August 1996
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SABR - NEGRO LEAGUES COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER
October 1996

(portions reprinted with permission from editor)
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Editor: Dick Clark, 1080 Hull St. Ypsilanti, MI 48198-6472
Telephone Number: (313) 487-5273; Fax (313) 487-0807
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CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS

The opinions expressed in the NLC Newsletter do not reflect those of
SABR or the NLC but are the editor's exclusively.

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NEGRO LEAGUERS AND THE HALL OF FAME

I attended SABR's 25th Anniversary Celebration in Cooperstown August
10-11, 1996, the week after Induction Weekend. It was a wonderful time.
Anyone going would have enjoyed the great comraderie and hospitality of the
Hall of Fame Library and it's staff. Librarian Jim Gates and Associate
Researcher Scot Mondore have made the transition from Tom Heitz and Bob Browning
smooth for the NLC. Jim talked about an upcoming 1997 exhibit that will
feature the Negro Leagues and I offered all of the NLC's assistance if needed.
He also spoke of the future of the HOF and Library on the Internet and World
Wide Web. The sky's the limit. I strongly suggest saving your money to
get a computer and get online. It just keeps getting better and better.
I was able to have a terrific conversation with Scot (actually
several) during the weekend. He has his hand in most Negro Leagues research
at the Library. He invites all forms of literature, articles, books,
research projects, etc. to be sent along and it will be available for
everyone's perusal. Scot has the files of Robert Peterson, Effa Manley's
scrapbooks and the Ashland Collection material all catalogued and ready to look at.
New Spanish interviews with such veterans as Emilio Navarro, Bienvienido
Rodriquez, Felix Guilbe, Roberto Vargas, and our own Luis Alvelo and
many more are available for on site listening. Scot has offered all NLC members his personal assistance in any research needed. Contact him C/O Hall of Fame Library PO Box 590
Cooperstown, NY 13326. Phone (607) 547-0331 or Fax (607) 547-4094. Remember to
keep requests short, long ones will have charges.
Articles:
DAILY STAR, Oneonta, NY 8/2/96 "Two Fosters in the Hall,"
COOPERSTOWN INDEPENDENT, 8/9/96, "HOF enshrines four members,"
THE INFIELDER, 8/9/96, "Four more in the Hall,"
NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM YEARBOOK $8.95
Committee Rules for Election. Negro Leagues section
Bill Foster page from Annual Program of HOF
JET 8/26/96, "Bill Foster"
SCD 9/6/96, "Cooperstown '96:Crowd sparse at HOF ceremonies," & "Four inducted into
Baseball Hall."
NEW YORK TIMES, 8/5/96, "Bunning stands on the bully pulpit,"
Hackensack, NJ, THE RECORD, 8/5/96, "Earl not proud of all his stats,
"
Press release 10/3/77, regarding new Veterans Committee and news on
members.


