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Philadelphia Stars (baseball)
Encyclopedia
The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball
team from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.
In 1934, led by 20-year-old left-hander Slim Jones, the Stars defeated the Chicago American Giants
in an exciting playoff series, four games to three, for the Negro National League
pennant. At their high point in mid-30s, the team starred such greats as Biz Mackey
, Jud Wilson
, and Dick Lundy
. After being released by the Cleveland Indians
, famed Negro leaguer and Major Leaguer
Satchel Paige
signed with the Stars in July 1950, before returning to the Majors with Bill Veeck
and the St. Louis Browns
.
The club disbanded after the 1952 season. The Philadelphia Phillies
have celebrated and honored the Stars in recent years. The African American Museum in Philadelphia
maintains the "William Cash/Lloyd Thompson Collection" of Stars and Hilldale Club
scorebooks, photographs, and correspondence.
Ed Bolden organized the Philadelphia Stars who played their first season in 1933. The Negro National League was composed primarily of mid-western teams in 1933 and many east-coast clubs were independent. The Stars were originally one such unaffiliated club and primarily played against local white semi-professional and professional teams. For example, by June 1933, the Stars' only games against black teams had been against the Philadelphia Bacharach Giants
and the Pittsburgh Crawfords
.
1934-1948: Negro National League
The Negro National League used a split-season playoff system in 1934 with the season’s first-half winner playing the second-half winner for the championship. The Chicago American Giants
won the first-half. The Stars won the second-half with a record of 11-4.
The Stars finished in fourth place in 1945 and 1946, fifth in 1947, and finished in fourth place again in 1948 with a 27 and 29 record.
1949-1952: Negro American League
4-3-1 in a best of seven game series. The championship series, however, was beset by problems.
The first four games of the best-of-seven series were played in Chicago. The games went smoothly and Chicago won three of four. But game 5 was delayed by 10 days for unexplained reasons. When the Series resumed in Philadelphia, the Stars won game 6 to tie the series but did so amidst controversy protest.
Early in game 6, Stars’ third-baseman Jud Wilson seemed to hit umpire Bert Gholston which should have meant immediate ejection. Over the protest of Chicago manager Dave Malarcher, Gholston refused to eject Wilson. Later in the game, Stars catcher Ameal Brooks pushed another of the umpires who also refused to eject the Stars player.
Prior to game 7, Malarcher filed a protest with NNL Commissioner Rollo Wilson over Jud Wilson’s actions. The Commissioner met with the team owners and umpires. Gholston claimed he had wanted to eject Wilson but was threatened by Stars players and intimidated into allowing Wilson to play. Stars owner Bolden threatened not to play game 7 if Jud Wilson was suspended and the Commissioner buckled under the pressure.
The teams played game 7 on October 1 at Passon Field. The game ended in a 4-4 tie due to darkness. Game 8 was played the following day and Slim Jones pitched the Stars to a 2-0 victory and the championship.
Both the Stars and Giants filed protests over games 7 and 8. Giants player Turkey Stearnes
hit an umpire and controversy hung over the series. The Stars claimed the Giants had used ineligible players. The Giants protested that two games should not have been played at night. Nevertheless, the Stars championship was upheld by the league.
Negro league ballclub that won the Eastern Colored League
pennant in 1923, 1924, and 1925, and which beat the Kansas City Monarchs
in the Negro League World Series
in 1925. Bolden was also a founder of the ECL. Bolden was instrumental in building the Stars' 1934 championship club and ran the team until his death in 1950.
After Bolden's death, his ownership passed to his daughter, Hilda Bolden Shorter. Shorter ran the club through 1952.
The team was financed, and owned in part by sports promoter Eddie Gottlieb who also owned the Philadelphia Sphas
and Philadelphia Warriors basketball teams. Gottlieb leased Penmar Park
from the Pennsylvania Railroad
for use by the Stars. In addition to the Stars, Gottlieb was the booking agent for all the Negro league teams in the Northeast, taking 10-percent of gate receipts for his work.
's
athletic field (baseball and football) now called Pollock Field and was the former home of the Philadelphia Bacharach Giants
. In 1936, the Stars moved to 44th and Parkside Ballpark where they played the majority of their home games through 1947 when they lost their lease. The Stars often played on Monday nights at Shibe Park which had a higher seating capacity and which was located in North Philadelphia.. The New York Times reported that the Stars had their largest crowd at Shibe Park in June 1943 when they beat the Kansas City Monarchs
in front of 24,165.
After 1947, the Stars played home games at area ballparks including Wilmington Park
in Delaware, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks
minor-league team.
The Stars did not have an official team logo as professional and collegiate teams have today. It was not common practice for teams to have such standardized team symbols in the 1930s and 1940s. The Stars wore uniforms with red and navy blue decoration. The cap most commonly associated today with the Stars is their 1938 cap, seen above, which has a navy crown, red brim, and white star with a red sanserif P. For most of their history, they wore a white cap with a red brim, and red sanserif P as seen to the left. Another style cap worn by the Stars was an all navy cap with a red P.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
(NLBM) created a series of team logos in the 1990s for the well-known Negro league teams so that the NLBM could license such logos and collect royalties for their use on merchandise. Such revenue helps sustain the museum. The Stars were one such team for which a contemporary logo was created. It is seen on NLBM-licensed Stars merchandise and while it supports the educational efforts of the Museum, it is not a historical logo.
All-Star Team Selections
The Negro League Baseball All-Star Game
was called the East-West Game. Players were not divided by league, but by geographical location; Stars players played for the East. Players were voted to the teams by the fans with votes tallied by the Chicago Defender
and the Pittsburgh Courier
newspapers.
These Philadelphia Stars appeared in the All-Star game for the East team. Only players from the Pittsburgh Crawfords
and Washington Elite Giants played for the East in the 1936 game. Two games were played in 1939, 1942, and 1946-1948.
Negro National League Rookie of the Year
Hall of Famers
While none of these players were enshrined in Cooperstown with a Stars cap, each of them was a part of the Philadelphia Stars franchise at one point in his career.
Stars co-owner Eddie Gottlieb was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame
in 1972.
Phillies and MLB Tributes and Celebrations
On June 28, 1997, the Philadelphia Phillies
played the Atlanta Braves
at Turner Field
in Atlanta. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson
breaking professional baseball's color-line, the Braves hosted a Turn Back the Clock
game. The Braves wore 1938 Atlanta Black Crackers
home uniforms and the Phillies wore 1938 Stars road uniforms.
Prior to its 2008 First-Year Player Draft
, Major League Baseball held a ceremonial draft of surviving players from the Negro leagues to honor those players excluded from organized professional baseball. Every team in Major League Baseball selected a player whose career encompassed the Negro leagues. Former Stars players who participated in the draft were Walter Lee Gibbons, a pitcher who pitched briefly for the Stars in 1941 and was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays
, pitcher Harold Gould selected by the Toronto Blue Jays
, and infielder Mahlon Duckett who was selected by the Phillies.
Negro league players who had signed with Major League organizations were not eligible for the ceremonial Draft. Former Stars players Bill Cash had played in the organization of the Chicago White Sox
and Stanley Glenn had played in the Boston Braves
' minor-league system. The Phillies chose to include Cash and Glenn in the Draft celebrations by recognizing the two players prior to their June 5, 2008 game against the Cincinnati Reds
at Citizens Bank Park
. The Phillies presented Cash and Glenn with new Phillies jerseys while Gould and Duckett were at the MLB Draft.
44th and Parkside Memorial Park
Today at 44th and Parkside is a Negro leagues memorial park. In 2004, West Philadelphia's Business Association of West Parkside led a coalition of local groups in building the park. The Philadelphia Building Trades Council donated $150,000 in labor to help build the park in which the memorial statue, Pennsylvania historical marker, and Stars mural are now located.
