The first professional baseball league for players of color was formed in 1887 as a minor league. It lasted just two weeks because of low attendance. It would be 1920 before the Negro National League was formed by Rube Foster. In the 19th century, blacks were kept out of the professional leagues as the owners banded together to keep it that way. Colored people would have to play as independent teams. Foster, who was a pitcher while he played, had started playing the game in 1902. The league would stay in existence until 1951 after Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947. There were seven leagues which were recognized as major leagues. The Negro American League (1937-48), Negro National League II (1933-48), East-West League 1932, Negro Southern League 1932, Negro National League 1920-51, American Negro League 1929, and the Eastern Colored League (1923-28).
Statistics for all of these leagues and games are spotty at best. For one example, Josh Gibson, the great catcher and power hitter, is said to have hit over 800 homers in his time as a player. Baseball reference credit’s him with 166. Baseball reference also shows he never played more than 69 games in any one season. But the way the leagues were run, teams would play a ton of extra games, some as many as 200 a year to just survive. These were all bus leagues, and travel was not easy. It was not unusual for a team to sometimes play a triple header.
Jackie coming to the majors ended all of that, and it is a real shame that the greatest players in the Negro Leagues never got the chance to play professional baseball against the established MLB teams. Oh, there were some exhibition games with All-Star teams, but facing them day to day never came to pass for guys like Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell and Oscar Charleston. I will try to list these guys by their established stats on baseball reference as best I can. These stats are with 1000 minimum plate appearances. 
1. Josh Gibson: C. .373 career average. Gibson was probably the most feared hitter in the league during his 14-year career. Many thought he or Satchel Paige would be picked to break the color barrier. But by 1946 when Jackie was signed, Gibson was 34-years old and playing his last season. He died in 1947 at just 36 years old. He was rumored to have hit well over 800 homers in his career. His OPS+ is 215 for the stats baseball reference has on him. He played in 7 postseason series hitting .262 with 5 homers and 16 driven in. He was elected to the Hall in 1972. I would have loved to see this guy hit. 
2. Oscar ” Heavy” Johnson: C & OF. Johnson had a relatively short career, 11 years. His career BA is .370 with an OPS+ of 170. He probably got his nickname from the fact that he was 5’7″ 200 Lbs. Despite that he stole 47 bases in his career. He had back-to-back seasons where he hit .406. He played primarily for the Kansas City Monarchs. He played in just one post season series. In 1923, he led the NNL in every major batting stat except triples. 
3. Oscar Charleston: CF & 1B. Oscar played for 17 years and compiled a .365 BA. He stole 210 bases, had 144 homers and drove in 855 runs. He hit .400 three times with a high of .433 in 1921. He won the triple crown three times. Oscar played in just one postseason series. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976. 
4. Willard Brown: OF & SS. Brown had a relatively short career, playing just 11 years from 1937-48. He had a career BA of .351. His OPS+ was 178 and his Slg. was .579. He was a member of the KC Monarchs for 10 of his 11 years. Willard played in 5 postseason series hitting .337. He led the league in hits 8 times. He also stole 80 bases. 
5. Norman “Turkey” Stearns: CF. Stearns had a career BA of .348. He is credited on baseball reference with 187 homers, 21 more than Gibson. Stearns played for 19 years 23-40, mostly with the Detroit Stars. He stole 130 bases, and his career OPS was 1.032. He was elected to the Hall in 2000 by the Veterans committee. Stearns hit .417 in the Negro Leagues version of the playoffs participating in 5 such series. 
6. Walter “Buck” Leonard: 1B. Leonard was in the league for 14 years, and unlike many of his contemporary’s, he played his entire career with one team, the KC Monarchs. He was a career .346 hitter, and by all accounts, an excellent first baseman. He played in 7 postseason series with KC, batting .330. KC won three of the five NLBWS they were in while he was playing. He was elected to the Hall in 1972 by the Negro League Committee. 
7. George “Mule” Suttles: 1B & LF. Suttles played 21 years with 7 teams. His longest stint was 8 years with the Newark Eagles. He batted .339 in his career and hit 180 homers, putting him second behind Stearns. His OPS was 1.030. He played in 4 postseason series hitting 5 homers and batting .301. Elected to the Hall in 2006 by the Negro League Committee. 
8. Monford “Monte” Irvin: LF, SS & 1B. Irvin spent 10 years in the Negro League before getting his shot with the New York Giants in 1949. Irvin hit .339 in the Negro League, and .293 in the majors. He was the Giants first black position player, and mentored Mays when he broke in. He played in 2 World Series with the Giants, hitting .458 in their loss to the Yankees in 51. He was 2-9 in 1954 when the Giants defeated the Indians to win it all. Robinson was Rickey’s choice, but if you asked Negro League execs, it should have been Irvin. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. Elected to the Hall by the Negro League Committee in 1973. 
9. Leroy “Satchel” Paige: P. Paige, along with Gibson, are the two most recognizable names from the Negro Leagues. A movie, Bingo Longs Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, is loosely based on Paige and Gibson, with Billy Dee Williams as Paige’s character and James Earl Jones as Gibson. Paige was flamboyant and a master showman. He would load the bases then tell his teammates to sit down and then proceed to strikeout the side. His patented pitch was his fade-away. Satchel pitched parts of 5 years in the majors, starting when he was 41 years old in 1948 with the Indians. He had a career 28-31 record with the Indians, and St. Louis Browns. He pitched 1 inning for the A’s in 1965 at the age of 58. He was elected to the Hall by the Negro League Committe in 1971. 
10. James “Cool Papa” Bell: CF & P. Bell played 21 years in the Negro Leagues. A career .325 hitter, he was better known for his speed. It was said he was so fast he could turn off a light and be in bed before it was dark. He tutored Lou Brock and helped him become one of the game’s greatest base stealers. Outside of Jesse Owens, Bell probably had more stories told about his speed than any other athlete. He would beat out hits back to the pitcher and sometimes would take 2 bases on a bunt. He was elected to the Hall in 1974. 
11.William “Judy” Johnson: 3B & SS. Johnson was a slick fielding third baseman with excellent range. He had an 11-year career in the league and also became a manager and a scout. He was a career .305 hitter. He was a consensus pick as the best third baseman in the league. Comparisons were made with MLB stars, Brooks Robinson and Pie Traynor. He was a spray hitter who could hit to all fields. Connie Mack once said he could name his own price if he would have been white. Elected to the Hall in 1975. 
12. Martin Dihigo: SS, OF, P & 1B. Dihigo may have been one of the most versatile players ever to play. He mastered every position save catcher. Dihigo played for 24 seasons in multiple leagues. His nickname was El Maestro. In Negro league baseball he was a .311 hitter. He also pitched and won 30 games, plus he pitched 2 no-hitters. He was a native of Cubs. Elected to the Hall in 1977. 
13. John “Pop” Lloyd: SS, 2B, 1B. Lloyd was considered the best SS in the Negro leagues. He was nicknamed, “The Shovel”, as he would scoop up dirt picking grounders ala Honus Wagner. He played 27 seasons in many leagues and some foreign countries. He was a very good hitter compiling a BA over .330 for his career. He hit .400 or better 5 times. Elected to the Hall in 1977. 
14. Andrew “Rube” Foster: P & Owner. Foster is known as the father of Black Baseball. He founded the Negro National League, and he owned and managed the Chicago American Giants. He was also the leagues president and treasurer. His Giants won the pennant the first three years of the league’s existence. He built the league into a force that rivaled the Major leagues. He was also a talented pitcher; He was named by Frank Chance and Honus Wagner as one of the toughest pitchers they ever faced. Elected to the Hall in 1981 as a Pioneer-Executive. 
15. Ray Dandridge: 3B. Dandridge could play all over the infield but was considered a third baseman. He could flash the leather but was no slouch with the bat, hitting over .300 consistently and spraying the ball to all fields. He would play for 21 years. He left the US in 1939 and continued to play 11 more seasons in the Mexican League. He was signed by the New York Giants, but never made it past AAA, probably because he was 35 when they signed him. Elected to the Hall in 1987. 
16. Joeseph “Smokey Joe” Williams: P. Williams pitched for 24 seasons from 1909 to 1932. He was a right-handed pitcher who was considered by a poll from the Pittsburgh Courier to be the best pitcher in the Negro Leagues. Not Paige or Leon Day. Many MLB pitchers, including Pete Alexander, Walter Johnson and Rube Marquard said he would be a surefire 30 game winner if he pitched in the majors. All those guys had tried and failed to beat him in exhibition games. His most dominating performance came in 1930 when he struck out 27 Monarchs and allowed just 1 hit in a 12 inning 1-0 win. Elected to the Hall in 1999.
There are some other pretty famous Negro League players like Buck O’Neil, who was featured very prominently in Ken Burns Baseball documentary. O’Neil was about an average player, but he was voted into the Hall as a pioneer and exec. Leon Day, another great pitcher, Joe “Bullet” Rogan, who was not only a great pitcher, but a very good hitter also. He helped the Monarchs dominate in the mid-1920’s. I hope you guys enjoyed this look at some of their best players.
MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORTS
OKC Comets 7 – Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado) 6
The Oklahoma City Comets hit four home runs and Esteury Ruiz connected on a go-ahead RBI double with two outs in the eighth inning as the Comets defeated the Albuquerque Isotopes, 7-6.
With Bobby Miller on the hill, the Isotopes slugged two home runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. The Comets answered with three solo home runs in their first at-bat to tie the score, 3-3, including homers by Esteury Ruiz and back-to-back home runs with one out by Dalton Rushing and Ryan Ward.
Dalton Rushing, the @Dodgers' No. 1 prospect, launches one for the Triple-A @OKC_comets:
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 7, 2025
108.3 mph
415 ft pic.twitter.com/xPO4MVfE2M
Ryan Ward had 2 hits today to increase his average to .326, OPS of .955, and hit HR #8. I mean…dayum the start this dude is off too is pretty awesome.
— Dodgers Daily (@dodger_daily) May 7, 2025
Long season to go, but Ward has been a great hitter for a long time now. #dodgers pic.twitter.com/3Edb61PwF3
Miller surrendered a solo HR in the 5th giving the Isotopes a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the 5th, Chris Okey hit a solo HR tying the game again.
Miller came back out for the 6th. He allowed a single, issued a BB, threw a WP, and then a 2-out, 2-run single.
In the 7th, after walks to Ruiz and Alex Freeland, the Comets got back-to-back RBI singles by Rushing and Ward knotting the score at 6-6. With two outs in the eighth inning, Justin Dean singled and Ruiz hit a fly ball to center field that landed for a go-ahead RBI double and the winning margin.
Dalton Rushing hit his fourth home run of the season, going 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. He has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, batting 11-for-28 (.393) with four doubles, nine walks, seven runs scored and five RBI. He has also reached base at least twice in eight consecutive starts.
Ryan Ward went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI for his 13th multi-hit game of the season and eighth multi-RBI game. His home run was his eighth of the season to put him into a tie with James Outman for the team lead and was the 62nd home run of his OKC career — most by any OKC player during the Bricktown era (since 1998). Ward holds second place on OKC’s Bricktown-era career list for RBI with 223 and is now seven RBI away from tying the team record of 230 set by Jason Botts (2005-08).
Austin Gauthier celebrated his 26th birthday by reaching base three times on a single and two walks.
- Esteury Ruiz – 2-3, 2 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (8), HR (2)
- Dalton Rushing – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (4)
- Ryan Ward – 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (8)
- Chris Okey – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR (2)
Tulsa Drillers 8 – Amarillo Sod Poodles (Arizona) 2
Amarillo’s lead came quickly with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first off Tulsa starter Chris Campos. Leadoff batter Kristian Robinson hit Campos’ third pitch over the left field fence for his sixth homer of the season. Later in the first, LuJames Groover doubled home a second run.
It would be all that Campos would allow as he kept the Sod Poodles on two runs until departing with two outs in the sixth.
The outing allowed the Drillers to stage a comeback, and it began in the top of the sixth when the Drillers plated two runs of their own. John Rhodes walked and scored the first run on a base hit from Damon Keith. Following an error, a single from Aaron Bracho brought Keith home to tie the game at 2-2.
Tulsa took the lead in the eighth when Rhodes walked, stole second and scored on a single from José Ramos. It would not be the last hit from the Tulsa outfielder.
Amarillo threatened in the bottom of the eighth when reliever Christian Suarez walked the bases loaded, but a 6-4-3 double play ended the inning allowed Suarez to keep the lead in place.
The Drillers put the game out of reach with a five-run ninth. The final two runs came on homer from José Ramos, the Texas League home run leader. It was his tenth round tripper of the season.
Home run 🔟 for Jose Ramos! pic.twitter.com/SwxZOKHlS2
— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) May 8, 2025
Kelvin Ramirez pitched around a two-out walk in the ninth to close out the win.
José Ramos finished 2-5 with the homer and three runs driven in. He has now reached base safely in 20 straight games. He also had an assist from left field, cutting down Tommy Troy at second trying to stretch a single into a double.
It was a positive night for Campos and the Tulsa pitching staff, holding Amarillo to just the two runs. The Sod Poodles entered the game as the Texas League’s highest scoring team at home.
Reliever Lucas Wepf worked 1.1 innings with three strikeouts to pick up the win, his first of the season.
The Drillers made a roster move on Tuesday. Yeiner Fernandez, who was struck on his glove hand by a swinging bat in Sunday’s game, was placed on the Temporarily Inactive List and Griffin Lockwood-Powell was activated from the Injured List.
