In
celebration of Black History Month, here is Today’s Negro League Baseball
History Fact: Charlie Peete.
Born
February 22, 1929 in Franklin, Virginia; Peete had a short and unproductive
stint in Negro League baseball. He
played 31 games with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1950, batting only .231. However, this did not prevent him from going
further in baseball.
After
serving in the military, Peete become one of the African-American players that
integrated the Piedmont League (Class B minor league) in 1953. The speedy center fielder got the attention
of the St. Louis Cardinals who signed him in 1954. Peete won the batting title hitting .350 in
1956 with the team’s Omaha Class AAA minor league club.
When
given the opportunity to play with the Cardinals towards the end of the 1956
season, Peete only hit .192 with six RBIs in 23 games. However, the team kept him on roster for the
upcoming 1957 season. After team
officials saw he had the skills to play center field and had promise as a hitter,
they still considered him a good prospect.
In addition, the Cardinals had been criticized for misfiring on two
previous African-American players. Pitcher
Brooks Lawrence, who they traded to the Cincinnati Reds, won 19 games in 1956. Tom Alston, who in 1954 became the first
African-American to play for the Cardinals who had been demoted to the minor leagues.
He and Peete were teammates at Omaha in
1955.
The
center fielder for the Cardinals in 1956, Bobby Del Greco, only hit .216. Depending on how he would have hit in spring
training of 1957, Charlie Peete had the opportunity to be the Cardinals’ main
center fielder. However, on his way to
play winter baseball in Venezuela; Peete, along with his wife and three children
were killed in a plane crash on November 11, 1956.
Negro
League baseball is not just a part of African American history, but is woven
into the fabric of 20Th Century American history.
To read more about the Negro League baseball era Last Train To Cooperstown
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