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Now we turn our attention to our last eight excellent Negro Leagues pitchers to find out how they likely rank in an integrated list. It so happens that virtually all of the best of the best of the cream of the crop of the crème de la crème will fall into today’s group. Get some popcorn and let’s see how they duke it out among themselves and among major leaguers.
First up is the best pitcher in Negro League’s history, and possibly the leagues’ greatest of all time, Satchel Paige. With my workload adjustment, Paige comes in at 42 peak WAR and 91 career. His career value would rank thirteenth all-time. I’ve compared Paige to Lefty Grove in the past and floated the idea that Paige could have been the better pitcher. I don’t think that’s likely true at this point, a couple years and many Negro Leagues Database updates later, but I’m very certain that he was the best righthanded pitcher whose career began between Pete Alexander’s debut and Bob Gibson’s, a period covering the 47 years from 1912–1959. That’s not insignificant at all, and it means that he was a superior pitcher to guys like Robin Roberts and Bob Feller who rank very highly. Paige’s estimated peak is soft for someone with 90 career WAR, so it’s possible that our pitching MLEs tamp down peak performance just as our hitting MLEs do. With that possibility in mind, Paige should probably rank nearby Eddie Plank, Warren Spahn, Mike Mussina, and Bert Blyleven around 14th to 19th. We don’t have any information about Paige’s time in the Santo Domingo league in 1937, and that could help him a little, as might information about the defenses behind him. But we’ve got so much info that it’s unlikely we’ll see a big shift from him. I suppose some might say that being roughly the fifteenth-best pitcher ever underrates Paige. I would reply that it depends upon your point of view. In terms of Paige’s impact on the game overall, I would rate him higher. But we’re only looking at performance, and our current best estimate suggests this placement which is not exactly chopped liver. The guys ahead of him are all either three-hundred-game winners or Pedro Martinez or Bob Gibson. That’s it. That’s the kind of company Paige belongs in, the elite of the elite.
From the start of the process of drawing up MLEs for Negro Leagues, Dick Redding impressed. I had some question about whether he might just be a borderline innings muncher with a couple good years. Instead, we’ve got a real horse on our hands. Even applying my workload evener, Redding totes up seven seasons of at least 6.0 WAR. After that he adds an eighth season above 5.0 and another at 4.0. The wheels come off a bit after that with a slew of seasons in the ones and twos, but the case is already decided. We’ve got a peak of 48 WAR and a career of 68, and that’s a nice package of value. Looks a lot like Roy Halladay (50 peak, 64 career), Kevin Brown (46 peak, 68 career), and Carl Hubble (47 peak, 66 career). That’s great company to keep, and it means that Redding squeezes somewhere into 29th to 33rd place among pitchers. He was a great pitcher.
We’re just stumbling into great pitcher after great pitcher, and here’s yet another, Bullet Rogan. We discussed previously that Rogan as a hitter could rank right on the borderline at whichever outfield position you want to put him at. At pitcher, he’s not borderline in the least. In fact, he might give Satchel a run for his money. Consider that we’ve got Rogan currently at a 46-WAR peak and a 88 WAR career, and we could actually rank him right with Paige. But I think we need to temper that enthusiasm a bit:
So it’s entirely possible that Rogan was mostly done as a pitcher in 1929. It’s also possible that he pitched hundreds of innings a year for the next decade in barnstorming games. What do we know about this period in his career? Not much. James Riley says that (a) Rogan was “seriously ill” during the 1930 season—we somehow missed this previously, so we’re changing his workload and giving him only 50 innings that year—(b) in 1931, the Monarchs didn’t play until August because they’d disbanded after the 1930 season and didn’t reform until summer (c) that Rogan managed the Monarchs, as he had since 1926, and stayed in that position until his retirement in 1938.
Let’s say that Rogan simply decided after 1929 or during his serious illness in 1930 that he simply didn’t want to pitch In that case, we’d have him at 46 peak, 75 career. Still an awfully good career. But for now, if our estimates are as correct as we can be, he’s somewhere in the 15th to 20th range, probably just behind Satchel. But as more information comes along, we may revise downward, perhaps even considerably.
