Bullet Rogan

Charles Wilber Rogan (Bullet Joe)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 160 lb.
• High School Sumner High School (Kansas City)
• Debut 1920
• Final Game 1938
• Born July 28, 1893 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory USA
• Died March 4, 1967 in Kansas City, MO USA

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1998

BR page

Biographical Information

Bullet Rogan played for the Negro League Kansas City Monarchs from 1920 to 1938. He was one of the winningest pitchers in Negro Leagues history, as well as a top hitter, frequently playing an outfield position when not pitching.

Rogan started as a catcher with an amateur team in Kansas City, Kansas, and then enlisted in the United States Army about 1914 and was recruited about 1915 to play for the all-black Twenty-Fifth Infantry Wreckers club at Schofield Barracks until 1918, pitching and playing all positions. While on leave in March and April 1917, Rogan pitched a game for the Los Angeles White Sox, an all-black team in the California Winter League, and then pitched some games for the All-Nations Team in his hometown. The Twenty-Fifth Infantry transferred to Ft. Stephen Little near Nogales, Arizona in 1919, and Rogan got his discharge in June 1920, at which time he joined the Monarchs. In his professional career he played every position except catcher, mainly concentrating on his pitching. Following the death of José Méndez, Rogan became the Monarchs' manager in the late 1920s, retiring from that position in the late thirties. Well into the late 1940s, he umpired in the Negro American League, primarily at Monarchs home games.

He was absolutely dominant in his time in Hawaii from 1915 to 1918, generally regarded as the best player on the island. His statistics in Hawaii were compiled by the semi-pro researcher John Iachetta. As a pitcher he had a 35-2 record, with 468 strikeouts against 49 walks and 142 hits allowed in 355 1/3 innings. He completed all 35 of his starts, 17 of which were shutouts. As a batter, he hit .347 with 28 home runs, 20 doubles, 14 triples, 153 runs scored, and 61 stolen bases in 125 games. He primarily played catcher in 1915. In his last season, 1918, which he spent with the 25th Infantry in the Oahu Service League, he threw shutouts in all six of his starts, for a final record of 7-0 with a 0.30 ERA.

Rogan is thought to have been one of the first pitchers to work from a no-windup position.

Rogan also was a long-time California Winter League star. His 52 complete games are the CWL record, and he ranks second in innings pitched and strikeouts (516 and 351 respectively, trailing only Satchel Paige in both categories). He is 5th with 5 shutouts and third with 42 wins (behind Paige and Chet Brewer).

"Joe Rogan was one of the world's greatest pitchers. ...He was a chunky little guy, but he could throw hard. He could throw hard as Smokey Joe Williams-yeah." -Satchel Paige in Blackball Stars

Notable Achievements

• NNL ERA Leader (1921)
• 2-time NNL Wins Leader (1923 & 1924)
• NNL Winning Percentage Leader (1925)
• NNL Saves Leader (1922)
• NNL Innings Pitched Leader (1923)
• 2-time NNL Strikeouts Leader (1923 & 1925)
• 3-time NNL Complete Games Leader (1922, 1923 & 1925)
• 2-time NNL Shutouts Leader (1923 & 1925)
• 15 Wins Seasons: 4 (1921 & 1923-1925)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (1921 & 1923)
• Won one Negro World Series with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1924
• NNL Pennants: 1 (1929)
• Postseason Appearance: 1 (1926)
• Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1998

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1926	Kansas City Monarchs	Negro National League	60-22	1st	Kansas City Monarchs	Lost League Finals
1927	Kansas City Monarchs	Negro National League	55-33	3rd	Kansas City Monarchs
1928	Kansas City Monarchs	Negro National League	50-29	2nd	Kansas City Monarchs
1929	Kansas City Monarchs	Negro National League	66-17	1st	Kansas City Monarchs	League Champs
1930	Kansas City Monarchs	Negro National League	26-10	--	Kansas City Monarchs		Replaced by Dink Mothell

External links

• Baseball Hall of Fame
• BaseballLibrary - biography

References

• The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, by James Riley (Carroll & Graf, 2002), ISBN 0-7867-0959-6
• The California Winter League, by William McNeil (McFarland, 2002), ISBN 0-7864-1301-8
• The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues, by John Holway (Hastings House, 2001), ISBN 0-8038-2007-0
• The Monarchs 1920-1938, by Phil Dixon (Mariah Press, 2002), ISBN 1-893250-08-3
• U.S. Census and U.S. Army enlistment information (date of birth)

Further Reading

• David Adler: "Bullet Rogan: The Negro Leagues' Two-Way Star", "The Negro Leagues", mlb.com, [1]

Related Sites

• Bullet Rogan at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Manager page