OK fans from all over the world have been waiting for the bio feature today so here goes. This one is from the WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN FILES. Wait til you read about this ballplayer One thing that is very interesting when reading about or researching the Negro Leagues and its players are the colorful nicknames the players had. This mn is no exception and besides haing a colorful nickname the man wasone whale of a ballplayer. He is a native of Nashville Tennessee having been born there on May 8, 1901. He is Norman "Turkey" Stearnes. He acquired his rther unique nickname as a young boy by the way he ran. His career in black bseball began in 1920 and went until 190. In that storied career he played for the following teams: 1920 Nashville Giants- 1921 Montgomery GreySox- Dettroit Stars 1923-1931 and again in 1937- NY Lincoln Giants 1930- Kansas City Monarchs 1931,1934 and 1938 thru 1940- Chicago American Giants 1932 and 1933 and 1937 thru 1938-nPhiladelphia Stars 1936. SOme people in the know in that era of baseball consider Stearnes to be one of the great all around players of all time but because he was quiet and because h was black he did not get the recognition of a player like Satchell Paige or Josh Gibson, Three times he batted .400 or better in the Negro Leagues and he was a slugger too having led the league in home runs a total of 7 times. Despite being an awkard runner he was fast on the bases and one of the better outfielders of that generation. Stearnes also playedin Cuba and he learned how to bunt to get on base from another great Negro League player Dave Malarcher, This in turn made him a very dangerous player at bat. He had a career batting average of .359 and his average in the exhibition games where the Negro Leagues woulod play Major League All Stars found Stearnes tohave a .351 batting average. Even though he was a str in the egro Leagues because of the low pay he worked in the winter at various auto factories in Detroit. In act one of the factories he worked at wass owned by the man who owned the Detroit Tigers Walte Briggs. Isnt it kind of funny that Staernes could work for a major league team owner but nnot as a ball player. That just doesnt seem fair. Stearnes passed away on September 4,1979 and never got to see that people though of him as a great player when he was selected for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2000. This my friends is aother case of a great player being denied the right to play the American game of baseball because of bigotry and that is a tragedy.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 16:21:40 +0000
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