SOM baseball: Two-Wayers I 0, Two-Wayers I 0

By Ed Piper

When the winter high school sports outlook is a little bleak, you resort to other practices.

In honor of Shohei Otani, the Angels' two-way star (pitching/home run hitting), the Two-Wayers I tied the Two-Wayers II, 0-0, in a morning/afternoon tilt in my Negro Leagues Strat-O-Matic league.

We played the three-inning exhibition, featuring five black two-way stars from 1908-1945, in a board game at Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, where my wife's father grew up. (This is imaginary; I stayed in my game room at home here in Clairemont.) I don't think Jerry, the father-in-law I never met, ever attended a Negro Leagues game back then, though he did follow his hometown Pirates.

Negro Leagues stars known for pitching and position-playing prowess in the game included John Donaldson, who I put in the leadoff spot in centerfield for the "I" (one) team, a .291 hitter by SOM's research and calculations; Jose Mendez, who I started on the mound while batting second in the order (actually a weak hitter at .233 for the Kansas City Monarchs); and Martin Dihigo, batting in the third slot while holding down shortstop. Dihigo had a .319 average, and was pro-rated for 24 home runs and 86 RBI's a season at his peak--pretty good stuff. These were all for the "I" team.

In the opposite dugout at Greenlee (sometimes the black players would face white major leaguers at the Pirates' Forbes Field), I sent out a pair of two-way players for the "II" squad: "Bullet Joe" Rogan, centerfield, in the leadoff slot; and "Double Duty" Radcliffe, on the mound and batting in the second spot in the order.

"Double Duty"'s name encapsulated the theme of the game. In his prime, SOM found him to be a 13-7 starter/reliever, with a pretty good 3.11 ERA, striking out 70 while walking 42 in 156 innings. So with the Negro Leaguers' grueling bus-travel schedule, often with no days off between towns they barnstormed between, he was able to limber up his arm to put in a fair number of innings.

No one scored in the shortened contest, though Dihigo, playing short and not pitching today, doubled to move Mendez, who had walked, to third. But the Two-Wayers I could not push the runs over in the top of the third when Dave Malarcher, a third baseman for the Chicago American Giants, flied out to left to end the inning.

Some other names that capture the imagination among the Strat-O-Matic players in the Negro Leagues collection (which I bought in 2009--a new eight-team set of classic teams comes out this February) include "Ghost" Marcelle, a fast Bacharach Giant rated 1-17 on his hitting card (theoretically, the highest you can get in SOM is 20, on a multi-dice roll adding up to that); "Frog" Redus, a leftfielder for the St. Louis Stars; "Cannonball" Redding, a right-handed power pitcher for the New York Lincoln Giants; and Art "Superman" Pennington, a first baseman for the Chicago American Giants.

Then there is "Jelly" Gardner, a rightfielder for the Chicago American Giants; "Turkey" Stearnes, a centerfielder for the Detroit Stars, the all-time Negro Leagues home run leader, according to Strat-O-Matic; "Dizzy" Dismukes, a right-hander for the Indianapolis ABC's (his nickname coming from his last name); and "Wild Bill" Wright, a rightfielder for the Baltimore Elite Giants who earned his nickname with an erratic throwing arm.

You also have "Heavy" Johnson, a big leftfielder for the Kansas City Monarchs; "Tubby" Scales, at second base and utility for the New York Lincoln Giants; "Tank" Carr, at first base and utility for the Hilldale Daisies; "Mule" Suttles, a first baseman for the St. Louis Stars; "Fats" Jenkins, a leftfielder who was in reality skinny, and "Slim" Jones, a southpaw pitcher for the Philadelphia Stars. Jenkins is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, as well.

"Cool Papa" Bell, of course, a centerfielder rated a "1" in fielding (Gold Glove level) and 1-17 on the basepaths, is famous and deservedly in the Hall of Fame.

Judy Johnson, a phenomenal shortstop in the early years for the New York Lincoln Giants, has an unusual name for a guy.

There are a ton of Brown's in the SOM Negro Leagues card set: Dave "Lefty", Larry, Ray, and Willard.