{"id":30736,"date":"2016-04-25T16:17:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T20:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seamheads.com\/?p=30736"},"modified":"2016-04-26T12:27:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T16:27:52","slug":"negro-leagues-db-update-1940-nnl-nal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/25\/negro-leagues-db-update-1940-nnl-nal\/","title":{"rendered":"Negro Leagues DB Update: 1940 NNL & NAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two years of relative stability, 1940<\/a> proved to be a difficult season for the Negro leagues, as the trickle of players defecting to Venezuela or (especially) Mexico became a flood. Many of black baseball\u2019s biggest stars\u2014Josh Gibson<\/strong><\/a>, Cool Papa Bell<\/strong><\/a>, Willard Brown<\/strong><\/a>, Leon Day<\/strong><\/a>\u2014spent most or all of 1940 south of the border.<\/p>\n

Compounding this problem, the most famous of the Negro leaguers, Satchel Paige<\/strong><\/a>, spent his fourth consecutive season in exile. Injury and a refusal to play for the Newark Eagles, the team that owned his contract, had kept him off league rosters since 1936. Finally a complicated deal that awarded the Eagles two other players from the Crawfords\u2014shortstop Bus Clarkson<\/strong><\/a> and pitcher Ernie Carter<\/strong><\/a>\u2014resulted in Paige being allowed to suit up for league games with the Kansas City Monarchs, the club whose barnstorming B-team he had been headlining for two years. (Unfortunately we don\u2019t yet have any box scores covering his league appearances late in 1940.)<\/p>\n

The Homestead Grays may have lost Josh Gibson to Mexico, but they retained most of the rest of their roster, including Ray Brown<\/strong><\/a> (16-2, 1.88), Buck Leonard<\/strong><\/a> (.369, 8 homers), and Edsall Walker<\/strong><\/a> (11-4, 3.13). The Grays, now playing most of their home games in Washington, D. C., also added Howard Easterling<\/strong><\/a> (.344.\/.404\/.511) and the 44-year-old Jud Wilson<\/strong><\/a>. The latter was supposed to make up for the loss of Gibson\u2019s power but finished the year homerless and with a .260 average. Still, these players proved to be just enough to stave off the Elite Giants\u2019 challenge and give the Grays their third pennant in four years.<\/p>\n

Over in the Negro American League, the defending champion Kansas City Monarchs lost their two best everyday players, Willard Brown and Ted Strong<\/a><\/strong>. But KC compensated through the fine play of infielders Herb Souell<\/strong><\/a> (.340) and Jesse Williams<\/strong><\/a> (.368) and the pitching of Frank Bradley<\/strong><\/a> (4-1, 2.38), Jack Matchett<\/strong><\/a> (6-2, 2.58), and others, and won the pennant going away.<\/p>\n

Once again, we owe our stats for the 1940 season to Larry Lester<\/strong>, Wayne Stivers<\/strong>, and the Negro League Researchers and Authors Group.<\/p>\n

Up next: the 1919\/20 and 1921\/22 Cuban leagues. On deck: the 1941-43 Negro leagues and the 1937 Negro American League.<\/p>\n

\"1940<\/a>

1940 NNL championship patch belonging to Wilmer Fields.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two years of relative stability, 1940 proved to be a difficult season for the Negro leagues, as the trickle of players defecting to Venezuela or (especially) Mexico became a flood. Many of black baseball\u2019s biggest stars\u2014Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Willard Brown, Leon Day\u2014spent most or all of 1940 south of the border. Compounding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":809,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16162,4235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-negro-lgs","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t