THE NEGRO LEAGUES BOOK

The book jacket of the hardcover edition is now decorating a wall
spot at The Lion's Head bar in Greenwich Village.
Gary Maurer passed along a 1946 Cincinnati Crescents roster with a
favorite of mine, Luke Easter.
Adrian Burgos provided some excellent NEW YORK AGE material and a
copy of his work.
Juan Armenteros was found. Information from the son of Lonnie Davis
was passed along from the Hall of Fame.
Larry uncovered Billy Bruton with the 1949 Philadelphia Stars,
albeit briefly, but a significant find.
David Marasco has uncovered some startling news that Satchel Paige's
1948 Cleveland Indians record is wrong. An August 8, 1948 game against
New York credited Satch with the same amount of walks and strikeouts as Joe
Page. Therefore, Satch's true walk total is 22 and strikeouts are 43, for
1948. All of this is verified by Lyle Spatz and the SABR Records Committee.
This is truly wonderful research on a Major Leaguer, no less. Terrific
job David.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Steve Bennett drove 11 hours to attend the Negro Leagues Tribute
held in Denver July 20th. The players panel had Ernie Banks, Byron Johnson,
Connie Johnson, Minnie Minoso, Bobby Robinson, and Bill White. Butch McCord
and Bill Cash were also in town. Jay Sanford, the big cog in this event,
gave a slide talk on Black baseball and early Denver baseball. There was an
exhibit at Coors Field of Negro League photos, info, and artifacts. Steve
said he also got to spend time with Minnie Minoso (his favorite player). A
truly fabulous weekend! Lots available.
HISTORIC DENVER NEWS, "Historic Denver & Rockies team up to sponsor
Negro League Exhibit,"
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 7/7/96, "Negro League Exhibit is set for Coors
Field,"
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 7/24/96, "Negro Leagues historical items to be
on display,"
THE DENVER POST, 7/22/96: "Sharing memories of the Negro Leagues,"
**3pp;
"O'Neil disdains old bitterness ; "Deshields appreciates his baseballroots," "Baylor: Today's players
know legacy, but can't appreciate it, "
An historical marker was placed in Pittsburgh's Hill District in a
ceremony on September 23rd. USA TODAY 9/24/96 "Gibson Honored", **1pg.
The City of Wilmington sponsored this special Judy Johnson Night___A
Tribute to Negro League Baseball on August 31, 1996. Among the giveaways: a
limited edition baseball card of Johnson, commemorative postal cancellation,
autograph session with players and more. Johnson's daughter Mrs. Loretta
Bruton and Geraldine Day were guests of honor.
The NLC was very pleased to receive a copy of the video BLACK
DIAMONDS BLUES
CITY: Stories of the Memphis Red Sox, from Dr John Haddock. This is
another
wonderful addition to anyone's video collection. I will immediately
advise
you when it becomes readily available.
Tim Booker has organized a card and autogrpah show for Ft. Riley, KS
for
October 5th & 6TH, with guests Slick Surratt, Henry Mason, and Jesse
Rogers.
That same weekend I'll be in Atlantic City, NJ to attend the annual
Pop
Lloyd event and will have a full report in December's newsletter.
It's not
to late to give a tax deductable contribution to Committee To Restore
"Pop"
Lloyd Stadium, C/O Schultz & Middlesworth. One South New York Avenue
Suite
614, Atlantic City, NJ 08041.
Paul Debono has been keeping interested parties up to date on the
Oscar
Charleston Monument news via Email. Sculptor Dan Edwards is opening
an
exhibit at the Bank One Building in Indianapolis, Sept. 27th to Oct.
18th,
entitled Images of Greatness: A Tribute to Oscar Charleston and Negro
League
Baseball. Charleston's 100th birthday would have been on October
14th.
**1pg petition to get signed and sent to City of Indianapolis.
There has
been a lot of feedback through the SABR-L listing.

Future Special Events

The California African-American Museum, a State of California
institution is
seeking any archival film footage, photographs, etc. for their July,
1997
exhibition; LOU DIALS: THE LAST AMERICAN GIANT. Contact me for more
details

COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS

We regret to inform you of several deaths among our veteran players.

Bonnie Serrell passed August 1st in East Palo Alto, CA at 76
Bill Wright died August 3rd in Aquascalientes, Mexico at 82.
SCD & 8/30/96 SCD interview
Willard Brown passed on August 8, 1996 in Houston at 83
Wiley Lee Griggs passed in Birmingham, AL on August 23rd he was 71
and had
been in declining health.
Bill Beverly had a fatal heart attack on September 11, 1996 in
Houston he was 66
THE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL RESEARCH JOURNAL is a wonderful book.
Congratulations to Carlos Bauer and Bob Hoie for a great editing job.
Ted
Zuckerman's "Ballparks of Los Angeles" has info on White Sox Park I &
II.
I hope everyone saw Claudia Perry on JEOPARDY September 11th.
Because of
buzzer irregularities she will be back in October.
Leon Day is part of a new Bob Hieronimus mural at the Safe And Smart
Center
in Baltimore,
Thanks to Bill Plott the NLC files have a copy of David Harmon's
paper
presented at the NASSH Conference in May: THAT OTHER BASEBALL
TEAM:The
Atlanta Black Crackers and The World of Southern African-American
Baseball.
Double Duty, Lester Lockett, and Casey Jones will be in Mundelein,
IL October 25-27, 1996 for a
big card show.
On August 3rd, former players Willie Bradshaw, J. Wesley Lee, John
MacNeil,
Artis Plummer, Charlie Rousch, and Thomas Womble, all players in the
Eastern
Colored Leagues of the 40's and 50's, were quests at the SABR
Carolina
regional meeting.
The NLC's sincere appreciation to Adrian Burgos for the copy of his
article
of 22 pages published by the academic journal CENTRO: JOURNAL OF
PUERTO RICAN
STUDIES.

ONLINE COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Email for Hieronimus & Co. compuserve 104220.2005@compuserve.com
AOL
ZohanBobH@aol.com
Ed Cesarone Seabop@aol.com
Paul Bauer ARCHERS@worldnet.att.net
Sammy Miller poplloyd@juno.com
You must check out David Marasco's web site at
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~dmarasco/david.html This has a lot of
excellent
material on a range of NL topics. David also has a site for the
NLC newsletters at
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~dmarasco/sabrnews
John Murray has set a web site on Negro League Umpires at
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnmur/ A lot of listings.
"Web World of Sports" THE DETROIT FREE PRESS 9/24/96