A Negro Leagues Memorial Statue stands today at 44th and Parkside in tribute to the ballplayers who played at the site. The Phillies hosted the dedication of the statue on June 18, 2003 at Veterans Stadium
. Mayor John Street
and Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins
attended the unveiling of the statue, along with the then living members of the Stars, Bill Cash, Mahlon Duckett, Stanley Glenn, Harold Gould, and Wilmer Harris. The Phillies committed to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the statue for a period of 10 years.
Other Tributes
Philadelphia-area youth baseball league, Mt. Airy Baseball honors the Negro league team by calling its senior and tournament teams the "Stars".
During the summer of 2004, Philadelphia's Marian Anderson Recreation Center coach Steve Bandura organized a youth baseball team of Philadelphia teenagers of different ethnic and racial backgrounds which he named the Philadelphia Stars after the original Negro league club. Bandura led the team on a 20-day, 15-city, 3,700-mile tour called the "Philadelphia Stars Throw Back Tour '04". The trip was sponsored by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and Major League Baseball
-licensee Mitchell & Ness
. The team traveled on a circa-1947 bus which Mitchell & Ness purchased for the tour. The team visited with the living members of the Philadelphia Stars in Philadelphia, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
in Kansas City
, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Jackie Robinson
's grave in Brooklyn
, and the College World Series
in Omaha, Nebraska
. The team received national press coverage for the trip.
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
team from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.
In 1934, led by 20-year-old left-hander Slim Jones, the Stars defeated the Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team, owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball...
in an exciting playoff series, four games to three, for the Negro National League
Negro National League (the second)
The second Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues which were created during the time organized baseball was segregated. It established in 1933, two years after the first Negro National League had disbanded...
pennant. At their high point in mid-30s, the team starred such greats as Biz Mackey
Biz Mackey
James Raleigh "Biz" Mackey was an American catcher and manager in Negro league baseball. He came to be regarded as black baseball's premier catcher in the late 1920s and early 1930s...
, Jud Wilson
Jud Wilson
Ernest Judson Wilson , nicknamed "Boojum," was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. Born in Remington, Virginia, he served in World War I, and during his career played primarily for the Baltimore Black Sox , Homestead Grays , and Philadelphia Stars...
, and Dick Lundy
Dick Lundy (baseball player)
Richard Benjamin Lundy was an African American shortstop in the Negro Leagues for numerous teams. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida....
. After being released by the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
, famed Negro leaguer and Major Leaguer
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
Satchel Paige
Satchel Paige
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...
signed with the Stars in July 1950, before returning to the Majors with Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
and the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
.
The club disbanded after the 1952 season. The Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
have celebrated and honored the Stars in recent years. The African American Museum in Philadelphia
African American Museum in Philadelphia
The African American Museum in Philadelphia is notable as the first museum funded and built by a municipality to help preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans...
maintains the "William Cash/Lloyd Thompson Collection" of Stars and Hilldale Club
Hilldale Club
The Hilldale Athletic Club was an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia....
scorebooks, photographs, and correspondence.
History
1933: IndependentEd Bolden organized the Philadelphia Stars who played their first season in 1933. The Negro National League was composed primarily of mid-western teams in 1933 and many east-coast clubs were independent. The Stars were originally one such unaffiliated club and primarily played against local white semi-professional and professional teams. For example, by June 1933, the Stars' only games against black teams had been against the Philadelphia Bacharach Giants
Bacharach Giants
The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.- Founding :The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 and renamed them after Harry Bacharach, the city's mayor...
and the Pittsburgh Crawfords
Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords were originally a youth semipro team sponsored by...
.
1934-1948: Negro National League
The Negro National League used a split-season playoff system in 1934 with the season’s first-half winner playing the second-half winner for the championship. The Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team, owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball...
won the first-half. The Stars won the second-half with a record of 11-4.
The Stars finished in fourth place in 1945 and 1946, fifth in 1947, and finished in fourth place again in 1948 with a 27 and 29 record.
1949-1952: Negro American League
Negro American League
The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues which were created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and continued to exist until 1960...
1934 Negro National League Championship
The Stars won the 1934 Negro National League Championship by beating the Chicago American GiantsChicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team, owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball...
4-3-1 in a best of seven game series. The championship series, however, was beset by problems.
The first four games of the best-of-seven series were played in Chicago. The games went smoothly and Chicago won three of four. But game 5 was delayed by 10 days for unexplained reasons. When the Series resumed in Philadelphia, the Stars won game 6 to tie the series but did so amidst controversy protest.
Early in game 6, Stars’ third-baseman Jud Wilson seemed to hit umpire Bert Gholston which should have meant immediate ejection. Over the protest of Chicago manager Dave Malarcher, Gholston refused to eject Wilson. Later in the game, Stars catcher Ameal Brooks pushed another of the umpires who also refused to eject the Stars player.
Prior to game 7, Malarcher filed a protest with NNL Commissioner Rollo Wilson over Jud Wilson’s actions. The Commissioner met with the team owners and umpires. Gholston claimed he had wanted to eject Wilson but was threatened by Stars players and intimidated into allowing Wilson to play. Stars owner Bolden threatened not to play game 7 if Jud Wilson was suspended and the Commissioner buckled under the pressure.
The teams played game 7 on October 1 at Passon Field. The game ended in a 4-4 tie due to darkness. Game 8 was played the following day and Slim Jones pitched the Stars to a 2-0 victory and the championship.
Both the Stars and Giants filed protests over games 7 and 8. Giants player Turkey Stearnes
Turkey Stearnes
Norman Thomas "Turkey" Stearnes was an African American center fielder in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.-Early Life and career:...
hit an umpire and controversy hung over the series. The Stars claimed the Giants had used ineligible players. The Giants protested that two games should not have been played at night. Nevertheless, the Stars championship was upheld by the league.
Ownership
The Stars were founded and organized by Ed Bolden. Bolden had owned the Hilldale DaisiesHilldale Club
The Hilldale Athletic Club was an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia....
Negro league ballclub that won the Eastern Colored League
Eastern Colored League
The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League , was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated.- History :...
pennant in 1923, 1924, and 1925, and which beat the Kansas City Monarchs
Kansas City Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...
in the Negro League World Series
Negro League World Series
The Negro League World Series was a post-season baseball tournament which was held from 1924-1927 and from 1942-1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east coast counterparts....
in 1925. Bolden was also a founder of the ECL. Bolden was instrumental in building the Stars' 1934 championship club and ran the team until his death in 1950.
After Bolden's death, his ownership passed to his daughter, Hilda Bolden Shorter. Shorter ran the club through 1952.
The team was financed, and owned in part by sports promoter Eddie Gottlieb who also owned the Philadelphia Sphas
Philadelphia Sphas
The Philadelphia Sphas, also written SPHAs and SPHAS, were a team that competed in the Eastern Basketball League and then the American Basketball League 1925-55. They played their home games in social halls and, from 1938, in the ballroom of the Broadwood Hotel...
and Philadelphia Warriors basketball teams. Gottlieb leased Penmar Park
Penmar Park
44th and Parkside Ballpark was a stadium in West Philadelphia built by the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA. It was the home of the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA of Philadelphia football club, often called the "Railroaders", from 1903 through 1905, and the Philadelphia Stars Negro league baseball club from...
from the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
for use by the Stars. In addition to the Stars, Gottlieb was the booking agent for all the Negro league teams in the Northeast, taking 10-percent of gate receipts for his work.
Home ballparks
The team played at Passon Field during the 1934 and 1935 seasons. Passon Field was located at the current site of West Philadelphia High SchoolWest Philadelphia High School
West Philadelphia High School is a secondary school located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The school was completed on November 1, 1912. and occupies an entire city block between 47th and 48th streets, between Walnut Street and Locust Street...
's
athletic field (baseball and football) now called Pollock Field and was the former home of the Philadelphia Bacharach Giants
Bacharach Giants
The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.- Founding :The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 and renamed them after Harry Bacharach, the city's mayor...
. In 1936, the Stars moved to 44th and Parkside Ballpark where they played the majority of their home games through 1947 when they lost their lease. The Stars often played on Monday nights at Shibe Park which had a higher seating capacity and which was located in North Philadelphia.. The New York Times reported that the Stars had their largest crowd at Shibe Park in June 1943 when they beat the Kansas City Monarchs
Kansas City Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...
in front of 24,165.
After 1947, the Stars played home games at area ballparks including Wilmington Park
Wilmington Park
Wilmington Park was a ballpark in Wilmington, Delaware that was located at the corner of 30th Street and Governor Printz Boulevard. It was home to the University of Delaware football team from 1940 to 1952 and the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Class B Interstate League from 1940 to 1952...
in Delaware, home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks
Wilmington Blue Rocks (1940–1952)
The Wilmington Blue Rocks were a minor league baseball team based in Wilmington, Delaware, playing in the Interstate League from 1940-1952. The nickname "Blue Rocks" came from 73-year-old Robert Miller in a name-the-team contest. Miller lived in the Henry Clay section of the city, famed for its...
minor-league team.
Logos and Uniforms
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri.-History:The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 by a group of former Negro Leagues baseball players, including Kansas City Monarchs outfielder, Alfred Surratt, Buck O'Neil, and Horace Peterson...
(NLBM) created a series of team logos in the 1990s for the well-known Negro league teams so that the NLBM could license such logos and collect royalties for their use on merchandise. Such revenue helps sustain the museum. The Stars were one such team for which a contemporary logo was created. It is seen on NLBM-licensed Stars merchandise and while it supports the educational efforts of the Museum, it is not a historical logo.
Honors
Negro National League Championships- 1934
All-Star Team Selections
The Negro League Baseball All-Star Game
Negro League Baseball All-Star Game
The East-West All-Star Game was an annual all-star game for Negro league baseball players. The game was the brainchild of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1933 he decided to match the Major League Baseball All-Star Game with Negro league players...
was called the East-West Game. Players were not divided by league, but by geographical location; Stars players played for the East. Players were voted to the teams by the fans with votes tallied by the Chicago Defender
Chicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
and the Pittsburgh Courier
Pittsburgh Courier
The Pittsburgh Courier was an American newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was published from 1907 to 1965. Once the country's most widely circulated Black newspaper, the legacy and influence of the Pittsburgh Courier is unparalleled.A pillar of the Black Press, it rose...
newspapers.
These Philadelphia Stars appeared in the All-Star game for the East team. Only players from the Pittsburgh Crawfords
Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords were originally a youth semipro team sponsored by...
and Washington Elite Giants played for the East in the 1936 game. Two games were played in 1939, 1942, and 1946-1948.
- 1933 Rap DixonRap DixonHerbert Allen "Rap" Dixon was an American outfielder in Negro League baseball for a number of teams. He was born in Kingston, Georgia....
(RF), Dick LundyDick Lundy (baseball player)Richard Benjamin Lundy was an African American shortstop in the Negro Leagues for numerous teams. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida....
(SS), Biz MackeyBiz MackeyJames Raleigh "Biz" Mackey was an American catcher and manager in Negro league baseball. He came to be regarded as black baseball's premier catcher in the late 1920s and early 1930s...
(C), Jud WilsonJud WilsonErnest Judson Wilson , nicknamed "Boojum," was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. Born in Remington, Virginia, he served in World War I, and during his career played primarily for the Baltimore Black Sox , Homestead Grays , and Philadelphia Stars...
(3B) - 1934 Slim JonesSlim JonesStuart 'Slim' Jones , May 6, 1913 - December 1938, was an American Negro League Pitcher from Baltimore, Maryland who played for the Baltimore Black Sox and the Philadelphia Stars from 1932 to 1938....
(P), Jud Wilson (3B) - 1935 Slim Jones (P), Biz Mackey (C), Webster McDonald (MGR), Dick SeayDick SeayRichard William "Dick" Seay was an American Negro league baseball player who played from 1925 to 1947 for the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Newark Stars, Baltimore Black Sox, Newark Browns, Philadelphia Stars, Newark Eagles, Pittsburgh Crawfords and New York Black Yankees.Seay served in the military...
(2B), Paul Stephens (SS), Jud Wilson (3B) - 1936 no Stars on team
- 1937 Jake Dunn (2B)
- 1938 Jake Dunn (PH)
- 1939 Red ParnellRed ParnellRoy A. "Red" Parnell was an American left fielder and manager in Negro league baseball, most notably with the Philadelphia Stars from 1936-43. Born in Austin, Texas, he died at age 48 in Philadelphia.-External links:*...
(LF), Andy Patterson (3B) - 1939 Andy Patterson (3B)
- 1940 Gene BensonGene BensonEugene Benson was an American center fielder in baseball's Negro Leagues. He played for the Philadelphia Stars in 1937, moved to the Homestead Grays in 1938, and returned to the Stars from 1939 to 1948...
(CF), Henry McHenry (P) - 1941 Henry McHenry (P)
- 1942 Barney Brown (P), Andy Patterson (3B), Jim West (1B)
- 1942 Andy Patterson (3B), Jim West (1B)
- 1943 no Stars on team
- 1944 Barney Brown (did not appear in game), Marvin Williams (P)
- 1945 Frank Austin (SS), Gene Benson (LF), Bill Ricks (P)
- 1946 Frank Austin (PH), Gene Benson (RF), Barney Brown (P), Murray Watkins (PR)
- 1946 Gene Benson (RF), Barney Brown (P), Murray Watkins (PH)
- 1947 Frank Austin (SS), Henry Miller (P)
- 1947 Frank Austin (SS), Henry Miller (P)
- 1948 Frank Austin (SS), Bill Cash (C)
- 1948 Frank Austin (SS), Bill Cash (C)
- 1949 Bill Cash (C), Oscar Charleston (MGR), Bus Clarkson (RF), Bob Griffith (P)
- 1950 Jonas Gaines (P), Ben Littles (RF), Charles White (3B)
- 1951 Wilmer Harris (P), Ben Littles (PH), Milt Smith (3B)
- 1952 Wilmer Harris (P), Jimmy Jones (RF), Ted Washington (SS), Don Whittingdon (3B)
Negro National League Rookie of the Year
- 1940 Mahlon Duckett
Hall of Famers
While none of these players were enshrined in Cooperstown with a Stars cap, each of them was a part of the Philadelphia Stars franchise at one point in his career.
|
Stars co-owner Eddie Gottlieb was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame
Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...
in 1972.
Contemporary Honors and Celebrations
There have been multiple tributes to the Stars in the 1990s and 2000s.Phillies and MLB Tributes and Celebrations
On June 28, 1997, the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
played the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
at Turner Field
Turner Field
Turner Field is a stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, home to Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves since 1997. Turner Field was originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium, it was completed in 1996 to serve as the centerpiece of the 1996 Summer Olympics...
in Atlanta. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
breaking professional baseball's color-line, the Braves hosted a Turn Back the Clock
Throwback uniform
Throwback uniforms and jerseys are one-time or limited-time variations on a sports team's uniforms styled to resemble uniforms from that team's past. They have proven popular in all major pro and college sports in the USA, not only with fans, but with the teams' marketing and merchandising...
game. The Braves wore 1938 Atlanta Black Crackers
Atlanta Black Crackers
The Atlanta Black Crackers were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid 20th century.- Founding :The Crackers were founded in 1919...
home uniforms and the Phillies wore 1938 Stars road uniforms.
Prior to its 2008 First-Year Player Draft
2008 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008.-First round selections:* Did not sign...
