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The History Of Baseball
Negro League Players Inducted Into The Hall Of Fame
Initially, the Hall of Fame planned a “separate but equal” display to honor the Negro League players. This meant that the players se- lected would not be consid- ered members of the Hall of Fame.
However, Satchel Paige insisted that he would not ac- cept any honor less than full- fledged induction into the Hall of Fame. The Hall com- mittee relented and agreed to admit Negro League players on an equal basis with their Major League counterparts in 1971.
Although several Negro League Baseball players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in various states, only 18 players were inducted into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame. Those chosen were se- lected based on their out- standing careers playing in the Negro League Baseball.
Those individuals and the year in which they were in- ducted are as follows:
Satchel Paige — 1971
Buck Leonard — 1972
Josh Gibson — 1972
Monte Irvin — 1973
William Julius “Judy” Johnson — 1975
On June 8, 1982, Satchel Paige died in Kansas City, Missouri. Born in Mobile, Ala- bama as Leroy Robert Paige, he became known as a showman and played on sev- eral teams during a 22-year span before Blacks were al- lowed to play in the Major League.
Paige was the first player of the Negro League, elected by the Negro League Committee, to be inducted into the Na- tional Baseball Hall Of Fame. It is believed that he was 75 when he died.
Buck Leonard was re- garded as the greatest first baseman in the history of the Negro League.
A power-hitting, left- handed batter, Leonard played with Josh Gibson, the Negro Leagues’ most fearsome slugger, to bring pennant after pennant to the Pittsburgh- based Homestead Grays.
Leonard died on Novem- ber 27, 1997 at the age of 90, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Josh Gibson, the man that many regard as the great-
est Negro League player ever, was born on December 21, 1911, in Buena Vista, Georgia. The Homestead Grays won an unprecedented nine consecu- tive Negro National League pennants with Gibson be- hind the plate. He never played on a losing team.
Monte Irvin led a dual career in both the Negro League and later in the Major Baseball Leagues.
Irvin crossed the color line in 1949, and was a key contributor to two Giants pen-
nant-winners. He batted .458 in the 1951 World Series, and he was elected to the base- ball’s Hall of Fame in 1973.
Judy Johnson died on June 17, 1989, at his home in Wilmington, Delaware at the age of 89.
Johnson was the sixth Black Negro League player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
He obtained his first job in the Major League in 1954, as a coach and scout with the Athletics.
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