NEGRO LEAGUES TO MAJOR LEAGUES: WILLIE MAYS

On the blog today, we add to my 1972 "Negro Leagues to Major Leagues" sub-set, as a 25th anniversary celebration (at that time) of Jackie Robinson's MLB debut of 1947, with all-time great Willie Mays:

Mays made his professional debut as a high school kid back in 1948 with the Birmingham Barons in 1948, and would suit up for them until signed with the New York Giants in 1950.

In 13 games for the Barons that first year, Mays hit .233 with 10 hits over 43 at-bats, picking up six runs batted in and scoring six.

Once in the Giants' Minor League system in 1950, he just tore the cover off the ball, hitting .353 in Class-B and a torrid .477 in Triple-A before getting his call-up in 1951, cruising to a Rookie of the Year Award that season, hitting 20 homers with 68 RBIs and a .274 batting average.

As for the rest of his career, really at this point what else needs to be said about arguably the best all-around player in baseball history. 3000+ hits, 660 homers, 1900+ R.B.I.'s., 1951 Rookie of the Year and N.L. M.V.P. in 1954 and 1965. But he was much more than just stats. He was the "Say Hey Kid".
By the time the 1970's hit, he was a walking legend of the sport, and being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 was the cherry on top of it all.

NEGRO LEAGUES TO MAJOR LEAGUES: ROY CAMPANELLA

Good day everyone.

Today's blog post has us adding the great Roy Campanella to my 1972 "NBL-MLB" thread, celebrating greats who began their careers in the Negro Leagues:

Incredibly, Campanella began his career at the age of 15 with the Washington Elite Giants in 1937, when he appeared in six games, hitting .167 over 18 at-bats.

He'd appear in nine games the next season, before jumping up to 16 games in 1939, then 35, 37 and 41 games over the next three respective years.

In 1944 he would lead in batting, hitting .388 over 34 games for the Baltimore Elite Giants and Philadelphia Stars, making his second All-Star team, still only 22 years of age.

In 1945 he dominated again, leading all Negro Leagues with 51 runs scored, 18 doubles and 47 runs batted in while hitting .369 and making another All-Star team.

After a stint in the Venezuelan league in 1946, Campanella went to the Brooklyn Dodgers Minor League system after Branch Rickey began the process of breaking the color barrier.

According to many sources, Campanella's easy-going personality made him Rickey's first choice to be the first African-American player, though eventually deciding on Jackie Robinson.

Nevertheless, once Campanella began his Major League career, he would certainly NOT disappoint the Brooklyn faithful: three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Gil Hodges.

Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year career.

During his second M.V.P. season, Campy led the Brooklyn offense by driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103 runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.

Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home, flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process, rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.

In my opinion, considering his delayed MLB action, "Campy" would be my pick as the greatest catcher in MLB history, even in front of Johnny Bench, though Josh Gibson would top them all.

NEGRO LEAGUES TO MAJOR LEAGUES: MINNIE MINOSO

The next player featured in my fun thread celebrating guys that played in the Negro Leagues before the Majors, the great and under-appreciated Minnie Minoso:

The "Cuban Comet" spent three years with the New York Cubans from 1946 through 1948 before coming to the Cleveland Indians to begin his excellent run in the Majors.

In 1947 he hit .356 while a year later he hit at a .344 clip, leading the league with six triples.

I'm so happy that Minoso is finally a Hall of Famer, and I always felt the stunts in 1976 and 1980 may have even hurt his chances of getting into Cooperstown.
From 1951 to 1961 he had a wonderful Major League career, leading the league in stolen bases three times, triples three times, and hits and doubles once each, while also driving in over 100 runs four times and topping 20 homers four times.
Eight times in that span he would top a .300 batting average, and in 1951 many consider him the true American League Rookie of the Year when he hit .326 split between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, while topping the league in triples with 14 and stolen bases with 31.
Along the way he was named to seven All-Star games, winning three Gold Gloves as well, funny enough finishing fourth in the A.L. MVP race four times.
Of course, 12 years after his last playing days, in 1976, he ended up going 1-for-8 at the plate as a 50 year-old, then coming back in 1980 at the age of 54 and going hitless in two at-bats.
Nevertheless, Minoso finished his career with a .298 average, with 1963 hits over 6579 at-bats, along with 186 homers and 205 stolen bases while also topping 1000 runs scored and RBIs, 1136 & 1023 respectively.

If only he didn't have to wait until his age 27 season to show the ENTIRE country what he could do on a ballfield.

 

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: ERNIE BANKS

Today on the blog, we celebrate the great Ernie Banks and his time as a Negro League player before he took the Majors by storm, added to my 1972 sub-set featuring stars who had their start in the Negro Baseball Leagues:

Banks, whose father Eddie also played in the Negro leagues right after World War I, began his professional baseball career as a member of the Kansas City Monarchs in 1950, still a teenager.

Military service interrupted his playing time in 1951 and 1952 before he rejoined the team in 1953, but only for a little while, as he would be playing with the Chicago Cubs by September of that year, where he would stay until 1971, becoming "Mr. Cub", becoming a BASEBALL fan-favorite until his death in 2015.

I can't find any statistics for Banks' time in the NBL, but his time in MLB is certainly well-documented!

The most beloved baseball player in the North Side of Chicago, Banks was a two-time Most Valuable Player (1958 and 1959), with 500+ home runs, 2500+ hits, 11-time all-star and all-around great guy.

Oh, I may as well throw in the 1300+ runs scored, 1600+ runs batted in, 400+ doubles and 90 triples he chipped in as well, setting him on a straight path to the Baseball Hall of Fame with his 1977 induction, a no-brainer in anyone's book!

"Mr. Cub", wish there were more like him!

Banks, along with others like Buck O'Neill and Yogi Berra, were truly treasures of the sport and of life in general, who were lovable by all, and should be cherished forever.

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: LARRY DOBY

On the blog today, adding to a fun thread I started somewhat recently, a 1972 sub-set celebrating ballplayers that began their careers in the Negro Leagues before coming to the N.L./A.L. later on, this time the great Larry Doby, the first African-American player in American League history:

Doby began his professional career at the age of 18, suiting up for the Newark Eagles at second base in 1942, putting in parts of three seasons before heading off to the Military in 1945.

He'd be back to playing ball in 1946 with Newark, and would lead the Negro Leagues with 85 hits, 10 triples  and 138 total bases while making his first All-Star team.

In 1947, just a few months after Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color-barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League, Doby would do the same in the American League, donning the uniform of the Cleveland Indians, appearing in 29 games.

Though his initial start with Cleveland was a bit rough, to the tune of a .156 batting average over 32 at-bats, Doby would immediately find his stroke in 1948, hitting .301 for the eventual World Champions, scoring 83 runs while hitting 14 homers with 23 doubles and nine triples, even garnering some MVP attention at season's end.

He would make seven All-Star teams while with Cleveland, with MVP consideration in four of those campaigns.

He'd lead the A.L. in homers twice with 32 in both 1952 and 1954, while leading the league with 126 RBIs in the latter season, one of five seasons he'd top 100.

Never given enough praise for his ground-breaking MLB debut, often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson's debut just before him, I'm happy to see his place in Big League history getting more and more attention as time passes.

Thankfully, he was also given his rightful place in the Hall of Fame, having been selected for enshrinement in 1998, though far too late in my opinion, but at least before he passed away, which he did on June 18th of 2003 at the age of 79.

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: JACKIE ROBINSON

On the blog today, we add the great Jackie Robinson to my thread celebrating players who made their professional debuts in the Negro Leagues before playing the Majors, of course he being the man who started it all:

Before Robinson made baseball history in 1947 as the first African-American to play in the Majors, he suited up with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945 while he was still in college.

He played in only 47 games, but excelled, hitting .387 with 5 home runs and 13 stolen bases, even appearing in the East-West All Star Game.

Garnering interest from a few Major League teams, Robinson eventually signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and spent 1946 in their Minor League system, playing for the Montreal Royals of the International League.

Of course, the rest is history, as Robinson would make his MLB debut in 1947 and immediately make an impact, taking home the Rookie of the Year Ward, while also winning MVP two years later.

Just an incredible man who had the strength that most of us do not possess, to handle all that was thrown at him solely for the color of his skin.

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: HANK AARON

On the blog today, we add the great Hank Aaron to my new thread celebrating Major League stars who began their careers in the Negro Leagues:

Turns out Aaron would be the last player active in the Majors that played in the NBL, retiring in 1977 after one of the greatest playing careers any baseball fan would ever see.

Aaron made his professional debut with the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League in 1951, playing for three months and is credited according to some sources as hitting .366 with five home runs and 33 RBIs over 26 games.

Incredibly, based on his play there, he was offered two contracts, one by the Boston Braves, and the other by the New York Giants, who had a young Willie Mays on their team.

As Aaron remembered years later:

"I had the Giants' contract in my hand. But the Braves offered fifty dollars a month more. That's the only thing that kept Willie Mays and me from being teammates – fifty dollars".

Can you even IMAGINE what that could have been like?!

Aaron was the model of consistency, never hitting 50 homers in a season but hitting 40 eight times and 30 fifteen times! He also drove in 100 runs in a season 11 times while never topping more than 132, and had 3771 career hits while topping 200 in any year three times out of his 23.
For 21 consecutive seasons, Aaron was selected for the National League all-star team, and garnered M.V.P. votes nineteen straight years!

Think about that, every single year between 1955 and 1973 the man got some attention for Most Valuable Player. That is incredible!

L-E-G-E-N-D!

NEGRO LEAGUE TO MAJOR LEAGUE STARS: ELSTON HOWARD

Fun new thread to start today, celebrating Major League stars who played in the Negro Leagues, beginning with New York Yankees legend Elston Howard:

Howard was only 19 when he suited up for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1948 before heading off to serve in the military.

He's credited with appearing in 20 games that year, hitting .250 with 20 hits over 80 at-bats, driving in 13 runs while scoring 16.

He would eventually break the Yankees' color-barrier in 1955, immediately showing he belonged, with a .290 batting average and 10 homers in only 97 games, driving in 43 runs and scoring 33.

Two seasons later he would make his first All-Star team, the first of nine straight seasons doing so, and of course in 1963 would also be named the A.L. MVP when he hit 28 home runs with 85 RBIs while hitting .287, taking home the first of two straight Gold Gloves for his work behind the plate.

After a nice 14-year career as a player, finishing up his playing days as a member of the Boston Red Sox, he returned to the Bronx as a coach, a position he would hold for the next ten years until his untimely death from heart disease in 1980.

Four years later the Yankees would retire Howard's #32 in 1984, and I was actually at that ceremony as a young teenaged kid of 15.