Are there ANY Baseball fans here? MLB camps open today!!!

Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETROSPECTIVES

A Look Back at the African-American Players Who Have Represented Each Major League Franchise



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Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETROSPECTIVES
A Look Back at the African-American Players Who Have Represented Each Major League Franchise



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Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETROSPECTIVES

A Look Back at the African-American Players Who Have Represented Each Major League Franchise




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Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETROSPECTIVES


A Look Back at the African-American Players Who Have Represented Each Major League Franchise



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Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
MAJOR LEAGUE TEAM RETROSPECTIVES
A Look Back at the African-American Players Who Have Represented Each Major League Franchise


THE NIPPON PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUES

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QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator

'Oil Can' Boyd wrong about Robinson

Hall of Famer's civil rights and integration role can't be discounted



<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?&playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:7882764&thruParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"></script>
E:60 Oil Can Boyd -Former Red Sox Pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd sits down with Buster Olney
for an exclusive interview about his troubled life and playing career.



By Jemele Hill | ESPN.com
May 3, 2012


There's provocative, and then there's flat-out insulting.

Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, who pitched eight of his 10 major league seasons with the Boston Red Sox, ventured into insulting territory during a mostly heartfelt, all-encompassing interview with ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney for Tuesday's episode of "E:60."

During the interview, Boyd divulged the extent of his crack-cocaine use, which included smoking crack before taking the mound against the Oakland A's in 1986.

But as much as I was touched by his raw admissions and personal struggle, I was disappointed that Boyd also used this enormous platform to disrespect a man who didn't change just sports, but also America.

"I'm not real thankful to Jackie [Robinson] at all because I'm me, my style of baseball, the way I played it in the major leagues transpired from the Negro Leagues," Boyd told Olney. "So that's why people found that I was a hot dog or I was flamboyant.

"Now the kids don't even know the ballplayers anymore, it's so commercialized. And they wonder where the black ballplayer went. Well, black ballplayers went to jail. In the last 20 years, that's where they are."

Boyd's candid words left a lot to dissect. For one, his perspective isn't entirely unique. In his provocative book "$40 Million Slaves," longtime New York Times columnist Bill Rhoden asserted that integration bolstered the white sports world while alternately destroying black empowerment and weakening our communities.

Rhoden argued that by extracting the best talent from the Negro Leagues, it not only disconnected black athletes from their black fans, but also phased out black decision-makers such as owners, coaches and general managers.

Rhoden also addressed how black athletes have historically been stylistically different from their white counterparts, and in the mainstream, those differences have been used to denigrate, demean and criticize black athletes.

Rhoden had hundreds of pages to lay out the rich history of African-American athletes and chronicle their struggle for respect and equality.

That's a lot different from what Boyd said.

Boyd saying he's not thankful for Robinson is like any African-American -- truthfully, any person, period -- saying he or she isn't thankful for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.


Robinson's courageous display of quiet dignity as he integrated Major League Baseball was a model of transcendence for everyone.

Robinson integrated baseball at a time when America's racial climate was extraordinarily violent. Robinson made his debut in 1947, which was nearly 20 years before lawmakers passed the Civil Rights Act that outlawed racial segregation and seven years before the Supreme Court desegregated schools. Robinson was issued death threats. Pitchers threw at his head. King once said of Robinson, "He underwent the trauma and humiliation and the loneliness which comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom."

This is a man who doesn't deserve our thanks?

Robinson used his platform as a Brooklyn Dodger to show that African-Americans were entitled to self-respect and equality. How Robinson excelled at baseball while withstanding such widespread discrimination, hatred and intolerance is still unbelievable.

The grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper, Robinson once told a New Orleans sports writer, "We ask for nothing special. We ask only to be permitted to live as you live, and as our nation's Constitution provides."

Without Robinson, there is no Oil Can Boyd.

Now I can understand why Robinson's legacy is a complicated one for Boyd to digest. Boyd's father played in the Negro Leagues. The growth of Major League Baseball did ultimately destroy the Negro Leagues. Today, the percentage of African-Americans playing in MLB is at its lowest since the infancy of the sport's integration.

There are all sorts of reasons the game has seemingly lost its allure to African-Americans -- the immense popularity of football and basketball is a big factor -- but the last person who should blamed in any of this is Jackie Robinson.

Source:ESPN


 

Rezn8

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
PLAYERS TO WATCH: THE 2012 MLB DRAFT

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As the 2012 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft quickly approaches, a number of talented African-American high school players are among the nation's best, and are likely to be high selections. Here are a few players to look for:



ANTHONY ALFORD

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Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 205
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Petal, MS
High School: Petal High School
Signings to Date: University of Southern Mississippi​




KEON BARNUM

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Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 225
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Primary Position: First Baseman
Hometown: Tampa, FL
High School: King High School
Signings to Date: University of Miami





LEWIS BRINSON

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Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 180
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Coral Springs, FL
High School: Tamarac High School
Signings to Date: University of Florida





BYRON BUXTON

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Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 180
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Center Fielder
Hometown: Baxley, Georgia
High School: Appling County High School
Signings to Date: University of Georgia





LEON BYRD, JR.

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Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 165
Bats: Switch-Hitter
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Second Baseman
Hometown: Cypress, TX
High School: Cypress Ranch High School
Signings to Date: Rice University





D. J. DAVIS

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Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 170
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown; Wiggins, MS
High School: Stone High School
Signings to Date:





JOSH HENDERSON

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Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 185
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown; Suffolk, VA
High School: Home Schooled
Signings to Date: Liberty University






COURTNEY HAWKINS

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Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 210
Bats: Right
Throws; Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Corpus Christi, TX
High School: Carroll High School
Signings to Date: University of Texas






BRALIN JACKSON

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Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 180
Bats: Right
Throws: Left
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown; Raytwn, MO
High School:Raytown High School
Signings to Date: University of Missouri






VINCENT JACKSON

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Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 195
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown; McDonough, Georgia
High School: Luella High School
Signings to Date: University of Tennessee






JAMIE JARMON

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Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 205
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Millsboro, DE
High School: Indian River High School
Signings to Date: University of South Carolina






KEVIN MAXEY

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Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 225
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
High School: Long Beach Poly High School
Signings to Date: Undecided






D'VONE McCLURE

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Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 190
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: Jacksonville, AR
High School: Jacksonville High School
Signings to Date: University of Arkansas






KEVIN ROSS

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Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 195
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Shortstop
Hometown: Skokie, IL
High School: Niles West High School
Signings to Date: University of Michigan






ADDISON RUSSELL

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Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 210
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Shortstop
Hometown: Pace, FL
High School:pace High School
Signings to Date: Auburn University






FERNELYS SANCHEZ

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Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 205
Bats: Switch-Hitter
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: New York, New York
High School: George Washington High School
Signings to Date: Central Arizona Community College






XAVIER TURNER

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Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 210
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Third Baseman
Hometown: Sandusky, OH
High School: Sandusky High School
Signings to Date: Vanderbilt University






DUANE UNDERWOOD

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Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 185
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Pitcher
Hometown: Marietta, GA
High School: Pope High School
Signings to Date: University of Georgia






NICK WILLIAMS

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Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 195
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Primary Position: Outfielder
Hometown: La Marque, TX
High School: Galveston Ball High School
Signings to Date: Texas A&M University






TREY WILLIAMS

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Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 210
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Primary Position: Third Baseman
Hometown: Saugus, CA
High School: Valencia High School
Signings to Date: Pepperdine University
 

Steve Lurkle

Star
Registered
^^All of those kids are east coast except for one. I wonder if baseball isn't as big out here any more. I played as a kid, and there were lots of black kids. Guess its not like that anymore. Baseball is the best chance of playing a pro sport IMO since theres a wide variance of body types.
 

QueEx

Rising Star
Super Moderator


Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn dies at 54


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Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn has died at age 54, MLB and the Padres have announced.

Gwynn had been battling cancer since 2010, when he had an operation to remove cancerous lymph nodes from his parotid gland. He later had surgery to remove a malignant tumor from the inside of his right cheek in 2012 and recently had to take a leave of absence from coaching San Diego State due to his cancer treatments.

During his playing career, Gwynn was one of the best contact and average hitters in MLB history. He was an eight-time batting champion who hit .338/.388/.459 (132 OPS+) with 3,141 hits in his career. In 10,232 career plate appearances, he only struck out 434 times.

A 15-time All-Star, Gwynn led the league in hits seven times. He also won five Gold Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers. His .338 career batting average ranks 20th in MLB history. He's 19th in hits and his 543 doubles rank 28th in MLB history.

Gwynn played in two World Series for the Padres, in 1984 and 1998.

Though he never won the honor of MVP, Gwynn finished in the top 10 of MVP voting seven times.

In 2007, Gwynn received 97.6 percent of the vote in his first and only time on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot.

Gwynn is survived by his wife, Alicia, son, Tony Jr., and daughter Anisha Nicole.


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Tony Gwynn played all 20 of his MLB seasons with the Padres. (Getty Images


http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24589839/hall-of-famer-tony-gwynn-dies-at-age-54


 

RunawaySlave

Zeitgeist
BGOL Investor
PLAYERS TO WATCH: THE 2012 MLB DRAFT


GREAT POST! Most of them fell through the cracks but a couple made it all the way to the big leagues.
Byron Buxton is doing great (but keeps getting injured). Lewis Brinson still has a chance if he can lay off low and away breaking balls
 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
BASEBALL'S AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE

THE MAJOR LEAGUES (1947-1960)



THE GROUND-BREAKERS

With the major league debut of Jackie Robinson on April 15, 1947, the hopes of several generations of African-American baseball players and fans had been realized. And while Jackie Robinson was the first and most well-known, there were other new major leaguers who came directly behind him, who had to face the same taunts, threats, abuses, and expressions of hate on a daily basis. These were the men who were the first to integrate the various major league teams between 1947 and 1957.


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TOM ALSTON (1926-1993)
Team: St. Louis Cardinals
Position: First Base
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1957

Tom Alston was a 6' 5" first baseman who played parts of four years with the St. Louis Cardinals





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ERNIE BANKS (1931- )
Team: Chicago Cubs
Debut Date: September 17, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1971
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977

Known to millions as Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks was (until the arrival of Alex Rodriguez) the greatest power-hitting shortstop in baseball history. His career started in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs before being brought to the Cubs by their Negro League scout and former Monarchs manager Buck O'Neil. The two time National League MVP (1958 & 1959) hit 512 home runs and was named to Major League Baseball's All-Century Team in 2000.











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LARRY DOBY (1923-2003)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 5, 1947
Years in the Major Leagues: 1947-1959
Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998

A gifted power-hitting centerfielder with great speed, Larry Doby was the first African-American to play in the American League. A six-time All-Star, Doby's career started in the Negro Leagues with the Newark Eagles. Besides being the second African-American to play in the major leagues, Doby also followed Frank Robinson to become the second African-American to manage at the major league level when he was hired by White Sox owner Bill Veeck (the man who signed him to the Indians as a player) to manage the team in 1978.








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ELIJAH "PUMPSIE" GREEN (1933- )
Team: Boston Red Sox
Debut Date: July 21, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1963

Pumpsie Green was a second baseman and pinch hitter who played four major league seasons with the Red Sox and the New York Mets.




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CHUCK HARMON (1924- )
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Debue Date: April 17, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1957


A college basketball star at the University of Toledo, Chuck Harmon was a third baseman who played four seasons in the major leagues.





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ELSTON HOWARD (1929-1980)
Team: New York Yankees
Debut Date: April 14, 1955
Years in the Majors: 1955-1968

Elston Howard was one of the American League's top catchers during the 1960's. Breaking in as an understudy to all-time great catcher Yogi Berra, Howard replaced Berra as the Yankees first string catcher in 1960, and was a member of nine Yankee pennant winning teams, including the 1961 team that is considered one of the greatest in baseball history.








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MONTE IRVIN (1919- )
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: July 8, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1956
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973

One of the greatest Negro League players of all time, most expected Monte Irvin, and not Jackie Robinson to be the first to break baseball's color barrier. Once arriving in the majors two years after Robinson, he became a fixture in the Giants lineup, with his best year coming in 1951 when he hit .321, with 24HRs and 121 RBIs, which led the National League.










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SAM JETHROE (1917-2001)
Team: Boston Braves
Debut Date: April 18, 1950
Years in the Majors: 1950-1954

Sam Jethroe was a centerfielder who played the bulk of his career in the Negro Leagues, but won the 1950 National League Rookie of the Year Award in his first year in the Major Leagues at the age of 33.






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JOHN KENNEDY (1926-1998)
Team: Philadelphia Phillies
Debut Date: April 22, 1957

John Kennedy was a long-time Negro League shortstop for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Kansas City Monarchs. He finished his baseball career by playing the 1957 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.







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CURT ROBERTS (1929-1969)
Team: Pittsburgh Pirates
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Year in the Majors: 1954-1956

Curt Roberts was a second basemen who spent most of his baseball career in the minor leagues. Raised in Oakland, CA, he was the first of many black major leaguers to come out of the city of Oakland and predominantly Black McClymonds High School.








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JACKIE ROBINSON (1919-1972)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 15, 1947
Year in the Majors: 1947-1956
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962

Jackie Robinson, arguably the greatest all-around athlete of the 20th Century, went to the Baseball Hall of Fame playing a sport that was his least favorite. As a high school student, he was a nationally-ranked tennis player, who went on to UCLA where he was an All-American running back, the Pac-8's (now Pac-10) leading scorer for two consecutive years as a point guard in basketball, and the nation's number one-ranked long jumper who would have most likely won an Olympic gold medal had the games not been cancelled due to World War II. He is still the only four-sport letterman in UCLA history.









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HANK THOMPSON (1925-1969)
Teams: St. Louis Browns and New York Giants
Debut Dates: July 17, 1947 (Browns); July 8, 1949 (Giants)
Years in the Majors: 1947-1956

The only player to integrate two major-league franchises, Hank Thompson was also the first black player to play in both the National and American Leagues. A gifted athlete but a troubled man, Thompson, who from his mid-teens on frequently ran afoul of the law, earned charges ranging from assault and battery of a woman to armed robbery. He died prematurely at the age of 43 from a heart seizure.









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BOB TRICE (1926-1988)
Team: Philadelphia Athletics
Debut Date: September 13, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1955

Bob Trice was a pitcher whose career started with the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues.






THE PIONEERS

After the ground was broken, the way was clear for a FEW more black players to appear on major-league rosters. Until the late 1960's, most major-league teams had a 3-4 man "black quota" limiting the presence of black players on their teams. These were some of the "first wave" of African-American players who came in after the doors were initially opened in the late 1940s.



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HENRY AARON (1934- )
Team: Milwaukee Braves
Debut Date: April 13, 1954
Years in the Majors: 1954-1976
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982


Considered by many to be the greatest right-handed hitter in baseball history, Henry Aaron was one of the best all-around players in history. Basically known as a home run hitter now, Aaron won two National League batting titles, three Gold Gloves, and was selected to the National League All-Star team 24 times.











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DAN BANKHEAD (1920-1975)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: August 26, 1947
Years in the Majors: 1947-1951

One of the five Bankhead Brothers who starred in the Negro Leagues, Dan Bankhead was the first African-American pitcher in major league baseball history.





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JOE BLACK (1924-2002)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: May 1, 1952
Years in the Majors: 1952-1957

A right-handed relief pitcher with an overpowering fastball, Joe Black pitched the Baltimore Elite Giants to two Negro League championships before being signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a relief pitcher. In his first major league season, Black won 15 games, saved 15 others, and was voted the 1952 National League Rookie of the Year.






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ROY CAMPANELLA (1921-1993)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 20, 1948
Years in the Majors: 1948-1957
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969

Generally considered one of the five greatest catchers in baseball history, Roy Campanella, along with Yogi Berra, was the premiere catcher of the 1950's. Campanella won three National League MVP Awards (1951, 1953, 1955), and helped lead his team to six World Series appearances.







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TOMMY DAVIS (1939- )
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Debut Date: September 22, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1976

A pure hitter, Tommy Davis was a 3-time National League All-Star, and a two-time National League batthing champion. Before embarking on his baseball career, Davis, a native of Brooklyn, was a high school basketball star at Boys High School, where his teammate was future NBA Hall of Fame guard and coach Lenny Wilkins.






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LUKE EASTER (1915-1979)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: August 11, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1954

Luke Easter was a 6'4" 240 lb. first baseman who was known for hitting some of the longest home runs ever hit in both the Negro Leagues and the major leagues. After his playing days had ended, Easter spent many years as a chief steward for the Aircraft Workers Union in the Cleveland area. In 1979, after leaving a Euclid, OH bank where he had just cashed checks for employees of his company who couldn't make it to the bank, he was robbed and murdered by two men who had tracked his movements for days.






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JIM GILLIAM (1928-1978)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 14, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1966

Jim Gilliam was a second baseman who was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1953. Gilliam played, and then coached for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for 25 years until his death from a brain hemorrhage in 1978.






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JIM "MUDCAT" GRANT (1935- )
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: April 17, 1958
Years in the Majors: 1958-1971

A crafty right-hand pitcher, Jim "Mudcat" Grant was a two-time All-Star whose best season came in 1965 when he went 21-7 to lead the American League in wins and helped take the Minnesota Twins to the 1965 World Series.





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SAM HAIRSTON (1920-1997)
Team: Chicago White Sox
Debut Date: July 21, 1951

Sam Hairston was a longtime Negro League catcher who was the first African-American to play for the Chicago White Sox (following Cuban Minnie Minoso who was the first black member of the team). Hairston, the first of three generations of major leaguers, was followed to the big leagues by his son Jerry Hairston, an outfielder with the White Sox and Pirates, and his grandson, Jerry Hairston, Jr. currently a member of the Washington Nationals.





