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Show 16 Tooele Transcript, Thursday, August 20, 19SI VILLAGE SQUARE By Chuck Stilt The Unsung Champions: Baseball Players In The Black Leagues Qtriui Myrick Smithsonian New Service (War Charleston was hit name. He starred at aland every position on the diamond and has been called the greatest baseltall player of all times. Then there wa Buck By Leonard. His first bate playing skills were considered the match of New York Yankees star Lou Gehrigs. BUT even among avid bascturil buffs these names may draw a blank. They played in the Negro baseball leagues in the yean before that historic day in 1947 when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dod- gers and broke the old color barrier WHAlt THIS NONSENSE in the majon. A SEAT, RAW-WO- W Charleston and Leonard ABOUT A RECfUW (TOM TOO MANY ALFAUASflOUT did not play in oliscurity by SANnucHes?" any means. Though the Ne-leagues were around before the color bar went Series EE Savings Bonds come in eight denominations with purchase prices beginning as low as (25. They up, the teams reached their can he purchased automatically through the Payroll Sav- stride in the 1920s and 30's when thousands of ings Plan offered by thousands of employers or the black fans, and even some Plan offered by commercial banks. half-centur- e Bond-A-Mon- th white baseball enthusiasts, parked stadiums, ballparks and sandlots all over the country to see the stan of such teams as the Kansas City Monarch, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Newark Eagles. These fans got the chance to see baseliatl at its finest. "Blacks were playing probably the most exciting yes, and very possibly the best -- - baseball seen in America before 1947," critic John Holway writes in his book "Voices From the Great Black - Baseball Leagues." him a national celebrity even before he broke into the major leagues in 1948, as a rookie" for the Cleveland Indians. Another dazzling bar in major league baseball, the black leagues began to fade away. Once integration began, the major leagues recruited the better young players of the black leagues, cultural historian Donn Rogosin, who organized the black baseball exhibition,' explains. Then the fans stopped going to see the black league teams play; they opted for integrated pitcher, "Smoky" Joe was throwing treacherous fast balls before Paige became a star on the mound. And there was shortstop John Henry Lloyd whose mild manner off and hard- - driving ballplaying on the field earned rather than segregated him the title the Dr. baseball." ITS not easy to track Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of baseball." down the great moments of ALTIIOUCH most of the Negro leagues and their these players were never stars. Most of the teams Wil-liam- s, CARL Scheele, curator of a recent exhibition on declarednational sports black Irasdiall at the Smithchampions, they did become heroes in the nation's sonian's Museum of American History, agrees. "The black communities. "When talent of the black baseball I was a kid, I felt a great league stars was amazing." sense of pride whenever I Talent wasn't the only watched black leaguers thing these players had o play," recalls James Piper, ing for them. They had a designer for the Museum charisma and a bit of of American History and panache. The flamboyant himself a former seini-prpitching style and personal- black baseball player. Ironically, soon after Roity of Leroy "Satchel' binson cracked the color for made instance, Paige, go-gr- o newspapers of the period and from the memories and memorabilia of such players as former first base-ma- n Walter "Buck" Leon- ard. Leonard, now 73 and a real estate broker living in Rockie Mount, N.C., was once half of a dynamite duo. The other half was Josh Cihson, the ball player edited with hitting the longest home run ever struck in Yankee stadium. Like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth of the major leagues, Leonard and Cihson batted third and fourth in the lineup. Between 1937 and never documented their 1945, the duo led the players records. The large Homestead Cray to nine met ropolit an newspapers straight Negro league penseldom covered their games nant wins. and hardly ever featured LIFE in the underfstories about the players. inanced black leagues was So, when the leagues died, exciting, but rough even for the little bit of fame the the stars, Leonard says. il black league stars had During the season known died, too. to the end of SepToday's sports historians tember most of the teams must glean most of their in- tried to play every day to formation about the lea- keep financially afloat. One year we played 210 gues from the files of black - mid-Apr- - didn't lay well in the Latin American countries, Leonard remembers, "they sent you back to the United ball games and traveled 30,000 miles by bus and train," Leonard recalls. If a team found a little extra time in its schedule, it set up game with smalltown white and black semi-pr- o teams to get a little extra money. "Sometimes we played three game in one day," Leonard says. "We'd play a doubleheader against a black team at Yankee stadium on a Sunday afternoon; then, on Sunday night, we'd go out on Long bland and play a semi-prwhite team. Economc necessity also proved to be the mother of invention in black baseball. In the early 1930s, the Kansas City Monarch were pioneers in the use of the portable lighting system that made night baseball --a good source of revenue States." But perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the games was the opportunity afforded the black players to comn pare their drills with those of white major league players. In Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and other Latin nations, black leaguers played with and against white major leaguers on fully integrated teams. In the United States, teams organiblack zed by such players as Satchel Paige barnstormed all-st- r teams with white put together by such men as Dizzy Dean. These games demonstrated that the skills of black players all-sta- equalled and often --passible. all-st- ar ays. After the Classic and the end of the grueling season, most of the players continued their hectic pace in cross- - country barnstorming tours and winter games in Florida, California and Latin America. The players looked forward to these games, especially those in Latin America, for several reasons. "We made three times more money in the Latin American countries than we did playing in the Negro leagues," ays Monte Irvin, a veteran of the black leagues who went on to stardom in the majors. THE players could also improve their skills and off-seas- SAVE TIME AND MONEY BY DOING YOUR 01VN BODY WORK! learn to play under extreme pressure. If you HU BUM nus BMBCI With 10" File Blade For Shaping 6 .Forming. Round Or Flat " ABTBB4BT BOR FBUER Slida Action Pulls Out .Dents Easy. SJTKr1 For Shaping, jenible. 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WITHIN the last 10 years, the baseball world has begun to praise the achievements of the greats of the black leagues. In 197L Satchel Paige was the first of these players to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Josh Cibson and Buck Leonard were elected in 1972. And this year. Rube Foster, the organizer of the first successful black league, was aded to the Hall of Fame. "I never thought I would be honored like this," Buck Leonard aid a fews days before attending a White House luncheon for champions elected to the Hall of Fame. "It makes all those years of low pay and long travel in the Negro leagues worthwhile." Fitness Tips 0 HOLES EASILY! KHSHT A0T0 BCDY FILLER sur- passed those of white major league players. Box scores uncovered by author llol-wa- y show that out of the 445 games black leaguers played against white major leaguers between 1886 anb 1948, the black teams woo 260, last 172 and tied 4. NEAR the end of the season, the best players in the leagues went to Chicago to play in the East-We- st Classic, an annual game. My greatest thrill on the field was playing in that game," Leonard CARS by Dr. Dale O. Nelson Utah State University Injured runners are included at all levels of experience. Many of the injuries, even to experienced runners, have a habit of cropping up when we least expect them. Since most runners run on roads, one of the unexinvolvepected times is during the typical ment, where a slight injury develops on the way out and the runner continues running with it on the way back. IF THIS HAPPENS to you, swallow your pride and take the time to walk home or find a ride, even if you have to use the telephone. The red flag should always go up whenever little injuries develop. They invariably lead to more serious problems that often put you on the shelf. Injuries can also be avoided by spacing hard workouts two days apart. Most injuries are from overuse over many days. Even Olympic competitors only work out "hard every other day. The degree of difficulty, of course, is relative to you, the runner. Some hard workouts for beginners are easy for the better conditioned -- runners. Stretching is also important, but the best stretching not before. Runners should jog time is after warm-ufew for and then stretch. After you run, a minutes slowly stretch some more and the probability of injury will decrease. Remember that stretching is not a substitute for p, warm-u- p. WHAT WOULD YOU ay if your children had five lunches scheduled every Monday so they could get all their eating on the first day of the week and not disrupt the school schedule for the remaining four days? Or what if you should schedule all your exercise on Saturday or Sunday so your "working schedule would not be disrupted during the week? The first example may seem more ridiculous than the second, but it isnt. Exercise is a metabolic necessity the same as eating and it is as important as eating regu- - ' .' .' larly. IT IS ALSO ridiculous to schedule physical educa- tion every day one semester and not at all the next in our school programs. Young people need daily physical activity for proper growth and development and older people need it for quality living. ; Incidentally, Duke University researchers have found that healthy subjects engaged in a exer- cise program showed a marked improvement in fibrino- lytic response. Exercise stimulated the process by which the body dissolves the blood clots that may block a vein Jr artery and cause death by stroke, pulmonary embolism or heart attacks. It is, at least, part of a protective mechanism against our leading killer --- heart disease. Use it wisely as a daily part of your lifestyle. Summer Pleyglrt ; ' .' i ; Tuesday A.M. Bowling Belles Teams W-- L Bowling As Dirty Rats 21-- 7 Jokesters 3s ..:.... winter league are in- vited to attend an opening meeting Tuesday, 7:30, at the Bowling Alley. 14-1- 4 13V4-14- 2 :::::: Wicked Waihinis Individual game Juanita Warrick 10-1- 8 Shirley Johnson Renee Douglas 213 194 188 Team game Dirty Rats Bowling As Roaring 3 s 514 513 509 SLIa. Dirty Rat, w,M be voting on all rules at thls tune- - K unable to attend contact Nora secretary, Johnson, 882-785- 4 or leave name and number at Tooele Individual series Juanita Warrick Teri Smith gurley Johnson Bowlers wishing to bowl . in 18-1- 0 148-13- 8 Roaring ; 564 532 493 1474 1421 Bowl. League play will start Sept. 1. It isnt what a teen-ag- er !T7AalTTdhispar out. , |