Clinton Cyrus Thomas (November 25, 1896 – December 2, 1990), nicknamed "Hawk", was a professional
baseball player born in
Greenup, Kentucky. He was an
outfielder and
second baseman in the
Negro leagues from 1920 to 1938, where he earned the nickname "Hawk" for his sharp-eyed hitting and center field skills.
Career
Thomas played for the
Brooklyn Royal Giants
The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. ...
,
Columbus Buckeyes,
Detroit Stars,
Hilldale Club,
,
New York Lincoln Giants
The Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930.
Founding
The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According to Sol White ...
, New York Harlem Stars,
Indianapolis ABCs,
New York Black Yankees,
Newark Eagles, and
Philadelphia Stars.
Thomas was a member of the Philadelphia Hilldale teams that won three consecutive
Eastern Colored League championships from 1923 to 1925 and the
Negro World Series in
1925
Events January
* January 1
** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria.
* January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...
.
[Riley 2002, p. 775.] He joined the New York Black Yankees in 1931 and, the following year, "ruined" the opening of
Greenlee Field
Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, was one of few black-built and black-owned major league baseball field in the United States.
The field was the dream of Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1931, constru ...
by scoring the only run and making a game-saving catch in the Black Yankees defeat of
Satchel Paige's
Pittsburgh Crawfords. Nicknamed "The Black DiMaggio", he once hit a
home run off
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
in an exhibition game in
Cuba.
After his baseball career ended, Thomas worked as a custodian and staff supervisor for the West Virginia Department of Mines and as a messenger for the State Senate. He died on December 2, 1990, in
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
.
- New York Times
References
Sources
*
External links
an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Clint
1896 births
1990 deaths
Bacharach Giants players
Brooklyn Royal Giants players
Chicago American Giants players
Columbus Buckeyes (Negro leagues) players
Detroit Stars players
Hilldale Club players
Homestead Grays players
Lincoln Giants players
New York Black Yankees players
New York Cubans players
Newark Eagles players
People from Greenup, Kentucky
20th-century African-American sportspeople