Another player was one of the Gray’s star pitchers. Smokey Joe Williams pitched for 27 years, his last two for the Grays. Highlights of his career include a 20-7 exhibition record against Major League teams. In 1917 he struck out 20 batters while no-hitting the New York Giants, losing the game 1-0 on an error. In a game his first year with the Grays against the Kansas City Monarchs, he struck out an inconceivable 27 batters in at 12-inning game, giving up one hit.
In 1914 he had a record of 41-3. Ty Cobb described him as a “sure 30-game winner” had he been able to pitch in the majors. If you ask people who it the greatest Negro Leagues pitcher half will tell you it is Satchel Paige. The other half will tell you it is “Cyclone” Joe Williams.
Paige and Williams met once at the beginning of one career and at the end of another’s Paige won out 1-0 in the contest between the Baltimore Black Sox and the Grays. Paige said "Smokey Joe (Williams) could throw harder than anyone."
The Cyclone was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.
The stars of the Homestead Grays made the baseball team arguably the best to ever play in the Negro Leagues. Though history will never let us know, as many have said, they could have been the among the very best in the Major Leagues, had the color-barrier not been in place at that time.
These men were successful because they loved the game first and foremost. The lasting mark they have left on baseball is irrefutable, changing the game with their talent and their contributions.
After the disbanding of the Negro National League in 1948 the Grays struggled to survive until finally folding in 1950.
PICTURE ABOVE: the 1913 Homestead Grays at Forbes Field, "Champions of Homestead & Vicinity, 1913."
Photo of Homestead Grays is in the public domain, courtesy of Mrs. Cumberland W. Posey.
Photo Source=[http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/hill/hill_n218.html Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh] |Date=1913 |Author=Unknown, Courtesy of Mrs. Cumberland W. Posey |Permis)
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