Samuel Jethroe, nicknamed "The Jet" (January 23, 1917 – June 16, 2001), was an American

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Negro league 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 ...

and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

. With the Cincinnati & Cleveland Buckeyes he won a pair of

batting titles In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by their total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three-hundred". I ...

, hit .340 over seven seasons from 1942 to 1948, and helped the team to two pennants and the

Negro World Series The Negro World Series was a post-season baseball tournament that was held from 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east-coast counterparts. The series was ...

title. He was named the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

's Rookie of the Year in with the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

, and led the NL in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...

s in his first two seasons.

Early life

Nicknamed "The Jet" for his stunning speed, Jethroe was born in

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Water ...

but grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois. Until late in his life he was believed to have been born in 1922, but more recent sources have given the year as 1917 or 1918. A

switch-hitter In baseball, a switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers. Characteristics Right-handed batters generally hit better aga ...

who threw right-handed, he played semipro ball in the St. Louis area after high school, and briefly appeared as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

for the Indianapolis ABCs in 1938.

Negro league career

From 1942 to 1948 he played for the Buckeyes of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro league baseball, Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937 in baseball, 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 in basebal ...

, leading the league in stolen bases three times. He batted .487 in 39

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s in his first season in 1942, a year in which a car hit several Buckeyes players on September 7 while they were standing next to their disabled bus at a roadside outside

Geneva, Ohio Geneva is a city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The area which would become Geneva was originally settled in 1805, and was incorporated as a city in 1958. It is named after Geneva, New York. The population was 6,215 at the 2010 cen ...

; catcher

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic-strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault. Adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904, Buster Brown, along with Mary Jane, and with his dog Tige, became well known to the American public in th ...

and pitcher

Smoky Owens Raymond "Smoky" Owens (1912 – September 7, 1942) was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1939 to 1942 with the Cleveland Bears, St. Louis Stars, and the Cincinnati Clowns. He was selected to the second 1939 East-We ...

were killed. Jethroe received a physical deferment from military service in World War II. In 1943, he batted .291 while leading the league in both

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

(8) and triples (4). In 1944, he won his first batting title with a .353 average, and led the league with 14 doubles and 18 steals. On April 16, 1945, following pressure from a Boston city councilman, Jethroe was one of three black players to try out for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

on the recommendation of black sportswriter Wendell Smith. After the tryout was observed by coaches

Hugh Duffy Hugh Duffy (November 26, 1866 – October 19, 1954) was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He was a player or player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Boston Reds, Boston Beaneaters, Milwaukee ...

and

Larry Woodall Charles Lawrence "Larry" Woodall (July 26, 1894 – May 16, 1963) was a professional baseball player. He played ten seasons in Major League Baseball, all in the American League with the Detroit Tigers (1920–1929), primarily as a catcher. Life ...

, he was turned away along with

Marvin Williams Marvin Gaye Williams Jr. (born June 19, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one season of college basketball for North Carolina before being drafted second overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2005 NBA draft. Hi ...

and

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

, as the Red Sox had no plans to integrate their roster. Jethroe returned to the Buckeyes and won his second consecutive batting title with a .393 average, again leading the league with 10 triples and 21 stolen bases. The Buckeyes won the pennant under player-manager

Quincy Trouppe Quincy Thomas Trouppe (December 25, 1912 – August 10, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and an amateur boxing champion. He was a catcher in the Negro leagues from 1930 to 1949. He was a native of Dublin, Georgia. Early life H ...

with a 53–16 record, and swept the Homestead Grays – loaded with aging stars such as Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard and

Jud Wilson Ernest Judson Wilson (February 28, 1894 – June 24, 1963), nicknamed "Boojum", was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. He played for the Baltimore Black Sox, the Homestead Grays, and the Philadelphia S ...

– in the Negro World Series. Jethroe hit .333, and Cleveland's pitching dominated the Series as the Buckeyes outscored the Grays 15–3. In Jethroe batted .310 and led the league in steals for the third straight year with 20. He batted .340 in as the Buckeyes took another pennant but lost the Negro World Series to the

New York Cubans The New York Cubans were a Negro league baseball team that played during the 1930s and from 1939 to 1950. Despite playing in the Negro leagues, the team occasionally employed white-skinned Hispanic baseball players as well, because Hispanics in ...

four games to one, although Jethroe hit .316. He was named to the East-West All-Star team five times (1942, 1944–47), and ended his Cleveland career with a .296 average in 1948.

