When I began this weekly posting I over looked the
Negro League players so I hope to rectify that. There is a wonderful book
called
Only the Ball was White (
Amazon) by Robert Peterson. This
is a detailed history of the Negro Leagues. With all the hoopla over stats and
records from the “steroid era” , how they are inflated, and how it is disgraceful
for MLB. Well, this is a crock. First, how would have DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, and
the other Hall of Famer hitters performed against the likes of Negro League
pitchers Bullet Rogan, Cannonball Dick Redding, and Leon Day. Would CY Young,
Walter Johnson. or Christy Mathewson held up under the offensive onslaught of
Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neal, and Buck Leonard? So the stats in the Hall of
Fame are a gold standard?
But I digress; I was able to locate a Negro League player
from STL. Pitcher
Richard Henderson "Dick" Whitworth was born in STL
on 8/28/1895 and passed on 3/1/1966 in STL. Dick played with the Chicago Union
Giants 1914-1916, Chicago American Giants 1915-1919, Hilldale Club 1920-1921,
and again with the Chicago American Giants in 1922. Dick’s career stats are as
follows; he had a record of 72 and 35 in 135 games. He walked 346 batters and
strike outs 461. His career ERA was 2.56 and his WHIP 1.204. No too shabby. No surprise that I couldn’t find a baseball card for Dick but I
did locate this photo.
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