, Major League Baseball held a ceremonial draft of surviving players from the Negro leagues to honor those players excluded from organized professional baseball. Every team in Major League Baseball selected a player whose career encompassed the Negro leagues. Former Stars players who participated in the draft were Walter Lee Gibbons, a pitcher who pitched briefly for the Stars in 1941 and was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
, pitcher Harold Gould selected by the Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
, and infielder Mahlon Duckett who was selected by the Phillies.
Negro league players who had signed with Major League organizations were not eligible for the ceremonial Draft. Former Stars players Bill Cash had played in the organization of the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
and Stanley Glenn had played in the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
' minor-league system. The Phillies chose to include Cash and Glenn in the Draft celebrations by recognizing the two players prior to their June 5, 2008 game against the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
at Citizens Bank Park
Citizens Bank Park
Citizens Bank Park is a 43,647-seat baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, and home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Citizens Bank Park opened on April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular season baseball game on April 12 of the same year, with the...
. The Phillies presented Cash and Glenn with new Phillies jerseys while Gould and Duckett were at the MLB Draft.
44th and Parkside Memorial Park
Today at 44th and Parkside is a Negro leagues memorial park. In 2004, West Philadelphia's Business Association of West Parkside led a coalition of local groups in building the park. The Philadelphia Building Trades Council donated $150,000 in labor to help build the park in which the memorial statue, Pennsylvania historical marker, and Stars mural are now located.
A Negro Leagues Memorial Statue stands today at 44th and Parkside in tribute to the ballplayers who played at the site. The Phillies hosted the dedication of the statue on June 18, 2003 at Veterans Stadium
Veterans Stadium
Philadelphia Veterans Stadium was a professional-sports, multi-purpose stadium, located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
. Mayor John Street
John F. Street
John Franklin Street was the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was first elected to a term beginning on January 3, 2000, and was re-elected to a second term beginning in 2004...
and Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins
Jimmy Rollins
James Calvin "Jimmy" Rollins , nicknamed "J-Roll", is an All-Star and former MVP shortstop, who most recently played for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball's National League....
attended the unveiling of the statue, along with the then living members of the Stars, Bill Cash, Mahlon Duckett, Stanley Glenn, Harold Gould, and Wilmer Harris. The Phillies committed to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the statue for a period of 10 years.
Other Tributes
Philadelphia-area youth baseball league, Mt. Airy Baseball honors the Negro league team by calling its senior and tournament teams the "Stars".
During the summer of 2004, Philadelphia's Marian Anderson Recreation Center coach Steve Bandura organized a youth baseball team of Philadelphia teenagers of different ethnic and racial backgrounds which he named the Philadelphia Stars after the original Negro league club. Bandura led the team on a 20-day, 15-city, 3,700-mile tour called the "Philadelphia Stars Throw Back Tour '04". The trip was sponsored by the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
-licensee Mitchell & Ness
Mitchell & Ness
Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co., is a sports apparel company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania owned by Adidas which purchased the company in November 2007. Mitchell & Ness was established in 1904, and is the oldest sporting goods company in Philadelphia...
. The team traveled on a circa-1947 bus which Mitchell & Ness purchased for the tour. The team visited with the living members of the Philadelphia Stars in Philadelphia, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri.-History:The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 by a group of former Negro Leagues baseball players, including Kansas City Monarchs outfielder, Alfred Surratt, Buck O'Neil, and Horace Peterson...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
's grave in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, and the College World Series
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium is a baseball stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, the former home to the annual NCAA Division I College World Series and the minor league Omaha Royals, now known as the Omaha Storm Chasers...
in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
. The team received national press coverage for the trip.
See also
- Hilldale ClubHilldale ClubThe Hilldale Athletic Club was an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia....
- Atlantic City Bacharach GiantsBacharach GiantsThe Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.- Founding :The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 and renamed them after Harry Bacharach, the city's mayor...
- Passon Field
- Penmar ParkPenmar Park44th and Parkside Ballpark was a stadium in West Philadelphia built by the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA. It was the home of the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA of Philadelphia football club, often called the "Railroaders", from 1903 through 1905, and the Philadelphia Stars Negro league baseball club from...