!['The only known photograph of the 1935 Bismarck town team shows manager Neil Churchill, kneeling in the center, and pitcher Satchel Paige standing behind him.
Tom Dunkel writes about this Bismarck team in his new book, Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball's Color Line.
Legendary baseball players such as Satchel Paige, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, and Quincy Trouppe left the Negro Leagues to play ball for the team.
One man formed the team, Dunkel tells guest host Don Gonyea on NPR`s "All Things Considered". Neil Churchill, a successful automobile dealership owner in Bismarck, paid out of his own pocket to put together the best baseball team that he could — regardless of race.
Interview Highlights
On catcher Quincy Trouppe
"Quincy was an interesting person. ... He was only 20 years old at the time, somewhat idealistic, still of an age where he spoke of baseball as a mother and father and best friend all wrapped up into one. ... He went out to Bismarck to get an opportunity to play everyday. ... He wanted to go out there to test himself to play ball, and that was the best opportunity for him."
On Satchel Paige arriving in Bismarck
"He pitches his first game on August the 13th; this is against Jamestown, the arch rival. ... It was that classic, small-town wooden ballpark. ... It was packed to the gills that night, and Paige, as usual, his fastball was working that day. I believe it was 18 strikeouts that day. People were getting at the ballpark three hours before the first pitch to get a good seat to see those teams when they were really going at it in '33, '34, '35."
On the integrated team, but segregated town
"That was baseball in Bismarck with that team. ... You're not going to find the same sort of prejudice you found in the Great South, but it was clear. There was certain parts of town [where] it wouldn't be a good idea for a black man to be at night. ... They could still not get served a meal in restaurants."
On "Ivory Hunters"
"[The scouts] were called 'Ivory Hunters,' and the reason for that was because of the segregation of baseball. They couldn't sign black players; they could only sign white players. ... Satchel Paige finally got in in '48 [after the color line was broken in the major leagues]. ... He was 42 years old. He played five years. ... Quincy Trouppe also finally made it to the major leagues. The Cleveland Indians signed him."
On the single team photo
"There is one photograph that was taken by a newspaper photographer before the team left for this big Wichita tournament in August of 1935, and you can see he arranged the players. Infielders are in front ... which is mostly white players. The outfielders and the pitchers are in the back, and there is one white person in that back row who is the left fielder Moose Johnson. ... He is standing next to Satchel Paige ... and Moose has his big paw of a right hand on Satchel's shoulder."
"That ... is a precursor of an iconic baseball moment which occurred early in the spring of 1947. ... Pee Wee Reese is standing by second base with Jackie Robinson and he puts his arm around Robinson's shoulder. That was Pee Wee Reese signaling to his Dodger teammates, and to the rest of the country, that Jackie Robinson is my teammate ... this is all going to be OK."...(text excerpt from National Public Radio program)
(Photo Courtesy Hake's Americana & Collectibles/Atlantic Monthly Press)'](./1-double-2_files/17861585_1471205579589383_2823151005113795071_n.jpg)
!['Negro League featured piece by Kyle McNary
Norman “Turkey” Stearnes
He ran like a bird flapping his wings, hit home runs with the strength of a bull, and was as quiet as a field mouse. He was Hall of Fame outfielder Norman “Turkey” Stearnes.
Turkey, according to fellow Negro Leaguers, "played a whole lotta center field." In other words, he had great range. Turkey, who got his nickname because he flapped his elbows as he ran, had great foot speed, and caught everything from foul line to foul line. Many compared him favorably to Willie Mays. Some said he was better.
Teammate and opponent for many years, Double Duty Radcliffe, remarked, "Everyone knows that Cool Papa Bell was the fastest man, but Cool Papa Bell couldn't field with Turkey Stearnes. Cool was faster, but Turkey Stearnes was one of the best fly ball men."
It was hitting the long ball, though, that Turkey was most noted for. Built slender and muscular (6’-0”, 165 lbs), like a left-handed Eric Davis, Stearnes used an odd batting stance (with his front foot turned heel down and toe pointed straight up), and swung like Carl Yastrzemski, producing tremendous bat speed.
