Here are some key points to know about Charleston, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in The club was his hometown team, and Charleston would serve as the batboy as a child. He enlisted in the military as a year-old and played baseball overseas while in the Philippines. He returned at age 18 in and promptly became a star for the ABCs. Charleston began his career in after having served in the Philippines , where he was a big star as a pitcher for the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment.
His catcher at the time was Bullet Joe Rogan. He also was an umpire. When the Brooklyn Dodgers began to sign players form the Negro Leagues after the end of World War II , Branch Rickey employed him as a de facto scout and it was on his recommendation that he signed Roy Campanella , among others.
He died about one month after having led the Clowns to the NAL pennant. Charleston was later described as having had a terrible temper and being in numreous fights with opposing players, umpires, police, and even armed soldiers, but this is greatly exaggerated.
As a year-old with the Indianapolis ABCs, however, he did get into a famous fight on October 17 , , when he decked a white umpire with a punch while rushing to the defence of teammate Bingo DeMoss , who had started the fight; the incident nearly caused a race riot the ABCs were playing a team of while "All-Stars" and both DeMoss and Charleston were arrested and eventually found guilty and fined relatively small amounts. According to legend, Charleston once ripped the hood off a Klansman who had confronted him.
Despite or perhaps because of his aggressiveness, he was one of the most popular figures in the Negro Leagues throughout his playing and managing career. His brother Bennie Charleston also played in the Negro Leagues, albeit very briefly. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Are you a Stathead, too? As he embarked upon his age season in , Charleston appeared more rotund than in prior years, but his batting performance remained strong, and he posted a. For the first time, Charleston played first base in addition to the outfield.
Charleston then joined the Homestead Grays for a fall barnstorming tour, after which he stayed in Philadelphia and worked as a baggage handler. Charleston must have enjoyed playing with the Homestead Grays because he joined the team for the and seasons. Charleston was a leader on the team and during preseason training in Hot Springs, he led the players on daily five-mile runs. In the home opener, Charleston had three hits, including a home run and a triple.
In the first contest, Charleston hit a two-run homer as the Grays won, The Grays still won, and Charleston had his second Negro League championship. In Charleston, now playing first base regularly, drew rave reviews for his defensive ability as the Grays won a second consecutive championship with six Hall of Fame players on their roster: Charleston, Gibson, Jud Wilson , Smokey Joe Williams, Willie Foster , and Satchel Paige though he played in only one game.
Newspaper writers continued to praise Charleston, with one columnist asserting that he was a better player than Rogers Hornsby because Charleston not only had a great bat but also was a superb baserunner and exceptional fielder. In a mid-July game against Hilldale, he hit a go-ahead two-run homer to give Homestead a victory.
The Crawfords possessed some transcendent baseball talent, as Charleston helped recruit Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson to join the team. Charleston remained an extremely popular player, as was demonstrated by his leading vote total for the inaugural Negro League All-Star Game that year. He also remained extremely competitive: After an umpire made what Charleston deemed an incorrect call, he became so angry that he inserted himself as a relief pitcher and walked six straight men — his way of showing that he considered the game a farce.
Nonetheless, for a game on June 10, the Washington Post gave Charleston top billing and referred to him as the highest paid black player in the game. He got off to a hot start, hitting a home run in the home opener to lead the Crawfords to a victory and hitting a home run at Greenlee Field that went over feet. Charleston was still popular with the fans and won the All-Star Game voting for first base by one vote over Buck Leonard.
Charleston hit two home runs in the series and managed the Crawfords to the championship in a thrilling seven-game series. As a business, the Crawfords struggled in , leaving Greenlee short on funds as the team headed into the season.
Greenlee was dismayed when Satchel Paige took a lucrative offer to play in the Dominican Republic, leading to the Crawfords losing nine additional members from their roster. However, he remained capable of big moments, such as the one he had on Opening Day, when he won the game with a two-run homer in the eighth inning. The Crawfords did not fare much better in Although Charleston attempted to put together a quality team, the squad finished in fourth place. The Crawfords lost many of their star players prior to the sale as Greenlee could no longer afford their salaries.
Rigney kept Charleston as manager and part-time player for the Toledo Crawfords in , but the team posted a sub-. Yet his involvement with baseball continued, as he became the manager of the Philadelphia Stars in and played for and managed the semipro Quartermaster Depot team, where he worked, in Philadelphia in and At the ripe old baseball age of 46, Charleston still managed to garner a player-of-the-week award.
Charleston provided information on players that helped Rickey learn about their backgrounds and characters. The USL folded in its second season and, after his work for Rickey, Charleston was unable to find a managerial job, so he decided to become an umpire for the and seasons. Charleston managed the Stars from through , but the team never finished better than fourth. Still, he was reported to have done a great job with the team.
The Stars disbanded after the season, and Charleston was not involved in baseball in This Month in Sports Reference Find out when we add a feature or make a change. Do you have a sports website? Or write about sports? We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Find out more. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos.
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