TBO.com is featuring an excellent set of career profiles of the newly elected members of the Hall of Fame selected by the special committee yesterday, Feb. 27th. Also included are profiles of all other candidates for induction who were not elected in yesterday’s balloting. The profiles are accompanied by audio narratives by Larry Hogan, a Negro Leagues historian who was a voting member of the committee.
Charlie Johnson, 1930s outfielder for the Chicago American Giants and numerous barnstorming teams, passed away on June 10 in Chicago. Johnson had battled prostate cancer for some time prior to his death.
On Monday (June 26th) the Pittsburgh Pirates will present a Negro League exhibit that will become a permanent fixture at PNC Park. The exhibit will be focused on the history and achievements of Negro League teams with specific emphasis on the two legendary teams from the Steel City area, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays.
In a career interrupted by military service during World World II, Ross “Satch” Davis made a name for himself in big time Negro League baseball with the Baltimore Elite Giants and Negro American League champion Cleveland Buckeyes. Davis recalls his life in black baseball in an entertaining inferview with Doug Krikorian in the Long Beach Press Telegram.
During the late 1800s numerous attempts were made to organize viable, professional black baseball leagues. However, economic realities, travel and lodging difficulties posed by segregation, and the logistics of travel worked together to thwart the establishment of any solid baseball…