The Negro Leagues lasted for nearly four decades and included over 2,300 players, many whom were denied the chance to play in Major League Baseball. We’re comparing some of the greats whose accomplishments matched or exceeded future MLB players.
When Shohei Ohtani returns to the mound, we’ll again be in awe of his two-way excellence.
His elite offensive skills are jaw-dropping on a daily basis, and he’s a shutdown pitcher when healthy – sometimes dazzling in ways that have never been done before.
But some of the exploits across Major League Baseball today occurred previously, often out of the spotlight. Some exploits we’ve never even imagined.
Each April 15, Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated for how the sports and civil rights icon broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, but it also serves as a reminder of the Negro League players who carved a path for today’s MLB stars. Robinson played with the Kansas City Monarchs before he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.
So, yes, before there was Francisco Lindor or Bobby Witt Jr., there was Jackie Robinson dominating baseball with his exciting, versatile style of baseball.
Following are some other Negro Leagues greats who over time have gotten more attention than what wasn’t quite there while they starred on the diamond.
The Negro Leagues included over 2,300 players from their start in 1920 to a final season in 1948, and many also participated in other leagues – just not MLB. Today, 37 Negro Leagues players are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, including most listed below.
Bullet Rogan (1920-29, 1937-38)
Before there was Shohei Ohtani, there was Charles Wilber Rogan, better known as “Bullet.”
Rogan was so versatile that his career with the Kansas City Monarchs included being a pitcher, outfielder and player-manager.
Considered one of the Negro Leagues’ best hitters and best pitchers during his prime, he hit 15 home runs at the plate and earned 13 wins on the mound in 1922. Those combined marks never occurred in the major leagues until 100 years later, when Ohtani delivered 34 home runs and 15 wins for the Los Angeles Angels in 2022.
Solidly built despite being only 5-foot-7, 170 pounds, Rogan earned his nickname for having a powerful right arm, which he used to throw just about any pitch – curveball, fastball, forkball, palm ball, spitball. He had at least 10 wins in eight straight seasons and finished with 116 in his career, coupled with a .337 batting average and 49 home runs.
Oscar Charleston (1920-27, 1929, 1933-37, 1938-41)
Before there basically was any MLB standout whom you want to name, there was Oscar Charleston.
Some put him in the conversation for “best player ever” – baseball statistician and writer Bill James ranked him as the fourth-greatest player of all time.
The left-handed center fielder had speed, power and defensive skills. He accomplished something never done in AL/NL history: Five seasons recording at least a .350 batting average, 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases – in four consecutive seasons from 1921-24, then again in 1927.
None of those seasons was even his best one – that occurred with the Harrisburg Giants in 1925 when he hit .427 with 20 homers and 97 RBIs while swiping 17 bases.
Charleston was the player-manager of a loaded 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords team that is renowned as the all-time best in the Negro Leagues. He also scouted for Branch Rickey in the 1940s before the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson.
Josh Gibson (1930, 1933-40, 1942-46)
Like Charleston, Josh Gibson accomplished something that’s never been matched in MLB history.
In 1943, the slugging catcher had a whopping 112 RBIs in only 249 at-bats over 74 games with the Homestead Grays. His average of 2.22 at-bats per RBI is more than 0.40 fewer than any other Major League Baseball season with at least 200 ABs since RBIs were first tracked in 1920. Reb Russell’s 2.93 AB/RBI for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1922 remains that best rate; in fact, Charleston is No. 2 in his 1925 season with an RBI per 2.63 at-bats.
Gibson also batted .466 in 1943, and baseball’s integration of Negro Leagues statistics beginning in 2024 makes it the highest all time in a single season (players with 125+ ABs). The same is now recognized with his .371 career BA.
Some called Gibson “the Black Babe Ruth,” but others who saw both players in action considered Ruth “the white Josh Gibson.” He was 35 when he died of a stroke in 1947.
Turkey Stearnes (1923-40)
Before there was Barry Bonds, there was Norman Thomas Stearnes, whose nickname “Turkey” was Hall of Fame-worthy.
The center fielder’s skills, however, got him to Cooperstown. Only four players in major league history have recorded at least 1,000 games, a .600 slugging percentage and 100 stolen bases over a career. Stearnes followed Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and many years later, Bonds compiled the line.
The slender Turkey’s nickname came from his unique running style – his elbows flapped in and out when he ran.
A prototype for the five-tool player, he often batted leadoff even though his 187 career home runs are recognized as the most in Negro Leagues history. His speed helped him to seasonal highs in triples six times and he twice led the league in stolen bases all while compiling a .349 career batting average.
Cool Papa Bell (1922-37, 1942-46)
Before there was Lou Brock, there was Cool Papa Bell.
James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell was the player Satchel Paige was referring to when he delivered his famous quote: “He was so fast he could flip the light switch and be in bed before the room got dark.” Bell got his nickname because of his calm demeanor early in his career as a pitcher. Nowadays, they’d say he had ice water in his veins.
Like Brock, Bell eventually became a Hall of Fame hitter. Brock hit .293 with 3,023 career hits and 938 stolen bases (second all time) in 2,616 NL games. Bell had a .325 career average, 1,548 hits and 285 steals over 1,246 Negro League games. Had he played the same number of games as Brock, Bell projects to have had around 3,350 hits and 620 steals.
Bell’s 1,568 career hits were more than Ted Williams (1,567), Hank Aaron (1,565), Pete Rose (1,560) or Willie Mays (1,507) amassed through their first 1,246 games. His .325 batting average was better than Nomar Garciaparra (.317), Manny Ramirez (.315), Frank Thomas (.323), George Brett (.318), Hank Greenberg (.319) and more through 1,246 games.
Satchel Paige (1927-30, 1933-34, 1936, 1940-49, 1951-53, 1965)
Before there was Gaylord Perry, there was Satchel Paige.
Perry and Paige were both talented, competitive pitchers who seemingly played forever. Perry switched teams eight times between 1962-83, racking up 314 wins and an impressive 3.13 ERA over 777 career games (690 starts). Paige switched teams eight times between 1927-53, totaling 127 wins over 400 career games (197 starts).
Paige came back one more time in 1965, throwing three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics at 59 years old, making him the oldest player to ever play in MLB. Paige recorded 91 strikeouts at age 45 in 1952, making him the third-oldest player in MLB history to record 90 or more Ks in a season. Perry was just over 45 years old in his final game, making him the 15th-oldest right-hander to pitch (though many of those ahead of him are knuckleballers).
Both pitchers were known for their antics, of sorts. Perry constantly pushed the line between fierce competitiveness and cheating. He had a widespread reputation for doctoring the baseball, though he wasn’t caught doing it until 1982. Paige, on the other hand, pushed the line between cocky and confident. But fans loved him for his showmanship on the mound, and he remains one of the biggest personalities in baseball history.
Ray Brown (1931-33, 1935-45)
Before there was Warren Spahn, there was Ray Brown.
Over the past 80 years, no one has pitched more games from start to finish than Spahn. The Hall of Fame right-hander had 382 complete games in his 665 career starts. In other words, he completed 57.4% of his starts between 1942-65. Brown pitched between 1931-45, completing 140 of his 160 starts for the highest start completion percentage (87.5%) in the live ball era (minimum 100 starts).
While Spahn ended up with a record of 363-245 with a 3.10 ERA over his career, Brown finished with a career record of 122-45 with a 3.18 ERA. Brown’s win-loss record projects out to around 420-155 had he pitched the same number of games as Spahn. He used a devastating curveball to become the ace of the Homestead Grays for much of his career, leading them to eight pennants in nine years during one stretch.
According to Baseball Reference, the pitcher with the No. 1 similarity score to Brown is none other than the previously mentioned fellow Hall of Famer Bullet Rogan.
Roosevelt Davis (1924-40, 1943-45) and Harry Jeffries (1920-32, 1934, 1943-44)
Before there was Edwin Jackson, there were Roosevelt Davis and Harry Jeffries.
Jackson pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers in his first three years and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays in the next three. After that, he could never settle into any one place for very long. Jackson was traded six times and signed as a free agent 12 times over his career between 2003-19. He was below .500 for his career, going 107-133 with a 4.78 ERA in 412 games.
Davis and Jeffries each played for 13 different teams, tied with Rich Hill and the late Octavio Dotel for second most in MLB history behind Jackson’s 14. Davis spent his first five seasons with the St. Louis Stars (1924-28) but was constantly on the move before spending his final season with the Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns and Cleveland Buckeyes in 1945. He was 97-62 with a 4.12 ERA over 305 career games.
Jeffries, primarily a third baseman, bounced around his 13 teams between 1920-44. He even played for four teams – the Baltimore Black Sox, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Stars and Washington Potomacs – all in 1924. His best stretch came between 1925-28 when he hit a combined .285 with 43 doubles, 10 triples in 264 games.
Jesse Abrahams, Emory Brinkman, Michael Donovan, Greg Harvey, Sam Hovland, Jared Jackson and Tom Paquette of Stats Perform’s U.S. Data Insights provided research to this story. Additional detail sourced from the National Baseball Hall of Fame official website.