Claude Bonds Grier (March 24, 1904 – March 1, 1967), nicknamed "Red", 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 1920s. A native of

Catawba County, North Carolina Catawba County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,610. Its county seat is Newton, and its largest city is Hickory. The county is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton, NC Metro ...

, Grier attended

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

. He made his Negro leagues debut in 1924 for the

Washington Potomacs The Washington Potomacs were a Negro league baseball team in the Eastern Colored League, based in Washington, D.C., in 1924. They also operated as an independent team in 1923. In 1925 the Potomacs moved to Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Unami ...

, and split time between Wilmington and the

Bacharach Giants The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founding The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 an ...

the following season. Grier went on to play three more seasons with the Bacharach club, where he spun a historic no-hitter in the

1926 Colored World Series The 1926 Colored World Series was the championship tournament for the 1926 season of Negro league baseball. It was the third overall Series played. It matched the Chicago American Giants, champions of the Negro National League (1920–1931), and ...

, and finished his career in 1928. He died in

Newton, North Carolina Newton is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 12,968. It is the county seat of Catawba County. Newton is part of the Hickory– Lenoir– Morganton Metropolitan Statistical ...

in 1967 at age 62.

References

External links

an
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1904 births 1967 deaths Bacharach Giants players Washington Potomacs players Wilmington Potomacs players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from North Carolina People from Catawba County, North Carolina 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub