Mack A. Pride Jr. (May 27, 1932 – September 23, 2018) was a professional

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, ...

who played in

Negro league baseball 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 batted and threw right-handed.Biography
''Negro Leagues Baseball Museum''.Retrieved on March 4, 2019. Born in

Sledge, Mississippi Sledge is a town located in Quitman County, Mississippi, Quitman County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 368. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total a ...

, Pride was one of eleven children of poor

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

s. A music lover, one of his dreams was to become a professional baseball player. His younger brother,

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American Country music, country singer. Beginning his career as a Negro league baseball player in the early-1950s, he later pursued a career in country music, becoming the gen ...

, pitched in Negro league baseball before becoming a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer. Pride spent two seasons in 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 ...

pitching with the

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the l ...

in the 1955 season and for 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 ...

in 1956. He picked up the nickname "Mack the Knife" during this time. Afterward, Pride was a

Christian minister In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance ...

religious broadcasting Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some coun ...

while also singing at weddings, night clubs and funerals. He held various other jobs for more than 40 years and coached Little League Baseball in his spare time.2008 Special Negro Leagues Draft
''MLB.com.'' Retrieved on March 4, 2019. In 2008,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

staged a special draft of the surviving Negro League players, a tribute to those who were kept out of the big leagues because of their race. MLB clubs each drafted a former NLB player; Mack was selected by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

and Charley by the Texas Rangers.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pride, Mack 1932 births 2018 deaths People from Sledge, Mississippi African-American baseball players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Mississippi Kansas City Monarchs players Memphis Red Sox players American Christian clergy 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen