Although
born in Windom, Texas in 1922, by 1927 Porter Reed and his family had moved to
Muskogee, Oklahoma. It was in the eastern
Oklahoma town that the former center fielder for the Houston Eagles (1949 –
1950) first connected with Negro League baseball.
In
addition to being the home of Negro League players Wilson Redus, Newt Joseph,
and Henry “Flick” Williams; Muskogee was a major stop on the Negro League
baseball barnstorming circuit. As a
child, Porter Reed saw the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants,
Memphis Red Sox, and other Negro League teams play in Muskogee during the 1930s. When
he became a teenager, Reed played on the local team battling the Negro Leaguers
when they came to town.
He
served in the military from 1942 – 1946 and then began playing with minor level
Negro League teams. The two seasons with
the Houston Eagles of the Negro American League (NAL) were the peak of Reed’s
Negro League career. After playing in
the Canadian leagues from 1951 – 1953, Reed retired from baseball and opened a
night club in Muskogee.
What former Negro National League (NNL)
franchise became the Houston Eagles in 1949?
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