Happy Birthday "Biz" Mackey

The following is an excerpt from my book Last Train in Cooperstown:  The 2006 Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees from the Negro League Baseball Era, which contains a profile of the Hall of Fame catcher James Raleigh “Biz” Mackey, born 7/27/1897:

“Eagle Pass, Texas is a small town south of Del Rio near the

Mexican border. Here on July 27, 1897 James Raleigh “Biz” Mackey

opened his eyes the first time. This makes him another member of

the Texas fraternity of Negro League ballplayers from the Lone Star

state; that includes Andy Cooper, Willie Wells, Rube Foster, Louis

Santop, and others. Before becoming a teenager he moved with his

family to Luling which is east of San Antonio on the road to

Houston. The Mackeys were sharecroppers. Biz, along with his

brothers, worked on the farm most of the day and then played

baseball until dark. They used boards as bats and anything they

could find as a ball. By 1916 the black amateur baseball team in

Luling, the Oilers, had three Mackey brothers on its roster; Ray,

Ernest, and Biz.

 

The San Antonio Aces, a black minor league team, signed Biz in

1918. Charlie Bellinger, the Aces’ owner, had a friendship with

Indianapolis ABCs’ manager CI Taylor.  Bellinger always looked for

good ballplayers in Texas that would help Taylor’s team. After the

Aces folded in 1919, he sold Mackey and five other players to the

ABCs.

 

Biz arrived in Indianapolis at the perfect time. The first official

African American baseball league, the Negro National League

(NNL), formed in 1920 with the ABCs one of the charter teams.

The twenty‐three year old Texan shared the dugout his first year

with Hall of Famers Oscar Charleston and Ben Taylor, along with

“Cannonball” Dick Reading.  Used as a utility infielder and outfielder,

Mackey also began to learn the craft of playing the game under the

master teacher, CI Taylor. With his manager’s help, Biz became a

switch hitter and developed into one of the team’s top run

producers. Some records show he hit over .300 each of his three

years in Indianapolis, helping the team finish second in 1921.

CI Taylor died before that year ended, replaced by his brother

Ben as the ABCs’ manager. However, with his mentor CI gone,

Mackey’s ties to the team were loosened. The owners of the newly

formed Eastern Colored League (ECL) in 1923 looked to lure away

NNL players. Accepting an offer from Ed Bolden, owner of the

Hilldale Club, Biz headed east without hesitation.”

Mackey’s Hall of Fame induction solidified him with the white contemporaries his era, Gabby Hartnett, Mickey Cochrane, and Bill Dickey, as one of the best catchers in baseball history.

To read more about "Biz" Mackey and the Negro League baseball era Last Train to Cooperstown