We mentioned Lázaro Salazar a few weeks back among our centerfielders. Well, he could pitch pretty good too. He ganged up his best years early and hung around as an innings muncher for a long while. I’ve got him at a 37-WAR peak and a 53-WAR career. That peak is a wee bit light for a player with only 53 WAR. The two together resemble Dwight Gooden (38 peak, 52 career), Early Wynn (34 peak, 55 career), Felix Hernandez (assuming his career is over: 38 peak, 51 career), Kenny Rogers (36 peak 53 career), Frank Tanana (36 peak, 53 career). Those guys rank between 77th and 87th for me, and I lean slightly toward the lower figures because I think Tanana and Rogers are very good comps for Salazar’s career path. This puts Salazar below Ray Brown, but above Billy Holland, Webster McDonald, and Willie Foster. Like with Dihigo and Rogan, we would have to count Salazar as half a pitcher anyway. But Salazar was elected to our manager’s slot in part as a combo-candidate who was an outstanding manager and an outstanding player.
Hilton Smith is a Hall of Famer, and, taking nothing away from him, he is probably an overreach from a group that might have had a slight fondness for the Monarchs. Not nearly as bad as Andy Cooper, but pretty clearly not up to snuff. I’ve pegged him at a peak of 31 WAR and a career total of 44. This would place him in the same group of pitchers where Bill Byrd landed, which means you can pencil him in between 140th and 150th. Smith didn’t arrive in the Negro Leagues until age 25. Or so says the Negro Leagues Database. James Riley puts that at age 21. Because the NLDB is my most trusted source, I’ll go with them. If Riley’s bio is generally correct about the sequence of Smith’s career, he played just one season at the minor-league level of the Negro Leagues making it dubious that there’s any undocumented play we might consider prior to his debut at the highest level.
Our next contestant is Roy Welmaker who is something of an all-or-nothing proposition. Some nice peak seasons; very little else to choose from. That formula gets him to a peak of 33 WAR and a career of 45 WAR. That ought to ring some bells because it’s basically the same as Hilton Smith’s and, therefore, Bill Byrd’s. Actually, it’s just a tad better and jumps Welmaker just above Smith and Byrd. Welmaker’s comps are Jack Powell, Dolf Luque, Larry Jackson, Dennis Martinez, and fellows like them. That means he fits in roughly between 117th place and 122nd. Give or take. He probably would have been a #1 starter in his prime, but not one who could maintain that level of production for more than a handful of years.
I wanted to be sure we included Dick Whitworth in our discussion, but only because of his extreme peak orientation. Whitworth’s best two seasons combined total 19 WAR by themselves. The rest of his career totals five WAR. Total peak value was 26 wins and career 24 wins. How do you do recognize a peak season for Whitworth? It’s one that doesn’t carry a negative sign. A 26/24 split is basically identical to Josh Johnson and Mario Soto, a little more than 320 long ranks away from Walter Johnson.
Finally, let’s bring on our #2 all-time Negro Leagues pitcher, Smokey Joe Williams. He pitched forever, could hit, and was a formidable mound presence. It all combines into a peak of 42 WAR and 81 career. His peak is the same as Jose Méndez and right around Satchel and Dick Redding. His career value nearly splits the difference between Satch and Redding, but a little higher than their midpoint. As we saw with Paige, Williams has a lower peak value than we see with starters accumulating 80 or more WAR, so there could be a peak-dampening effect here. His closest comps are John Smoltz (41 peak, 78 career) and Tom Glavine (45 peak, 82 career), and, clearly, he fits exactly between them if his MLEs are accurate. That means 23rd to 27th place. Now an interesting twist is that, if we ever have live baseball again, that ranking range will probably narrow by at least two and maybe three slots. Zack Grienke (48 peak, 71 WAR), Clayton Kershaw (50 peak, 68 career), and Justin Verlander (50 peak, 73 career) all lie between Smoltz and Glavine on my list. They are close enough that just a season or two of good—not great—play will bump them up past Glavine and probably past Gaylord Perry (47 peak, 80 career). The wild card here is Max Scherzer who has closed rapidly on the trio of active titans. He’s at 47 peak WAR and 60 career and could find his way in between Smoltz and Glavine by the end. If we ever play again while they can still pitch….
So we’ve reached the end of this particular line of inquiry. Lots of ins, lots of outs, and lots of doubts. This whole business is fraught with uncertainty and imprecision. If you don’t think I’ve ranked someone high enough, the chances are that you’re right. But remember this: The statistical record of these players remains incomplete. It’s unlikely, but we may yet encounter some surprises—the good kind or the bad kind—particularly as additional winter league data becomes available, which it may one day not all that far off. In the meantime, just wait it out because both of us will probably be wrong when it’s all said and done.
