William Miller "Big Bill" Gatewood (August 22, 1881 – December 8, 1962) was an American

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League, and in its first few seasons. He pitched for the

Leland Giants The Leland Giants, originally the Chicago Union Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century. The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Gia ...

Chicago Giants The Chicago Giants were a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois which played in the Negro leagues from 1910 to 1921. History The team was founded by Frank Leland after he and his partner, Rube Foster, split up the Leland Gian ...

, St. Paul Colored Gophers,

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" ...

,"BEARS ROMP AWAY FROM GIANTS 8 TO 1" San Diego Union, San Diego, California, December 30, 1912
/ref> New York Lincoln Giants,

Cuban X-Giants The Cuban X-Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team that played from 1896 to 1906. Originally most of the players were former Cuban Giants, or ex-Giants. Like the Cuban Giants, the original players were not Cuban (though the team woul ...

Philadelphia Giants The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol Wh ...

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. T ...

St. Louis Giants The St. Louis Stars, originally the St. Louis Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently from as early as 1906 to 1919, and then joined the Negro National League (NNL) for the duration of their existence. After the 192 ...

, Indianapolis ABCs, Detroit Stars, St. Louis Stars, Toledo Tigers, Milwaukee Bears,

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the la ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

Bacharach Giants, and

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pre ...

Career

Sportswriter Harry Daniels named Gatewood to his 1909 "All American Team.""The Base Ball Spirit In The East." Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, December 25, 1909, Page 7, Columns 1 and 2
/ref> In the first week of June in 1920,"Dayton Marcos to Meet Stars" Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan, June 4, 1920, Page 19, Column 4
/ref> at age 38, Gatewood left the

and joined

Tenny Blount John Tenny Blount (January 29, 1873 – December 22, 1934) was an American sports executive, who owned the Detroit Stars of the Negro National League. He was a friend of Rube Foster, and served as president of the Negro National League. Blount ...

's team, the Detroit Stars."Star Trucker Series Evened" Saginaw News, Saginaw, MI, July 17, 1920, Page 5, Column 3
/ref> Part-way through the second season, he moved on to the Cuban Stars. A 6'7" tall

spitball A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of a foreign substance such as saliva or petroleum jelly. This technique alters the wind resistance and weight on one side of the ball, causing it to m ...

pitcher, Gatewood was a first line pitcher in Blackball's pre-league days, and pitched the first

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

in NNL league play, beating the Cincinnati Cuban Stars on June 6, 1921. As his pitching skills deteriorated, he remained in the game as a manager. Gatewood managed the St. Louis Stars and

. He is credited with giving Negro leagues great James

Cool Papa Bell James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game. Stories demonstrating Bell's sp ...

his famous nickname, and for convincing him to learn to switch hit in order to take advantage of his speed. Gatewood is also credited with teaching

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

his "hesitation pitch" while managing him in Birmingham. After Gatewood died, he was buried in an unmarked grave and did not receive a proper headstone until a

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

group called the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project installed a proper gravestone in 2010."For Negro League Players, A Measure of Recognition" The New York Times, July 1, 2010, Page A1 of the New York Edition
/ref> Gatewood's grave did not have a headstone for about 48 years."A Legacy Written in Stone" The Columbia Daily Tribune, Columbia, MO, Wednesday, June 30, 2010, Page B1
/ref>

References

Sources

* ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues'' by James A. Riley Publisher: Carroll & Graf (New York NY) * Draft registration card, 1918, National Archives & Records Administration

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
* an
Seamheads

A Legacy Written in Stone - The Columbia Tribune
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatewood, Bill 1881 births 1962 deaths Baseball pitchers Negro league baseball managers Leland Giants players Chicago American Giants players Lincoln Giants players Cuban X-Giants players Philadelphia Giants players Brooklyn Royal Giants players St. Louis Giants players Indianapolis ABCs players Detroit Stars players St. Louis Stars (baseball) players Toledo Tigers players Milwaukee Bears players Memphis Red Sox players Bacharach Giants players Birmingham Black Barons players St. Paul Colored Gophers players Baseball players from San Antonio Sportspeople from Columbia, Missouri 20th-century African-American people