Stearnes is credited with hitting more career homers (181) in Negro League play than Josh Gibson, but Stearnes hit for a high average, too! Stearnes once collected seven consecutive hits off the nearly unhittable Satchel Paige, hit .344 lifetime in the Negro Leagues, and hit over .350 against Major Leaguers in exhibitions.
Stearnes grew up in Nashville and went to Pearl High School where he was a left-handed pitcher on the baseball team. When his father died, Stearnes quit school and was soon signed by his hometown Nashville Elite Giants of the Negro Southern League. In 1921 and '22, Stearnes played with the independent Montgomery (Alabama) Grey Sox, who also boasted star pitcher Steel Arm Dickey, but Turkey struggled at bat in limited time; about 25 years later Willie Mays would play for the Grey Sox.
In 1923, Stearnes made it to the big time in the Negro National League with the Detroit Stars, and played with them for seven consecutive seasons, and nine seasons over his career. With Detroit, Stearnes became one of the top power hitters in baseball, averaging a homer every 16 at bats, the same rate that Hank Aaron and Lou Gehrig boasted. Stearnes owns the Detroit Stars record book, ranking at the top in homers, RBIs and slugging.
In '23, Stearnes batted .362 with 17 homers in 279 league at bats, a rate that would give him between 35 and 40 homers in a full Major League season. Stearnes followed with morengreat years in Detroit with marks of .350 and 8 homers in '24, .364 and 19 homers in '25, .387 and 19 homers in '26, .358 and 19 homers in '27, .322 and 23 homers in '28, and .402 and 16 homers in '29. Meanwhile, Stearnes played winter ball most years, and once belted four homers in one game in the California Winter League.
Against all competition (league and non-league opponents, including white semi-pros), Turkey often eclipsed the 50-homer mark per season. “I hit so many, I never counted them,” he once told Negro League historian John Holway. And Turkey didn't just hit great numbers of homers (he led his league seven times!), but he also hit them far!
"Oh, he broke the record at Hamtramck Stadium! [Detroit]" remembered Radcliffe, who played with Stearnes with the Detroit Stars in '28 and '29.
Despite being one of the top players in the world during the 1920s and 30s, Stearnes had to work winters in a Detroit auto plant in order to make ends meet.
After short stints with the New York Lincoln Giants and Kansas City Monarchs, Stearnes spent several seasons with the Chicago American Giants where he continued to slug over .500.
In the first East-West All-Star game in 1933, Stearnes was the leading vote-getter among outfielders, and drew more votes that all players except pitcher Willie Foster and first baseman Oscar Charleston. Leading off and representing the Chicago American Giants, Stearnes went two for five with a double as his West squad won, 11-7.
In 1934, Stearnes was recruited to play with the Kansas City Monarchs when they entered the Denver Post Tournament. Though they lost in the final to the white House of David team (with the addition of Satchel Paige!), Stearnes received a watch when he was named the best player of the tournament, leading his team with eight hits and three doubles in seven games. Each player on the Monarchs made $150 in prize money for their second place finish, about $2500 in today's dollars. Satchel was named most outstanding pitcher in the tournament (44 strikeouts in 28 innings), received a coffee percolator, and each member of the House of David team made $406, about $7200 in today’s dollars!
Stearnes played in the East-West Game again in '34, '35, '37 and '39, all representing the American Giants, and batted .211 in 19 East-West at bats. In the '33 game, Stearnes was credited with being the first batter to strike out in the East-West Game (against pitcher Sam Streeter), and collecting the first RBI (driving in Sam Bankhead in the third inning).
Stearnes played his final seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs in '39 and '40, joining Ted Strong and Willard Brown in the outfield, one of the hardest-hitting trios in league history.
Turkey was a quiet man who didn't "run with the other ball players much," according to teammates, but instead concentrated fully on baseball. Turkey had a few idiosyncrasies, including talking to his bat and not allowing anyone else to use it, and was known as a vicious slider.
Turkey was married to Nettie May, the niece of Negro League star Double Duty Radcliffe, and died in 1979 at age 78.
