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Gary Ashwill
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William G. Nunn, Sr.
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William G. Nunn III, who played Radio Raheem in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, has passed away of leukemia at the sadly early age of 63. Nunn’s name is, or should be, very familiar to historians of black baseball,... Continue reading
Posted 3 days ago at Agate Type
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Baseball & Haiti
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Some months ago Mark Aubrey sent me this fascinating 1928 photo of the General Directorate of Public Works baseball team in Gonaïves, Haiti (from the University of Florida archives). Its fascination stems in part from the fact that we don’t... Continue reading
Posted Aug 31, 2016 at Agate Type
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Cool Papa’s Rookie Season
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Looking at two interviews with Cool Papa Bell (one in John Holway’s Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues, the other part of the University of Missouri-St. Louis’s oral history project), one is struck by how much he talked about... Continue reading
Posted Jul 15, 2016 at Agate Type
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Dobie Moore in the Wild West
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I’ve written quite a bit about tracking down the death of Kansas City Monarchs shortstop Dobie Moore; here’s something about his life, an anecdote from 1925 I don’t think I’ve seen anyone use yet. It puts at least a little... Continue reading
Posted Jun 29, 2016 at Agate Type
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Ben Taylor & the 1923 Washington Potomacs
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A few months ago I was hired by Jimmy Allen to research the above photograph, which he’d had in his collection for decades. With his permission, I’m presenting my findings here, because it’s both a beautiful photograph and historically significant.... Continue reading
Posted Jun 1, 2016 at Agate Type
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P. D. Arnett & the Chicago Unions
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Jay Sokol of Black College Nines recently wrote me about this 1899 Chicago Unions promotional calendar, and asked about the player named “Arnett” on the bottom left: Coincidentally, I had been looking at this same calendar (displayed at The National... Continue reading
Posted May 22, 2016 at Agate Type
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The Scar on Ollie Marcell’s Nose
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This may be old news to some, but I recently ran across this World War II draft registration card filled out in 1942 by Oliver Marcell, then living in Denver, Colorado, where he would pass away a few years later... Continue reading
Posted May 19, 2016 at Agate Type
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Rube Foster in Kankakee
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Jimmy Yancey & Rube Foster If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out ESPN’s “The Diary of Myles Thomas,” an account of the 1927 Yankees from the (fictionalized) perspective of a minor figure on the team, the... Continue reading
Posted May 11, 2016 at Agate Type
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Cuban Giants, 1910
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A few weeks ago James Tate alerted me to this stunning postcard of a Cuban Giants team, with the players identified on the reverse, for sale on eBay: And here is the reverse side, which identifies the players: Standing, L... Continue reading
Posted May 3, 2016 at Agate Type
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Andrew Williams, Right Field, 1918
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Last fall Brian Campf acquired this postcard: At first you might think that the identity of this player is obvious. There was an Andrew Williams, a pitcher who sometimes played in the outfield, who was active in 1918. That would... Continue reading
Posted Apr 29, 2016 at Agate Type
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Negro Leagues DP Update: 1940 NNL & NAL
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After two years of relative stability, 1940 proved to be a difficult season for the Negro leagues, as the trickle of players defecting to Venezuela or (especially) Mexico became a flood. Many of black baseball’s biggest stars—Josh Gibson, Cool Papa... Continue reading
Posted Apr 25, 2016 at Agate Type
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Topeka Jack Johnson, Part II
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The 1907 Chicago Union Giants. Standing L to R: Will Horn, Topeka Jack Johnson. Seated, middle row, L to R: Albert Toney, Joe Green, Jimmy Smith, George Hopkins, Ginney Robinson, unknown. Seated, front row, L to R: unknown, Sam Strothers.... Continue reading
Posted Apr 6, 2016 at Agate Type
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Negro Leagues DB Update: 1939 NNL & NAL
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This week we’re adding further results of our collaboration with the Negro League Researchers and Authors Group (Larry Lester and Wayne Stivers) with the unveiling of the 1939 Negro league season. We’ve got both leagues, the NNL and NAL, plus... Continue reading
Posted Mar 21, 2016 at Agate Type
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Topeka Jack Johnson, Part I
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John Thomas “Jack” Johnson was a boxer and baseball player in the early 1900s. He had the misfortune of flourishing at exactly the same time as another Jack Johnson who was known to dabble in the sweet science. Consequently he... Continue reading
Posted Feb 21, 2016 at Agate Type
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Negro Leagues DB Update: 1918/19 Cuban League
The 1918/19 Cuban winter season was the only time Tinti Molina’s Cuban Stars, normally a summertime traveling team in the United States, competed under that name for the regular Cuban League championship. (Molina would enter teams that were essentially his... Continue reading
Posted Feb 17, 2016 at Agate Type
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Negro Leagues DB Update: 1925 ECL & NNL
In 1925 the Hilldale Club got its revenge on the Kansas City Monarchs, with the help of a toddler wielding a sewing needle. The year before, the Monarchs had ridden their luck to a thrilling 5 games to 4 victory... Continue reading
Posted Feb 3, 2016 at Agate Type
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Dobie Moore Laid to Rest
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It looks like we have reached a conclusion in the case of the Kansas City Monarchs’ great shortstop Walter “Dobie” Moore, whose career ended when he was shot in the leg in 1926. I summarized the current state of affairs... Continue reading
Posted Jan 29, 2016 at Agate Type
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Negro Leagues DB Update: 1938 Negro National League
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Buck Leonard In 1938 the Homestead Grays solidified their dominance of the Negro National League. Winning both halves at a trot, Cumberland Posey’s powerhouse team had essentially killed off interest in the league by September. At the end of the... Continue reading
Posted Jan 25, 2016 at Agate Type
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44th & Parkside Ballpark, Philadelphia, 1942
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Kevin Johnson has found aerial images of the 44th & Parkside Ballpark, also known as Penmar Park or the PRR-YMCA Athletic Field, home of the Philadelphia Stars for most of their existence. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad adjacent... Continue reading
Posted Jan 16, 2016 at Agate Type
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The 1922 Negro National League Winter Meeting Revisited
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Dwayne Isgrig has done some digging around and has found some additional information on the photograph of the 1922 Negro National League winter meeting originally posted here. Here is what Dwayne has to say: •••• “As you noted: Back row,... Continue reading
Posted Jan 13, 2016 at Agate Type
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Sam Cooper
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(1926 Harrisburg Giants, from the Robert Edward Auctions site) Sam Cooper, a right-handed pitcher from the 1920s, has often been mixed up with another right-hander with the same last name who played for some of the same teams: Darltie Cooper.... Continue reading
Posted Dec 28, 2015 at Agate Type
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Curry & Currie
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Reuben “Rube” Curry was a top-notch right-handed pitcher for several winning ballclubs in the 1920s Negro and Cuban leagues, including the Kansas City Monarchs, Hilldale Club, Santa Clara Leopards, and Chicago American Giants. In the addendum to Riley’s Biographical Encyclopedia... Continue reading
Posted Dec 17, 2015 at Agate Type
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The 1906 Brooklyn Royal Giants: Two Photographs
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Two photographs of the 1906 Brooklyn Royal Giants exist—one showing them in suits, which was printed in Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide in 1907 (on p. 86 in the original), and another showing them in baseball uniforms. I’m not... Continue reading
Posted Dec 16, 2015 at Agate Type
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Cristóbal Torriente: Buried in Queens After All?
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Here’s an update on Ralph Carhart’s research into the mystery of Cristóbal Torriente’s burial. To recap: the great Cuban outfielder spent his final days as a tuberculosis victim sequestered in Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island in the East River.... Continue reading
Posted Dec 14, 2015 at Agate Type
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The Man Who Discovered John Donaldson
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John Donaldson with the Indianapolis ABCs (representing the Royal Poinciana Hotel), Palm Beach, Florida, 1916. An email arrived today from Pete Gorton of the Donaldson Network asking about one Elbert R. Hall, a former player for the “New York Cuban... Continue reading
Posted Nov 30, 2015 at Agate Type
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