Oscar Charleston

Oscar McKinley Charleston (October 14, 1896 – October 5, 1954) was an American center fielder and manager in baseball's Negro leagues from 1915 to 1945.

Early life

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Charleston joined the Army at 15 and served in the Philippines. After returning to the United States, he immediately began his baseball career with the Indianapolis ABC's in 1915. He served as a player and/or manager for the ABCs,^[1] Chicago American Giants, Lincoln Stars, St. Louis Giants, Harrisburg Giants, Philadelphia Hilldales, Homestead Grays, and Pittsburgh Crawfords.

Negro leagues career

An intense, focused, and intelligent man, Charleston was among the most renowned players of his time, a tremendous power and contact hitter and one of the finest defensive center fielders of all-time. His career batting average was .348,^[4] and he regularly finished among league leaders in both home runs and stolen bases. He was also known for his combative nature, getting into many brawls, including at least one memorable fight with an array of Cuban soldiers.

In 1932, Charleston became player-manager of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and presided over what some baseball historians consider the best Negro league team ever. His roster included Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Judy Johnson. The team went 99-36, and Charleston himself batted .363.

In addition to his tremendous play in the Negro leagues, Charleston excelled in exhibition play against all-white major league teams, batting .318 with 11 home runs in 53 games. Contemporary observers compared his play to that of Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth.^[5] Some baseball historians consider him one of the greatest players in history.^[5] He died at age 57 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Election to Baseball Hall of Fame

Charleston was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. In 1999, he was ranked #67 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, one of five players so honored who played all or most of their careers in pre-1947 black leagues. He was also nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Baseball writer Bill James, in his The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, ranked Charleston as the fourth-best player of all-time.

References

1 2 "A.B.C.'s Take Three From The Sprudels" Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, Wednesday, May 19, 1915, Page 10, Column 6
↑ "Hilldale Team Wins" Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA, August 6, 1919, Page 12
↑ "Harrisburg Takes Two From Chester Team" Chester Times, Chester, PA, Monday, July 28, 1924, Page 8, Column 1
↑ Lawrence D. Hogan, Shades of Glory, p. 385.
1 2 The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract 2001, p.189, (ISBN 0-684-80697-5)

External links

Oscar Charleston at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Negro league and Cuban League statistics and player information from Seamheads.com, or Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
Oscar Charleston at NegroLeagueBaseball.com
Oscar Charleston at Negro League Players Association
Find a Grave Bio

Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1976

BBWAA Vote	Bob Lemon (78.6%) Robin Roberts (86.9%)

Veterans Committee	Roger Connor Cal Hubbard Freddie Lindstrom

Negro League Committee	Oscar Charleston

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Tom Meany Shirley Povich

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Cummings Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young

Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Piazza Santop Schalk D. White

First basemen	Anson Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas

Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Grant Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst

Third basemen	Baker Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Santo Schmidt Traynor J. Wilson

Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Outfielders	Aaron Ashburn Averill Bell Brock W. Brown Burkett Carey Charleston Clarke Clemente Cobb Combs Crawford Cuyler Dawson Delahanty DiMaggio Doby Duffy Flick Goslin Griffey Gwynn Hafey Hamilton Heilmann Henderson Hill Hooper Irvin R. Jackson Kaline Keeler Kelley K. Kelly Kiner Klein Mantle Manush Mays McCarthy Medwick Musial O'Rourke Ott Puckett J. Rice S. Rice F. Robinson Roush Ruth Simmons Slaughter Snider Speaker Stargell Stearnes Thompson Torriente L. Waner P. Waner Wheat B. Williams T. Williams H. Wilson Winfield Yastrzemski Youngs

Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda López Mack McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams

Executives / pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Dreyfuss R. Foster Frick Giles Gillick Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley O'Malley Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey

Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

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