Players who Played First Base, Third Base, and Outfield in the Major Negro Leagues

Today’s Immaculate Grid includes the category “Played in the Major Negro Leagues.” In 2021, Baseball Reference dramatically expanded coverage of the Negro Leagues as part of our project “The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues.” The major Negro Leagues (currently seven leagues that operated between 1920-1948) are now listed with the National League and American League as major leagues.

Those seven major Negro Leagues are:

1. NAL: Negro American League (1937-1948)
2. NN2: Negro National League II (1933-1948)
3. EWL: East-West League (1932)
4. NSL: Negro Southern League (1932)
5. NNL: Negro National League I (1920-1931)
6. ANL: American Negro League (1929)
7. ECL: Eastern Colored League (1923-1928)

Because the category includes the major Negro Leagues, it is worth mentioning that Henry Aaron and Ernie Banks will not match for this Grid category. They played in the Negro Leagues in 1952 and 1953, respectively, after the Negro Leagues were no longer considered major.

First Basemen who played in the Major Negro Leagues

Over 500 players in our database appeared in the major Negro Leagues at first base. There are three in Cooperstown as primary first basemen.

1. Buck Leonard
2. Mule Suttles
3. Ben Taylor

The great Buck O’Neil, finally inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2022 as a Pioneer/Executive, was also a first baseman in the Negro Leagues.

See all 543 major Negro League first basemen on Stathead

Third Basemen who played in the Major Negro Leagues

More than 600 players in our database played third base in the major Negro Leagues. Among them are three Hall of Famers:

1. Ray Dandridge
2. Judy Johnson
3. Jud Wilson

John Beckwith, one of the top Negro League players outside the Hall of Fame, played quite a bit of third base (as well as shortstop, first base, and catcher).

See all 613 major Negro League third basemen on Stathead

Outfielders who played in the Major Negro Leagues

There were 1200+ players who appeared in the outfield in a major Negro League game in our database. Several were inducted into the Hall of Fame:

1. Cool Papa Bell
2. Willard Brown
3. Oscar Charleston
4. Larry Doby
5. Pete Hill
6. Willie Mays
7. Minnie Miñoso
8. Turkey Stearnes
9. Cristóbal Torriente

There are several outfielders from the Negro Leagues outside of Cooperstown with great cases for the Hall, such as Heavy Johnson, Wild Bill Wright, Vic Harris, Alejandro Oms, Hurley McNair, and Rap Dixon.

See all 1200+ major Negro League outfielders on Stathead

Learn More About the Negro Leagues

We highly recommend visiting and supporting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The Sports Reference team visited the museum in 2022 and it was an unforgettable experience.

Further reading on Baseball Reference:

1. The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues: Includes articles from prominent Negro League historians and family members of Black baseball players
2. The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues podcast: Hosted by Curtis Harris and produced by Sports Reference.
3. The Negro Leagues Are Major Leagues: A Resource for Educators: A resource for educators to share the incredible story of the Negro Leagues. (It also is a great way for anyone interested in the Negro Leagues to quickly get up to speed.)

Thank you for joining us in celebrating the Negro Leagues this month at Immaculate Grid. We’ll be using this category a few more times this month (and beyond).

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 at 6:00 am and is filed under Immaculate Grid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.