Negro Leagues Archives - Baseball History Comes Alive

Guest Posts / Negro Leagues March 22, 2024March 22, 2024

An Unlikely Path To The Negro Leagues

Today we welcome back Thomas Marshall with an interesting account of an ugly incident in American history. If ever a silver lining can be found in such an incident as this, it was that it ed to certain Leavenworth inmates playing in the Negro Leagues. I think you’ll find Tom’s essay interesting…

Black History Month Trivia, Part Four!

As our month-long tribute to Baseball and Black History Month comes to an end, here’s Part Four of Vince Jankoski’s trivia quiz. We thank Vince for the great job he did in putting this together…

Negro Leagues / Satchel Paige February 18, 2024

Joe Louis and Satchel Paige meet at Comiskey Park on August 13, 1948!

“The fact that most baseball fans did not see him in his prime is one of the great tragedies of the game.” –Iconic Baseball photographer George Brace, speaking of Satchel Paige.

With February being Black History Month, here’s a salute to the great Hall of Famer Satchel Paige, who many baseball historians think may be the greatest pitcher ever…

Negro Leagues / Vince Jankoski Posts February 15, 2024

Black History Month Trivia, Part Three

Today we continue with our tribute to Black History Month with Part Three of Vince Jankoski’s 28 trivia questions. Before we get to the questions, here’s a few words about the Homestead Grays. Photo sent to me by Chris Whitehouse….

Negro Leagues February 11, 2024February 11, 2024

Salute to The Great Josh Gibson

Today, I’ll continue with our month-long celebration of Black History Month with a short tribute to Josh Gibson I wrote a few years ago. How he would have hit if allowed to compete against major league pitching for his entire career career, we’ll never know. But there’s no debate that he was a great hitter, one of the best ever…

Negro Leagues / Vince Jankoski Posts February 8, 2024February 8, 2024

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part Two

Today, in our ongoing tribute to baseball and Black History month, we’ll continue with Vince Jankoski’s baseball trivia questions. As I mentioned last week, I’ll be posting seven trivia questions each Thursday, one for each day of the week for the entire month…

Ernie Banks / Jackie Robinson / Negro Leagues February 4, 2024February 4, 2024

Great Photo of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby!

Here’s a real neat photo sent to me by a friend. That’s Larry Doby on the left and of course Jackie Robinson on the right. But here’s a real surprise…Who do you think is the player on the far left, sitting on the dugout steps??…

Negro Leagues / Vince Jankoski Posts February 1, 2024February 1, 2024

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIVIA, Part I

Many thanks to Vince Jankoski for reminding us that February is notable for two reasons – and no, the month’s terrible weather is not one of them!..

Book Reviews / Negro Leagues August 2, 2023August 2, 2023

My Review of “Sugarball, A Novel of Negro League Baseball,” by R. Lee Procter

It’s not often that we baseball history buffs venture into the realm of historically-based novels. It’s also not often that we encounter one such book from this genre that happens to be right up our alley…

Hall of Fame / Negro Leagues / Team Photos July 30, 2023July 30, 2023

Check Out this Beautiful Restoration of the Homestead Grays Team Photo!

Chris Whitehouse does some amazing work, as you can see from this beautiful color restoration of the 1939 Homestead Grays. Chris was kind enough to allow me to post it today on my Baseball History Comes Alive website…

Cleveland Indians / Forgotten Stars / Negro Leagues April 8, 2023April 9, 2023

It’s Easter Sunday…So Let’s Salute Luke Easter!

“Luke Easter is the only player I ever saw who can hit a baseball as far as Babe Ruth.” –Jimmy Reese, former teammate of Babe Ruth…

Hall of Fame / Negro Leagues January 1, 2023January 3, 2023

Let’s remember the Great Josh Gibson

“I played with Willie Mays and against Hank Aaron. They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson.” – Monte Irvin, speaking of Josh Gibson…

Hall of Fame / Negro Leagues / We're Contacted by Relative/Acquaintance of a Former Player! February 26, 2022February 27, 2022

A Follow-up to My Birthday Tribute to Cool Papa Bell!

With our Old-Time Baseball Photos Facebook page currently having over 85K followers, we never know where our essays might go and who might read them…

Negro Leagues February 19, 2022February 20, 2022

Our Salute to the Negro Leagues: James “Cool Papa” Bell

“Bell was so fast he could turn off the light and be under the covers before the room got dark!”-Satchel Paige, speaking of “Cool Papa” Bell…

Negro Leagues / St. Louis Cardinals November 27, 2021December 29, 2021

Let’s Take a Moment to Recall the Tragic Story of the Cardinals’ Charlie Peete

Charlie who? You’ve never heard of Charlie Peete? Neither had I. Until yesterday that is…

Negro Leagues June 23, 2021June 23, 2021

1939 East-West Negro League All-Star game!

Every so often, I like to repost this great photo from the 1939 Negro League East-West All-Star game…

Negro Leagues February 25, 2021August 15, 2021

Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe: A Great Negro League Ballplayer NOT in the Hall of Fame

As we near the close of this year’s Black History Month, I thought this might be a good time to salute Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe…

Negro Leagues / We're Contacted by Relative/Acquaintance of a Former Player! May 30, 2020May 31, 2020

We’re Contacted by a Descendant of Josh Gibson

Today we feature something special for all our readers. I recently had a lengthy phone conversation with Pittsburgh resident Sean Gibson, the great-grandson of Josh Gibson…

Hall of Fame / Negro Leagues / Player Spotlights May 23, 2020May 24, 2020

Let’s Shine Our Player Spotlight: Leon Day, “One of the Best Ever!”

“There wasn’t any position he couldn’t really play. He was something to behold, on the mound or in the field.” -Monte Irvin, speaking of Leon day

Negro Leagues / New York Yankees / Player Spotlights April 14, 2020April 15, 2020

Let’s Remember Elston Howard and the Yankees’ Historic Day, April 14, 1955

“A man of great gentleness and dignity, one of the truly great Yankees.” –Inscription on Elston Howard’s Monument Park plaque…

Brooklyn Dodgers / Forgotten Stars / Los Angeles Dodgers / Negro Leagues / Player Spotlights March 14, 2020March 15, 2020

Baseball’s Forgotten Stars! Jim “Junior” Gilliam

While not a Hall-of-Famer, Gilliam was a clutch performer who had a fine career. It included membership, as either a player or coach, on ten Dodger pennant winners and four World Series championships…

Negro Leagues August 24, 2019August 24, 2019

Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe: A Great Ballplayer NOT in the Hall of Fame

As you read about the career of Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, try to think of any other ballplayer who excelled as both a hitter and as a pitcher over as many years a “Double Duty” did. OK…I’ll give you Babe Ruth, but that’s about it!…

Brooklyn Dodgers / Negro Leagues / Player Passings February 20, 2019January 21, 2024

Don Newcombe, RIP (1926-2019)

Here at Old-Time Baseball Photos would be remiss in our duty if we let the day go by without biding a sad farewell to the great Dodger pitcher, Don Newcombe who passed away yesterday at age 92, and recalling some of the highlights of his remarkable career.

Negro Leagues February 16, 2019May 24, 2020

1939 Negro League East-West All-Star Game!

As we continue our month-long salute to the Negro Leagues, I’d like to repost this great photo from the 1939 Negro League East-West All-Star game, along with a little information about this game which was so important to the African-American community:

Negro Leagues February 13, 2019February 13, 2019

Another Chapter In Our Month-Long Salute to the Negro Leagues: The Homestead Grays

As has become our tradition, we like to highlight the Negro Leagues during the month of February, so we can’t let the month go by without a salute to the Homestead Grays, one of the greatest teams of the Negro Leagues.