Ollie Ernest West (December 28, 1913 – December 10, 1987), nicknamed "Bill", 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 ...

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 the 1940s. A native of

Silsbee, Texas Silsbee is a town in Hardin County, Texas, United States. This city is 21 miles north of Beaumont. The population was 6,935 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area. Geography Silsbee is located in eastern ...

, West made his Negro leagues debut in 1942 for the

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 ...

. He played with Chicago through 1945, and also briefly pitched for the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cumb ...

during their

1943 Negro World Series In the 1943 Negro World Series, the Washington Homestead Grays, champions of the Negro National League beat the Birmingham Black Barons, champions of the Negro American League, four games to three, with one tie. The games were played in seven di ...

championship season. West died in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1987 at age 73.

References

External links

an
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1913 births 1987 deaths Chicago American Giants players Homestead Grays players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball pitchers {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub