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Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues

Page 37

by John Holway


  In ’47 the Monarchs picked up this shortstop in Davenport, Iowa. A young kid came out to take infield practice along with me. I saw greatness in this guy, and I was slowing up. This kid was Gene Baker, who went on to the Chicago Cubs. I was slowing down, and the next year I was traded to the Cleveland Buckeyes. But not before I had the pleasure and privilege of catching Satchel. Even after I got fat, I always could throw, and I was a pretty good hitter. So the manager said, “Well, look, you just can’t move anymore, so we’ll put you behind the plate.”

  The amazing thing about Satchel was his control. Satchel would warm up before a ball game and put down a little piece of paper and throw over that paper. Then he’d have two guys stand up and put their bats down and throw between the bats on each side of the plate. We’d go out on the West Coast every fall to play and he packed them in.

  In 1945 Satchel had taken a team to the West Coast and toured with Bob Feller. Bob Feller and Satchel always got along good. Bob was an ideal businessman. He knew how to make the money.

  I tell you what, I’ll be honest with you: The colored barnstorming teams I have been on played against the cream of the crop of the big leaguers—and we weren’t the best of our league. The team Satchel Paige was supposed to get together in 1946, a lot of them left and went to Puerto Rico. If he had put that team together, Bob Feller and them would have caught hell. In fact, I never would have been able to go. They got me after a few of the others wiped out.

  In 1946 I tell you who we played against. Bob Feller had at third base Kenny Keltner, shortstop Phil Rizzuto, second base Johnny Berardino, first base Mickey Vernon who won the batting championship, catching Frank Hayes and Rollie Hemsley. Outfield was King Kong Keller, Sam Chapman and Jeff Heath. Pitchers Spud Chandler, Gordon Maltzberger of the Chicago White Sox, Ed Lopat, knuckleballer Dutch Leonard and Feller. I guess we made between $5,000 and $6,000. Our cut was better than the Red Sox and Cardinals. That’s why the commissioner after that year wouldn’t let you barnstorm until the World Series was over. We had a plane and Feller had a plane. We played about eleven games; I believe they won six, we won five.

  We beat them in Yankee Stadium. Let me tell you a story about that game. We were running short on pitchers, so when we got to Yankee Stadium we had an old left-hander, Neck Stanley, a spit-baller. When he’d take the ball up to his mouth he’d also cut it, make it do tricks. I was in the bull pen warming Stanley up. After Satchel pitched his three innings, Stanley came in to pitch the other six. He struck out, oh I guess five or six with that cut ball, and he made Feller’s team look so bad that we were going to play that night in Baltimore, and when we got ready to fly over to Baltimore, Feller said, “Not with that guy.” Wouldn’t let him go any farther. I mean Stanley humiliated them in Yankee Stadium!

  But Bob Feller, what a curve ball this guy had, besides a motion. Oh, man, he’d blind you. He’d take that left foot and raise it up and twist that body around and man when he’d throw that ball —can you imagine him having that delivery when he first came up and he was wild? That’s a great gentleman, though, a great ballplayer.

  How did I hit against Feller? Not too well, not too well. Two other guys I never could get a hit off of—one guy in Mexico threw nothing but fast balls with a little slider and kept the ball down all the time and I bet I grounded out twenty times without getting a hit. His name was Ramon Bragana. And Dutch Leonard—if anybody else had a knuckle ball in comparison with Dutch Leonard, I’d like to see it. I broke bats—he broke bats off in my hand and everything.

  October 1947, here’s a clipping: Satchel pitched against players like Ferris Fain, Kenny Keltner, Andy Pafko, Ralph Kiner, Jeff Heath, Bob Feller. That’s a good lineup. Then Ewell Blackwell brought in a team. Remember Bob Dillinger, Peanuts Lowrey, Johnny Lindell, Al Zarilla and Johnny Berardino (who’s a movie and television star now) ? And we beat them 4–3. I played third in that ball game. Let’s see, I got one hit against Blackwell. And Satchel beat the major leaguers again in Los Angeles, 5–1: Pete Coscarart, Max West, and 6,000 fans.

  We also made big money in Latin America. We monopolized the leagues down there until organized ball came along. They’d pay a guy $1,000 a month, all expenses, no income tax. A guy could go down there and save $3–4,000. Plus every home run was a gift. Oh man, before Castro you couldn’t beat Cuban baseball, couldn’t beat it. That was the best, the strongest league you ever want to see.

