While their team was fighting to win the 1938 National
League pennant, the management of the Pittsburgh Pirates received a telegraph
wire from the sportswriters of the city’s African-American newspaper; the
Pittsburgh Courier. The wire suggested the Pirates could capture the pennant if they signed five players from the
two Negro League baseball teams in Pittsburgh at that time. The players suggested were Satchel Paige and “Cool
Papa” Bell, both played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1937, and Josh Gibson,
Buck Leonard, and Raymond Brown of the Homestead Grays. The Pirates ignored the suggestion and only
finished in second place.
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