John Britton (April 21, 1919 – December 2, 1990) was an American baseball

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

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 in the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

. He played professionally from 1940 to 1953, playing with the

St. Louis–New Orleans Stars The St. Louis–New Orleans Stars, originally the Indianapolis ABCs and then the St. Louis Stars, were a major Negro league baseball team that played in the Negro American League from 1938 through 1941. They disbanded for the 1942 season due to f ...

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 ...

, Cincinnati/Indianapolis Clowns,

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960, including 18 seasons recognized as Major League by Major League Baseball. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, wi ...

, and

Hankyu Braves The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

. During the

1944 Negro World Series In the 1944 Negro World Series, the Homestead Grays, Washington Homestead Grays, champions of the Negro National League (1933–1948), Negro National League were matched against the Birmingham Black Barons, champions of the Negro American League, ...

, Britton was injured in a car accident, along with Tommy Sampson, Pepper Bassett, and Leandy Young. Britton suffered a dislocated left hand. Britton and Jimmy Newberry were the first African-Americans to play on a Japanese baseball team.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball, Mexican League, and Minor League stats
an
Seamheads
1919 births 1990 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Japan Birmingham Black Barons players Chicago American Giants players Cincinnati Clowns players Indianapolis Clowns players Hankyu Braves players St. Louis–New Orleans Stars players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Mount Vernon, Georgia Azules de Veracruz players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Winnipeg Buffaloes players Elmwood Giants players Baseball infielders {{Negro-league-baseball-infielder-stub

See also

References

External links