The Homestead Grays Bridge - aka, the Homestead Hi-Level - got its namesakes dedicated today.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, Allegheny County, The Josh Gibson Foundation and Homestead Mayor Betty Esper (who spearheaded the renaming of the bridge in 2002 and took the lead in getting today's signs up) dedicated 18 new plaques attached to poles lining the Mon span.
The unveiling took place at 10 a.m. when Esper and Dan Onorato, county exec, were hoisted by cherry-picker to the first sign. They tugged on the tarp, yanked it off, and re-introduced Josh Gibson, maybe the best catcher to ever strap on the gear and who fittingly played for both ball clubs.
Others recognized are:
Cumberland Posey was the Homestead Grays team owner, manager and player.
Sellers Hall played for the Homestead Grays between 1917-20.
Vic Harris spent 23 years with the Grays as a player and manager.
Ray Brown was a maintay on the mound for the Grays.
Buck Leonard was a slick fielding and smooth hitting first-baseman for Homestead.
Clarence Bruce was the Grays' second baseman during its 1948 Negro League World Series championship season.
Smokey Joe Williams, also known as "The Cyclone," pitched for the Homestead Grays, and in 1999 he became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Pittsburgh Crawfords owner Gus Greenlee and helped form the New Negro League.
Oscar Charleston was one of the top Negro League OF'ers; in 1976, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ted Page of the Crawfords was known for his great speed and hitting ability.
Satchel Paige did his thing for the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1971, Paige became the first Negro League star inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bill Harris played the infield corners and was one of Pittsburgh's earliest stars.
Harold Tinker an outfielder of the Crawfords for ten years and discovered catcher Josh Gibson.
James "Cool Papa" Bell was a great hitter, fielder, and had the speed of a gazelle.
Judy Johnson of the Crawfords was one of the greatest fielding third basemen in the Negro Leagues. He became the first African-American coach in MLB, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.
Each team is also represented by its logo.
The metal signs are in the shape of an elongated home plate, designed by local sports artist Dino Guarino, and made by the Allegheny County Sign Shop. Motorists will see the Grays' plaques as they drive into Homestead, and the Crawfords' as they drive into Pittsburgh.
In fact, the Grays' old home field is a straight shot off the bridge; cross the light and keep going up West Street; West Field is on the right. That humble field is where the best ballplayers in the world used to ply their craft.
Showing posts with label pittsburgh crawfords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pittsburgh crawfords. Show all posts
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Bucky Williams
Wallace Ignatius "Bucky" Williams was born on December 15, 1906, in Baltimore, the third of Mathilda and Joe Williams' eight children. When he was a baby, his family moved to Formosa Way in Homewood, sending him to Holy Rosary and Crescent Elementary schools.
Williams will be given his final send-off where he started, at Holy Rosary, on Saturday. He died earlier this week, at the age of 102. With him goes a throwback to local baseball history.
Back in the day, Williams was a shortstop/third baseman for both the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. It's said that he may have been the last living Negro League player left in the city.
Only one Negro League player remains that has more years under his belt than Williams did. Emilio "Millito" Navarro, who just celebrated his 104th birthday on September 26th, was the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Williams first took his place on the diamond at Homewood Field, now Willie Stargell Field. He played for one of Pittsburgh's early black teams, the Keystone Juniors, in 1921, and in 1925 wore the uniform of the Pittsburgh Monarchs.
Not very fleet afoot, the infielder was more noted for cranking out singles and doubles. But that was enough to land him a gig on the bench for both of the City's storied Negro League juggernauts.
He joined the Crawfords in 1928, and within a couple of seasons, they were drawing hundreds and sometimes thousands to Ammon Field in the Hill District.
Williams played for them through 1932, long enough to see Gus Greenlee buy the club and put them in their own ball yard, Greenlee Field on Bedford Avenue (now the Bedford Dwelling projects).