[All MLEs updated 7/4/18 to include (a) new 1938 and 1947 data (b) new baserunning-runs estimates(c) new, more objective playing-time estimates]
[Note: All MLEs here updated 1/1/18 due to changes in approach to pitcher batting.]
[Note: Updated 1/20/18 to include adjustment that accounts for general differences in pitcher-batting ability between MLB and Negro Leagues.]
We introduced you in our last two posts to eight of the eleven Negro Leagues honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Hall of Merit. This time we’ll close the loop with Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith, and Smokey Joe Williams.
[In case you want a reminder of the method we’ve outline, it’s here.]
[Note: Updated 1/14/18. Presence of highly skewed league data caused z-score translations to be appear artificially low. Fixed.]
[Note: Updated 1/23/18 to fix a tiny calculation error that amounts to a change of -0.2 RAA/WAA/WAR.]
Wilbur “Bullet” Rogan is perhaps most famous for, like Martín Dihigo being a double-threat: A great pitcher and a great hitter. While Rogan lacked the versatility of Dihigo, he was probably a better pitcher. Rogan started his career in the US Army, not with a Negro Leagues team. In 1915, he was promoted to the 25th Infantry Wreckers so that he could join their ballclub, which featured future Negro Leagues stars Dobie Moore and Heavy Johnson among others. The Wreckers, stationed in the Pacific, took on all comers, and they beat a lot of PCL teams and pretty much everyone else.
From our perspective in the 21st Century, we might ask why a ballplayer wouldn’t hook on instead with a Negro Leagues team. Part of the answer is that there were no official Negro Leagues at that moment. Instead, blackball was a group of loosely confederated indy teams some of which might travel the country as a pair barnstorming their way to a paycheck or go it alone and take on the local yokels. This probably sounds to you like an unstable business model. Yup. With no central authority, there were no guarantees of payment, or at least prompt payment. That combined with playing multiple games a day in dusty towns you never heard of made Army baseball an attractive option. If you could hack basic training and could stand the hierarchy, you played ball; got paid in full, on time; got room and board; and led a predictable life. In the Wreckers’ case, a predictably sunshine filled life on an island.
As soon as the Negro National League formed in 1920, members of the Wreckers bought their way out of their service commitments and signed on with league teams. In fact, all three of Rogan, Moore, and Johnson were scooped up by J.L.Wilkinson and his Kansas City Monarchs. Actually, Rogan had played briefly with one of Wilkinson’s touring teams in 1917 but had returned to the army shortly after. Anyway, so at age 26, Rogan entered the Negro Leagues, and within two seasons, he was a star. He led the Monarch’s pitching staff as the team rumbled along to several pennants and Negro World Series appearances. In the mid-1930s, just as Satchel Paige joined the team and Hilton Smith emerged as a star, Rogan wound down his career, as did his long-time teammate Andy Cooper. He left behind a stellar 145 ERA+ (1303 innings) and a super 160 OPS+ (1721 PA).
Bullet Rogan Negro Leagues Stats | Bio Career: 1915–1937 Destination: NL 1915–1936 Missing data: 1915–1919, 1926–1927, 1929–1932 Honors: Baseball Hall of Fame, Hall of Merit PITCHING | BATTING | TOTAL YEAR AGE IP RAA WAA WAR | PA WAR | WAR ======================================================= 1915 21 200 18 2.3 4.2 | 67 0.6 | 4.8 1916 22 210 20 2.6 4.6 | 70 0.7 | 5.2 1917 23 220 21 2.7 4.7 | 73 0.6 | 5.4 1918 24 220 21 2.7 4.7 | 73 0.6 | 5.3 1919 25 240 21 2.7 4.9 | 80 0.7 | 5.6 1920 26 270 22 2.6 5.2 | 90 0.8 | 6.0 1921 27 300 24 2.5 5.6 | 100 0.9 | 6.5 1922 28 280 46 4.7 7.6 | 93 0.8 | 8.4 1923 29 300 56 5.9 8.9 | 100 0.9 | 9.8 1924 30 270 41 4.5 7.2 | 90 0.8 | 8.0 1925 31 260 39 3.9 6.6 | 87 0.8 | 7.4 1926 32 260 34 3.6 6.2 | 87 0.8 | 7.0 1927 33 270 30 3.3 6.0 | 90 0.8 | 6.8 1928 34 210 17 1.8 3.9 | 70 0.7 | 4.6 1929 35 200 17 1.6 3.7 | 67 0.6 | 4.3 1930 36 200 17 1.5 3.6 | 67 0.6 | 4.2 1931 37 180 8 0.8 2.6 | 60 0.6 | 3.2 1932 38 150 - 6 -0.6 1.0 | 50 0.5 | 1.4 1933 39 1 0 -0.1 0.0 | 0 0.0 | 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 4241 445 49.0 91.3 | 1414 12.6 | 103.9 Hypothetical MLB career rankings (1871–1960) Innings pitched: 19th Pitching Wins Above Average: 8th Pitching Wins Above Replacement: 7th Total Wins Above Replacement (pitchers only): 5th
Enough of Rogan’s record is missing from his Negro Leagues seasons, that we were a little concerned. For missing-data seasons, we use the pitcher’s career performance rate, but Rogan’s rate was very, very high and caused us to wonder if he was being inflated due to the lack of data. It was high enough that halving the career rate of run prevention still led to what you see above. As more data rolls in, we’ll update our MLE accordingly. In addition, Rogan’s 1922, 1925, and 1926 seasons required us to use the manual override to keep his performance in line with league norms.
There’s not a ton to add to the story. Rogan was an excellent pitcher and great hitter for any batter, not just for a pitcher. You have to guess, though, that all of these great hitting pitchers in the Negro Leagues would probably have been lesser hitters than we translate, simply because they’d get fewer reps, fewer chances to play in the field between starts. When teams barnstormed and operated on shoestring budgets, they had to economize. One way to do so was to bring as few players as possible on the road. That meant rosters of 13 or so for traveling. Which, in turn, meant that pitchers had to be two-way players in order to spell on another and spell injured or tired position players.
We’ll see as we delve deeper into the candidate pool in posts down the line detailing other pitching candidates that these guys couldn’t all hit. But many could, and in this way, the Negro Leagues were 20 to 30 years behind the majors which saw a sharp reduction in pitcher batting as rosters expanded to cover longer schedules and specialization began to increase.
We’ll be providing an MLE down the pike for Rogan as if he had never pitched but only been a position player.
Fixing the issue with the skewed league data bumped Rogan up considerably because some seasons that showed up near average became above average.
[Note: Updated 1/14/18. Presence of highly skewed league data caused z-score translations to be appear artificially low. Fixed.]
[Updated 4/3/18 with additional 1937 data.]
For many years, Hilton Smith was most famous for following Satchel Paige to the mound. The great Paige, having been advertised near and far as pitching on a given day would go three innings, and Smith would finish things off. At least, when the Kansas City Monarchs traveled. In league games, Smith was more likely to start and finish his own games.
Other circumstances conspired to reduce Smith’s visibility. Rather than rise up through main Negro Leagues, he got his start in the Negro Southern League, which was major only in 1932 as a haven for teams bailing on the failing major leagues. He was 25 and stuck with his Monroe teammates for a couple more years then was recruited to play for the semipro Bismarck super team that beat back all comers in the mid-1930s. When he joined the Monarchs for 1936, they were mostly a barnstorming team with relatively few documented games against top rivals, and he became Satch’s shadow. Paige left the Monarchs for the majors in 1948. Smith stayed behind and then retired after the season, leaving behind appearances in six East-West All-Star Games in his wake.
