Baseball’s Ultimate “What-If?”

Integrate the Major Leagues with Black Stars

By Glenn Guzzo

            No doubt, gamers will use the new Negro League players in teams against each other. No doubt, those players will compete with the Hall of Fame 2001 players on Strat-O gamers’ tabletops. But there’s another fun way to use these historically significant players.

            Try one of history’s great “What-If?” – What if Major League Baseball never was segregated? What if the stars of the Negro Leagues were embraced by the Majors? What teams would these guys have played for? Would they be starters or role players?

            We asked Scott Simkus, Strat-O-Matic’s consultant on the Negro Leagues project, to tell us which Major League franchises each NL player likely would have played for.

            Essentially, Simkus was challenged to determine whether each player had an affiliation that made it likelier he would have played, for instance, in Pittsburgh, New York, Chicago or Philadelphia. Perhaps he should play for the Major League team in the same city where his Negro League team was located. Perhaps he should play in the town where he grew up. Or perhaps he was a player closely associated with early recruiting efforts by Major League executives like the Giants’ John McGraw or the Phillies’ Bill Veeck. Perhaps, like Satchel Paige, he should be placed on Cleveland, since that team eventually signed him.

            So here’s the list, courtesy of Simkus, who did double duty (like Radcliffe). He chose a National League affiliation and an American League affiliation for each of the 103 players in the Negro League set. That’s fitting, since most Negro League players switched teams throughout their careers. For instance, Josh Gibson, who starred both for the Homestead Grays (in Washington, D.C.) and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, has affiliations for the Washington Senators and Pittsburgh Pirates.

            It’s also convenient for gamers who want to play only one Major League. For added realism, remember that, as Negro League experience goes, these were pre-World War II players. You can use the booklet that Strat-O-Matic ships with every Negro Leagues order to choose whether to place these players in Strat-O-Matic seasons from the 1910s, ‘20s, ‘30s or ‘40s.

            You’ll find that franchises in Pittsburgh, Washington, New York, St. Louis and Chicago are well fortified with Negro League stars. Franchises in Detroit and Cincinnati have only a few players. And Boston, where the Red Sox were the last team to integrate (not till Pumpsie Green in 1959), has none.

STRAT-O-MATIC NEGRO LEAGUE ALL-STARS
PLAYER	NATIONAL	AMERICAN
Allen, Newt	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Bankhead, Sam	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Baro, Bernardo	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Beckwith, John	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Bell, Cool Papa	St. Louis Cardinals	Washington Senators
Bell, William	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
Benjamin, Jerry	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Blackwell, Charles	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Browns
Brewer, Chet	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Brown, Dave	New York Giants	Chicago White Sox
Brown, Larry	Cincinnati Reds	Philadelphia Athletics
Brown, Ray	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Brown, Willard	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Byrd, Bill	Cincinnati Reds	Washington Senators
Cannady, Rev	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Carr, Tank	Philadelphia Phillies	New York Yankees
Charleston, Oscar	Pittsburgh Pirates	Philadelphia Athletics
Cockrell, Phil	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia Athletics
Cooper, Andy	St. Louis Cardinals	Detroit Tigers
Creacy, Dewey	St. Louis Cardinals	Philadelphia Athletics
Crutchfield, Jimmie	Pittsburgh Pirates	Chicago White Sox
Currie, Rube	St. Louis Cardinals	Philadelphia Athletics
Dandridge, Ray	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Davis, Roosevelt	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
Day, Leon	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Demoss, Bingo	Cincinnati Reds	Chicago White Sox
Dihigo, Martin	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Dismukes, Dizzy	Cincinnati Reds	Cleveland Indians
Dixon, Rap	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Donaldson, John	St. Louis Cardinals	Chicago White Sox
Drake, Bill	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Duncan, Frank	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
Foster, Big Bill	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Foster, Rube	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Gardner, Jelly	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Gibson, Josh	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Harris, Vic	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Hensley, Eggie	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Hill, Pete	Chicago Cubs	Detroit Tigers
Holland, Bill	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Hughes, Sammy T.	Cincinnati Reds	Washington Senators
Jenkins, Fats	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Johnson, Heavy	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Johnson, Home Run	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Johnson, Judy	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia Athletics
Jones, Slim	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia Athletics
Joseph, Newt	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Leonard, Buck	Pittsburgh Pirates	Washington Senators
Lloyd, Pop	New York Giants	Philadelphia Athletics
Lundy, Dick	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Lyons, Jimmie	St. Louis Cardinals	Chicago White Sox
Mackey, Biz	Philadelphia Phillies	New York Yankees
Malarcher, Dave	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Manning, Max	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Marcell, Oliver	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Mathis, Verdell	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Browns
Matlock, Leroy	Pittsburgh Pirates	St. Louis Browns
McDonald, Webster	Philadelphia Phillies	Chicago White Sox
McNair, Hurley	Chicago Cubs	St. Louis Browns
Mendez, Jose	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Monroe, Bill	Brooklyn Dodgers	Philadelphia Athletics
Moore, Dobie	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Oms, Alejandro	New York Giants	New York Yankees
O’Neil, Buck	Chicago Cubs	St. Louis Browns
Paige, Satchel	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Palm, Spoony	St. Louis Cardinals	Detroit Tigers
Parnell, Red	Cincinnati Reds	Philadelphia Athletics
Pennington, Superman	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Perkins, Bill	Pittsburgh Pirates	Philadelphia Athletics
Petway, Bruce	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Poles, Spot	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Powell, Piggie	Chicago Cubs	Detroit Tigers
Radcliffe, Alec	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Radcliffe, Double Duty	Cincinnati Reds	Chicago White Sox
Redding, Dick	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Redus, Frog	St. Louis Cardinals	Chicago White Sox
Robinson, Neil	Cincinnati Reds	St. Louis Browns
Rogan, Bullet Joe	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Salmon, Harry	Pittsburgh Pirates	St. Louis Browns
Santop, Louis	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Scales, Tubby	New York Giants	New York Yankees
Seay, Dick	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Serrell, Bonnie	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
Smith, Chino	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York Yankees
Smith, Hilton	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns
Stearnes, Turkey	Chicago Cubs	Detroit Tigers
Streeter, Sam	Pittsburgh Pirates	St. Louis Browns
Suttles, Mule	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
Taylor, Ben	Cincinnati Reds	Washington Senators
Taylor, Candy Jim	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Torriente, Cristobal	Chicago Cubs	Chicago White Sox
Trent, Ted	St. Louis Cardinals	Chicago White Sox
Trouppe, Quincy	St. Louis Cardinals	Cleveland Indians
Warfield, Frank	Philadelphia Phillies	Detroit Tigers
Wells, Willie	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Yankees
White, Chaney	Philadelphia Phillies	New York Yankees
Wickware, Frank	Brooklyn Dodgers	Chicago White Sox
Williams, Smokey Joe	Pittsburgh Pirates	New York Yankees
Williams, Tom	Brooklyn Dodgers	Chicago White Sox
Wilson, Jud	Pittsburgh Pirates	Philadelphia Athletics
Winters, Nip	Philadelphia Phillies	New York Yankees
Wright, Wild Bill	Cincinnati Reds	Washington Senators
Young, T.J.	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis Browns