Walter Lee "Newt" Joseph (October 27, 1896 – January 18, 1953) was an American

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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

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 ...

. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Joseph was the older brother of fellow-Negro leaguer Wilson Joseph. He played most of his career for J. L. Wilkinson and 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 ...

franchise. When the Monarchs' train stopped on the way to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

for

Spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 1923, it was said 200 fans in Muskogee were there after midnight to cheer the team. They picked up and carried Joseph from his berth on the train and "presented him with a handsome present." Joseph played among and against many of baseball's greats, including Hall of Famers

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

José Méndez José de la Caridad Méndez Báez (March 19,1887– October 31, 1928) was a Cuban professional baseball right-handed pitcher, shortstop, third baseman and manager in the Negro leagues. Born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, he died at age 43 in Havan ...

, Bullet Rogan, and pre-Negro league stars like John Donaldson, and "Big" Bill Gatewood. A Utah paper called him one of the best

in history, (part of J. L. Wilkinson's

' publicity newspaper copy), and also called him "the noisiest coach in baseball." In the third game of the

1924 Colored World Series The 1924 in baseball, 1924 Colored World Series was a best-of-nine match-up between the Negro National League (1920–31), Negro National League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldale Club, Hilldale. In a t ...

, the first championship series held in the Negro leagues, Joseph hit the first ever home run, doing so in the fourth inning against Red Ryan in a game that ended after thirteen innings. Joseph died at the age of 56, and is buried at the Highland Cemetery in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
1896 births 1953 deaths All Nations players Kansas City Monarchs players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-1890s-stub