Player plus year selected:

Satchel Paige 1971... Josh Gibson 1972... Buck Leonard 1972... Monte Irvin 1973... Cool Papa Bell 1974... Judy Johnson 1975...

Oscar Charleston 1976... John Henry Lloyd 1977... Martin Dihigo 1977... Rube Foster 1981... Ray Dandridge 1987...

Leon Day 1995... Willie Foster 1996... Willie Wells 1997... Bullet Joe Rogan 1998... Smokey Joe Williams 1999... Turkey Stearns 1999... Hilton Smith 2001...

One of the best all-around athletes ever to play baseball, Bullet Joe Rogan relied on a blazing fastball, a forkball, a drop-off-the-edge ball, three different curve balls and an even an occasional spitball to stymie batters for over 20 seasons. Always throwing without a windup, his hard curve is noted as the fastest curve of all time. An excellent batsman, he spent most of his years as the Monarchs cleanup hitter - compiling an .339, 10th highest in Negro League history.

The 5-ft, 9-inch, 180-pounder worked the pitching mound and tossed on average 30 games per/year without ever being relieved for an entire decade (1930s)... and played outfield on days he wasn't pitching.

In 1924 he posted a 15-5 record as a pitcher, and played outfield and second base when he wasn't pitching - in a total of 50 games Rogan hit a torrid .411. He was one of the stars in the Monarchs 1924 Negro League World Series win over Hilldale of Philadelphia, pitching three complete games, and one in relief, ringing up a 2-1 W/L record... and hit .325 while playing outfield in the Series other six games.

Wilbur Rogan career stats: 111-43 record, a .721 winning percentage... Elected to Baseballs Hall of Fame in 1998.

Around 1922 Leonard began playing semi-pro baseball at age 15 or 16 with the Portsmouth (Virginia) Firefighters club for room and board plus $15 per/week. And, shortly after went on tour with Ben Taylor's Baltimore Stars and with the Brooklyn Royal Giants for Dick Cannonball Redding - a team that entertained crowds with comedy routines and crazy baseball stunts.

In 1933 Buck Leonard was signed by Cum Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League. An immediate fans favorite with his long homeruns, Leonard and Gibson helped packed the ballparks. In 1934, Leonard was paid $125 per/month... by 1941 his salary rose to $500 per/month.

In 1972, Walter Buck Leonard was one of the first Negro League players elected to Baseballs Hall of Fame

Walter Leonard career stats: .355 lifetime batting average...

Note: Negro League records are sketchy and incomplete.

* Ernie Banks, Kansas City Monarchs Shortstop - a young star in the Negro Leagues, his career was shortened by two years in military... in his first season back with the Kansas City Monarchs he lined 20 homeruns and batted a torrid .386. Banks later recalled, 'Our biggest payday was in Lincoln, Nebraska where we got $20 for the night.' The Chicago Cubs acquired Banks and a pitcher named Bill Dickey for $10,000. Banks started playing in the majors at age 22 in 1953. During his 19-year major league career, all with the Cubs; Banks lined 407 doubles, 512 homers, had 1636 RBIs, and collected 2583 hits... voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

* Leon Day, Newark Eagles Pitcher & Second Base- one of the best pitchers in Negro League history, he worked the mound in the Negro Leagues from 1934 thru 1950. In 1937 he posted a perfect 13-0 W/L record and batted .320 playing second base on days he wasn't pitching. A seven-time All-Star, Leon Day set a Negro League record with 18 strikeouts in one game. Proudly served overseas in the war and shortly after D-day, he went ashore at Normandy... a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

* Monte Irvin, Newark Eagles Shortstop 1937-1948 - an all-around athlete he was awarded 16 letters during his high school days... his career with Newark was interrupted by three years in the Army. Irvin batted over .400 in three different seasons in the Negro National League and finally was able to break into the majors at age 30... and, he helped the New York Giants win two pennants 1951 and 1954. Monte Irvin Major League stats: - 1949-1956: .293 BA, 97 doubles, 31 triples, 99 homers, 731 hits in 2499 at bats... a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

=========================================

To Win The War

Shortages of vital materials plagued our national defenses during World War II The following from a pamphlet titled: - Conserve Material to win the war - By John Miller... Edited by Albert Perry... Printed in the U. S. A. in 1942

'Our Rubber Supplies Won't Stretch'

'When the Japs attacked Singapore, we were cut off from 97 per cent of our sources of crude rubber. We had on hand some 600,000 tons. Last year alone we used up 750,000 tons, and the war has speeded up our consumption of rubber immeasurably.

It doesn't add up to a pretty picture!

For the United States, the story of Malayan rubber is the old, old story of putting all your eggs in one basket. We are now paying the penalty.

You will say:: "What about Latin-American rubber?" Yes, originally most of the best rubber came from there. But in 1876 Sir Henry Wickham brought 70,000 rubber-tree seeds out of Brazil. In Malaya the trees prospered while the Brazilian industry steadily went down hill - in spite of the fact that the trees grew wild in the jungle.

It was cheaper to plant trees in the huge Malayan plantations, wait until they came to maturity, tap them with available native labor, and ship off the product to the United States than to take chances with the Amazionian jungle.

Meanwhile, we must conserve, ration - and find substitutes.

Passenger-car tires were the first casualties. They were just a drop in the bucket, although it didn't seem so that first day when we thought of walking to a friend's house three blocks away instead of driving over there in the old bus (car).

One passenger-car tire contains about 14 pounds of rubber. That doesn't seem like much we remember that a 28-ton tank absorbs enough rubber to make 125 such tires.

Do you remember how many tanks President Roosevelt called for in his latest pledge that we will outbuild the world? Right now there are thousands upon thousands of tanks on order, in the factory, to take their place in our battle line.

Every available scrap of rubber must be turned in for junk.

====================================

American Heroes - Negro League baseball players proudly served our Nation during World War II

By staff@baseballhistorian.com