Harry Edward "Green River" Buckner (October 22, 1876 – March 26, 1938), also nicknamed "Buck" and "Goat Head", was an American

Negro league 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 ...

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, ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

in the between 1896 and 1918.

Biography

A native of

Hopkinsville, Kentucky Hopkinsville is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 31,180. History Early years The area of p ...

, Buckner was playing with the Chicago Unions in 1896 at the age of 23. He moved on to the

Chicago Columbia Giants The Columbia Giants were a professional, black baseball team based in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century, prior to the Negro leagues. Founding In 1899, a group known as the Columbia Club, organized the Columbia Giants under the direction ...

for a couple seasons, then the

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 Whi ...

in 1903.

In 1904, Buckner joined the

Cuban X-Giants The Cuban X-Giants were a professional Negro league baseball, 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 Cu ...

, and found himself playing in Cuba during the winter seasons for about four seasons. He played for several teams in his 30s and 40s, including the

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initiall ...

Lincoln Giants The New York Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930. Founding The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According t ...

, and Paterson Smart Set. Sportswriter Harry Daniels named Buckner 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> Buckner died in 1938 at age 65.

References

External links

1876 births 1938 deaths Club Fé players Almendares (baseball) players New York Lincoln Giants players Louisville White Sox (1914–1915) players Brooklyn Royal Giants players Philadelphia Giants players Schenectady Mohawk Giants players Sportspeople from Hopkinsville, Kentucky Baseball players from Kentucky American expatriate baseball players in Cuba Baseball pitchers {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-1870s-stub