Major League career

Robinson broke baseball's color line with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

in 1947. Seeing Robinson's success, Dodgers general manager

Branch Rickey Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an American baseball player and sports executive. Rickey was instrumental in breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing black player Jackie Robinson. He also creat ...

acquired Jethroe's services from Cleveland for a reported $5,000. From 1948-49 he played for the Dodgers'

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; ...

Triple A minor league team in the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

, batting .322 after joining the team late in 1948, and leading the league with 89 stolen bases in 1949 while scoring 154 runs. In October 1949, he was sold to the Boston Braves for $150,000. On April 18, 1950, Jethroe became the first black player on the Boston Braves roster, and collected two

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album s ...

including a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. He was named Rookie of the Year that season at age 32 (although he was then believed to be 28) after hitting .273 with 100 runs, 18 home runs and 58

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

; his 35 stolen bases topped the

, and were the most by any Braves player since Hap Myers stole 57 in 1913. He remains the oldest player to have won Rookie of the Year honors. Jethroe enjoyed an almost identical but perhaps slightly improved season in when he posted better figures in batting (.280), runs (101), RBI (65), hits (160), doubles (29) and triples (10), and again hit 18 homers. He also repeated his 35 steals, once again to lead the league. In he slumped badly, hitting .232, and reportedly had vision trouble; rumors were also circulating that he was older than his listed age. His career was also marked by difficulty in the outfield, as he led the NL in

errors An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

in each of his three full seasons, though he also led the league with 6

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Lea ...

s as a rookie; his arm was not as accurate as those of most major league center fielders, and it was believed that he was playing too deep. In addition, he was among the NL's top four batters in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is den ...

s each year. On June 7 of his last year with the team, he hit the final grand slam in Boston Braves history before the club moved to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

. Jethroe spent 1953 with the Triple-A Toledo Sox, hitting .307. Before the season he was one of six players acquired by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in exchange for infielder

Danny O'Connell Daniel Francis O'Connell (January 21, 1929 – October 2, 1969) was an American infielder in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates (; ), Milwaukee Braves (– 57), New York/San Francisco Giants (– 59) and Washington Senators (– 62 ...

, but Jethroe played only two games for the team, the last on April 15. After that, he spent the next five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League. Despite being among the league leaders in hits, runs and stolen bases during that period, his batting averages generally declined, and he never got another chance in the majors. In a four-season major league career, he was a .261 hitter with 460 hits, 49 home runs, 280 runs, 181 RBI and 98 stolen bases in 442 games. He was called "the quickest human being I've ever seen" by former minor league teammate

Don Newcombe Donald Newcombe (June 14, 1926 – February 19, 2019), nicknamed "Newk", was an American professional baseball pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball who played for the Newark Eagles (1944–45), Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers (1949–1 ...

Later life

After his baseball career ended, Jethroe settled in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, where he worked in a local factory for several years, played in the city's semi-pro Glenwood League, then opened a bar. In 1994, Jethroe sued Major League Baseball in order to collect pension payments, as he was one of a host of other former Negro leaguers who couldn't qualify because of the racial discrimination of the 1940s and 1950s which delayed their professional careers. While the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge, in 1997 Major League Baseball decided to give a yearly payment plan to Negro league veterans, including Jethroe. He died of a heart attack in 2001 in Erie. In 2019, the

announced that Jethroe would be inducted into its

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

References

External links

an
SeamheadsSam Jethroe
Baseball Biography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jethroe, Sam 1917 births 2001 deaths African-American baseball players Almendares (baseball) players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba Baseball players from Illinois Boston Braves players Cincinnati/Cleveland Buckeyes players Cleveland Buckeyes players Indianapolis ABCs (1938) players Major League Baseball center fielders Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Montreal Royals players National League stolen base champions Pittsburgh Pirates players Sabios de Vargas players Sportspeople from East St. Louis, Illinois Toledo Sox players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania