues from teacher vision, written for the 75 year commemorative year anniversary of the

Negro Leagues
Negro League Baseball
The Negro Leagues Commemorative Year
Have you ever heard of Oscar Charleston — does his name ring a bell at all? He's recognized by some as one of the most talented baseball players of all time. His career has been compared to both Ty Cobb's and Babe Ruth's. In 1921, he batted .430 and led the league in doubles, triples and home runs. He retired with a .376 batting average, and in 1976 was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Yet sadly, the answer to the question just asked is probably "no" — because Charleston played at a time when blacks weren't allowed to play in the "white" major leagues. He is just one of literally thousands of exceptional ball players that segregation robbed of the recognition and the opportunities they richly deserved.
The Early Stages
In May, 1878, John "Bud" Fowler became the first black player to play professionally, albeit in the minors, when he took the mound for the Lynn Live Oaks of the International League. Throughout the 1880's, despite a prevalence of segregation, many black players suited up for minor league teams and finally in 1884, Moses "Fleetwood" Walker became the first black baseball player to reach the majors when his Toledo Blue Stockings joined the majors' American Association. Unfortunately it was short-lived, as the team could not survive financially and folded after the 1884 season. The talent exhibited by Walker and the other black players was unquestioned ,and according to reports, began to scare white players who felt that their jobs might be in jeopardy. Black players were greeted more and more with "Whites Only" signs on locker room doors, and by the late 1880s, the color barrier was in full effect.
The first all-black team was put together in 1885 and was for a short time known as the "Argyle Athletics." They toured the Northeast, often playing the best white teams in the area, but were usually met with resistance from white fans. With hopes of attracting more white fans to the games, team owner Walter Cook attempted to fool them by changing the name of the team to the Cuban Giants. Players were even instructed to avoid speaking English while in public and on the field. The scheme worked for a while but by the turn of the century, no black players or teams were allowed to play with whites.
"If this ain't the big leagues, there ain't no such thing!"
—Slim Jones,
Pitcher, Philadelphia Stars
Despite this fact, Negro League Baseball began to flourish. Several immensely talented leagues formed, most with very loyal fan bases. In 1908, Andrew "Rube" Foster, star pitcher and owner of the Leland Giants in Chicago, finally orchestrated a desegregated three-game series between his team and the Chicago Cubs of the National League. Played at Comiskey Park in front of huge crowds, the Cubs won all three games — but closely, proving the relative equality of talent on the two teams. Over the next decade, Negro League teams played over fifty games with Major League teams, winning more than they lost.
In 1919, Foster pleaded with Major League commissioner Kennesaw "Mountain" Landis to allow a black team into the majors, citing the obvious increased revenues from thousands of black baseball fans. He was ultimately denied and formed his own black major league — the Negro National League. In 1923, the Eastern Colored League was formed, and in 1924, the champions of both leagues met in the first Negro World Series. Both leagues succeeded throughout the roaring '20s but by 1931, after Foster's death and in the midst of the Great Depression, were wiped out.
Not Just Clowning Around
During the 1930s, again with hopes of attracting white fans, black baseball games were often coupled with singing, dancing and comedy skits. The Ethiopian Clowns toured the south, playing their games with their hats on sideways and their faces painted like African tribesmen. The Zulu Cannibal Giants took it a step further. Not only did they paint their faces but they wore grass skirts, used bats resembling African war clubs and often played in bare feet. Underneath the paint and the ridiculous getups were some of the best athletes of that era. Negro League legends David Barnhill and Buck O'Neil were members of the Clowns, and the team's legitimacy was proven in 1941 when it joined the established Negro American League. In 1933, Negro League baseball finally got the financial support it needed to show off its superior brand of baseball... albeit from shady sources. Bar owner Gus Greenlee, known for his involvement in gambling and racketeering, raided teams throughout the country and formed a league of his own that showcased top players. The league was again called the Negro National League and featured the Pittsburgh Crawfords, whose members included future Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and pitcher Satchel Paige.
Satchel Paige, credited with 55 no-hitters, was the first Negro League star to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Negro League records are widely incomplete, but the 6'1", 210 pound Gibson's accomplishments are legendary. He is considered the first and only player to hit the ball completely out of Yankee Stadium. Though he didn't always bat against professional pitching, he is credited with hitting 75 home runs in 1931, 69 in 1934, 84 in 1936 and 962 over his entire career. As a catcher for the Homestead Grays, he combined with fellow Hall of Famer Buck Leonard to form the "Thunder Twins," the black version of Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Satchel Paige, ace of the Crawfords, was perhaps the most colorful player of the era. Brimming with confidence, he used to send his entire infield into the dugout when the opposing team's best hitter stepped to the plate. He reportedly played over 2,000 games in the '20s and '30s.
Cool Papa Bell is one of the most dangerous hitters and undoubtedly the fastest base runner the Negro Leagues had ever seen. His speed lent itself to unending "fish" stories, most notably one that had Bell hitting a ground ball up the middle that hit him while sliding into second.
Jackie Robinson
Robinson wasn't the most talented player in the Negro Leagues, but Rickey considered him the most "suitable" player to desegregate baseball. The fact that he was married —and wouldn't give white ballplayers the impression that he would pursue their girlfriends— and his time in the Army and in school made him the top choice.
Over 20,000 fans filed into Comiskey Park to watch the Negro National League All-Star Game in 1933. By 1937, a sister league, the Negro American League, was formed. Thanks to the respect and popularity of these players and many like them, the leagues prospered in the '30s and well into the 1940s, when the color barrier was finally broken. Jackie Robinson had already spent time in the U.S. Army and been a four-sport star at UCLA when Branch Rickey, owner of the Major League's Brooklyn Dodgers, spotted him playing with the Kansas City Monarchs. Robinson wasn't the most talented player the Negro Leagues had to offer, but Rickey considered him the most "suitable" player to desegregate baseball. The fact that he was married (and therefore wouldn't give white ballplayers the impression that he would pursue their white girlfriends) and his time spent interacting with whites in the Army and in school made him Rickey's top choice. When he signed him to a minor league contract in 1945, Rickey told Robinson he was "looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back." He imposed a two-year commitment to silence, which Robinson grudgingly agreed to.
He played one season in the minors with the Montreal Royals and led the team to a league championship while leading the league in batting. The racial taunts were endless, but he stayed silent. On April 15, 1947, despite a petition by several of his teammates refusing to play, Jackie Robinson made his major league debut.
He played the entire season for the Dodgers, leading the league in steals and winning the Rookie of the Year award. Three months later, Larry Doby became the first black player in the American League when he was signed by the Cleveland Indians. Paige was signed by the Indians in 1948, becoming the oldest rookie ever. He only had twenty more years of playing left in him. Robinson won the league MVP in 1949 and teammate Roy Campanella, the Majors' first black catcher, later won it three more times. Some were still hesitant and racial threats persisted, but for all intents and purposes, the barrier was broken.
Today
Baseball has come a long way in the last fifty years towards recognizing the thousands of black players that lost opportunities. In 1997, as part of the 50th anniversary of the integration, Robinson's No. 42 was retired by every major league team. Currently 16 Negro League players are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Negro Leagues now have their own museum in Kansas City. But as Paige said himself, "There were many Satchels, many Josh's." Hank Aaron is the all-time home run king, Willie Mays dazzled in the 50's and 60's, and black players such as Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Bonds and Mo Vaughn are some of the top players in baseball today. We'd be naive to think the same couldn't have been true in the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Cool Papa Bell

from wikipedia

James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball, considered by many baseball observers to have been the fastest man ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. Born in Starkville, Mississippi, Bell joined the St. Louis Stars of the Negro National League as a pitcher in 1922. By 1924, he had become their starting center fielder, and was known as an adept batter and fielder, and the "fastest man in the league". After leading the Stars to league titles in 1929, 1930, and 1931, he moved to the Detroit Wolves of the East-West League when the Negro National League disbanded. Detroit soon folded, leaving Bell to bounce to the Kansas City Monarchs and the Mexican winter leagues until finding a home with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the reorganized NNL. In Pittsburgh, he played alongside Ted Page and Jimmie Crutchfield to form what is considered by many to have been the best outfield in the Negro Leagues. Bell left the Crawfords in 1938 to return to Mexico, coming back to baseball in the United States in 1942 to play for the Homestead Grays, who won Negro League titles in 1942, 1943, and 1944 with his help. He last played for the semi-pro Detroit Senators in 1946. He coached for the Monarchs in the late 1940s, managing their barnstorming "B" team, scouting for the club, signing prospects, and teaching the ins and outs of the game to future major-league baseball greats Ernie Banks, Jackie Robinson, and Elston Howard, among others.
Because of the opposition the Negro Leagues faced, and because of the lack of reliable press coverage of many of their games, no statistics can be given for Bell with any accuracy. What is undeniable is that Bell was considered to be one of the greats of his time by all the men he played with (including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson). He is recorded as having rounded the bases in 12 seconds. [1] As Paige himself noted in his autobiography, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, "If Cool Papa had known about colleges or if colleges had known about Cool Papa, Jesse Owens would have looked like he was walking."
Paige also liked to tell a tall tale referencing one hotel at which he and Bell stayed, in which there was a short delay between flipping the light switch off and the lights actually going off due to faulty wiring, sufficient for Bell to jump into bed in the interim. Leaving out the explanatory details, Paige liked to say that Bell was "so fast he can turn off the light and be in bed before the room gets dark!" Paige also joked of a time when facing Bell that the outfielder hit a line drive up that middle that went screaming past Paige's ear, and hit Bell in the buttocks as he was sliding into second base. Many tales exist of "Cool Papa". For example, one claims that Bell scored from second base on a sacrifice fly. Another states that he went from first to third on a bunt, which is possible for a speedy runner if the fielded ball was thrown to first for the sure out and the first baseman, who rarely have strong throwing arms, was unable to make the long throw to third in time. More astonishing is the claim related in Ken Burns' Baseball that he once scored from first on a sacrifice bunt. In an exhibition game against white all-stars, Bell broke for second on a bunt and run, with Satchel Paige at the plate. By the time the ball reached Paige, Bell was almost to second and rounded the bag, seeing the third baseman had broken towards home to field the bunt. The catcher, Roy Partee of the Boston Red Sox, ran to third to cover the bag and an anticipated return throw from first. To his surprise, Bell rounded third and brushed by him on the way home; pitcher Murry Dickson of the St. Louis Cardinals had not thought to cover home with the catcher moving up the line, and Bell scored standing up. Another states that he stole two bases on a single pitch, which is difficult but feasible if a catcher making the throw to second made a mediocre throw and had a shortstop unable to catch the runner at third with a throw. There are many other, possibly exaggerated anecdotes about Bell, such as running a full trip around the bases in 11 seconds. Perhaps the most unlikely was that he was once called out for being hit by his own batted ball while trying to slide into second base.
"Cool Papa" Bell died in his home on Dickson Street in St. Louis, Missouri at age 87. In his honor, the city renamed Dickson Street as "James 'Cool Papa' Bell Avenue". He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Also named for him is Cool Papa Bell Drive, the road leading into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson, of which he is a member. The Hall and Drive are adjacent to Smith-Wills Stadium, longtime home of the Jackson Generals of the Texas League, now home to the Jackson Senators of the independent Texas-Louisiana League.
In 1999, Cool Papa Bell was ranked 66th on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, one of five players so honored who played all or most of his career in the Negro Leagues, and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. John Holway in his book says that James finished in the Top 5 in stolen bases 9 times.

Homestead Grays

A history of the team from the pbs washington d.c station

Negro League History

From youtube user bradleybrendan
An excellent Docudrama about the Triumph and Tragedy of the Negro Leagues. A Social Studies Project entered in National History Day and dedicated to the memory of John 'Buck' O'Neil

Breaking A Barrier

from 7/28/06 from pseudo-intellectualism but this time with an embedded version of the linked slide show
On Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will induct by special election 17 stars and team owners who predate modern professional baseball’s integration in the mid-1940’s. One man who didn't get elected was 94 year old Buck O'Neil. It's a shame, he truly deserves it. A quote from Ric Burns:"For this series, Baseball, I had the great good fortune to meet Buck O'Neil, who ended up becoming my mentor on much more than the national sport. Buck appears throughout this documentary — as he does in this episode — sometimes telling his own personal story, sometimes giving insights into broader aspects of baseball from a series of interviews — one of them conducted in my home in Walpole, New Hampshire. Over the course of several years, we got to know one another very well, and his boundless generosity of spirit — so evident, I think, even through the television screen — ended up transforming me, my daughters, and everyone else who worked on this project. We also learned a lot about baseball. After the documentary was first broadcast in 1994, and Buck had become known to a national television audience, he told me he felt lucky to get the attention because, he said, "I've been sayin' these things for 60 years — and now people are listening." I told him we were the lucky ones, for having the chance to listen to him. The Times ran an article about the induction and included pics of the inductees. I strung them together in a slide show with an interview I found with Buck O'Neil as a soundtrack

Buck O'Neil And Negro League History

I stitched together three clips of Buck O'Neil discussing (and singing) about baseball history. Part of his wikipedia bio

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was an American first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably in the Negro American League with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball, and also worked as a scout. In his later years he became a popular and renowned speaker and interview subject, helping to renew widespread interest in the Negro leagues, and played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri
Born in rural Carrabelle, Florida, O'Neil was initially denied the opportunity to attend high school due to racial segregation; at the time, Florida had only four high schools specifically for African Americans. However, after working a summer in a celery field with his father, O'Neil left home to live with relatives and attend Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, where he completed high school and two years of college courses. He left Florida in 1934 for several years of semi-professional "barnstorming" experiences (playing interracial exhibition games)[1], where one of his teammates was the legendary Satchel Paige. The effort paid off, and in 1937, O'Neil signed with the Memphis Red Sox for their first year of play in the newly-formed Negro American League. His contract was sold to the Monarchs the following year.
O'Neil had a career batting average of .288, including four .300-plus seasons at the plate. In 1946 the first baseman led the league in hitting with a .353 average and followed that in 1947 with a career-best .358 mark. He also posted averages of .345 in 1940 and .330 in 1949. He played in four East-West All-Star games and two Negro League World Series.
A World War II tour in the U.S. Navy from 1943–1945 briefly interrupted his playing career.
In 1948, one year after Jackie Robinson broke the major leagues' color line, O'Neil took over as player/manager of the Monarchs and guided them to two league titles in 1953 and 1955.