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SAM JONES (1925-1971)
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: September 22, 1951
Years in the Majors: 1951-1964

"Toothpick" Sam Jones was a pitcher who was as much a master of the strikeout as he was a victim of walks. Twice a Naitonal League leader in both categories, he was the first African-American pitcher to throw a no-hitter at the major-league level when as a Chicago Cub, he shut down the Pittsurgh Pirates on May 12, 1955.





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WILLIE MAYS (1931- )
Team: New York Giants
Debut Date: May 25, 1951
Years in the Majors: 1951-1973
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979


Willie Mays was the greatest, all-around player in baseball history, He brought to the game what it desperately misses today, someone of supreme talent who masters every aspect of the game, but does it with personality and a LOT of STYLE. If there was a Dr. J/M.J./Kobe of baseball, it was Mays. From the larger-than-necessary cap that would fly off when he ran (giving the appearance that he was even faster than he was) to the basket catch, everything that Mays did was better, more unique, and more fun to watch than anyone else.

Hall of Fame Announcers Talk About Willie Mays​


Willie Mays on "What's My Line" - July 11, 1954​







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CHARLIE NEAL (1931-1996)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: April 17, 1956
Years in the Majors: 1956-1963

Charlie Neal was an outstanding shortstop who played at a high level, but has somehow been forgotten by history. Neal was a Gold Glove winning shortstop who was selected to two National League All-Star teams, and was a pivotal player on the Dodgers 1959 world championship team.






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DON NEWCOMBE (1926- )
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: May 20, 1949
Years in the Majors: 1949-1960

Don Newcombe was a 6' 4" right-handed pitcher who was one of the National League's best for most of his career. He was the first winner of the Cy Young Award for pitching excellence (at a time when only one pitcher in baseball received the award), and is the only player in baseball history to be selected Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award winner, and league MVP. Because of the physical resemblance they both shared as young men, Don Newcombe's nickname "Newk" also became the nickname of his look-alike, legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.






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LEROY "SATCHEL" PAIGE (1906-1982)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 9, 1948
Years in the Majors: 1948-1965
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Satchel Paige was able to realize his lifelong dream of reaching the major leagues. The greatest star of Negro League baseball, and considered by many historians to be one of the five greatest pitchers of all time, Paige pitched his first major league game at an age when most players his age had retired. Yet, he was dominant, going 6-1, with a 2.48 ERA, helping the Indians reach the 1948 World Series.








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LARRY RAINES (1930-1978)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: April 16, 1957
Years in the Majors: 1957-1958​


Larry Raines was a versatile infielder, and was the first player ever to play in the Negro Leagues, the American major leagues and the Japanese major leagues.





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FRANK ROBINSON (1935- )
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Debut Date: April 17, 1956
Years in the Majors: 1956-1976
Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982

One of the greatest players the game has ever known, Frank Robinson was one of only 11 players in the history of baseball to win the Triple Crown, and the only player in history to be named league MVP in both the American and National League. Like Curt Roberts before him, Robinson grew up in Oakland, CA, and attended McClymonds High School where he played on the school's basketball team alongside Bill Russell.










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JOHN ROSEBORO (1933-2002)
Team: Brooklyn Dodgers
Debut Date: June 14, 1957
Years in the Majors: 1957-1970

John Roseboro replaced Roy Campanella as the Dodger catcher after Campanella suffered permanent paralysis after an automobile injury. On August 22, 1965, he was one of the combatants in the most infamous baseball fight of all time when he was hit in the head with a bat by Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal during one of the imost heated games ever played between longtime rivals the Dodgers and Giants. Roseboro played on three world championship Dodger teams, and caught two of Sandy Koufax's four no-hitters.

ROSEBORO-MARICHAL FIGHT - Candlestick Park, San Francisco - August 22, 1965
Roseboro-MarichalFight.jpg








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AL SMITH (1928-2002)
Team: Cleveland Indians
Debut Date: July 10, 1953
Years in the Majors: 1953-1964

Al Smith was a two-time All-Star outfielder who played the bulk of his career with the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox.






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MAURY WILLS (1932- )
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Debut Date: June 5, 1959
Years in the Majors: 1959-1972

Maury Wills was a five-time National League All-Star, the 1962 National League MVP, and one of the greatest base stealers in baseball history.


Mudcat died over the weekend

RIP
 

LongLocs85

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Jose Altuve - 20HRs in 68 postseason games:cool::popcorn:.... 11 of 20 was for the tie or lead... Let's go 'Stros!!
 
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