Today
we celebrate Hall of Fame Negro League pitcher Bill Foster, younger
half-brother of legend Rube Foster, but no slouch on the baseball
diamond himself:
Foster the younger spent 14 seasons in the Negro Leagues, compiling a
record of 143-69, including a run of 23 wins in a row during the 1926
season while playing for the Chicago American Giants.
He would win 26 games that year, and led the team to the World Series
with an incredible performance against the Kansas City Monarchs when he
pitched both games of a double-header, posting complete game wins of 1-0
and 5-0 against another HOFer, Bullet Joe Rogan.
In 1931 he had another brilliant season, finishing up at 23-5 with nine
games of 10+ strikeouts against opponents, with a high of 16.
He’d retire after the 1936 season, spent with the Pittsburgh Crawfords,
as a two-time Champion (1926 & 1927), as well as two-time all-star
(1933 & 1934), then would go on to excel outside of baseball,
spending 1960 through 1977 as the dean and baseball coach at Alcorn
Agricultural and Mechanical College in Mississippi.
In 1996, Cooperstown came calling, electing him to the Hall and joining
older brother Rube and securing his baseball legacy for all times.