OTD Battle of the Boroughs 8/20/1935: Brooklyn Eagles are Defeated By Glendale at Farmer's Oval, Queens

From the desk: WHERE THE EAGLES LEARNED TO FLY

Times Union (Brooklyn, New York), 

Wednesday, August 21, 1935

On Tuesday, August 20, 1935, the Brooklyn Eagles of the Negro National League are defeated by the Glendale Farmers at their home oval in Queens.

Times Union (Brooklyn, New York), 

Wednesday, August 21, 1935

NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE

BROOKLYN EAGLES

Returning to Ebbets Field later in the month, the Eagles visit neighboring Queens, playing into extra innings at Farmer Oval.  

Starting for Glendale, Matty Swanson yields three runs on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts through seven innings pitched.  He exits to a no-decision, relieved by Eddie Miller in the eighth.  Eagle starter Billy Nicholas, a product of Textile High School in New York City, likewise limits Glendale to three runs through nine.

Brooklyn opens the scoring with a run in the first.  Afterwhich, Matty Swanson grounds the Eagles with five scoreless innings.  Trailing 2-1 after six, Brooklyn breaks through with two runs in the seventh to seize a one-run lead.  But it does not last.  Glendale ties the game in the bottom half of the frame at three.

After a scoreless eighth and ninth, into extra innings, they go at Farmer Oval.  Still facing Eddie Miller, the Eagles go down quietly in the top half of the tenth.  In the home half of the frame, left fielder Jimmy Ashworth drives home catcher Ben Ferriola with the winning run.

This marks Glendale's first win against Brooklyn in three tries.  Eddie Miller earns the victory in relief of Matty Swanson, allowing no runs on just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts over the final three innings.  Jimmy Ashworth leads the Farmers with three hits and two runs batted in; Ben Ferriola wields two hits, scored twice, and drives home two; and third baseman Roy Tarr slashes a triple and drives home one.

Billy Nicholas allows all four runs on eleven hits and six walks with six strikeouts in a losing effort.  Both left fielder Fats Jenkins and second baseman Harry Williams post two hits and a stolen base.  Catcher Clarence Palm homers for Brooklyn.  Jenkins and third baseman Javier Perez account for the Eagles' two other runs scored.

Times Union (Brooklyn, New York), 

Wednesday, August 21, 1935

OTD Negro National League 8/10/1935: Brooklyn Eagles Overpower Homestead Grays in Altoona, Pennsylvania

From the desk: WHERE THE EAGLES LEARNED TO FLY

Altoona (PA) Tribune, Sunday, August 10, 1935

On Saturday, August 10, 1935, in a Negro National League contest, the Brooklyn Eagles defeated the Homestead Grays at the Cricket Field, Altoona Pennsylvania.

Altoona (PA) Tribune, Sunday, August 10, 1935

NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE II

BROOKLYN EAGLES

vs.

HOMESTEAD GRAYS

Pitching is not the order of this day.  Both teams score early, often, and late.  Twelve extra-base hits are struck in this contest, with four going for home runs.  The game is declared final after the eighth, with Brooklyn pushing across 13 runs on 14 hits.  Despite a three-run rally in the eighth, the Grays still come up two runs short.

Brooklyn winning pitcher Otis Starks surrenders all eleven Homestead runs on 17 hits and three walks with three strikeouts.  Grays left fielder Vic Harris leads Homestead with four hits, including a double, home run, and two runs scored.  Playing right field this game, Louis Dula connects for three hits with a double.  Center fielder Jerry Benjamin, second baseman Matt Carlisle, and third sacker Jimmy Binder 

wield two hits apiece, including a double, respectively.

For Homestead, pitchers Willie Gisentaner, Joe Strong, and Roy Williams all take their share in the loss.  Eagle center fielder Clarence Griffin wields three hits, highlighted by a home run with four runs scored.  Catcher Clarence Palm also collects three hits.  Second baseman Harry Williams doubles and homers, and Crush Holloway also homers for Brooklyn.

Pittsburgh (PA) Sun-Telegraph,

Monday, August 11, 1935

OTD Negro National League 6/17/1935: Brooklyn Eagles Fall To Homestead Grays at Altoona, Pa.

From the desk: WHERE THE EAGLES LEARNED TO FLY

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York), Tuesday, June 18, 1935

NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE

Brooklyn Eagles

vs.

Homestead Grays

On this day, Monday, June 17, 1935, in a Negro National League game, the Brooklyn Eagles fall to the Homestead Grays at Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Brooklyn jumps out to a 1-0 lead in the first and takes a two-run lead in the top half of the second.  But the Grays knot the game in the bottom half of the frame.  The teams then traded runs in the third.  Homestead takes their first lead with two runs in the fifth, then scores the game's pivotal run in the home eighth, as Brooklyn tallies single runs in the eighth and ninth innings but falls one tally short.

Eagles starter Will Jackman allows six runs (five earned) on ten hits and two walks with one strikeout in a losing effort.  Homestead right-hander Joe "Baby Face" Strong yields three runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts through five innings.  In relief of Strong, C.D. Mosley surrenders two runs on four hits and one walk with two strikeouts for the win.

For Homestead, first baseman Buck Leonard goes 4 for 4 with three doubles, a home run, two runs batted in, three runs scored, and a stolen base, left fielder Vic Harris is 2 for 4 with a double, one run batted in, and a run scored, and center fielder Ray Brown goes 1 for 3 with a double, stolen base, and a run batted in.  Starter Joe Strong also helps his own cause with a hit and two runs batted in

Second basemen Harry Williams homers for Brooklyn.  Catcher Leon Ruffin leads the Eagles with three hits and two runs scored.  First baseman George Giles goes 2 for 5 with a double, triple, and run scored.  Third baseman Javier Perez also doubles and drives in a run.  Leon Day played right field and went hitless in four at-bats.

OTD 5/19/1935: Brooklyn Eagles and Homestead Grays Split Double-Header at Ebbets Field

 From the desk: WHERE THE EAGLES LEARNED TO FLY

Times Union (Brooklyn, New York)

May 20, 1935

NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE II

DOUBLE-HEADER

Sunday, May 19, 1935

EBBETS FIELD

GAME ONE

Homestead Grays         9

BROOKLYN EAGLES  18

FINAL

Coming off Saturday's Opening Day defeat at the hands of the Homestead Grays, the Brooklyn Eagles again trail the visitors 9-7, entering the bottom half of the eighth.  With 5,000 watching at Ebbets Field, the home team erupts for eleven runs, sending 16 batters to the plate against Grays' relievers Harry Salmon and Willie Gisentaner.  

Brooklyn totals 19 hits, with seven going for extra bases.  Third baseman Harry Williams goes 4 for 6 with a double and two runs scored.  Shortstop Bill Yancy is 2 for 4 with a double and led the team with three runs scored.  First baseman George Giles, right fielder Ed Stone, and second baseman Dennis Gilchrist all wield three hits apiece.

Homestead third baseman George Scales hit the only home run of the game.  Second baseman Matt Carlisle goes 5 for 5, all singles.  Meanwhile, first baseman Buck Leonard is held hitless in three official trips to the plate.

Eagles right-hander Leon Day makes a start, yielding seven runs on eleven hits and six walks with three strikeouts through seven innings pitched but escapes with a no-decision.  Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe earns the victory for Brooklyn, with two runs allowed and a strikeout over the final two frames. 

The Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, N.J.)

May 21, 1935

ICYMI:

• SERIES GAME ONE 5/18/1935: Homestead Grays @ BROOKLYN EAGLES

GAME TWO

Homestead Grays         4

BROOKLYN EAGLES    2

FINAL

Twirling game two for Homestead, right-hander Louis Dula limits the Eagles to a pair of runs on just five hits and three walks with three strikeouts through nine innings pitched.  Right fielder Ed Stone and catcher Clarence Palm account for two hits and score both Brooklyn runs in the fifth.  Double Duty Radcliffe, Harry Williams, and Bill Yancy are the only other Eagles to hit safely.  Homestead center fielder Jerry Benjamin leads the Grays, going 3 for 4 with a double and two runs.  Buck Leonard breaks out of a series slump with two hits, one for a double.  Ted Radcliffe takes the loss in this one, surrendering four runs on eleven hits and two walks.  The Eagles committed three errors behind him, two by Yancy.  

The Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick, N.J.)