NEGRO LEAGUES RELATED ARTICLES

BIRMINGHAM NEWS 7/28/96, "Wilson didn't let loss of a thumb keep him
from
playing baseball." by Bill Plott
ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION 6/8/96, "Off base: of 200 players at
CWS only 6
are Black,"
JACKSON (Ms) ADVOCATE, August 8-14, 1996, "Negro Leagues lefty makes
Hall of
Fame" & "The girls of summer," . August 15-21, 1996, "Coach says
youth leagues vital to the
development of African American children,"
8/22/96 "Negro Leagues were first family duo,"
"Memories behind the plate," Henry Frazier Robinson , NEWS &
RECORD
(Greensboro, NC) 7/4/96.
JET, 7/22/96, "Ted Double Duty Radcliffe,"
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 7/8/96, "Oldest Living Negro Leaguer now too busy
to be
bitter,"
From the Portland Rockies 1996 game program article on Artie Wilson.

THE HOWARD COUNTY TIMES, 8/22/96, "Negro League memories remain for
county
native," (Russell Awkard)
THE TORONTO STAR 6/1/96, six different Jackie Robinson articles
"Portrait in
Courage" about his career and International League beginnings.
SCD 8/16/96 "Connie Johnson"
SCD 9/20/96 "Sherwood Brewer"
SCD 9/20/96 "George Altman"
THE DIAMOND ANGLE September, 1996 issue has 1pg on Double Duty
Radcliffe
THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 7/28/96 "Scout's Honor, " (Sukeforth)
THE TIMES Tampa, FL, 5/12/96 "The spring home of segregation,"
STRIPE, April 14, 1995, "Negro Leaguer speaks at center during BIG
installation ceremony," (Jimmy Dean)
ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION 6/9/96 perspective; SHUTOUT:Cooperstown
slights
Black legends"
NEW PITTSBURGH COURIER 9/4/96 "Josh gibson's son seeks local
recognition for
dad,"
SCD 9/27/96 "Al Smith"
NEWSDAY 6/7/92, "Negro Leagues should never be forgotten,"
THE SPORTING NEWS 9/4/94, "It is a shame so few knew the special
Buck
O'Neil,"
9/22/96, WASHINGTON POST, "New P.G. (Prince Georges) park a tribute
to the
days of Black Baseball."
LOS ANGELES TIMES, 9/17/96, "Inspiring Then, Inspiring Still,"
(Jackie
Robinson)
SCD 10/11/96, "Boston-Peabody Classic XXV,"
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, 8/8/96, "Memories give former player good days,"
(Booker
Robinson)
FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN 7/9/96 , Ad for show.
PRESS JOURNAL 7/14/96, Negro Leaguers throwing out first pitch
THE LEDGER, 2/5/95, "A League of Their Own....Negro League,"
2/6/95,
"Doby was a Baseball Pioneer," **2pp and 9/2/96, "Lakeland Man Played
in
Negro Leagues,"
7/20/96 Memorial & Unveiling Ceremonies for James Thomas "Cool Papa"
Bell"


CURRENT AND FUTURE INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS

John Murray is working on a biography of Negro League Umpire Bert
Gholston.
Frank J. Ceresi (703) 522-5450, 3600 N. Nelson St., Arlington, VA
22207 is
seeking info on a 1929 Booker T. Washington Club and a Comrade Club
Baseball
League.
Jeff Ballantine (423) 238-4461 is seeking any info on the
Chattanoogna Black
Lookouts.
Lyle Wilson will be self-publishing his book on Seattle Afro-
American teams
1911-51. Lyle has passed along "Willie Foster and the Washington
Browns" to
the Leading Edge Webzine, as well as, "The Last Negro Baseball League
Game".
Lyle also has material going into the Jackson MS. ADVOCATE. Lyle
spent time
this summer, in Piney Woods, MS and time at Mississippi State
Archives and
put together an article on the Jackson Cubs and Piney Woods College
Team:
JACKSON ADVOCATE, September 12-18, 1996, "Of Cubs and Collegians"
Can anyone help out with info on Harry Northrup who may have pitched
with
the Cuban Giants 1902-07?
The following are projects and/or interests of people in attendance
at the
KC SABR convention meeting in no particular order: Jerry Malloy-19th
century
Black Baseball in Chicago; David Marasco- reading microfilm and
writing;
Eduardo Valero-amateur baseball around the world; Bill Treese- Black
baseball
in Louisana, Texas mainly Shreveport and Mineola; Charles Jordan-
working on a
presentation on SOUL OF THE GAME and to study the significance of
the
East-West All-Star Game; Terry Harrison-collecting NL stuff; Bill
Williamson-Winter League Los Angeles White Sox, 1916-36 boxes; Paul
Debono-doing a book on Indianapolis ABC's; Leslie Heaphy- finishing
dissertation History of Negro Leagues with publisher Nebraska Press;
Gai
Berlage- Black Women in Baseball, mainly images; Dave Stevens-19th
century
Black Baseball; Ralph Christian-paper on Bud Fowler in Western League
and
J.L. Wilkinson from Des Moines, the All Nations team and Women's
Black teams;
Claudia Perry-turn of the century Galveston ,TX Black team;Efrain
Bernier-why
year round players lasted longer; Tim Booker-working on a Negro
Leagues
trivia book; John Holway-book on the Tuskagee Airmen; Jan Finkel-
getting
qualified Negro Leaguers into the HOF; Bill Dunstone-increasing his
book
collection, currently over 7,000; Sammy Miller-researching, writing,
editing
of BLACKBALL CALENDAR; Jim Riley-Chronological encyclopedia of Negro
Leagues,
Statistical Ency. of Negro Leagues, THE NEGRO LEAGUES for Chelsea
House.

