Sports Reference | Black History Month Spotlights

Negro Leagues Project

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Baseball Reference Player Spotlights

Wilber "Bullet" Rogan was one of the premier two-way players of the Negro Leagues, maintaining a 2.65 ERA over 1500 innings while also recording a .934 OPS over more than 2000 career plate appearances. Rogan knocked in 6 RBI and earned 2 wins on the mound in the 1924 Kansas City Monarchs' World Series victory over the Hilldale Club. Because of his immense contribution on both sides, Rogan has the most Wins Above Replacement of any player who exclusively played in the Negro Leagues.

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When people discuss the greatest players left out of the White major leagues, Josh Gibson is usually among the first names brought up. In terms of black ink, meaning how often he led league leaderboards, Gibson is 3rd all-time, only trailing Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. He, along with Oscar Charleston, achieved the Triple Crown more than once, something only Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams can also claim among major leaguers.

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After returning from service during WWII, Jackie Robinson began his pro baseball career with the 1945 Kansas City Monarchs, where he led the Negro American League in several stats. The talent displayed that season contributed to Branch Rickey’s decision to select Robinson as a test case for integrating the National League. He would make his NL debut in 1947. He kept up his high level of play, earning many awards in his Brooklyn Dodgers tenure, and eventually completing a Hall of Fame career.

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Rube Foster was one of the top Black pitchers in the 1910s, but his main legacy was leading the effort to create the Negro National League in 1920, the first successful major Negro League. Foster managed the Chicago American Giants to three pennants in the league's first three seasons. The first NNL folded shortly after Foster's death, but the groundwork he laid served as a blueprint for future major Negro Leagues where Black players could play the game professionally.

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Clarence “Fats” Jenkins was a two-sport wonder, excelling in both basketball and baseball during an era when both sports were racially segregated. In basketball, Jenkins was point guard for the New York Renaissance, a barnstorming team that dominated opponents, compiling a 2588-539 record. Meanwhile, as a baseball player, Jenkins played until age-42, posting a .828 OPS for his career and making two All-Star teams.

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Effa Manley is the only woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame to date. She and her husband Abe co-owned the Newark Eagles; although, Effa took on most of the day-to-day management such as contracts and organizing travel. The Manleys were rewarded on the field with a 1946 World Series victory over the Kansas City Monarchs. Effa later was a pivotal figure in ensuring Negro League teams would be compensated for players signed to AL and NL squads.

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The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues Project

In 2021, we dramatically expanded our coverage of the Negro Leagues and historical Black major league players. Major Negro Leagues (from 1920-1948) are now listed with the National League and American League as major leagues.

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Adam Jones, 14 year MLB veteran quote: People need to know about the perseverance of these men. They were willing to play in front of anyone who was willing to show up. But they couldn't go eat at local restaurants. They couldn't stay at local hotels.

Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum quote: Nothing at all is simple about a league that was built to combat and overcome hate and yet was so much about joy and a love of the game.

Sean Gibson, great-grandson of Josh Gibson quote: Breaking the baseball color barrier, the eventual, retrospective recognition of the premier talent from the Negro Leagues in the Hall of Fame...this is our journey.

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Basketball Reference Player Spotlights

Already one of the greatest basketball players of all time, in 1966, Bill Russell made more history when he became the NBA’s first Black coach. Russell took over for another Celtics legend, Red Auerbach, while remaining Boston’s starting center. As player-coach, Russell led the Celtics to two more championships, including a victory over the Lakers in the legendary, hard-fought 1969 NBA Finals.

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In 1950, the Boston Celtics selected Charles “Chuck” Cooper with the 13th overall pick in the 2nd round, making him the first Black player to be drafted by an NBA team. Cooper would play 409 games throughout his NBA career with the Celtics, Milwaukee / St. Louis Hawks, and Ft. Wayne Pistons. Cooper’s no. 15 jersey was retired at Duquesne University and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

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Lusia Harris was the first and only woman to be officially drafted by an NBA team, when the New Orleans Jazz selected her in the seventh round in 1977. She never tried out for the team, however, because she was pregnant at the time. Prior to that distinction, Harris led Delta State University to three straight national collegiate titles in the 1970s and won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics. She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, and was the first Black woman to earn that honor.

In 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first Black player to play in the National Basketball Association, picking up six points and ten rebounds in his debut for the Washington Capitols on Oct 31. He later joined the Syracuse Nationals, where he would become the first Black player to win an NBA championship. Continuing his string of firsts, Lloyd followed up his playing career by becoming the first African-American to be named an assistant coach, joining the Pistons' coaching staff.

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Pro Football Reference Player Spotlights

Fritz Pollard led the Akron Pros to an undefeated season and the league title in 1920, the inaugural season for the APFA (precursor to the NFL). Pollard was one of a handful of Black players in the league for those first seasons. The next year he was a player-coach, becoming the only Black person to have ever been a head coach in the league until Art Shell in 1989. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

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Bill Willis & Marion Motley joined the upstart Cleveland Browns of the AAFC in 1946, the same year that Kenny Washington & Woody Strode joined the NFL’s Rams. Willis and Motley thrived, becoming the first Black pro football stars in decades and key contributors to Cleveland’s 4 consecutive AAFC titles and their title in 1950, the first year the team was a member of the NFL. Both Willis & Motley were named to the 1940s All-Decade Team and eventually inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Kenny Washington & Woody Strode were star backs at UCLA, and teammates with multi-sport athlete Jackie Robinson. However, the NFL at the time was in the middle of their decades-long ban of Black players. In 1946 after public pressure from locals, the Los Angeles Rams signed Washington and Strode, re-integrating the NFL one year before their former teammate integrated baseball’s National League.

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Marlin Briscoe had set passing records at Omaha University but was initially asked to play defensive back when he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 1968. However, after impressing in practice, he got his shot and became the first Black starting QB in the Super Bowl era. When he later signed with the Buffalo Bills, Briscoe was asked to move to receiver where he made a Pro Bowl. He and Terrelle Pryor are the only players in the Super Bowl era with a career of 1000+ passing and 1000+ receiving yards.

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Hockey Reference Player Spotlights

Making his debut for the Boston Bruins in January 1958, Willie O’Ree became the first Black player in NHL history. O'Ree would play 45 games for the Bruins over two seasons, and, on New Year's Day 1961, became the first Black player to score a goal in the NHL with a game winner over Montreal. The Bruins retired O'Ree's number in 2022 and he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

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16 years after Willie O'Ree broke the color barrier in the National Hockey League, Mike Marson was selected by the Washington Capitals with the 19th overall pick in the 1974 Draft, becoming the first Black player to be drafted into the league. He would appear in 196 NHL games over six seasons, playing for the Capitals and the Los Angeles Kings and scoring a total of 24 goals and 24 assists.

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Grant Fuhr was selected 8th overall in the 1981 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, and spent 10 seasons with the team, winning 5 Stanley Cups and a Vezina Trophy in 1988. Fuhr would go on to appear in 868 NHL games, tallying 403 wins and 25 shutouts for the Maple Leafs, Kings, Blues, Flames, and Sabres. In 2003, Fuhr became the first Black person inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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Alton White is best known for being the first and only Black player in the World Hockey Association. White signed with the New York Raiders in 1972, and became the first Black player to score 20 goals in a season for any major league hockey team that same season. This feat wasn’t accomplished in the NHL until the 1979-80 season by Buffalo Sabre Tony McKegney.

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