John Britton (April 21, 1919 – December 2, 1990) was an American baseball

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in the

Negro leagues 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 in the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

. He played professionally from 1940 to 1953, playing with the New Orleans–St. Louis Stars,

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

, Cincinnati/Indianapolis Clowns,

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pres ...

, and

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefectur ...

. During the

1944 Negro World Series In the 1944 Negro World Series, the Washington Homestead Grays, champions of the Negro National League were matched against the Birmingham Black Barons, champions of the Negro American League, for the second year in a row. The Grays won the seri ...

, Britton was injured in a car accident, along with Tommy Sampson, Pepper Bassett, and

Leandy Young Leandy "Lee" Young (June 10, 1909 – February 4, 1997) was an American baseball outfielder in the Negro leagues. He played from 1940 to 1946. During the 1944 Negro World Series In the 1944 Negro World Series, the Washington Homestead Grays, cha ...

. Britton suffered a dislocated left hand. Britton and

Jimmy Newberry James Lee Newberry (June 9, 1919 – June 23, 1983), nicknamed "Schoolboy", was an American pitcher in the Negro leagues and in the Japanese Pacific League. Newberry played professionally from 1944 to 1956, playing with the Cincinnati Clowns, Bir ...

were the first African-Americans to play on a Japanese baseball team.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball, Mexican League, and Minor League stats
an
Seamheads
1919 births 1990 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Japan Birmingham Black Barons players Chicago American Giants players Cincinnati Clowns players Indianapolis Clowns players Hankyu Braves players New Orleans–St. Louis Stars players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Mount Vernon, Georgia Azules de Veracruz players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Winnipeg Buffaloes players Elmwood Giants players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball infielders {{Negro-league-baseball-infielder-stub

See also

References

External links