With baseball's solid establishment on the American scene by 1900, towns and cities of all sizes began having teams. The African-American community was no exception. While the black teams and players shamefully were overlooked outside of their own community for years, it would be hard to argue that the talent level and competition was well worth notice. Because of this level of competition, crowds at all-black games were good, and the best of the black players made good money.

         North Carolina had plenty of talented and competitive African-American teams from the early 1900's through the 1950s, when integration began to take hold. Bijan C. Bayne nicely capsules black professional baseball between World War I and the Depression in his section of Chris Holaday's Baseball in The Carolinas. He notes the competition among black teams from all over the state, starting with the Raleigh teams - the Black Star Line, the Grays and the Tar Heels - which played in the 1910s and '20s. Teams from Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Asheville were also competing at the time. Among the top black teams in the state was the Asheville Royal Giants, who played teams from as far away as Atlanta. And smaller towns in the east - Greenville, Rocky Mount, New Bern, Kinston, Elizabeth City and Laurinburg - had black teams of paid players in the 1920s.

        As in white baseball, the glory years for baseball among blacks were the 1930s and '40s, driven considerably by barnstorming or exhibitions. Teams in Raleigh were again big during this era, with the Raleigh Grays and, later, the Raleigh Tigers leading the way. The Grays, first formed in 1919, may have disbanded during the Depression, but were back playing by 1938. They played a variety of teams - black and white - before World War II, including teams from Central Prison. During the War, they managed to get up enough players to take on teams from all-black units at Fort Bragg. The Tigers came along later and were among the last of the major Negro leagues teams. They would play until the early 1960s and have the services of several future minor and major leaguers. Other larger cities such as Greensboro (Red Wings), Asheville (Blues), Durham (Red Caps) and Winston-Salem (Mohawk Giants) had black teams during the era. But towns as small as Erwin (Red Sox) and Louisburg (Independents) also had teams. 

        As was the case through much of the black baseball era in the state, the vast majority of these teams played exhibitions as opposed to league ball. This may have been better for the team finances, since the owners didn't have to worry about league fees or restrictions on salaries.

        By the 1950s, integration began to take hold, but the vast majority of teams in the South were still segregated, particularly on the semipro level. As early as 1951, African-Americans were making headway into the all-white minor league teams in North Carolina. Late that season, Granite Falls of the Western Carolina League, hired five black players to finish what had been a dismal season. They were: Boney Fleming, pitcher, of Morganton; Christopher Rankin, pitcher, of Hickory; Bill Smith, catcher, of Conover; Russell Shuford, catcher, of Hickory; and Eugene Abernathy, outfielder, of Hickory. These players - the first blacks to play on a minor league team in North Carolina - never went into official records, because the team's scorekeeper failed to turn in box scores for the final games. The following year, Coastal Plain League teams signed a few black players. Only one of them - Ernie Canada - had good enough statistics to stay on for more than a few games. Charlie Roach, a former outfielder at Winston-Salem State, debuted in New Bern on June 9, and went 1-9 at the plate in three games before being shipped to Danville. A few days later, Rocky Mount hired pitcher Charlie England of Newton. He pitched only two games - being hit hard in both - before being released. Then the Leafs brought in Lafayette Stallings, a pitcher who had played in the semipro leagues in Baltimore and Philadelphia. He pitched one game, losing it. On July 7 Stallings was put on the "voluntarily retired" list. Canada, a Greensboro native and graduate of North Carolina A&T, was signed by the Wilson Tobs on July 20, and played for 21 games in the outfield, batting .269. He would play again briefly for Winston-Salem, in 1954.

            Other African American stars crossed over into the white-dominated game, including some who played for the Raleigh Tigers in the 1950s. Future major leaguers Charlie Neal, Wes Covington and Milt Smith put in time with the Tigers. Carl Long of the Birmingham Black Barons, made the minor leagues in 1955 and made his way to Kinston in 1956. He was a contemporary of Curt Flood, who played with the High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms later that year.

            One of the first black players to put in a full season in the minors was Dan Morejon, a Cuban who played with the Hi-Toms in 1955, batting .324 and being named the Carolina League Player of the Year.

The Players

            Any discussion of the best African American players from North Carolina starts with Walter "Buck" Leonard. Leonard, born in Rocky Mount in 1907, played most of his career with the Homestead Grays. With Leonard and the great home run hitter Josh Gibson leading the way, the Grays ruled the Negro National League through the 1930s and '40s. They won 10 pennants and three Negro League World Series during those years. Statistics for the Negro league games are considered unofficial at best. But one source has Leonard batting .375 in 1945, and another source puts him at .395 in 1948. For the records they could find, these sources figured Leonard for a .341 batting average over 17 seasons. There is little reason to doubt these figures considering the fact that the "official" records we do have for Leonard come from the competitive Mexican League. There, he batted in the .320s for three seasons. He was age 44 in the first of those seasons.

            No doubt, Leonard was a fearsome hitter. During his Negro league days he either led or was second behind Gibson in the home run totals. With Gibson nicknamed "The Black Babe Ruth," Leonard naturally picked up the moniker, "The Black Lou Gehrig."

            Leonard was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

            Here are some other Negro league players of note with connections to North Carolina:

            Hubert "Bert" Simmons: from Tarboro, Simmons played with the Raleigh Tigers in the early 1940s and with the Greensboro Goshen Red Wings and Asheville Blues in the late 1940s. He made it up to Baltimore and played for the Elite Giants in 1950 and the Yokely Stars in 1951 and '52. A pitching star at North Carolina A&T, he is in that school's sports Hall of Fame.

            Jimmy Hill: a veteran pitcher in the Negro leagues, he played with the Raleigh Grays in 1946. He would go on to play for the Homestead Grays.

            Eulace Harrington: compared to Satchel Paige, he was one of the great pitchers of the 1920s, playing for the Raleigh Tar Heels.

            Dave "Skinny Green" Barnhill: born in Greenville, he would go on to play for the Ethiopian Clowns of Indianapolis.  

            Burnell "Bun" Hayes: this pitcher was a star in Louisburg before going on to play for the Baltimore Black Sox

            Leamon Yokely: his back-to-back no-hitters got him notice in the 1920s, and he ended up playing with the Baltimore Black Sox.

            Aaron "Skink" Browning: this catcher played for the Raleigh South Park Hornets in the '20s, before going north to play for the Wilmington ( Del.) Potomacs. His teammate there was Hall of Fame third-baseman, William "Judy" Johnson.

            Tom Alston: born in Greensboro and a player for the Goshen Red Wings in the 1940s, he would become one of the early players to cross over into the minors. He later became the first black player for the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1954.

            Moody "Big Train" Cozart: a longtime pitching star for the Raleigh Grays in the 1930s and '40s, the 6-4, 300-pound "Big Train" later played for the Newark Eagles.