Williams disappeared from the Pittsburgh box scores for a spell after that. The big names may have been under contract, but the lesser lights got by passing the hat, and taking home $10-15 after a game was a big deal.
Still, he kept playing, jumping to the Cleveland ABCs in 1932, the Akron Grays in 1933, and Edgar Thomson Steel Mill team until 1936.
That year, he was married to Marjorie Carey, and got back into the Steel City swing of things, joining the cross-town rival Homestead Grays and spending his days at West Field.
Williams recalled getting his first - and only - hit off of Satchel Paige that season and throwing out burner Cool Papa Bell on a bunt were the two plays he most cherished. He returned to the Crawfords in 1937, and stayed with them until they folded their tent in 1939.
As a member of the Crawfords and the Grays, he played with greats such as Josh Gibson, "Cool" Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Martin Dihigo, Oscar Charleston, Buck O’Neil, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, and "Smokey" Joe Williams.
Heck, if you're going to come off of the bench, it might as well be because only the best were ahead of you.
Next it was off to ET full-time, where he lined ladles and played ball for their black mill team, while moon-lighting with the Monarchs in the early forties. In fact, one of his greatest memories is of his Edgar Thompson team defeating the Grays in an exhibition game.
Bucky claimed an overall lifetime .340 batting average, a pretty sweet stick, no matter what the level.
He moved from Swissvale to East Liberty, and his boy, David, turned into a baseball brat. Williams donned the blue suit and became an umpire for the East End Little League Association.
Marjorie died in 1977, and Bucky went to Penn Hills to stay with his son and his wife, Sheila, leading the quiet life of a steelworker's retirement.
But in the nineties, baseball took to its roots and rediscovered the black players of the Negro League. Williams took his first plane ride to Kansas City for a celebration bash at the Negro Leagues Museum in 1995. He was named an honorary member of the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame.
And every year, he was a regular at the Josh Gibson Foundation's Black Tie Gala event. The NLLHOF honored Williams during its annual Negro League Hall of Fame Week in early September, calling it an early birthday party. If they only knew...
(Bucky William's obituary is here, written by Kevin Kirkland of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)
Williams will be given his final send-off where he started, at Holy Rosary, on Saturday. He died earlier this week, at the age of 102. With him goes a throwback to local baseball history.
Back in the day, Williams was a shortstop/third baseman for both the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. It's said that he may have been the last living Negro League player left in the city.
Only one Negro League player remains that has more years under his belt than Williams did. Emilio "Millito" Navarro, who just celebrated his 104th birthday on September 26th, was the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues.
Williams first took his place on the diamond at Homewood Field, now Willie Stargell Field. He played for one of Pittsburgh's early black teams, the Keystone Juniors, in 1921, and in 1925 wore the uniform of the Pittsburgh Monarchs.
Not very fleet afoot, the infielder was more noted for cranking out singles and doubles. But that was enough to land him a gig on the bench for both of the City's storied Negro League juggernauts.
He joined the Crawfords in 1928, and within a couple of seasons, they were drawing hundreds and sometimes thousands to Ammon Field in the Hill District.
Williams played for them through 1932, long enough to see Gus Greenlee buy the club and put them in their own ball yard, Greenlee Field on Bedford Avenue (now the Bedford Dwelling projects).
Williams disappeared from the Pittsburgh box scores for a spell after that. The big names may have been under contract, but the lesser lights got by passing the hat, and taking home $10-15 after a game was a big deal.
Still, he kept playing, jumping to the Cleveland ABCs in 1932, the Akron Grays in 1933, and Edgar Thomson Steel Mill team until 1936.
That year, he was married to Marjorie Carey, and got back into the Steel City swing of things, joining the cross-town rival Homestead Grays and spending his days at West Field.
Williams recalled getting his first - and only - hit off of Satchel Paige that season and throwing out burner Cool Papa Bell on a bunt were the two plays he most cherished. He returned to the Crawfords in 1937, and stayed with them until they folded their tent in 1939.
As a member of the Crawfords and the Grays, he played with greats such as Josh Gibson, "Cool" Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Martin Dihigo, Oscar Charleston, Buck O’Neil, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, and "Smokey" Joe Williams.
Heck, if you're going to come off of the bench, it might as well be because only the best were ahead of you.
Next it was off to ET full-time, where he lined ladles and played ball for their black mill team, while moon-lighting with the Monarchs in the early forties. In fact, one of his greatest memories is of his Edgar Thompson team defeating the Grays in an exhibition game.
Bucky claimed an overall lifetime .340 batting average, a pretty sweet stick, no matter what the level.
He moved from Swissvale to East Liberty, and his boy, David, turned into a baseball brat. Williams donned the blue suit and became an umpire for the East End Little League Association.
Marjorie died in 1977, and Bucky went to Penn Hills to stay with his son and his wife, Sheila, leading the quiet life of a steelworker's retirement.
But in the nineties, baseball took to its roots and rediscovered the black players of the Negro League. Williams took his first plane ride to Kansas City for a celebration bash at the Negro Leagues Museum in 1995. He was named an honorary member of the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame.
And every year, he was a regular at the Josh Gibson Foundation's Black Tie Gala event. The NLLHOF honored Williams during its annual Negro League Hall of Fame Week in early September, calling it an early birthday party. If they only knew...
(Bucky William's obituary is here, written by Kevin Kirkland of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords formed in 1925 through the effort of two local ballplayers, Teenie and Bill Harris, and was made up of black players from two local school teams, Watts and McKelvey Highs. The nine practiced at Washington Park for the 1925 season, picking up more local players as time went on.
In 1926, the team entered the city league, and its main sponsor was the Crawford Bath House and Rec Center, a public facility that aided immigrants as well as African-Americans who migrated from the South, and hence their name.
They became a city rec league powerhouse, and more money started to roll in from the community. Gus Greenlee made his first big donation to the team in 1926; his cash provided the funds for new team uniforms.
From 1927-1928, the Crawfords were one of the top black sandlot teams in the city. They played all comers locally, facing off against veteran teams made up of men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, just to get some competition. And often, some of the star opposing players would switch allegiances and defect to the Crawfords. If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Teenie Harris dropped out of the management, to join his brother Woogie in the numbers racket. Teenie became a renowned photographer with the Courier, and Woogie was one of the Hill District's top businessmen, although his profession was a little unorthodox. The team was still associated with the Crawford House, and was managed by original founder Bill Harris with Harry Beale, and coached by Jim Dorsey, Sr.
The Crawfords were bought in 1931 by Gus Greenlee, a numbers operator originally from South Carolina. He would change the team from a neighborhood giant to a pro franchise, one of black baseball's best for a decade.
Greenlee also operated one of black Pittsburgh's favorite nightclubs, the Crawford Grill, where the likes of Lena Horne and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson entertained and players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson unwound. The Crawfords were from the start the best financed team in black baseball - Greenlee was known as the Hill's banker. Revenue generated from the numbers racket allowed him to sign some of its biggest names. And he did.
The major African American leagues of the 1920s (the Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League) had fallen apart, and Greenlee inked many of the now-unemployed black stars for Pittsburgh.
Greenlee signed the Grays' Oscar Charleston to be the Crawfords' first baseman and manager. Catcher Josh Gibson, versatile Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (so dubbed by Chicago writer Damon Runyon after pitching the first game of a doubleheader and catching the second), third baseman William Julius "Judy" Johnson (a onetime Grays player), pitcher extraordinaire Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and speedy center fielder James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell found their way to the Steel City's new powerhouse.
Playing as indy barnstormers, the Crawfords immediately established themselves as perhaps the best black team in the United States.
The Crawfords played in the new Greenlee Field, one of the few parks built specifically for the Negro Leagues and under team control. Greenlee Field was the first black-built and owned major league baseball field in the United States.
In 1931, construction started on Bedford Avenue between Chauncy and Duff in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The park opened on April 29, 1932, and reportedly cost $100,000 of Greenlee's numbers profit.
Greenlee Field held 7,500 spectators and it was the home field for the Crawfords throughout the Depression era. It was located a few blocks up Bedford Avenue from Ammon Field, home to the black Pittsburgh Keystones team (they played in the short-lived National Colored Ball League, the first black league, in 1887).
The park was razed in 1938 after the team was disbanded, and eventually became the Bedford Dwellings housing project. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker at the stadium's former site in 2007.
The Greenlee Field was important to the players, both symbolically and physically. When black clubs used the Pirates' Forbes Field, they weren't allowed in the clubhouses. And when they played at local fields like Washington or West Parks, they were basically playing under sandlot conditions. Greenlee Field was big league, and theirs.
He also bought the team its own bus, so they could travel in a bit of comfort and had a place to crash if Jim Crow made a town the club visited hostile. He ran a first class operation. Pittsburgh was the place to be, and the place to play.
In 1933, Greenlee founded a new Negro National League, with the Crawfords as charter members. The club narrowly lost the first-half title to the Chicago American Giants and both teams claimed the second-half title. The two title-holders were supposed to square off for the championship, but Greenlee, as league president, awarded it to his Crawfords without a playoff. He decided that it was good to be the king and took advantage.
The next season, as Gibson led the league with 16 home runs and Paige won 20 games, the Crawfords were near the top of the overall standings, but won neither half. Records of all games against league opponents, not just those considered official league games, show the Crawfords with far and away the best record for 1934. Their date with destiny was fast approaching.
In 1935, its greatest season, the Crawfords had to overcome the defection of its No. 1 pitcher Satchel Paige, because of a contract dispute. There are two stories. One is that Greenlee refused to give him a raise from his $250/month contract; the second is that Paige signed a contract for the same money during his wedding reception (which was in Las Vegas, and paid for by Greenlee), when he was in no condition to read it over.
At any rate, he played for the Philly Giants, the El Paso Mexicans, and the North Dakota Bismarcks in 1935 (they paid him $400/month and leased a car for him). It wouldn't be the last time he and Greenlee would soon bump heads over contracts.
Despite his absence, the Crawfords lived up to their promise, taking the first-half title with a 26-6 record, then defeating the New York Cubans in a close seven-game series for their only undisputed NNL pennant.
According to league stats published by the historian John Holway, Bell batted .341, Bill Perkins hit .337, Sam Bankhead .336, Charleston .309 and Gibson .304 while leading the league in home runs and steals. But pitching was the key.
LHP curveball specialist Leroy Matlock, who had pitched for the St. Louis Stars, went 18-0 in league play. RHP Roosevelt Davis, known for a spitball that struck so much fear into hitters that they couldn't handle his legal pitches, went 12-4.
In the World Series against the Cubans, Matlock sat out the first two games, and the Crawfords lost both. Matlock's 3-0 shutout in Game 3 put Pittsburgh back in the Series. The Crawfords lost the next game, and were in a 3-1 hole. Sound familiar to Pirate fans?
Matlock trailed, 5-2, in the sixth game, but Charleston tied it with a home run and Johnson won it with a single. The Crawfords erased a 7-5 deficit against Cubans' pitcher Luis Tiant (the father of the Red Sox star) with homers by Gibson and Charleston. Bell singled and used his wheels to bring home the title, stealing second and scoring from there on an infield error.
Many consider this Crawford team to be the best black nine in history; if it's not, they're surely on the short list. Not only did they win the Black Series, but they boasted of four future Hall of Famers (they would have six the next year, when they signed Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige rejoined the squad).
After a mediocre first half (16-15) in 1936, the Crawfords rallied to win the NNL's second half with a 20-9 record. Paige had returned, and contributed an 11-3 record. The Crawfords retained the title when Greenlee, still the prez, declared them champs over the protests of the Washington Elite nine, which had won the first-half crown.