Hilton Smith Negro Leagues Stats | Bio Career: 1932–1948 Destination: NL 1932–1948 Missing data: 1933–1936, 1948 Honors: Baseball Hall of Fame PITCHING | BATTING | TOTAL YEAR AGE IP RAA WAA WAR | PA WAR | WAR ======================================================== 1932 25 180 12 1.3 3.1 | 60 0.3 | 3.4 1933 26 210 13 1.5 3.6 | 70 0.4 | 4.0 1934 27 200 12 1.2 3.3 | 67 0.4 | 3.7 1935 28 220 13 1.3 3.6 | 73 0.4 | 4.0 1936 29 270 15 1.5 4.3 | 90 0.5 | 4.8 1937 30 260 6 0.7 3.3 | 87 0.5 | 3.8 1938 31 260 16 1.7 4.4 | 87 0.5 | 4.9 1939 32 260 24 2.6 5.2 | 87 0.5 | 5.7 1940 33 270 34 3.8 6.4 | 90 0.5 | 7.0 1941 34 210 24 2.8 4.8 | 70 0.4 | 5.2 1942 35 180 3 0.3 2.1 | 60 0.3 | 2.4 1943 36 160 19 2.2 3.7 | 53 0.2 | 4.0 1944 37 20 2 0.2 0.4 | 7 0.0 | 0.5 1945 38 180 13 1.4 3.3 | 60 0.3 | 3.5 1946 39 180 8 0.9 2.7 | 60 0.3 | 3.0 1947 40 180 -13 -1.3 0.5 | 60 0.3 | 0.9 1948 41 20 0 0.0 0.2 | 7 0.0 | 0.2 ------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 3260 201 22.2 54.9 | 1088 6.1 | 61.0 Hypothetical MLB career rankings (1871–1960) Innings pitched: 51st Pitching Wins Above Average: t-56th Pitching Wins Above Replacement: 40th Total Wins Above Replacement (pitchers only): 30th
We made the manual adjustment for Smith’s 1943 season run-prevention rates to keep him in line with league norms.
A word about 1932–1936. The Lester/Clark HOF study included his stats for Monroe in the 1932 Negro Southern League in Shades of Glory. That Monroe team took on the Crawfords for a Negro Championship. They report nothing else until 1937. Riley and other bio sources indicate that Smith went to Bismarck with Satch and others in 1934/1935 somewhere, then from there became a Monarch in 1936. Given that in 1937 and 1939, Smith appears to be a finished product at age 30, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that we include 1932–1936 in our MLE. So we did at his known career average.
Smith is another good-hitting Negro Leagues pitcher who adds a lot of value that way. I’m not sure what’s up with 1944. There’s some mention of an injury in 1943 in some sources, though I see no evidence of it in the stats. But in 1944, he does appear to have been unable to start as often as usual, so maybe he hurt himself in winter ball, affecting his summer performance. It seems to have affected his durability more than his effectiveness.
It is also possible that Smith spent part of 1945 in the war, though we can’t find corroboration. He is alleged to have tipped off J.L. Wilkinson, leading to Jackie Robinson’s signing with the Monarchs immediately after his discharge.
[Note: Updated 1/1/18 to fix transcription errors in the mid-teens.]
[Note: Updated 1/6/18 to correct calculations for Joe’s first two and last years.]
[Note: Updated 1/14/18. Presence of highly skewed league data caused z-score translations to be appear artificially low. Fixed.]
In The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill ranks Joe Williams 52nd among the greatest players in baseball history. I can buy that, or even a better ranking. Williams was an early link in a long historical chain of Texas fireballers that includes “The Ryan Express” and the “The Rocket.” He must have been extremely intimidating back in the 1900s and 1910s. He stood 6’3” tall, with a chiseled face that bore the high cheek bones, angular nose, and strong chin gifted him from the Comanche heritage of one of his parents. That great fastball, likened by a promoter to a pebble blown by a storm, must have erupted from his hand a lot closer to home plate than most hitters were used to during a time when the average American male was an inch and a half shorter back then than today. Cyclone Joe, as he was called earlier in his career, gained fame for his prodigious strikeout totals. His career variously included no-hitters and a 27-strikeout performance (at night, in 12 innings) among other gems. He beat PCL teams by the bushel in a California swing, went 20-7 against white major league teams (8-3 documented), and had a 140 ERA+ in Cuba. His ERA+ of 149 trails only Dave Brown (150 ERA+) among hurlers with 1000 innings in the Negro Leagues Database, and only Brown and Satch (193 ERA+) among players anywhere near 1000 innings. His 1240 strikeouts rank first in the Database. His 1862 innings are third in the Database, his 132 victories are third, his 196 complete games are third, and his 20 shutouts rank fifth. He could bring it.