- José Ramos – 2-5, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (10)
- John Rhodes – 1-2, 3 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI
Great Lakes Loons 4 – Dayton Dragons 3
For the first eight innings, the Drillers were being shutout on 2 hits and 1 walk. In the 9th, the first three Loons reached. Wilman Diaz walked on seven pitches, Kendall George singled, and Josue De Paula sliced an RBI single to right field to put the Loons on the board.
Logan Wagner, with runners on the corners, hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Wagner has 18 RBI with runners in scoring position, fifth best in the Midwest League.
Down a run with a man on and one out, Zyhir Hope smoked a 0-2 pitch to deep right field to take the lead. The Dodgers’ No. 5 prospect notched his fifth home run of the season. It was his third against Dayton. Hope has 57 total bases, the most in the Midwest League.
Zyhir Hope (@greatlakesloons) hits a go-ahead 9th-inning homer OVER the berm at 109 mph off the bat 👀
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 8, 2025
The 20-year-old Top 100 prospect (@Dodgers) leads the High-A Midwest League in total bases (57). pic.twitter.com/zmI5FcYcUS
Patrick Copen dazzled and struck out the side in the first and his last inning, the sixth. The right-hander’s 12 strikeouts are the most by a Loons pitcher in a single game since 2014. Jose De Leon struck out 14 Fort Wayne TinCaps on August 19th, 2014.
PATRICK. COPEN.
— Austin Brubaker (@AustinBru99) May 8, 2025
In what is perhaps the BEST story in all of MiLB this year, Patrick continues his remarkable comeback!
Tonight:
6 IP
1 H
1 R
3 BB
12 K ⬅️
On the season:
25.2 IP
2.81 ERA
39.8 K% ⬅️
His 8th K and part of his story ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/M2VZsu9uPI
Dayton earned the game’s first run, the lone hit against Copen a RBI double by Johnny Ascanio in the second inning.
After Copen, Reynaldo Yean took over in the seventh. After a strikeout, the right-hander walked the next three. Joseilyn Gonzalez took over. A hit by pitch and a Yerlin Confidan RBI single added two. Confidan was tagged off first base just before a Dragon came across, for the final out.
- Zyhir Hope – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, double (9), HR (5)
Visalia Rawhide (Arizona) 4 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 3
The Visalia Rawhide did just enough and held on for their first win over Rancho this season, as the Quakes dropped a 4-3 decision on Wednesday afternoon.
The Quakes endured one of their roughest affairs of the year, with six walks, four hit-batters, a costly error and just five hits on the offensive side of things, as their lead in the South Division is back down to six games.
Visalia took advantage of multiple mistakes in the seventh, breaking a 2-2 tie by scoring twice without the aid of a hit to take a 4-2 lead. Quakes’ reliever Connor Godwin (0-1) issued a lead-off walk before Myles Caba came on and wild pitched home the go-ahead run and committed an error to allow a second run to come in.
Trailing 4-2 in the eighth, Rancho was gifted some help from Visalia, thanks to two walks and a wild pitch, which scored Jose Meza to make it 4-3. But with two in scoring position and only one out, Visalia reliever Victor Martinez (2-1) battled back to strike out both Eduardo Guerrero and Kellon Lindsey to protect the lead.
Visalia reliever JoJo Gonzalez locked up his fifth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Quakes will send Sterling Patick to the mound on Thursday at 6:30pm.
The Loons received 10 walks of their own.
Elijah Hainline was the only RC batter with a multi-hit game. He was 2-3 including a double (10). Victor Rodriguez hit his third double, and Eduardo Quintero hit his fourth.
Dodgers ACL 9 – Royals ACL 2
Joendry Vargas has resurfaced. He was the starting 3B for the LAD ACL team. He went 2-3 with a HR, 1 run, 2 RBI.
There were other good efforts offensively and pitching.
- Ching-Hsien Ko (CF) – 2-3, 3 RBI, double (3)
- Francisco Espinoza (C) – 2-3, 2 runs
- Abel Lorenzo (RF) – 2-3, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (1)
- Jose Vasquez (20 year old RHP) – 4.0 IP, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 BB, 5 K
- Justin Chambers (19 year old LHP) – 1.0 IP, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 K
Davey Lopes is in critical condition after a medical emergency at his home in Los Angeles. His family shared the news on social media, asking for prayers. The update was posted on his verified X account.
It has also been reported instagram.
I have not read anything official from the Dodgers. But just in case, I will be praying for Davey to make a full and complete recovery.
Thanks Bear. Interesting history of Negro players in our country. When did we stop using the term Negro?
Diversity in baseball. Another interesting topic. Latino Hispanic 29.6%, U.S. born black 6%. Why is this?
Sorry to hear about Lopes. Little known fact about Davey Lopes, he earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and briefly taught 6th grade. He didn’t play professionally until he was 23. He didn’t make his Major League debut until he was 27. Steady player for 9 years with the Dodgers. He made 726 plate appearances as a 30 year old. Who does that anymore?
Another nice write up Bear.
Dodgers could have used some of those guys in the 20’s and 30’s when they were not very good.
How were the Negro Leagues formed? Was it purely organic? If not, what public institutions played apart?
Pirates fire manager Derek Shelton. Sure blame the manager when the owners are cheapskates.
The margin for error is rendered razor-thin when ownership is content to average the $69.4MM payroll (excluding the shortened 2020 season) that’s been trotted out in the five 162-game seasons under Shelton.
MLB needs a spending floor more than a spending ceiling. JMO
Chet Lemon, who played for the Tigers and White Sox passed away at the age of 70. Although the exact cause of death has not been released, he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder while still playing in 1990. It was noted in his obituary that he had suffered a series of clots and at least 13 strokes over the last several years. He had over 300 hospital visits in the last 30 years, and he was unable to walk or talk. RIP.
David Vassegh
Michael Kopech is pitching his first rehab game today for Triple-A OKC. Kopech is the Comets opener.
I hope our lineup tonight has Outman in CF, Pages in RF(his best position), and Kim at 2B.
Interesting Ardaya article on Pages and his finding support internally and externally when he was slumping ($$$):
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6340881/2025/05/08/dodgers-andy-pages-raul-ibanez/?source=user_shared_article
Andy Pages embraces his ‘superpower’ thanks to mentors like Raúl Ibañez
With all due respect, Jeff you seem to be the guru on minor league baseball inside knowledge. Who makes out the lineups for OKC, Tulsa etc? I’m sure the Dodgers front office has major input but is the day to day stuff the OKC manager’s decision? OKC has brought up Senzel and tonight he is playing left field while Rushing is playing first base. It would seem logical (maybe that’s my problem, I’m illogical), that if they are preparing Rushing to catch and play left field that is where he should be playing. Freeman isn’t going anywhere for two seasons after this one. By the time his contract is up, Rushing will either be in the MLB or with another organization. Please enlighten me, thanks.
Bear thanks for the article. The Negro Hall of Fame in Kansas City, should be on every baseball fans bucket list. If any of you posters go to the HOF drop me a line and if I think you an okay person, I’ll buy you some of KC famous barbecue. If I don’t think I’d like hanging out with you I’ll still buy you some ice cream.
Michael Kopech started today. He walked 5 straight batters and was taken out.
Yikes.
I saw “Sandlot,” Bear, so I know that Josh Gibson lived well past age 36…
Seriously, that was an interesting (and sad) detail. Any idea about the cause of his death?
Don’t know why, but I had always assumed that Gibson had played about a decade before he actually did.
Today’s loss is a reminder that the D’backs are damn good team. The NL West is strong and it won’t be a cakewalk for the Dodgers. Teo and Edman are missed.
To me the worst news from today was Yamamoto’s gopher balls and Kim’s 3 Ks after such a promising start.
But I saw some silver linings.
–The Dodgers battled back from 5-0 to make it 5-3.
–A bit unlucky with the bat. Several hard-hit balls (by Outman, Smith and I forget who else) found gloves.
–Two hits from Max, including a double, and zero Ks. Are the new spectacles working?
Every year we have a series with Az where we go into it as the better team and they sweep us or take 3-4. This may be that series for 2025. Might as well get it overwith early. We always recover from it.
Dissent in Boston again, Devers refused to move to first base when asked to by the Sox. He said they had told him to put away his glove when they moved him to DH. He feels the team went back on their word. Rosario DFAd by the Braves so they can recall another former Dodger, Luke Williams.
I grew up in a rural area in a rural town. We are in farming country. As soon as one could see over the steering wheel he was put on a tractor. That was before banks were deregulated and there were an abundance of family farms. (One could write a big essay on what deregulating banks did to family farms.) it was easy to put up a goal and shoot baskets and farm work put meat on the bones of boys so a good football coach could easily teach the game. Speed can’t be taught for the most part. For baseball you needed bodies. One could play catch or soft toss, pepper etc, but it was really hard to get a lot of games. In today’s world in rural America we have cooperative farming so kids have more time on their hands (cooperate farms can’t hire kids.) most baseball are travel leagues. The larger part of our population can’t afford travel baseball. Basketball and football is also falling to the wayside and is being filled with soccer. But even more than soccer video games is where the kids spend there time. At least in my area of the country sports is not near what it used to be and I find that sad.