The Southpaw

The '27 Yankees or the '43 Grays? You decide.

The short but excellent documentary below, "Homestead Grays: Gone But Not Forgotten," has two stars: the Grays themselves, and author Brad Snyder, who tells much of the story that illuminates the silent footage. The Grays were based in Pittsburgh from 1910 to 1939, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1940. Snyder argues, not in this documentary but elsewhere, that the 1943 Grays were at least as good as, if not better than, the great 1927 Yankees.

His argument has a lot of merit, and Snyder, author of the authoritative and popular team history, Beyond the Shadow of the Senators : The Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and the Integration of Baseball, knows of what he speaks. The 1943 Grays had a lineup that included the late, great Buck Leonard (often referred to as "the black Lou Gehrig"), Josh Gibson (who hit more dingers at Griffith Stadium in '43 than the entire Senators lineup), Cool Papa Bell, Jud Wilson, and ace Ray Brown, all Hall of Famers. While battling rivals like Satchel Paige's Kansas City Monarchs, the Grays won their ninth straight pennant that year and then defeated the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro World Series.

Video: Alan Schwarz interviews Silas Simmons, "Oldest Old-Timer"

Back in Sept. 2006, Alan Schwarz of the New York Times profiled Silas Simmons, a former Negro League pitcher who had recently been "discovered." He would soon turn 111, and talked to Schwarz about what it was like playing against stars such as Pop Lloyd, Judy Johnson and Biz Mackey, who he faced in a career that spanned the years from 1912 to 1929.

Simmons died not long after the interview.

Schwarz's profile is brief, but quite good. Even better is the video of his interview with Simmons, which Schwarz was generous enough to post online.

Link-O-Rama

Lots of goodies piling up at Southpaw HQ.

An awesome vibrant shot of the stands and scoreboard during Game 4 of the 1957 World Series, Braves vs. Yankees in Milwaukee. Complete with fedora hats and the official Longines clock. Click through the thumbnail for a large-size version.

The Secret Lives of Baseball Card Writers [Slate]
"While the text was inescapably repetitive, the stuff I edited was certainly better than the 'Hector's hobbies are eating and sleeping' non sequiturs that made up the Topps backs of my youth. Today's cards top out at 400 characters (including spaces), or about 70 words, and usually take the shape of punchy feature articles."

Audio Portrait: The Negro Leagues [NPR]
"Jordana Gustafson presents a sound portrait of three retired Negro League baseball players: Carl Long, center field for the Birmingham Black Barons and the first African-American to play professional baseball in North Carolina; George 'Smoky' McFadden, pitcher for the Durham Eagles and Durham Rams; and Willie Bradshaw, pitcher for Eagles, the Rams and the Roxboro Colts."

Krazy George celebrates starting the Wave cheer 25 years ago [AP]
"Krazy George Henderson has spent the last quarter-century trying to persuade everyone that he debuted the 'Wave' during an Oakland Athletics' playoff game against the Yankees -- not those Washington football fans who claim the Huskies first performed the now famous cheer."

Buck O'Neil, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson

A belated farewell to Buck O'Neil, via the New York Times:

Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues Pioneer, Is Dead at 94
By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
October 7, 2006

Buck O’Neil, a star first baseman and manager in the Negro leagues and a pioneering scout and coach in the major leagues who devoted the final decade of his life to chronicling the lost world of black baseball, died last night in Kansas City, Mo. He was 94.

Full obit

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Which led me to three other obits of the greats, courtesy the NYT:

Oct. 25, 1972
Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies
Dodger Star, in Hall of Fame, Began in '47
By DAVE ANDERSON

Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, suffered a heart attack in his home in Stamford, Conn., yesterday morning and died at Stamford Hospital at 7:10 A.M.  He was 53 years old.
Full obit

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The oldest old-timer

Silas Simmons is 110 years old. He played pro baseball before the Negro Leagues were even formed, between 1912 and 1929, according to Alan Schwarz of the New York Times.

Among the teams Simmons played for: Pittsburgh's Homestead Grays. (That's a link to a team photo: he's second from the right in the middle row.) Among those he played against: Pop Lloyd, Judy Johnson and Biz Mackey. Simmons was a pitcher, and tells Schwarz, "I had a good curveball and a good fastball."

Simmons earned $10 a game for his work.

The story behind the story is also worth a read.