1938 Homestead Grays
Highlights: Won both half-seasons of split schedule in Negro League
Major League Baseball touted stars like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The Negro League did too. It just called its stars Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard the black Babe Ruth and the black Lou Gehrig.
Grays' RosterPosition Players Pitchers |
Gibson and Leonard helped to power the 1988 Homestead Grays to the top of the Negro League. They became known, to fans and to the press, as the "Thunder Twins" or the "Dynamite Twins. In 1937, the Negro League was restructured in the Eastern League. From that point, Homestead would win nine consecutive pennants. The 1938 team, however, is considered to be the most powerful of the pennant winners.
The team won both halves of the Negro League's split schedule. In the first half of the season, the Grays compiled an .813 winning percentage.
The 1927 Yankees were nicknamed Murderers Row for its powerful batting lineup. The 1938 Grays also earned the same reputation. Gibson, Leonard, playing manager Vic Harris and Jim Williams combined to give Homestead one of the most powerful lineups in baseball history.
Catcher Josh Gibson led the Negro League in home runs in 1938 and captured the league's batting title with an amazing .440 average.
The team also earned another nickname rooted in Major League Baseball. Because of the Grays' cockiness and aggressive style of play, the team earned the nickname "The Gashouse Gang." This same nickname had been given to the St. Louis Cardinals.
On the mound, the Grays were led by Raymond Brown and Edsall Walker. Leadoff hitter Jerry Benjamin and infielders Lick Carlisle and July Jackson added speed to the powerful batting lineup.
No World Series was held that year in the Negro League, but Homestead had defeated its closest challengers in the regular season.