The following spring, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and several other Crawfords players bolted for Santo Domingo, to play for the Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo, and the franchise never recovered. Paige and Greenlee were still on different pages financially, and Satchel led the pack to the greener pastures of Central America.
After two second division finishes and a running low on cash - even the numbers racket isn't a bottomless gold pit - Greenlee sold the team, his field was demolished, and the franchise moved to Toledo in 1939 and then to Indianapolis in 1940 before disbanding.
In the mid 1940s another team using the same Pittsburgh Crawfords' name was formed, but it wasn't related in any way to the original franchise. And so ends the saga of of a brief but brilliant moment in Pittsburgh baseball.
And hey, there was another great black team in Pittsburgh around the same era - the Homestead Grays. You may want to catch up on their storied history, too.
In 1926, the team entered the city league, and its main sponsor was the Crawford Bath House and Rec Center, a public facility that aided immigrants as well as African-Americans who migrated from the South, and hence their name.
They became a city rec league powerhouse, and more money started to roll in from the community. Gus Greenlee made his first big donation to the team in 1926; his cash provided the funds for new team uniforms.
From 1927-1928, the Crawfords were one of the top black sandlot teams in the city. They played all comers locally, facing off against veteran teams made up of men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, just to get some competition. And often, some of the star opposing players would switch allegiances and defect to the Crawfords. If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Teenie Harris dropped out of the management, to join his brother Woogie in the numbers racket. Teenie became a renowned photographer with the Courier, and Woogie was one of the Hill District's top businessmen, although his profession was a little unorthodox. The team was still associated with the Crawford House, and was managed by original founder Bill Harris with Harry Beale, and coached by Jim Dorsey, Sr.
The Crawfords were bought in 1931 by Gus Greenlee, a numbers operator originally from South Carolina. He would change the team from a neighborhood giant to a pro franchise, one of black baseball's best for a decade.
Greenlee also operated one of black Pittsburgh's favorite nightclubs, the Crawford Grill, where the likes of Lena Horne and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson entertained and players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson unwound. The Crawfords were from the start the best financed team in black baseball - Greenlee was known as the Hill's banker. Revenue generated from the numbers racket allowed him to sign some of its biggest names. And he did.
The major African American leagues of the 1920s (the Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League) had fallen apart, and Greenlee inked many of the now-unemployed black stars for Pittsburgh.
Greenlee signed the Grays' Oscar Charleston to be the Crawfords' first baseman and manager. Catcher Josh Gibson, versatile Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (so dubbed by Chicago writer Damon Runyon after pitching the first game of a doubleheader and catching the second), third baseman William Julius "Judy" Johnson (a onetime Grays player), pitcher extraordinaire Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and speedy center fielder James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell found their way to the Steel City's new powerhouse.
Playing as indy barnstormers, the Crawfords immediately established themselves as perhaps the best black team in the United States.
The Crawfords played in the new Greenlee Field, one of the few parks built specifically for the Negro Leagues and under team control. Greenlee Field was the first black-built and owned major league baseball field in the United States.
In 1931, construction started on Bedford Avenue between Chauncy and Duff in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The park opened on April 29, 1932, and reportedly cost $100,000 of Greenlee's numbers profit.
Greenlee Field held 7,500 spectators and it was the home field for the Crawfords throughout the Depression era. It was located a few blocks up Bedford Avenue from Ammon Field, home to the black Pittsburgh Keystones team (they played in the short-lived National Colored Ball League, the first black league, in 1887).
The park was razed in 1938 after the team was disbanded, and eventually became the Bedford Dwellings housing project. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a marker at the stadium's former site in 2007.
The Greenlee Field was important to the players, both symbolically and physically. When black clubs used the Pirates' Forbes Field, they weren't allowed in the clubhouses. And when they played at local fields like Washington or West Parks, they were basically playing under sandlot conditions. Greenlee Field was big league, and theirs.
He also bought the team its own bus, so they could travel in a bit of comfort and had a place to crash if Jim Crow made a town the club visited hostile. He ran a first class operation. Pittsburgh was the place to be, and the place to play.
In 1933, Greenlee founded a new Negro National League, with the Crawfords as charter members. The club narrowly lost the first-half title to the Chicago American Giants and both teams claimed the second-half title. The two title-holders were supposed to square off for the championship, but Greenlee, as league president, awarded it to his Crawfords without a playoff. He decided that it was good to be the king and took advantage.
The next season, as Gibson led the league with 16 home runs and Paige won 20 games, the Crawfords were near the top of the overall standings, but won neither half. Records of all games against league opponents, not just those considered official league games, show the Crawfords with far and away the best record for 1934. Their date with destiny was fast approaching.
In 1935, its greatest season, the Crawfords had to overcome the defection of its No. 1 pitcher Satchel Paige, because of a contract dispute. There are two stories. One is that Greenlee refused to give him a raise from his $250/month contract; the second is that Paige signed a contract for the same money during his wedding reception (which was in Las Vegas, and paid for by Greenlee), when he was in no condition to read it over.
At any rate, he played for the Philly Giants, the El Paso Mexicans, and the North Dakota Bismarcks in 1935 (they paid him $400/month and leased a car for him). It wouldn't be the last time he and Greenlee would soon bump heads over contracts.
Despite his absence, the Crawfords lived up to their promise, taking the first-half title with a 26-6 record, then defeating the New York Cubans in a close seven-game series for their only undisputed NNL pennant.
According to league stats published by the historian John Holway, Bell batted .341, Bill Perkins hit .337, Sam Bankhead .336, Charleston .309 and Gibson .304 while leading the league in home runs and steals. But pitching was the key.
LHP curveball specialist Leroy Matlock, who had pitched for the St. Louis Stars, went 18-0 in league play. RHP Roosevelt Davis, known for a spitball that struck so much fear into hitters that they couldn't handle his legal pitches, went 12-4.
In the World Series against the Cubans, Matlock sat out the first two games, and the Crawfords lost both. Matlock's 3-0 shutout in Game 3 put Pittsburgh back in the Series. The Crawfords lost the next game, and were in a 3-1 hole. Sound familiar to Pirate fans?
Matlock trailed, 5-2, in the sixth game, but Charleston tied it with a home run and Johnson won it with a single. The Crawfords erased a 7-5 deficit against Cubans' pitcher Luis Tiant (the father of the Red Sox star) with homers by Gibson and Charleston. Bell singled and used his wheels to bring home the title, stealing second and scoring from there on an infield error.
Many consider this Crawford team to be the best black nine in history; if it's not, they're surely on the short list. Not only did they win the Black Series, but they boasted of four future Hall of Famers (they would have six the next year, when they signed Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige rejoined the squad).
After a mediocre first half (16-15) in 1936, the Crawfords rallied to win the NNL's second half with a 20-9 record. Paige had returned, and contributed an 11-3 record. The Crawfords retained the title when Greenlee, still the prez, declared them champs over the protests of the Washington Elite nine, which had won the first-half crown.
The following spring, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and several other Crawfords players bolted for Santo Domingo, to play for the Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo, and the franchise never recovered. Paige and Greenlee were still on different pages financially, and Satchel led the pack to the greener pastures of Central America.
After two second division finishes and a running low on cash - even the numbers racket isn't a bottomless gold pit - Greenlee sold the team, his field was demolished, and the franchise moved to Toledo in 1939 and then to Indianapolis in 1940 before disbanding.
In the mid 1940s another team using the same Pittsburgh Crawfords' name was formed, but it wasn't related in any way to the original franchise. And so ends the saga of of a brief but brilliant moment in Pittsburgh baseball.
And hey, there was another great black team in Pittsburgh around the same era - the Homestead Grays. You may want to catch up on their storied history, too.
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