Negro League Project: Buck Best at Beginning

John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil is one of the better-known players who toiled in the Negro Leagues, thanks to a star turn in Ken Burns’ 1994 documentary series, Baseball. He was a good player¹As near as we can tell., but not on the same level as Hall of Famers like Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard or Cool Papa Bell.

He is, however, leading the league in hitting in the early going of my latest APBA Baseball replay. Four games in, Buck is hitting .563 (9-for-16) for the 1942 Kansas City Monarchs, who trail the 1913 New York Lincoln Giants by a game in the six-team league standings.

After a 4-for-5 day in a 9-1 rout of the 1943 Birmingham Black Barons, the Monarchs’ first baseman leads the league with nine hits and is tied for the league lead with three doubles. He’s not likely to keep up that torrid pace, but it’s nice to see his name atop the leaderboard, even if it is only 10 percent of the way through the schedule.

The Monarchs were one of the best-known Negro League teams and won 10 championships in a 45-year run. To win the championship in this mini-season, they’ll have to beat out not only the Lincoln Giants and Black Barons, but the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords, the 1946 Newark Eagles and the 1933 Chicago American Giants, too. This project will be a 40-game season with a World Series between the top two teams. I also plan to play an East-West Game, which annually brought the brightest stars to Chicago for a showcase all-star game.

Here are the standings, stats and scores from the first round of games.

Leaders

Leading Hitters (Minimum 12 plate appearances)  

Name               Team  G   PA   AB   R   H RBI   2B   3B   HR   BB   SO   SB   CS     BA   SLG  OBP
=====================================================================================================
O'Neil, Buck       KCM   4   16   16   2   9   1    3    0    0    0    0    1    0   .563  .750 .563
Wilkes, Jimmy      NEW   4   19   15   6   8   1    0    0    0    4    0    0    0   .533  .533 .632
Crutchfield, Jimmy PIT   4   18   18   2   9   9    1    1    0    0    0    1    0   .500  .667 .500
Williams, Jesse    KCM   4   15   14   1   7   1    1    1    0    1    1    1    0   .500  .714 .533
Hardy, Paul        BIR   4   12    9   1   4   0    0    0    0    2    0    0    1   .444  .444 .545
Doby, Larry        NEW   4   19   16   4   7   6    0    1    1    3    0    1    0   .438  .750 .526
Santop, Louis      NYL   4   17   16   1   7   4    0    1    0    1    0    0    0   .438  .563 .471
Walker, Jesse      BIR   4   14   14   1   6   0    3    0    0    0    5    1    0   .429  .643 .429
Bankhead, Sam      PIT   4   21   19   8   8   5    1    0    0    2    3    3    0   .421  .474 .476
Francis, Billy     NYL   4   15   12   3   5   2    0    0    0    2    2    0    0   .417  .417 .533
Gibson, Josh       PIT   4   20   17   3   7   5    1    0    0    2    1    1    0   .412  .471 .500
Grant, Leroy       NYL   4   16   15   3   6   1    1    0    0    1    1    4    1   .400  .467 .438

Leading Pitchers (Minimum 4 innings pitched)

Name                     Team GP GS CG GF Sv ShO    IP   H  RA  ER   HR   BB   SO   W   L     ERA
=================================================================================================
Saylor, Alfred           BIR   1  1  1  0  0   0   9.0   5   2   0    0    2    2   1   0    0.00
Day, Leon                NEW   1  1  1  0  0   0   9.0   4   1   0    0    1    5   1   0    0.00
Williams, Cyclone        NYL   1  1  1  0  0   1   9.0   3   0   0    0    4    4   1   0    0.00
McKinnis, Gready         BIR   1  1  1  0  0   1   9.0   8   0   0    0    1    4   1   0    0.00
Marchett, Jack           KCM   1  1  1  0  0   1   9.0   7   0   0    0    3    3   1   0    0.00
Paige, Satchel           KCM   2  1  1  1  0   0   9.0   6   1   1    0    3    4   0   1    1.00
Kincannon, Harry         PIT   1  1  1  0  0   0   9.0   6   1   1    0    2    5   1   0    1.00
McDaniels, Cannonball    KCM   1  1  1  0  0   0   9.0   8   1   1    0    1    7   1   0    1.00
Foster, Willie           CHI   1  1  1  0  0   0   8.0   6   1   1    0    1    9   0   1    1.13
Radcliffe, Double Duty   BIR   2  0  0  2  0   0  10.0  12   2   2    0    1    2   0   0    1.80

Scores and Highlights
June 6

• NEW YORK 1, Chicago 0 (Smokey Joe Williams pitches a 3-hitter, Grant Johnson‘s 9th-inning single wins it.) [BOX]
• NEWARK 11, Pittsburgh 1 (Larry Doby goes 3-for-5 and drives in four on a homer and a triple) [BOX]
• BIRMINGHAM 1, Kansas City 0 (Lefty McKinnis out-duels Satchel Paige, making first-inning run stand up) [BOX]

June 7

• Chicago 3, NEW YORK 2 (Nat Rogers‘ two-run single in fourth off Dick Redding wins it.) [BOX]
• NEWARK 6, Pittsburgh 5 (Larry Doby does it again, hitting a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to win it.) [BOX]
• Kansas City 5, BIRMINGHAM 0 (Jack Matchett scatters seven hits, Joe Greene hits two homers.) [BOX]

June 8

• NEW YORK 9, Chicago 4 (Louis Santop‘s four hits lead a 16-hit Lincoln Giants attack.) [BOX]
• Pittsburgh 13, NEWARK 5 (Jimmie Crutchfield goes 5-for-5, drives in five, to pace Crawfords.) [BOX]
• BIRMINGHAM 4, Kansas City 2 (Clyde Spearman‘s three-run triple in the fifth is the difference.) [BOX]

June 9

• NEW YORK 9, Chicago 2 (Lincoln Giants go top of the league as John Henry Lloyd drives in three.) [BOX]
• Pittsburgh 12, NEWARK 1 (Josh Gibson drives in three with three of Crawfords’ 18 hits.) [BOX]
• Kansas City 9, BIRMINGHAM 1 (Monarchs bang out 21 hits in rout of Black Barons.) [BOX]

New York and Newark meet in a four-game series in round two, and it should be a banger.