The soft-spoken superstar finally received the recognition he deserved when he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
-Kyle McNary (http://www.pitchblackbaseball.com/)'](./1-double-2_files/12088418_495684150597504_7912108687941364514_n.jpg)
!['Negro League featured piece by Kyle McNary
Buck Leonard - was a great ALL kind of hitter!
When I asked Double Duty Radcliffe who he’d want up to bat with the game on the line, he didn’t hesitate: Buck Leonard! “Was he a great clutch hitter?” I asked. “Ha! Great ALL kind of hitter!” was the response.
Though he didn’t quite have the raw power of Josh Gibson, Walter “Buck” Leonard was one of the most dangerous hitters in Negro League history, combining a high average with home runs.
Leonard was born and died in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and in the 90 years in between he was one of the best first basemen in history, and a fine gentleman.
Leonard started his baseball career playing sandlot ball in Rocky Mount while working in a railroad shop, and in 1933 Leonard was recruited by old-time star Ben Taylor to play with the Brooklyn Royal Giants, once a top team, but by '33 just a strong semipro club. Taylor, who was considered the top-fielding first baseman of his day, passed along his tricks of the trade to his recruit. The next season, at the advanced rookie age of 26, Leonard joined the Homestead Grays and would stay with them until they folded two decades later.
Leonard and Josh Gibson, batting third and fourth, respectively, in the Grays' lineup for a decade, were the Negro League's version of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, and the Grays' lineup, which also included Sam Bankhead, Cool Papa Bell, Howard Easterling, Jud Wilson and Vic Harris, was considered the Negro Leagues' murderers row, winning nine consecutive pennants in the 30s and 40s.
Leonard did not look the part of a slugger, standing only 5’-10” and weighing about 170 pounds in his early years, but he filled out to about 190 pounds, and his left-handed swing, similar to sweet-swinging Billy Williams, was a thing of beauty.
“You couldn’t shoot a fastball in a cannon past him,” recalled Negro Leaguer Sherwood Brewer. Another Negro Leaguer recalled a tape-measure homer that Leonard hit: “It went over the fence, over a row of trees, hit the water tower, and it rained for two weeks!”
Leonard practically owns the East-West All-Star game record book, playing in the most games (13), scoring the most runs (9), hitting the most homers (3), most RBIs (14), most total bases (27), even the most stolen bases in a single East-West game (2). He also ranks second in East-West at bats (48), and walks (7).
Leonard's homers, in 1937 against Ted Trent, in 1941 against Double Duty Radcliffe, and in 1943 against Theolic Smith, are some of the biggest moments in black all-star history.
Besides being an outstanding hitter, Leonard was as slick a fielder as ever played the position in the Negro Leagues, and he boasted a strong throwing arm, and often cut down runners attempting to go to second or third on bunts. Though it's hard to compare anyone to the great Lou Gehrig, Leonard was most certainly a superior fielder, and came darn close as a slugger.
Leonard, like Gehrig, was quiet and humble, and preferred to stay away from the limelight. As a result, he was very popular with teammates and the press. One reporter, Wendell Smith, raved about Leonard's hitting, fielding, and the fact that after baseball he hoped to become a mortician back in Rocky Mount.
Besides being a powerful team, the Grays were known as one of the most traveled teams in the Negro Leagues. “Every day in a different town, sometimes three games a day,” remembered Leonard. In 1938, the Grays traveled 30,000 miles and played 210 games. For home games, the Grays played at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field or the Washington Senator’s Griffith Stadium, but had to dress and shower at a “black YMCA” because they weren’t allowed to use the Big League park’s locker rooms.
Sportswriter Sam Lacy of the Washington Tribune newspaper, tried to convince Senators’ owner Clark Griffith to integrate his team in the 1930s, to no avail, but remarked, “Here were great players like Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Cool Papa Bell coming into Griffith Stadium every Thursday and Sunday night when his team was away [on the road]. These players belonged in the Major Leagues.”
In 1937, Leonard batted .383 with 36 homers, and in 1938, Leonard was batting .480 in July until he cooled off a bit and finished at .354. In 1939, Leonard finished the season above the magical .400 mark (.417), one of only a handful of players to do so.