May 22, 1935

Brooklyn to Newark, Part One: Negro National League Eagles Take Flight

From the desk of: 100th ANNIVERSARY of NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL

1935

BROOKLYN EAGLES

Before Defining Themselves at Newark, the Negro National League Eagles Learn to Fly in Brooklyn

Effa Manley, born in 1897 and raised in Philadelphia, moves after graduating high school to New York City, where she lives in Harlem.  Some years later, during the 1932 World Series, she meets Abe Manley at Yankee Stadium.  By June of 1933, the two rabid baseball fans are married, and in 1934 Abe is awarded a franchise by the Negro National League owners.  Abe and Effa Manley together establish the Brooklyn Eagles with home games to be played at Ebbets Field.  However, it is Effa, as history will prove, who serves as team matriarch, primary operating owner, negro league titan, and baseball avant-garde.  To date, she remains the only woman inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

EFFA MANLEY

The 1935 Brooklyn Eagles finish fifth, one game above par with a 32-31 record.  Out in Pittsburgh, the Crawfords cruise to the pennant finishing ten games ahead of the Columbus Elite Giants, New York Cubans, and Philadelphia Stars.  Finishing behind Brooklyn are the Chicago American Giants and Homestead Grays, while the Newark Dodgers finish in last place, 25-games out of first.

Brooklyn is managed briefly by Ben Taylor (5-5); otherwise, the bulk of games are guided by 26-year old player/manager George Giles (27-26).  In 1909 at age twenty, Ben Taylor embarked on a 21-year independent/negro league career.  A first baseman by trade and a slugger by nature, he retires with a lifetime .332 batting average, 328 extra-base hits, and 727 RBI through 1,021 career games.  From 1922 through 1929, he serves as player/manager with the Indianapolis ABC's, Washington Potomacs, Baltimore Black Sox, and Atlantic City Bacharach Giants.  Six years after retiring, he comes to Brooklyn as manager but oversees only ten games.  His last gig as manager comes in 1938 when at 49-years of age, he guides the Washington Black Senators sadly to a 2-20 record.  In 2006 Ben Taylor was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.  At this point in his career, George Giles is an eight-year negro leagues veteran most associated with the Kansas City Monarchs and St. Louis Stars.  After one season as player/manager with Brooklyn, he shifts over to the New York Black Yankees for two years, then retires after splitting the 1938 season between the Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Crawfords.  George Giles owns a lifetime .315 batting average through 1,847 career at-bats.

TOP POSITION PLAYERS
c Clarence Palm; 1b George Giles; 2b Henry Williams; 3b Javier Perez; 

ss Bill Yancy; lf Fats Jenkins; cf Clarence Griffin; rf Ed Stone 

George Giles, in 1935 is also Brooklyn's leading hitter with a .341 batting average and tallies a team-high twelve stolen bases.  Right behind him is second baseman Harry Williams batting .340 with eleven stolen bases along with a team-leading three home runs and 45 runs batted in.  Right fielder Ed Stone bats .324 and is second on the team with 37 runs batted in.  Fats Jenkins bats .320 with 24 runs batted in.

TOP PITCHERS

Will Jackman ~ Leon Day ~ Elbert Williams

Ted Radcliffe ~ Otis Starks

On the mound, an 18-year old rookie right-hander named Leon Day makes 18 appearances and 13 starts for Brooklyn, posting a 7-4 record with eight complete games and 4.43 earned run average.  He strikes out 65 batters in 107.2 innings pitched.  On July 31, 1942, Day sets a negro league record by striking out 18 Baltimore Elite Giants in a one-hitter.  Sixty years after his rookie season in 1995, Leon becomes the twelfth negro league representative inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee.

1935 EAST ALL-STARS

Leon Day ~ George Giles ~ Fats Jenkins ~ Ed Stone

After the 1935 season, Abe and Effa Manley purchase the Newark Dodgers, merge them together with the Eagles and relocate the team to New Jersey, giving rise to the fabled Newark Eagles Baseball Club with whom Monte Irvin; Don Newcombe; Larry Doby; Ray Dandridge; Biz Mackey; Mule Suttles; Jimmy Hills; Willie Wells; Max Manning; and other notables would play.  The Eagles play their home games at New York Yankees owned Ruppert Stadium through the 1948 season.  After which the Manleys sell the Eagles.  The team is relocated to Houston and incorporated into the Negro American League.

PART TWO: Where Eagles Dare


Sources:
Newark Dodgers Baseball-Reference ~ Brooklyn Eagles Baseball-Reference ~ Effa Manley MLB.com 
Effa Manley NLBPA.com ~ Negro Leagues in Brooklyn, BrooklynBallParks.com ~ SABR Leon Day
Negro League DataBase Seamheads.com 
photo on display at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, circa 1997