Darius Francis Bea Jr. (December 15, 1913 – June 26, 2001), also listed as Bill Bea, 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 ...

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

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 ...

. He played with the

Baltimore Black Sox The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team active between 1913 and 1936, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founding The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1913 by Howard Young. They were one of the original s ...

in 1934 and the Philadelphia Stars in 1940, both of the Negro National League.

Career

Bea began his playing career with the Whitestone Blacksox in 1929. In 1931, he joined the semi-pro Tappanoch Red Sox and then played for the Hainesville Giants. In 1934, Bea joined the

, facing 10 batters and striking out two in 2.2 scoreless innings as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

in one recorded game. In 1936, in between his stints in the Negro major leagues, Bea both pitched and played in the outfield for the Congoleum Crescents. He joined the Philadelphia Stars, playing almost exclusively as a right fielder, where he hit .347 with three home runs in 38 recorded games in 1940. He also pitched in relief in one recorded game, allowing three

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

s in 4.0 innings. Bea was released by Philadelphia in August 1940 after being unable to commit all of his time to baseball, due to the fact that he had a second job. He later played for the Camden Collegians, managed the Washington-Philadelphia Pilots, and played with the Eureka Red Sox in the Delco Baseball League until he was in his early 50s. Bea also served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

External links

an
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Baltimore Black Sox players Philadelphia Stars players 1913 births 2001 deaths Baseball players from Virginia Baseball outfielders Sportspeople from Suffolk, Virginia United States Navy personnel of World War II {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub