1919 Detroit Stars season facts for kids

The 1919 Detroit Stars baseball team was a special group. They played in Negro league baseball during the 1919 baseball season. This was their very first year, and they won the championship for independent western Negro league teams! Some records show they won 27 games and lost 13. However, other newspaper reports from that time show they actually won 44 games.

The Stars played their home games at Mack Park in Detroit. They also played a few games at Navin Field. The team was owned by Tenny Blount. Their leader was player-manager Pete Hill. He was an amazing hitter, with a .396 batting average and a .892 slugging percentage.

Meet the Team Leaders

Team Ownership

The Detroit Stars team started in 1919. It was created by owner Tenny Blount (1873–1934). He got help from Rube Foster, who owned another famous team, the Chicago American Giants. Blount moved to Detroit in 1913 and became a well-known businessman in the city.

Baseball Hall of Fame Stars

Three players from the 1919 Stars later became so famous they were put into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is a huge honor for baseball players!

• Pete Hill was the team's manager and played center field. He was also their best batter. In 1919, Hill had a .396 batting average. This means he got a hit almost 4 out of every 10 times he tried! He also had an amazing .892 slugging percentage. By July, he had already hit 16 home runs. People even said he was as good as Babe Ruth that year. Pete Hill was added to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

• Oscar Charleston joined the Stars later in the season. He was a powerful left-handed hitter. He also played center field for the team. Oscar Charleston was put into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.

• José Méndez was from Cárdenas, Cuba. He played shortstop for the Stars. He also pitched in 12 games, with a great 2.14 earned run average. His nickname was "The Black Diamond." José Méndez was added to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Other Great Batters

Besides the Hall of Fame players, other Stars players were also very good.

First baseman Edgar Wesley was a left-handed hitter from Texas. He had a .322 batting average and a .610 slugging percentage. In 146 times at bat, he hit eight home runs. He also had 21 extra-base hits and brought in 43 runs for the team.

Joe Hewitt, an infielder from Alabama, had the most times at bat on the team (153). He was second in runs scored (36) and third in hits (36).

Second baseman Frank Warfield from Kentucky hit the most triples for the team, with eight.

Top Pitchers

Sam Crawford was the team's best pitcher. He won 10 games and lost 4, with a 2.89 earned run average (ERA).

John Donaldson also pitched well for the Stars. He had a 2.33 ERA. Many people thought Donaldson was one of the best pitchers of his time. He played in about 700 games, winning over 400 of them. He also had 5,000 strikeouts! In 1952, he was voted one of the best Negro league players ever.

Season Highlights

The Stars started their season in April and May with a fantastic 13-game winning streak! This included wins against all-white semi-pro teams. In late May, a team from Wyandotte, Michigan, even brought in Detroit Tigers pitcher Rudy Kallio to play against the Stars. But the Stars still scored eight runs off Kallio and won!

The local champions, the Maxwells, lost two games to the Stars early in the season. Later, they brought in major league pitcher Ralph Comstock to play against the Stars on July 13. With Comstock pitching well, the Stars lost their first game to a white team, 4–3. Overall, the Stars played six games against the Maxwells in 1919, winning three and losing two.

The Stars' biggest rival for the western Negro league championship was Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants. The Giants won two out of three games when they played in Chicago in June. But when the teams met in Detroit in early July, the Stars won three games! They also played a seven-game series later in July and August. This was called the championship series. The Stars won five of those games to become the champions!

The Stars also played many games against other Negro League teams. These included the Cuban Stars, the Dayton Marcos from Ohio, and the Hilldale Club from Pennsylvania.

In the very last game of the season, the Murray All Stars brought in Detroit Tigers pitcher Bernie Boland. Boland was so good that he didn't let the Stars score any runs.

Team Roster

Name	Image	Position	Height	Weight	Bats	Place of birth	Year of birth
Oscar Charleston		CF	5'8"	185	Left	Indianapolis, Indiana	1896
Sam Crawford		P	6'1"	200	Right	Dallas, Texas	1892
John Donaldson		LF	6'1"	180	Left	Glasgow, Missouri	1891
Frank Duncan		LF	6'1"	180	Left	Macon, Georgia	1888
Bill Francis		3B	5'5"	140	Right	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1879
Jelly Gardner		LF	5'7"	160	Left	Russellville, Arkansas	1895
Willie Green		3B
Joe Hewitt		SS	5'7"	140	Left	New Market, Alabama	1885
Pete Hill		CF	5'8"	170	Left	Buena Vista, Virginia	1882
Dicta Johnson		P	5'7"	134	Right	Elizabethtown, Illinois	1887
Tom Johnson		P	6'0"	180	Right	Bryan, Texas	1889
Dave Malarcher		3B	5'7"	150	Both	St. James Parish, Louisiana	1894
José Méndez		SS	5'10"	152	Right	Cárdenas, Cuba	1885
Bruce Petway		RF	5'10"	159	Both	Nashville, Tennessee	1885
Andrew Reed		3B
Vicente Rodríguez		C	5'11"
Candy Jim Taylor		3B	5'5"	165	Right	Anderson, South Carolina	1884
Frank Warfield		2B	5'7"	160	Right	Pembroke, Kentucky	1899
Edgar Wesley		1B	5'11"	215	Left	Waco, Texas	1891
Frank Wickware		P	5'10"	180	Right	Girard, Kansas	1888