  I was in Mexico from ’50 to ’51. Martin Dihigo was manager of Vera Cruz then.

  I was Peck’s bad boy in Mexico. I played like Eddie Stanky, sliding hard, breaking up double plays, fighting umpires. That’s the only way you could exist. You had to fight. Especially in the Latin American countries. If you went down there and they found out you were a coward, that was all.

  While Jorge Pasquel was in Africa, an umpire and I had a few words on a close call at first base and I slugged him. The President of the league suspended me, and the Immigration Department deported me. They kept me there all day, and when nighttime came they put me in a car and rode and rode and rode. I said, “Oh, oh, I guess this is it.” But they put me on a plane to San Antonio, Texas. But I returned, and the umpires said they didn’t want to umpire if I played. And this is what the Sporting News wrote: “Pasquel Back in Mexico, Unlimbers Six-shooter.” He fired the umpires. Then he called on high government officials and had the deportation order revoked. When the umpires refused to work, he fired them all.

  My last year in baseball, 1951, I was playing in Minot, North Dakota, and I got a letter from Campanella asking me if I wanted to go barnstorming with him : “Would you like to go and help me catch?” “Gosh,” I said, “would I!” He had me come up to New York and we barnstormed against a major-league team. I was the only minor leaguer on the team. His team consisted of Bob’ Boyd on first, Junior Gilliam at second, I believe Larry Doby played third. Outfield was Bill Bruton. Joe Black and Don Newcombe pitched. We played all the big parks, made tremendous money. But this is when Campanella proved that he was a champ. He got $1,000 a man guarantee to go to Honolulu to play three games against an all-star team that had Nellie Fox at second, Harvey Kuenn at short and Enos Slaughter in right. He said, “I’m going to take this guy with me, and he’s going to get the same cut we get.” He made everybody on the team take enough money out of their cut to make me make the same. Yeah, Campanella’s a great guy, great guy. You can’t imagine how great he is, how much he’s respected among ballplayers. His going to the major leagues never changed his attitude.

  After that I left baseball and came here to Atlanta and went into the postal service. Now I’m a sportscaster, sports director of WIGO, Atlanta. They call me “Chico Enriquo on Sports.”

  And let me tell you this about the Atlanta Braves, the most wonderful thing. The Atlanta Braves are one of the only teams in the major leagues that have had old-timers’ games and let the players from the Negro leagues play.

  Dick Young of the New York Daily News called me the other day [1970], said there was a plan to get all of us to go to New York to pick a black player for the Hall of Fame. He said they might pick two, but that would be the limit. There would be too much squawking if there were more than that. But there’s no way in the world you can leave out Martin Dihigo, Pop Lloyd, Oscar Charleston, José Mendez, Josh, Satchel, Buck Leonard and all that crowd.

  I have six sons now, two boys in college—one boy pitching and one boy catching at Florida A&M—and I’ve got two in high school playing. I’m real proud of them all, don’t give me any disciplinary problems. Baseball has really been good to me. I’ve got no squawks. I can really say baseball’s the great American game, although it did discriminate against us for many years.

  But when Robinson went into organized baseball it took something away from Negro baseball. It died with Robinson. Let me tell you, we played the World Series in ’46 against the Newark Eagles and we just had tremendous crowds everywhere we went. Washington, D.C., whenever the Monarchs went in to play the Homestead Grays, Satch
el pitching and Josh Gibson catching, just fantastic crowds.

  The promoters made the money. But we made enough money to buy nice clothes and live good during the baseball season. We all had to go to work during the off-season, but we always looked forward to playing. Everything was major league. Oh, we traveled in buses, had to ride 400–500 miles, get out and play ball. But the Sunday doubleheaders were always something. We were always in a big park on Sundays—New York, Chicago, some big town in the South on Sundays. The East-West game we played in Chicago always had anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000. And everybody looked forward to it.

  We had thrills, we had everything. It was the greatest experience of my life.

  Sunset Before Dawn

  BY DAVID MALARCHER

  Thou wert among the best

  Who wrought upon this earth,

  O dead! Thine endless rest

  Is merit of thy worth....

  O, minds of fleetful thought!

  O dead who lived too soon!

  What pity thou wert brought

  To twilight ere the noon!

  But sleep thou on in peace,

  As orchids which did bloom,

  Like pure unspotted fleece

  Within the forest’s gloom.

  © David Malarcher 1975

  APPENDIX

  Lifetime Statistics

  I want to thank Dick Clark, Paul Doherty, Jorge Figueredo, Merl Kleinknecht, and Jim Riley for their special help in compiling the statistics.

  The following persons also contributed to the immense task:

  Luis Alvelo, Terry Baxter, Dick Cramer, Debbie Crawford, Bob Gill, Bob Hoie, Jim Holway, John Holway Jr, Tim Joyce, Neil Lanctot, Larry Lester, Jerry Malloy, Joe McGillen, Joe Overfield, Bill Plott, Mona Peach, Mark Presswood, Rob Ruck, Mike Sampson, Arthur Schott, Michael Stahl, A. D. Suehsdorf, Gerald Vaughn, Diane Walker, Edie Williams, and Charles Zarelli.

  BIG BILL DRAKE (PLUNK)

  b 6/8/95 Sedalia MO, d 10/30/77 St Louis, BL TR 6’ 210

  Dave MALARCHER GENTLEMEN DAVE

  CRUSH CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS HOLLOWAY (CRUSH)

  b 9/16/96 Hillsboro TX, d 6/72 Baltimore, BB TR, 6’ 180

  WEBSTER McDONALD

  b 1/1/00 Wilmington DE, d 6/12/82 Philadelphia, BR TR 6’ 189

  NEWT ALLEN (COLT)

  b, 5/19/01 Austen TX d 6/11/88 KC, BR TRUE 5’8” 160

  JAMES BELL (COOL PAPA)

  b 5/17/03 Starkville MS, d 3/7/91 St Louis, BB TL 6’ 165 Hall of Fame 1974

  TED PAGE

  B 4/22/03 Glasgow KY, D 12/1/84 Pittsburgh, BR TR 5’11 175

  TED RADCLIFFE (DOUBLE DUTY)

  b 7/7/02 Mobile AL, d 5/17/05 Chicago BR TR 5’10 190

  PITCHING

  WILLIE FOSTER BIG BILL

  b 6/12/04 Calvert TX, d 9/16.78 Lorman MS BB TL 6’1 195 Hall of Fame 1996

  LARRY BROWN

  b 9/5/05 Pratt City AL, d 4/7/72 Memphis, BR TR, 5’8 190

  WILLIE WELLS (THE DEVIL)

  b 8/10/08 Austin Texas, d 1/22/89 Austin BR TR 5’9” 167 Hall of Fame 1997

  WILLIAM CORNELIUS (SUG)

  b. Atlanta 9/4/06 d Chicago 10/30/89 BR TR 5’10 168

  WALTER LEONARD (BUCK)

  b 9/8/07 Rocky Mount NICE d 11/27/97 Rocky Mount BL TL 5’11 185 Hall of Fame 1972

  HILTON SMITH

  b 2/27/12 Giddings TX d 11/18/83 Kansas City BR TR 5’11 185, Hall of Fame 2001

  JAMES GREENE (JOE)

  b 10/17/11 Stone Mountain GA d 7/19/89 Decatur GA BR TR 5’11 195

  TOM BUTTS (PEE WEE)

  b 8/17/19 Sparta GA d 1/73 Atlanta BR TR 5’7 145

  OTHELLO RENFROE (CHICO)

  b 3/1/23 Newark NJ d 9/3/91 Atlanta BR TR 5’11 175

  INDEX

  Aaron, Hank

  Adams, Buck

  Agee, Tommy

  Alexander, Grover Cleveland

  All Nations

  Allen, A. G.

  Allen, Johnny

  Allen, Newt

  American Expeditionary Forces League

  Anson, Adrian “Cap”

  Anthony, Father (ballplayer priest)

  Appling, Luke

  Apracicio, Luis

  Arango (ballplayer)

  Arlett, Buzz

  Atlanta Black Crackers

  Atlantic City Bacharachs

  Austin Senators

  Austin, Fred

  Babich, Johnny

  Baker, Gene

  Baker, Home Run

  Baltimore Black Sox

  Baltimore Elite Giants

  Baltimore Stars

  Bankhead, Sammy

  Banks, Ernie

  Barnes, Jess

  Barnes, Virgil

  Barhill, Dave

  Barr (umpire)

  Barrett, D.

  Barrow, Ed

  Bass, Red

  Baumgartner, Stan

  Bayne, Bill

  Bearden, Gene

  Becker (coach)

  Beckwith, John

  Bejerano, Abernathy

  Bell, Cool Papa

  Bell, Fred

  Bell, L. Q.

  Bellinger, Charlie

  Bench, Johnny

  Benjamin, Jerry

  Bennett, Sam

  Benson, Gene

  Benswanger, Bill

  Berardino, Johnny

  Berger, Walter

  Berra, Yogi

  Birmingham Black Barons

  Bishop (ballplayer)

  Black, Joe

  Blackman, Henry

  Blackwell, Ewell

  Bodie, Ping

  Bolden, Ed

  Boley, Joe

  Bonura, Zeke

  Boudreau, Lou

  Bowman (pitcher)

  Boyd, Bill

  Boyd, Bob

  Bragana, Ramon

  Branca, Ralph

  Brewer, Chet

  Bridges, Tommy

  Briggs, Walter

  Britt, George

  Brock, Ed

  Brock, Johnny

  Brock, Lou

  Brooklyn Royal Giants

  Brooks, Irving

  Brown, Barney

  Brown, Bobby

  Brown, Buster

  Brown, Dave

  Brown, Jim

  Brown, Larry

  Brown, Mace

  Brown, Mordecai

  Brown, Ray

  Brown, Willard

  Browning, Royal “Skink”

  Bruton, Bill

  Buffalo Giants

  Bunning, Jim

  Burke, Michael

  Burnes, Bob

  Burnett, Tex

  Burt, Ping

  Butts, Pee Wee

  Cambria, Joe

  Camnitz, Howie

  Campanella, Roy

  Canada, Jim

  Cannady, Rev

  Caplinger (pitcher)

  Carresquel, A.

  Carter, Paul

  Case, George

  Cepeda, Orlando

  Cepeda, Perucho

  Chacon, Pelayo

  Chamberlain, Wilt

  Chambers (pitcher)

  Chandler, A. B. “Happy”

  Chandler, Spud

  Chapman, Ray

  Chapman, Sam

  Charleston, Oscar

  Chicago American Giants

  Chicago Cardinals

  Chicago Leland Giants

  Churchill (mayor, Bismarck, N.D.)

  Clark, Eggie

  Clark, Monty

  Clarkson, Bus

  Clemens, Verne

  Clemente, Roberto

  Clendenon, Donn

  Coates, John

  Cobb, Ty

  Cochrane, Mickey

  Cockrell, Phil

  Coimbre, Francisco

  Cole, Robert

  Coley, Sam

  Collins, Eddie

  Combs, Jack

  Cominsky, Charles

  Cominsky, Grace

  Cooper, Andy

  Cooper, M.

  Cooper, Walker

  Cornelius
, William “Sug”

  Coscarat, Peter

  Covaleskie, Stan

  Cramer, Doc

  Crawford, Sam

  Creacy, Dewey

  Crowe, George

  Crutchfield, Jimmy

  Cuban Giants

  Cuban X-Giants

  Culley (ballplayer)

  Cummings (pitcher)

  Currie, Rube

  Curry, Goose

  Dandridge, Ray

  Danning, Harry

  Dauss (pitcher)

  Davenport, Ducky

  Davis, Babe

  Davis, Duo

  Davis, Johnny

  Davis, Peanuts

  Davis, Piper

  Davis, Steel Arm

  Davis, Willie

  Day, Connie

  Day, Leon

  Dean, Jerome “Dizzy”

  Dean, Paul

  Demaree, Frank

  DeMoss, Bingo

  Derringer, Paul

  Detroit Senators

  Detroit Stars

  Dickenson, Murray

  Dickey, Bill

  Dickey, Steel Arm

  Didrikson, Babe

  Dietz, Dick

  Dihigo, Martin

  Dillinger, Bob

  DiMaggio, Joe

  DiMaggio, Vince

  Dismukes, Dizzy

  Dixon, George

  Dixon, Rap

  Doby, Larry

  Doherty, Paul

  Donaldson, John

  Donches, Joe

  Downs, Bunny

  Drake, Bill “Plunk”

  Drebinger, John

  Dreke, Valintin

  Drew, Johnny

  Dropo, Walt

  Drysdale, Don

  Duffy, Hugh

  Dugan, Jumping Joe

  Duncan, Frank

  Dunlap, Johnny

  Durham, Bull

  Durocher, Leo

 

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