The Negro League baseball history fact for today

Charles (Chuck) Harmon was born on this date in Washington, Indiana; 1924.  A College All-American basketball player at the University of Toledo in 1943, Harmon played in only five Negro League baseball games in 1947 before being signed by the St. Louis Browns.  He hit over .300 for at least three years, but the Browns kept him in the minor leagues until he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1952.  Harmon and Puerto Rican born Nino Escalera became the first black ballplayers to dawn a Reds uniform in a Major League game on April 17, 1954.  In his four year Major League career as a utility player, Harmon hit .238 with seven home runs in 289 games.