1928 Negro National League Season Review – It’s in the Stars

The following is from the unpublished manuscript LOST LEAGUES: The 1928 Negro National and Eastern Colored Leagues. An article based on this manuscript appeared in the SABR publication “Mound City Memories.”

The Stars’ Wonderful First Half

The 1928 NNL consisted of the following teams (in order of their 1927 records):

Chicago American Giants (won 1st half, playoffs and World Series in 1927)

Kansas City Monarchs

St. Louis Stars

Detroit Stars

Birmingham Black Barons (won 2nd half in 1927, then lost to Chicago in playoffs)

Memphis Red Sox

Cuban Stars (West)

Cleveland Tigers (replaced Cleveland Hornets)

The Stars started the season with the following lineup/roster:

1.	CF-	Cool Papa Bell
2.	RF-	Branch Russell
3.	SS-	Willie Wells
4.	1B-	Mule Suttles
5.	LF-	Frog Redus
6.	3B-	Dewey Creasy
7.	C-	Henry Williams
8.	2B-	John Henry Russell

Bench:
1B-	Willie Bobo
C-	Mitch Murray
3B-	Candy Jim Taylor (Manager)

Pitchers:

Ted Trent

Slap Hensley

John Williams

Luther McDonald

Roosevelt Davis

Tuck Turner

(Note: Catcher Murray was deactivated to ‘coach’ in May due to injuries and the signing of Catcher Spoony Palm. He was soon after released, signing with Chicago. First baseman Bobo was released in June, perhaps because it became apparent that Suttles was fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered in June of 1927. Bobo then signed with Cleveland. Pitcher Richard Cannon was signed in June, with young Turner apparently deactivated for most league games after that.)

The NNL first half schedule consisted of 5-game series between teams, with some teams scheduled for 10 series, and others 9 series, with the Cuban Stars, a traveling team with no home field, scheduled for 7 series. St. Louis started out fast at 12-1, helped by a 13 game homestand to begin the season. They swept a 5 game series from Birmingham, took 4 out of 5 from Kansas City, then swept 3 games from the Cuban Stars (2 games were rained out).

The Stars’ first road trip began May 22^nd in Cleveland, where they swept 4 games from the Tigers by the scores of 15-7, 20-9, 12-7, and 10-7, giving them a 16-1 league start. Even after dropping 2 games at Detroit, they were still 16-3 vs. Detroit’s 20-7, and once they went back home and took 6 out of 7 from the Cuban Stars (making up the 2 earlier rainouts) and followed that up by taking the first 3 games in Chicago, they were 25-4. Detroit closed to as close as 2 games out going into the final 5 game series of the first half, but Detroit then lost their first 2 games with the Cuban Stars while St. Louis won their first 2 games with Memphis, clinching their first ever Negro League title of any kind on July 1^st.

The Final 1^st half 1928 NNL Standings after July 4^th, 1928:

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
St. Louis Stars	31	9	.775	—
Detroit Stars	29	13	.690	3.0
Kansas City Monarchs	24	14	.632	6.0
Chicago American Giants	26	23	.531	9.5
Birmingham Black Barons	22	28	.440	14.0
Memphis Red Sox	17	26	.395	15.5
Cuban Stars (West)	10	23	.303	17.5
Cleveland Tigers	11	34	.244	22.5

and the Stars record vs. each team:

Stars vs.	W	L
Detroit Stars	0	2
Kansas City Monarchs	6	4
Chicago American Giants	3	1
Birmingham Black Barons	5	0
Memphis Red Sox	4	1
Cuban Stars (West)	9	1
Cleveland Tigers	4	0

If St. Louis won the 2^nd half race, they would be the NNL champions, but if another team won, then there would be a playoff between 1^st and 2^nd half winners. 1^st half runner-up Detroit struggled in the 2^nd half, but Kansas City and Chicago resumed as the main challengers to the 2^nd half title.

The Wacky Second Half

The Stars started out the 2^nd half well at home, winning 4 of 5 from Detroit, and then winning 3 of 4 in Memphis. However, the trip to Memphis was the start of a LONG road trip that would include the Stars’ entire 2^nd half slate of road games. The 16 game trip to Birmingham, back to Memphis, on to Chicago, then Detroit, and the finally Kansas City, produced a record of 8-8.

After August 7th, with the Stars returning home for the remainder of the season, the standings were:

TEAM	W	L
Chicago American Giants	19	7
Kansas City Monarchs	18	9
St. Louis Stars	15	10
Detroit Stars	13	11
Birmingham Black Barons	9	11

The Stars took 3 out of 5 from Chicago to close within 2 ½ games of the lead, but only split 2-2 with lowly Cleveland, and then after a 4 game sweep of the non-league Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, the Stars took 4 out of 5 from Kansas City. However, one of the Stars wins vs. Kansas City, an 8-6 victory on September 1st, was protested by Kansas City, and subsequently thrown out of the standings. Going into the last series of the regular season, the standings, with the protested game thrown out, should have been:

TEAM	W	L
Chicago American Giants	27	14
Kansas City Monarchs	25	12
St. Louis Stars	23	15
Birmingham Black Barons	22	17
Detroit Stars	21	21
Memphis Red Sox	14	22
Cleveland Tigers	9	25
Cuban Stars (West)	3	18

However, these being the Negro Leagues, things were not that clear, as according to the St. Louis Argus, the standings were:

TEAM	W	L
Chicago American Giants	28	11
St. Louis Stars	28	14
Kansas City Monarchs	23	12
Birmingham Black Barons	24	22
Detroit Stars	21	20
Memphis Red Sox	15	23
Cleveland Tigers	9	22
Cuban Stars (West)	3	18

(Obviously, these numbers do not ‘add up”, as they add to 151 wins and 142 losses, as opposed to what I believe the “real” standings were, which add to 144 wins and 144 losses).

The Stars were hosting Memphis, while Chicago was at Kansas City, and Birmingham was at Detroit. If the first set of standings were correct, with Chicago and Kansas City playing each other, the Stars needed to sweep Memphis and hope Kansas City took 3 out of 5 from Chicago. On the other hand, the Stars could slip to 4^th place. But with the second set of standing apparently taken as official, the Monarchs needed to take 4 of 5 to pass Chicago, while the Stars could end up ahead of both teams in that scenario if they took 3 of 5 from Memphis, and if the Monarchs swept Chicago, the Stars would need 4 of 5, and if the Monarchs only took 3 of 5, the Stars would need a sweep to pass Chicago.

Chicago took the first 2 games from Kansas City, at which point rain apparently interrupted their scheduled series. Meanwhile, the Stars lost the first game to Memphis 8-6 on Sept 8th, then took the next game 13-2 on the 9^th, and won the first game of a double header 15-8 on the 10^th, but lost the 2^nd game 6-3, and Chicago was declared 2^nd half champions, which, due to the rainouts of two of the Chicago – Kansas City games, was correct based on either set of standings (the Monarchs did defeat Chicago 4-3 on September 11^th to make the final series 2 games to 1 in favor of Chicago).

The Final 2^nd half 1928 NNL Standings:

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago American Giants	29	15	.659	—
Kansas City Monarchs	26	14	.650	1.0
St. Louis Stars	26	17	.605	2.5
Birmingham Black Barons	24	20	.545	5.0
Detroit Stars	24	23	.511	6.5
Memphis Red Sox	16	25	.390	11.5
Cleveland Tigers	9	25	.265	15.0
Cuban Stars (West)	3	18	.143	14.5

Combined 1^st and 2^nd half 1928 NNL Standings:

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB
St. Louis Stars	57	26	.687	—
Kansas City Monarchs	50	28	.641	4.5
Detroit Stars	53	36	.596	7.0
Chicago American Giants	55	38	.591	7.0
Birmingham Black Barons	46	48	.489	16.5
Memphis Red Sox	33	51	.393	24.5
Cleveland Tigers	20	59	.253	35.0
Cuban Stars (West)	13	41	.241	29.5

and the Stars’ record vs. each team:

Stars vs.	W	L
Kansas City Monarchs	11	8
Detroit Stars	7	5
Chicago American Giants	7	3
Birmingham Black Barons	7	2
Memphis Red Sox	10	5
Cleveland Tigers	6	2
Cuban Stars (West)	9	1