From the pitching mound to the pulpit - William "Bill" Greason

William “Bill” Greason played professional baseball in many different places and at several different levels during his career.  Born on September 3, 1924 in Atlanta, Georgia, Greason applied his talent as a right handed pitcher in both Negro and Major League baseball; in addition to high and lower levels in the minor leagues.  He pitched in cities across the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico.  Like other African American ballplayers of his era (1947 -1958) Greason saw the final demise of Negro League baseball, participated in the integration of the minor leagues, and experienced racism in the Major Leagues after the “invisible color line” had been erased.


 The 5’ 10’’ and 170 pound ex-Marine first pitched in 1947 with the Nashville Black Vols and Ashville (North Carolina) Blues, both considered minor league African American teams.  It was the year Jackie Robinson became the first African American in the 20^th Century to play Major League baseball.   Greason was a power pitcher with a fastball and a sharp breaking pitch that he could throw sidearm.  By the end of that season he had pitched his way onto the roster of the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro American League (NAL). 


 1948 was his breakout year.  Greason pitched three scoreless innings in that year’s Negro League Baseball East-West All-Star game.  Also, with him as one of its top pitchers, the Black Barons beat out Buck O’Neil’s Kansas City Monarchs to win the NAL pennant.  Both Negro League stars Lorenzo “Piper” Davis and Arte Wilson were also on the Black Barons that year.  In addition, a 17 year old kid named Willie Mays played center field for the team.  In what would be the last Negro League World Series, Greason pitched the Black Barons to their only victory against the Homestead Grays winning 4 – 3.  


 After leaving the Black Barons following the 1950 season, Greason pitched in the Class AAA and A levels in the minor leagues.  He also pitched in the Mexican League and spent a short second stint in the Marines.  When he returned to   baseball in 1953, he became the third African American to play in the Class AA Texas League. 


 In 1954, Greason along with Brooks Lawrence and Tom Alston were the first African American players invited to a spring training camp by the St. Louis Cardinals.   He made his Major League debut on May 31 at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs.  In three innings, Greason gave up five runs on six hits in the Cards 14 – 4 lost.  Three of the hits off Greason were home runs, one by the Cubs young shortstop and former Negro League player Ernie Banks.  After appearing briefly in two more games, Greason at the end of June was sent to the minor leagues.


 For the remainder of the decade he pitched with the Houston Buffs (Class AA Texas League), the Rochester Red Wings (Class AAA International League), and winter league baseball in the Caribbean.  He never again played in the Major Leagues, getting only that one chance like a number of former Negro League players in the 1950s.   


 Greason retired in 1959 and was called into Christian ministry.  He was pastor of a church in Birmingham, Alabama for 30 years and was cited by the Alabama State Legislature in 2001 for outstanding ministry achievement.

To learn about the players, managers, and owners in the Negro Leagues during professional baseball’s segregated era, read my first book Last Train to Cooperstown:  The 2006 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees from the Negro League Baseball Era.  Go to www.klmitchell.com for more information.