THE MARKETPLACE

I hope you have gotten the excellent 1997 BLACK BALL CALENDAR,
another
wonderful job by Sammy Miller. He is already working on the 1998
version.
I purchased a copy of BUCK O'NEIL: A BASEBALL LEGEND by Sean
Wheelock and
Amereon House, 1994 for $8.95. It is 124 pages including pictures,
index. The current
autobiography on Buck is clearly superior. Book review by Ron Kaplan,

DAILY LOCAL NEWS, (Chester County, PA) 6/6/96, "Late in the game,
O'Neil a hit"
An excellent new book is out from Chelsea House Publisher's African-
American
Achievers Series, THE NEGRO LEAGUES by Jim Riley. A really beautiful
cover
should attract the young adult readers. But this is an outstanding
addition
to anyone's library, 102 pages, index, 34 pictures and done by an
author
extremely knowledgable on the Negro Leagues. Highly recommended.
Hallmark has come out with a Satchel Paige Christmas ornament for
$12.95.
Three new catchets, available from Little Sun (818) 358-6255 for
more
details. They are: Satchel Paige 25th Anniversary and/or with
Frazier
Robinson signature; The Negro Leagues 75th Anniversary.
Negro League Lithos, Posters issued by BCD
I easily obtained a 15 page listing of products from Cotton's
Sports
Collectibles, 1 800 450-7298 pin# 3282.
BLACK ENTERPRISE, November, 1995 , "Carrying Negro Leagues gear is
a
marketing home run for House of Nubian."
Two phone cards on Negro Leagues from Bob Ponce. Sportscosm, 102
Maryton Rd., White Plains, NY (914) 761-4328, icmediax.netcom.com
The Nebraska Press edition of Sol White's Guide is available in
paperback
now for $12.
Sports Books, etc. of Springfield, VA (703) 321-8660 has the videos
ONLY THE
BALL WAS WHITE ($19.98) and KINGS ON THE HILL ($19.95) & HISTORY OF
GREAT
BLACK BASEBALL PLAYERS ($9.95), along with books.
Another good source of discounted Negro Leagues books is Edward R.
Hamilton,
Bookseller, Falls Village, CT. 06031
ENCICLOPEDIA DEL BEISBOL MEXICANO 1996 EDITION (Mexican League Ency.
) is
available for $20 postpaid. Send to Salon De La Fama, Del Beisbol
Professional De Mexico, Apartado Postal 3124, 6400 Monterrey, Nuevo
Leon,
Mexico. Or call me later to see how quickly I got mine.
ALL I THOUGHT ABOUT WAS BASEBALL: Writings on the Canadian Pastimes,
1996
has two stories in it, "Jim Crow Comes North" and "The Last
Barnstormer."
NORTHERN SANDLOTS: A Social History of Maritime Baseball, 1996 by
Colin
Howell, has a long piece "The 'others': Race, Ethnicity, and
Community
Baseball" 25pp.
You can still get Charlie Tiano's excellent book MORE BALLS THAN
STRIKES:
120 Years of Baseball in New York's Hudson Valley. $12.95 postpaid.
Send to
116 Ohayo Mt. Rd., Woodstock, NY 12498.
The 13th and 14th editions of the Negro League Bobbin Heads are out
from
Stokesberry & Son (available through Cotton's Sports). The latest
are Rube
Foster & Bill Foster. Previous pairs have been Paige-Day, Irvin-
Wilson,
Gibson-Mackey, Leonard-Taylor, Dandridge-Wells, Bell-Stearnes. All
sold
individually and they are outstanding.
New Triple Woven Afgans from Goodwin Weavers; Negro League
Pennants & Broadsides; Hank Aaron Autographed Limited Edition; & Home
Run.

FINAL REMARKS

The next newsletter will be December's. Please get all material to
me
before the last week of November. Happy Thanksgiving to all.


Dick Clark & Larry Lester
NLC Co-Chairpeople

www.blackbaseball.com