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Gary Ashwill
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Hi Vianney, thanks, this is very interesting! It would appear Francisco Sostre was a bit like some Latin American players who preceded him, notably Roberto Estalella, who may have had some African ancestry but was able to cross the color line into white baseball anyway.
Commented Jul 22, 2021 on francisco sostre at Agate Type
francisco sostre
On July 6, 1947, a brief Associated Press item in the Portland Oregonian reported that “Another Negro” had joined organized baseball: (Oregonian, July 6, 1947, p. 33) The Rockford (Illinois) Morning Star (and a number of other newspapers) printed a slightly longer version of the story,...
Claudio and Scott, the Cuban Stars played West Virginia University in Morgantown on May 11, 1909. The Cubans won 5-2 and Méndez did pitch (in relief, it seems). I've got a couple of box scores from Pittsburgh papers, which I'll put up as an update to the original post.
Commented Jul 22, 2021 on This Cuban Stars Broadside Does Not Date from 1920 at Agate Type
This Cuban Stars Broadside Does Not Date from 1920
The above broadside advertising a June 11 game between the Cuban Stars and Marshall University dates, according to Getty Images, to 1920. Okay, to be clear they say “ca. 1920.” But it should be immediately obvious to anyone reading the text that it couldn’t be from anywhere near 1920. And it’s...
Hi Dody, yes, that's Eugene Bremer with the Broadview team in the late 1930s. They also brought in Lionel Decuir to catch for him.
Commented Dec 28, 2020 on eugene bremer at Agate Type
eugene bremer
Eugene Bremer was a pretty successful pitcher in the Negro American League of the 1940s. He played mostly for Cincinnati and Cleveland teams, and his name was usually spelled “Bremmer” in the black press. He suffered a fractured skull in the 1942 car accident that devastated the Cincinnati Buc...
No, it's not revised--the text is still the same.
Commented Nov 3, 2020 on Sol White's Official Base Ball Guide: New Cover at Agate Type
Sol White's Official Base Ball Guide: New Cover
This year has seen the re-release of my edition of Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide by Summer Games Books. It’s worth getting an actual paper copy of the book, as it sports a new cover by the great baseball artist Gary Cieradkowski. Be sure to check out Gary’s account of how he created the...
Claudio Manela
Posted Nov 2, 2020 at Agate Type
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Sol White's Official Base Ball Guide: New Cover
Posted Nov 2, 2020 at Agate Type
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Hi J.C., I'm afraid I've not heard of White leaving any of his writings to the library. If anybody has heard anything about this, post here and let us know.
Commented Nov 2, 2020 on sol white’s official base ball guide at Agate Type
sol white’s official base ball guide
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a new edition of Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide, with an introduction and notes by yours truly. This pamphlet, packed with photos and tiny print, was originally published in 1907 and sold at Philadelphia Giants games. It was the first book devote...
Hello Gloria, I'm afraid I don't know anything about Elijah "Buck" Johnson. Do you know what teams he might have played for?
Commented Nov 2, 2020 on Biographical at Agate Type
Biographical
Back in the early days of this blog, it was pretty common for me to post excitedly about the latest findings in, say, World War I draft cards, or census records, or passenger lists, or old newspapers. Posts about such things have dwindled in the past few years. This isn’t for lack of materia...
Here's the Elites/ABCs photo (Hake's posted one high-res detail--wish they had done that with the whole photo):
https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/57872/1926-INDIANAPOLIS-ABCs-AND-CLEVELAND-ELITES-OPENING-GAME-NEGRO-LEAGUE-PANORAMIC-PHOTO
It was sold again for a lot more money 4 years later by Robert Edward Auctions.
Commented Sep 13, 2020 on The 1926 Cleveland Elites at Agate Type
The 1926 Cleveland Elites
(Chicago Defender, May 29, 1926, p. 10) The above shows the 1926 Cleveland Elites and their bus. Aside from its interest as a photograph of a quite obscure team, it is also one of the earlier images I have seen of a Negro league team bus. The Elites unfortunately did not amount to much—the owne...
The 1926 Cleveland Elites
Posted Sep 10, 2020 at Agate Type
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I'm afraid I don't know where Dr. Thomas's family lived or lives currently. Perhaps someone else out there does know?