Smokey Joe Williams Negro Leagues Stats | Bio Career: 1907–1932 Destination: NL 1907-1930 Missing Data: 1907–1908, 1925–1927, 1929 Honors: Baseball Hall of Fame, Hall of Merit PITCHING | BATTING | TOTAL YEAR AGE IP RAA WAA WAR | PA WAR | WAR ======================================================= 1907 21 100 12 1.6 2.5 | 33 0.1 | 2.7 1908 22 200 22 3.1 4.9 | 67 0.3 | 5.2 1909 23 250 8 1.0 3.4 | 83 0.4 | 3.8 1910 24 300 17 2.0 4.9 | 100 0.4 | 5.4 1911 25 310 32 3.6 6.7 | 103 0.5 | 7.2 1912 26 300 52 5.7 8.7 | 100 0.4 | 9.1 1913 27 300 25 2.9 5.9 | 100 0.5 | 6.4 1914 28 270 34 4.2 6.7 | 90 0.5 | 7.2 1915 29 250 18 2.3 4.7 | 83 0.4 | 5.1 1916 30 250 31 4.2 6.5 | 83 0.4 | 6.9 1917 31 300 39 5.2 7.9 | 100 0.4 | 8.3 1918 32 270 28 3.7 6.2 | 90 0.3 | 6.5 1919 33 280 20 2.5 5.1 | 93 0.4 | 5.5 1920 34 300 30 3.6 6.5 | 100 0.4 | 6.9 1921 35 300 35 3.8 6.9 | 100 0.5 | 7.3 1922 36 250 41 4.2 6.7 | 83 0.5 | 7.2 1923 37 240 10 1.0 3.5 | 80 0.4 | 3.9 1924 38 200 29 3.1 5.1 | 67 0.3 | 5.4 1925 39 180 19 1.8 3.7 | 60 0.3 | 4.0 1926 40 150 18 1.9 3.4 | 50 0.3 | 3.7 1927 41 130 16 1.7 3.0 | 25 0.2 | 3.2 1928 42 50 4 0.4 0.9 | 18 0.1 | 1.0 1929 43 20 3 0.3 0.5 | 7 0.0 | 0.5 1930 44 10 2 0.2 0.3 | 17 0.1 | 0.4 ------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 5210 545 63.7 114.6 | 1732 8.2 | 122.8 Hypothetical MLB career rankings (1871–1960) Innings pitched: 4th Pitching Wins Above Average: 6th Pitching Wins Above Replacement: 3rd Total Wins Above Replacement (pitchers only): 3rd
We employed the manual override on 1912, 1914, 1921, and 1922 to keep Williams’ MLEs in line with league norms.
In terms of their relative standings, he is precisely to Paige as Pete Alexander is to Walter Johnson. The thing about Johnson and Paige is that everyone in the greatest-ever conversation gets compared to them. Roger Clemens? How does he stack up to the Big Train? Joe Williams? How does he compare with Satchel? That’s not a dis on anyone, either. It’s simply an acknowledgment of how great those guys were. Similarly, whoever is juxtaposed to them in any serious discussion of GOATedness (that is, Greatest of All Time) must be an awfully good pitcher to even merit the comparison. Williams was a really great pitcher. Yet, he needs a strong bat to get by Paige. In terms of measuring his pitching performance, Williams finishes behind Paige, but he needs 400 more innings to do it.
That said, if you were GM for a big league club, and someone said they could clone Smokey Joe Williams and have him ready to pitch for you starting next year, you’d do it quicker than you can say medical ethics. He was the towering figure among moundsmen in the early Negro Leagues era, and anyone would take the kind of peak we are estimating in his MLEs.
Note: When we adjusted our league stats to remove pitchers with very low innings and very high RA9, several of Williams’ seasons drastically improved, and his MLE value along with them. He now looks to be right on par with Satch.
And now, we’ve reached the end of our walk to the mound to meet with our Negro League Hall of Fame/Merit hurlers. We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know them a little and learning about some of baseball’s best players who are virtually unknown historical figures. Often we talk about underrated players in MLB. Tony Gwynn and Tim Raines were the subject of such talk while I was growing up, and Miller and I write about underrated players like Dwight Evans or Bobby Grich all the time. But those guys are better known by many orders of magnitude compared to anyone in the Negro Leagues, with the possible exception of Satchel Paige. It’s more likely that the average fan on the street knows who Sean Casey is than Buck Leonard. Or Josh Collmenter than Josh Gibson (and certainly Kirk Gibson over Josh Gibson). Every Negro Leagues player is underrated, so we hope we’re able to give them a little spotlight time. If you’re interested to learn more, we recommend not only the amazing Negro Leagues Database and the equally amazing SABR Bioproject, but also books such as Shades of Glory and The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues.
Next time out, we’re going to document for you our MLE method for position players, then we’ll dive into the Hall of Fame/Merit players at each position en route to a first sweep through the Negro Leagues.
the Hall of Miller and Eric 