Joseph Black (February 8, 1924 – May 17, 2002) was an American right-handed
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
in
Negro league
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
for the
Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
,
Cincinnati Redlegs
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, and
Washington Senators who became the first black pitcher to win a
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
game, in 1952.
Early years
A native of
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City." , he starred at
Plainfield High School. Black served in the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and attended
Morgan State University
Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...
on a baseball scholarship and graduated in 1950. He later received an honorary doctorate from
Shaw University. He was a member of
Omega Psi Phi
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty advi ...
fraternity. He appears prominently in Roger Kahn's classic book, ''
The Boys of Summer''.
Negro and minor leagues
Black helped the
Baltimore Elite Giants
The Baltimore Elite Giants were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues from to . The team was established by Tom Wilson (Negro baseball), Thomas T. Wilson, in Nashville, Tennessee as the semi-pro Nash ...
of the Negro leagues win two championships in seven years. He and
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
pushed for a pension plan for Negro league players and was instrumental in getting the plan to include retired players who had played in the leagues before 1944. Black then played for a year in the
Brooklyn Dodgers
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...
'
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
system.
Call up to Brooklyn
The Dodgers promoted Black to the major leagues in 1952 at 28, five years after teammate
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
broke baseball's
color barrier
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...
. He roomed with Robinson while on the Dodgers. Black was chosen
Rookie of the Year after winning 15 games and saving 15 others for the National League champions. He had a 2.15 ERA but, with 142 innings pitched, fell eight innings short of winning the ERA title.
Strapped for pitching, Dodgers manager
Chuck Dressen
Charles Walter Dressen (September 20, 1894Dressen's birthdate has been revised from 1898, as was commonly reported in ''The Sporting News' Baseball Register'' and ''Macmillan's Baseball Encyclopedia'', to 1894 by both Baseball Reference and Retr ...
brought Black out of the bullpen and started him three times in seven days in the 1952 World Series against the New York Yankees. He won the opener with a six-hitter over
Allie Reynolds
Allie Pierce Reynolds (February 10, 1917 – December 26, 1994) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Reynolds pitched 13 years for the Cleveland Indians (1942–1946) and New York Yankees (1947–1954). Reynolds was nicknam ...
, 4–2, then lost the fourth game, 2–0, and the seventh, 4–2
Black's decline
The spring after the 1952 World Series, Dressen urged Black to add some pitches to his strong slowball, which was his favorite pitch. In six seasons, he compiled a 30–12 record, half of his wins coming in his rookie season.
After baseball
After his career ended, Black was a
scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
for the Washington Senators (1959–60). He taught health and physical education at Hubbard Junior High School in
Plainfield, New Jersey
Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City." , and later became an executive with
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
in
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
.
In addition to lobbying for black players, he remained in baseball through his affiliation with the
commissioner
A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something).
In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
's office, where he consulted with players about career choices.
In 1991, Black appeared as a fictional character, 'Joe 'Playday' Sims', in TV's ''
Cosby Show
''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...
'', in the 7th Season episode, "There's Still No Joy in Mudville", which originally aired April 4, 1991.
He was a board director of the
Baseball Assistance Team
The Baseball Assistance Team is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization affiliated with Major League Baseball. The organization's mission is to "confidentially support members of the ''Baseball Family'' in need of assistance." The baseball family inc ...
and worked for the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...
in community relations after they joined the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
in 1998. Black was a regular in the Diamondbacks' dugout during batting practice and in the press box. He also performed much charity work in the
Phoenix area.
He wrote a syndicated column, "By The Way", for ''
Ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...
'' magazine and an autobiography, ''Ain't Nobody Better Than You''.
Years later,
Peter O'Malley
Peter O'Malley (born December 12, 1937) is an American former owner (1979–98) and president (1970–98) of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Life and sports
O'Malley was born at Carson C. Peck Memorial Hospital in Brookly ...
(son of Walter, who owned the team before Peter) awarded Black a 1955 championship ring (Black had been traded prior to the World Series run).
Black died of
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
at age 78 on May 17, 2002. He was interred in the
Hillside Cemetery in
Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Scotch Plains is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 201 ...
.
Honors and awards
The
Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...
's Most Valuable Player award is named for Black.
First presented in 2002, the award honors the 1952 National League Rookie of the Year.
There is a plaque honoring him at
Chase Field
Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof stadium in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the year the Diamondbacks ...
alongside the Diamondbacks' championships and retired numbers.
Beginning in 2010, the Washington Nationals have presented the Joe Black Award to a Washington area organization chosen for its work promoting baseball in
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
communities. The award recognizes Black as the first African American player on the Washington Senators (1957).
"The Joe Black Story" at DC Baseball History
/ref>
In 2010, the Plainfield, NJ school board named the Plainfield High School baseball complex "The Joe Black Baseball Field" in his honor.
References
External links
Baseball Almanac
Liga Cubana de Béisbol Profesional – Temporada 1951-52 : Líderes individuales
Rogério Manzano website
Joe Black Biography
Society for American Baseball Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Joe
1924 births
2002 deaths
African Americans in World War II
Baltimore Elite Giants players
Baseball players from New Jersey
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Burials at Hillside Cemetery (Scotch Plains, New Jersey)
Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) players
Cienfuegos players
Cincinnati Redlegs players
Deaths from cancer in Arizona
Deaths from prostate cancer
Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente pitchers
Major League Baseball pitchers
Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners
Montreal Royals players
Morgan State Bears baseball players
Navegantes del Magallanes players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Plainfield High School (New Jersey) alumni
Sportspeople from Plainfield, New Jersey
Seattle Rainiers players
St. Paul Saints (AA) players
Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players
Washington Senators (1901–1960) players
Washington Senators (1901–60) scouts
United States Army personnel of World War II
21st-century African-American people
African-American United States Army personnel
20th-century African-American sportspeople