Barney Clinton "El Grillo" Serrell (March 9, 1920 – August 15, 1996) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

and the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. He played from 1941 to 1957 with several teams. He is also listed as William C. Serrell and Bonnie Serrell. Serrell started his Negro league career with the

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" F ...

, playing one game and going 1-for-4. He then moved to the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 193 ...

, where he played for four seasons. In 1942, he finished second in the batting title race of the

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

, batting .360, which was only beaten out by

Ted Strong Theodore Reginald Strong, Jr. (January 2, 1914 – March 1, 1978), was an American Negro league baseball player who played from 1936 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1951 for the Chicago American Giants, Indianapolis Athletics, Kansas City Monarch ...

, his teammate (.364). He led the league in triples with five. In the

1942 Negro World Series The Negro World Series was a best-of-seven match-up between the Negro American League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Negro National League champion Washington-Homestead Grays. In a six-game series, the Monarchs swept the Grays four gam ...

against the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cum ...

, he batted .412 with five runs batted in in the series win. He batted .287 in 53 games in 1943 while leading the league in doubles and triples. In 1944, he made his one

East-West All-Star Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

while batting .355 in 28 games while leading in runs (twenty), home runs (two), and runs batted in (eighteen). In 1945, he played in three games and had just two hits before he was released. In 2020, Serrell was inducted into the

Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame The Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Mexicano (in English, Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame), commonly called the Salón de la Fama (Hall of Fame) is a baseball hall of fame and museum located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, inaugurated on 10 ...

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1920 births 1996 deaths African-American baseball players Alijadores de Tampico players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Louisiana Kansas City Monarchs players Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Ostioneros de Guaymas players Tecolotes de Nuevo Laredo players 20th-century African-American sportsmen Baseball infielders {{Negro-league-baseball-infielder-stub