Cleveland Tate Stars
From BR Bullpen
The first of many Negro League franchises to try and fail in Cleveland, OH was the Cleveland Tate Stars (named after owner George Tate). They played in the Negro National League in 1922 and finished last at 17-29. Candy Jim Taylor managed and played third base for the club.
Following a dispute between team owner Tate and NNL president Rube Foster and Tate's sacking of manager Taylor, the Tate Stars played the first part of the 1923 season as an associate team of the Eastern Colored League during the first part of the 1923 season. They were opposed in Cleveland by the short-lived Cleveland Nationals, and some of their players were raided by NNL teams, but they rejoined the NNL as an associate team in July following the demise of the Toledo franchise, and went 7-14. Second baseman Claude "Hooks" Johnson was the player-manager.
In 1924 they were replaced in the city by the Cleveland Browns.
Sources:
- The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway
- The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James Riley
- 1923 Negro National League Yearbook, by Pete Ventura and Patrick Rock, Replay Publishing
- as yet unpublished SABR research by Patrick Rock and Larry Lester
[edit] Further Reading
- Leslie Heaphy: "Cleveland Tate Stars", in Brad Sullivan, ed.: Batting Four Thousand: Baseball in the Western Reserve, SABR, Cleveland, OH, 2008, pp. 34-36.