Commented Aug 31, 2020 on charles thomas, branch rickey, & the philadelphia giants at Agate Type
charles thomas, branch rickey, & the philadelphia giants
James Tate, in the comments to this post, raises the possibility that “Thomas,” seated to the left of Walter Schlichter in the above photo of the 1910 Philadelphia Giants, is in fact Charles Thomas, Ohio Wesleyan’s first African American athlete, and lifelong friend of Branch Rickey. Thomas ...
Koke Alexander
Posted Aug 26, 2020 at Agate Type
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Hi John, sorry, didn't see your comment until now. No, I don't have the 2nd Cuban Esso guide. I do have 45/46, 46/47, and 48/49 Cuban guides with complete box scores for all the Cuban League games in those seasons (but nothing on Mexico).
Yeah, I've seen the '53 Jet article, and know about Downer (he managed the 1921 Pittsburgh Keystones). The Cobb matter is too complicated to go into further for the moment (I guess I should write something longer about it, although I don't really want to). Suffice it to say there are some social media (and regular media) takes out there I don't like at all, and I'm not a big fan of having my stuff dragooned into supporting them.
Commented Aug 12, 2020 on ty cobb in cuba, 1910 at Agate Type
ty cobb in cuba, 1910
This is a Baseball Chronology entry for November 29, 1910, describing the Detroit Tigers’ visit to Havana that fall: It’s the Cuban’s turn today as Cuban ace Jose Mendez shuts out the Tigers‚ 3-0. On steal attempts‚ Ty Cobb is thrown out three times by Bruce Petway‚ who played last year for the...
John Henry Lloyd & the Georgia Rabbit
Posted Jun 30, 2020 at Agate Type
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White Racial Violence & the Negro Leagues: The Chicago Riot of 1919
Posted Jun 14, 2020 at Agate Type
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Cigars against the Kaiser
Posted Jun 13, 2020 at Agate Type
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Black Baseball & The 1918 Pandemic
Posted Jun 11, 2020 at Agate Type
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Hi Bob, you're right--although Owens has always (at least since Riley) been listed as a lefty, it appears that he was a righthander (as was Sarvis). As for their heights, that's a thornier question. The WW2 draft cards for the three (all filled out in Jacksonville on October 16, 1940, just a few months after the photo you're talking about was published in the Chicago Defender & Cleveland Call & Post) list Henry at 5'5", 148; Sarvis at 5'10", 190; Owens at 5'7", 180. (They are definitely the right draft cards, too.) FWIW, Riley lists Henry at 5'4", 135--combined with the draft card it would appear he was probably shorter than the 5'6" listed for him at Seamheads & bb-ref.
Commented May 29, 2020 on eugene bremer at Agate Type
eugene bremer
Eugene Bremer was a pretty successful pitcher in the Negro American League of the 1940s. He played mostly for Cincinnati and Cleveland teams, and his name was usually spelled “Bremmer” in the black press. He suffered a fractured skull in the 1942 car accident that devastated the Cincinnati Buc...
Yeah, after due consideration I agree it's Fats Jenkins. The facial expression is one that's not duplicated in other photos of him, and he's also much younger in this picture than in most images of him.
Commented Apr 28, 2020 on Fats Jenkins at Agate Type
Fats Jenkins
Stephen V. Rice has published a good SABR biography of Clarence “Fats” Jenkins, the basketball and baseball star of 1920s and 1930s New York City. A couple of months back he wrote to me about the photograph we use for Jenkins at the Seamheads Negro Leagues DB, saying that he didn’t think it was ...
I would love to see an image of the Grant Johnson card.
Commented Apr 28, 2020 on the first african american players on baseball cards at Agate Type
the first african american players on baseball cards
Nit-picking time. This fine article about the lefthanded pitcher Jimmy Claxton, the mixed-race native of British Columbia who managed to sneak across the color line briefly with the Oakland Oaks in 1916 by passing as Indian, says that Claxton was the “first black man on a baseball card” (a clai...
Return of the Lost Island Giants
Posted Feb 26, 2020 at Agate Type
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String Bean Williams
Posted Oct 3, 2019 at Agate Type
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Dobie Moore: One Last Word
Posted Sep 10, 2019 at Agate Type
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Josh Gibson, Cuban Stars
Posted Sep 8, 2019 at Agate Type
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Bumpus Jones: Passing as White?
Posted Aug 31, 2019 at Agate Type
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