In ’42, Leonard hit 42 homers in all games, and helped the Grays to their first of four consecutive Negro League World Series, winning it all in ’43 and ’44 against the Birmingham Black Barons.
In ’44, Leonard tied Gibson for the league home run title and hit .500 in the World Series. In 1945, Leonard hit .375 but was nipped by Gibson for the home run crown, but in 1948 he led the league in homers (13 in league games and 42 overall) and average (.395) and the Grays won the last Negro League World Series, again against the Black Barons.
In his prime, Leonard made $1000 a month (almost $10,000 in today’s dollars) and two dollars a day meal money (about $20 in today’s dollars) in the Negro Leagues, making him probably the third highest paid player after Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. He also played many seasons in foreign countries (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela), though he always maintained that “there was no place like Rocky Mount!”
Leonard batted .341 lifetime in league games, and .382 in exhibitions against Major Leaguers. Double Duty was right. Leonard was a great ALL kind of hitter!
Leonard played minor league ball for a few seasons after the Negro Leagues faltered, the last with Durango of the Central Mexican League in 1955 when he batted .312 with 13 homers in 62 games at age 47.
Bill Veeck once offered Leonard a contract with his St. Louis Browns, but the classy first baseman was in his 40s and declined, saying he “didn’t want to embarrass anyone or hurt the chances of those who might follow.”
Leonard was given a high school diploma from Rocky Mount High School in 1959, at age 52, as there were no high school in Rocky Mount for African-Americans in the 1920s when Leonard was high school age.
After his playing days were over, Leonard worked as a truant officer and physical education teacher. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972 (the same year as his teammate Josh Gibson), and died in 1997.
-Kyle McNary (http://www.pitchblackbaseball.com/)'](./1-double-2_files/11990510_486359031530016_514394982293698243_n.jpg)
!['Ted Radcliffe
Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (July 7, 1902 – August 11, 2005 (aged 103)) was a professional baseball player in the Negro leagues. He is one of only a handful of professional baseball players who lived past their 100th birthdays. Playing for more than 30 teams, Radcliffe, according to one biographer, had more than 4,000 hits and 400 home runs, won about 500 games and had 4,000 strike-outs. He played as a pitcher and a catcher, became a manager, and in his old age became a popular ambassador for the game. At his death he was thought to be the oldest living professional baseball player, but it was later discovered that Silas Simmons was born seven years earlier in 1895.
Damon Runyon coined the nickname "Double Duty" because Radcliffe played as a catcher and as a pitcher in the successive games of a 1932 Negro League World Series doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Monroe Monarchs. In the first of the two games at Yankee Stadium, Radcliffe caught the pitcher Satchel Paige for a shutout and then pitched a shutout in the second game. Runyon wrote that Radcliffe "was worth the price of two admissions." Radcliffe considered his year with the 1932 Pittsburgh Crawfords to be one of the highlights of his career. The Crawfords beat the Monarchs 5–1 in the best-of-nine series.[1]
Of the six East-West All-Star Games in which he played, Radcliffe pitched in three and was a catcher in three. He also pitched in two and caught in six other All-Star games. He hit .376 (11-for-29) in nine exhibition games against major leaguers.[1] Based in part on this, he would sometimes claim to be the greatest baseball player of all time. Despite this claim, he is not a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
(they say we are related i remember as a child hearing that, we had famliy from Al. named spelled different what the hey..)'](./1-double-2_files/12734072_10205921873386236_2560224706922964753_n.jpg)
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As we near the end of our month-long "Salute to the Negro Leagues," I wanted to post this neat action shot of Josh Gibson while a member of the Homestead Grays evading a tag at the plate by catcher Ted "Double-Duty" Radcliffe. I posted this one before in the comments section of one of the articles, but I think it deserves center stage on its own.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any details about it, but it's a great photo. The stadium sort of looks like it could be old Comiskey and it appears to be packed, so it's possible it's from an East-West All-Star game. It's autographed by Double Duty, and there's a web site where you can actually buy it for $47!
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