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Monday, June 8, 2015

The Negro League baseball history fact for today - John "Neck" Stanley


On June 8, 1936, New York Cuban left handed pitcher John Wesley Stanley hurled a no-hitter against the Newark Eagles.  The Negro National League (NNL) game was played in Newburgh, a Hudson River valley town seventy miles north of New York City.

Originally from Kings County, Maryland born in 1905, Stanley began his Negro League career in 1928 with Hilldale and then the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants. Both teams were in the Eastern Colored League (ECL) which disbanded at midseason.  By 1931 the 5’11”, 215 pound southpaw was with the Baltimore Black Sox and according to unconfirmed reports, pitched a no-hitter against a House of David team.  Nicknamed “Neck”, Stanley was known for his “spitball”, a pitch that is illegal in the Major Leagues.

1936 was Stanley’s second year with the New York Cubans.  Baseball Hall of Fame players Willie Wells, Ray Dandridge, and George “Mule” Settles were in the Newark Eagles line up that June day.  But, as reported in the June 13th edition of the Pittsburgh Courier, no Eagle got a hit.  Stanley walked two and one batter reached base on an error in the Cubans’ 12 – 1 victory.

Stanley went on the play for the New York Black Yankees from 1939 – 1948.

What Latino long time Negro League and Hall of Fame player was a New York Cuban teammate of John Stanley in 1936?

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