BLACK HISTORY NEWS AND NOTES

strongest lineups ever seen in professional to other teams. Charleston recruited new out o f town. To gather the best talent and . Charleston convinced his Grays players, but without marquee stars such gain a clear perspective o f players across teammate Gibson to catch for Satchel as Gibson, Paige, Johnson, and Bell, the the Negro Leagues, Rickey needed a man­ Paige, and the rest o f the regular lineup Toledo Crawfords failed to develop a suf­ ager with great knowledge and the respect included Johnson, Ted Page, , ficient fan base. o f others in the black baseball com m u­ Jimmie Crutchfield, and Double Duty In 1940 Charleston moved the team nity. Charleston was the obvious choice. Radcliffe. C ool Papa Bell joined the team to Indianapolis. Indiana had not fielded Though not directly involved in scout­ the following year. a top black team since Charleston and ing Robinson, Charleston was involved In 1933 Greenlee helped market Negro other stars had left the ABCs during the in recruiting other integration pioneers, League baseball by developing an all-star early 1920s. Back then, Taylor had access including . game. Just weeks after Major League Base­ to three fields for games: Northwestern The Brown Dodgers and the United ball held its first All-Star Game at Comis- Park, Federal League Park (1914-16), and States League were short-lived efforts, so key Park, the African American stars took Washington Park (1917-23). However, in September 1945 Charleston once again the same field. Fans selected participants when Charleston returned in 1940, the needed work and reenlisted in the military, by submitting ballots published in major city only had one ballpark large enough this time serving as a security guard at the African American newspapers. Charleston to hold professional games: Perry Stadium Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, the received more votes than any other player. (later renamed Victory Field then Bush primary shipping center for war supplies He also appeared in the 1934 and 1935 Stadium). This meant the Crawfords sent to Europe. However, security seems to games and served as , coach, or could only arrange home games when the have been a cover for his true role: manag­ umpire in other years. Indianapolis Indians were out o f town, ing the depot’s baseball team. For the third W hile the East-West All-Star Game and on dates when they anticipated suf­ time in his career, Charleston was involved continued drawing tens o f thousands to ficient crowds to earn enough to cover rent with integrated baseball, but this time the Chicago, individual teams struggled dur­ for the field (particularly weekends and team itself was integrated with African ing the Great Depression. As the economy holidays). Playing most o f their games on Americans and whites o f various eth­ worsened, Greenlee fought to fill his the road, the Indianapolis Crawfords also nicities. They were already playing when park. After the Twenty-first Amendment failed to develop a following. Rickey signed Robinson to a minor league overturned Prohibition in 1933, he also During the winter o f 1940—41, contract on November 1, 1945. Interest­ no longer had income from illegal liquor Charleston began planning a new team ingly, Charleston’s third term o f military sales, and Tito was too busy legitimately under his own control. He named it the service also marks him as one o f only three brewing Rolling Rock beer to continue Sans Bias Indians, but the team never Hall o f Famers to claim this distinction. his interest in the team. In 1937 Raphael played a game because while Charleston Charleston returned to the Philadel­ Trujillo, president of the Dominican was assembling his roster, he received an phia Stars in 1946 and led the team for Republic, raided the Crawfords and gave offer from Ed Bolden inviting him to five more seasons. Even after leaving the stars such as Gibson and Paige thousands manage the Philadelphia Stars. Charleston Stars at the end o f 1950, he remained o f dollars to assemble his own dream moved east and stayed in this position connected to the game as a scout and oc­ team. Charleston remained in Pittsburgh, through 1944. casional umpire. but the final blow to Greenlees baseball In 1945 the world o f professional In 1954 Charleston donned an empire came during the summer o f 1938 baseball was preparing for a great change. Indianapolis jersey once again, this time when the city forced him to sell Greenlee Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager to manage the Indianapolis Clowns. Field so it could be demolished to make was exploring the pos­ As a traveling or barnstorming team, room for much-needed public housing. sibility o f signing black players. To get the Clowns played occasional games in W ithout a home field, the Crawfords a better look at strong talent, he created Charleston’s hometown, but the team did left Pittsburgh for Toledo, Ohio. Charles­ the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers to enter the not garner the same attention as great A f­ ton remained manager and promised Ohio United States League, a Negro League that rican American teams during the first half investors that he would bring the team had formed the previous winter. The team o f the century. By 1954 many o f the best intact to its new home. However, many of played its home games at Ebbets Field black players had already transitioned into the players had different ideas and jumped when their major league namesakes were the major and minor leagues. For example,

38 | TRACES Summer 2012