Joseph Herman Lewis (January 17, 1895 – October, 1986), nicknamed "Sleepy", was an American

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 ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. A native of

Drakes Branch, Virginia Drakes Branch is a town in Charlotte County, Virginia, United States. The population was 530 at the 2010 census. Geography Drakes Branch is located southeast of the center of Charlotte County at (36.992958, −78.601714). Virginia State Rou ...

, Lewis made his Negro leagues debut in 1920 with the

Baltimore Black Sox The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team active between 1913 and 1936, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founding The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1913 by Howard Young. They were one of the original six ...

. He spent many years playing for the

Hilldale Club The Hilldale Athletic Club (informally known as Darby Daisies) were an American professional Negro league baseball, Negro league baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. Established as a boys team in 1910, the Hilldales we ...

, and was part of their

1925 Colored World Series The 1925 Colored World Series was the second edition of the championship series in Negro league baseball. The series featured a rematch between the Hilldale Club of Darby, Pennsylvania, champion of the Eastern Colored League (ECL), and the Kansas ...

championship team. Lewis died in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

in 1986 at age 91.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
1895 births 1986 deaths Bacharach Giants players Baltimore Black Sox players Brooklyn Royal Giants players Hilldale Club players Lincoln Giants players Washington Potomacs players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball catchers {{Negro-league-baseball-catcher-stub