Memphis Red Sox
[4] Toward the end of the summer of 1920 a promotion in the Arkansas newspaper the Hot Spring New Era invited readers to come out and watch the “Championship of the South” as the champions of Tennessee, A.P.
[1] The Barber College Team played the Chicago American Giants as the northerns toured the south in early April 1921.
[12][13] It wasn't till late July that the newspaper, the Tennessean, published an article about Elite Giants who were to play a four-game series against the Memphis Red Sox.
[18] Both the Commercial Appeal and the Dallas Express newspaper refer to Memphis as the winners of the Southern Negro League pennant,[1][19] but the Nashville Elite Giants appeared to have had the best record.
In newspaper ads it was promoted as the “Championship of the South” and “A Little World Series.”[21] Memphis won the series against the Dallas Black Giants.
“A well balanced base ball machine made up of experience, brain, team work, team play, and inside base ball is the only way to characterize the strength and playing ability of the formidable baseball combination the Memphis Red Sox.”[22] Richard Stevenson Lewis was the owner of the Red Sox at the start of the 1923 season.
[1] It consisted of a grandstand behind home plate, a set of bleachers that ran down the third base line, and a fence that enclosed the remainder of the field.
[28] Since the Red Sox now owned their stadium the expense of leasing a ballpark, which could sometime cost up to 20 percent of the gate receipts, was eliminated.
The Cleveland Tate Stars, who were expected to fill the Tiger's spot, could not raise the money for the deposit that the league required.
[1][30][31] Neither team was selected to fill the vacancy created by the departure of the Toledo club, but both were granted associate membership to the league.
[32] Memphis played 19 games as an associate member of the Negro National League[33] against such teams as the Milwaukee Bears, Toledo Tigers, and St. Louis Stars.
Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, gales force wind, flooding and blizzard conditions lead to the death of at least 23 people across the country.
[42] The Associated Negro Press also reported that the Red Sox and the Birmingham Black Barons had withdrawn from the league.
[1] The two teams met for the first game of a best of nine Negro Southern League Championship playoff series on September 11 at Lewis Park.
Called due to darkness in the 11th inning, the game was a shutout for both Drake throwing for Memphis and Birdine who pitched for Birmingham.
[45] The failure of the largest African American owned bank in Memphis over the winter of 1927 and the drop in attendance over the preceding years lead Red Sox owner R. S. Lewis to incorporate the ball club prior to the 1928 season.
Incorporating the team raised fifty thousand dollars for Red Sox operation and stadium maintenance while protect it against the financial woos of one single investor.
[1] Memphis, the Nashville Elite Giants and the Birmingham Black Barons withdrew from the Negro National League in 1931.
[32] The team competed in the National Baseball Congress's First Annual Semi-Pro Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, placing seventh[65][66] and in September they played the Claybrook Tigers for the Negro Southern League Championship.
[71] Memphis police, starting in late October, began to harass one of the Red Sox co-owners and the President of the Negro American League, J.
This was in retaliation for Martin's support of Republican politicians, a stance that was in opposition of the powerful former mayor of Memphis, Edward H. Crump.
Robert Sharpe, Olan Taylor, Leonard Randolph, Joe Scott, Bob Boyd, Riley Stewart were all Memphis players that served in the Army.
[75] Neal Robinson, outfielder for the Red Sox, and players from several other teams was stuck for a short time in Puerto Rico as they finished playing winter baseball in early 1942.
The players, who used ships to get to the main land from the island, were stopped due to fears of German U-boats attacking their transports.
[76] Tires and gas were rationed which lead several clubs to play closer to home and in the first half of 1943 the Office of Defense Transportation ruled that in order to save fuel league teams could not use their buses.
The government agreed to let the teams travel by bus during the second half of the season after fans and owners appealed to have the ban lifted.
At the start of the 1943 season several players under contract by the Red Sox were enticed to join the Negro National League's Philadelphia Stars.
[79][80] A year later the Red Sox lost all-star pitcher Porter Moss when he was shot and killed as the team travelled back to Memphis by train following a game at Nashville.
We rode all night in those dinky buses and then they made you pitch your head off in towns like Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Peoria, Illinois, and other places.”[89] The Red Sox performance slowly declined throughout the decade.
A playoff series was not required that year though because the Kansas City Monarchs won first place in both the first and second half of the season and claimed the Negro American League Championship.
