American baseball player and minister (born 1924)
Baseball player
William Henry Greason (born September 3, 1924) is an American former professional baseball player who years later became a Baptist minister in Birmingham, Alabama .[ 2] Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro leagues from 1948 to 1951 and for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League in 1954.
Early life
Greason was born in Atlanta , where, as he told a 2020 interviewer, "I grew up across the street from Martin Luther King Jr. "[ 3] United States Marine Corps during World War II — one of the first black Marines[ 4] Montford Point . He embarked with the 66th Supply Platoon, an all-black unit, for the Pacific Theater of Operations and took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima .[ 4] [ 5]
Negro league career
Greason was a 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 170 lb (77 kg) right-handed pitcher . After the war, he played professional baseball in the Negro leagues for the minor league Nashville Black Vols and Asheville Blues , and the major league Birmingham Black Barons ,[ 2] Willie Mays .[ 5] Baseball Reference , Greason posted a 3–2 record in eight games pitched for the 1948 Black Barons, with four complete games , one shutout and one save , with an earned run average of 4.44. That season, in the last-ever Negro League World Series , he defeated the soon-to-be champion Homestead Grays to claim Birmingham's lone victory in the five-game series.[ 4]
In 1950 and 1951, Greason also played for the Charros de Jalisco of the independent (outside "Organized Baseball "), racially integrated Mexican League .[ 6]
National League career
In 1952, Greason joined minor league baseball as a member of the Oklahoma City Indians of the Double-A Texas League , where he won nine of his ten decisions and posted a 2.14 earned run average .[ 6] African-American pitcher, Dave Hoskins of the Dallas Eagles . On August 3, 1952, the two men faced each other in a game at Dallas that drew 11,000 fans, half of them from the black community; Greason won the game, 3–2.[ 3]
Another successful year at Oklahoma City in 1953 led to Greason's acquisition by the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball , where he would become the team's second African-American player, after Tom Alston .[ 5]
He appeared in three games for the 1954 Cardinals , two as a starting pitcher . In his May 31 debut, he took the loss after allowing five earned runs and five hits over three innings in a rain-shortened game against the Chicago Cubs . In Greason's next start, he failed to record an out against the Philadelphia Phillies and allowed one earned run. In his final MLB game, he pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the New York Giants .[ 7]
Altogether, Greason allowed eight hits and six earned runs in four MLB innings pitched , with four bases on balls and two strikeouts . He spent the remainder of his professional baseball career in the upper levels of the minor leagues in the Cardinal farm system , retiring after the 1959 campaign.
Ministry and later life
Greason at Rickwood Field in 2006 After his playing days, Greason became a member of the 16th Street Baptist Church . After his church was infamously bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, killing four children, on September 15, 1963 , he studied for the ministry at Birmingham Baptist Bible College and Samford University . In 1971, he became pastor of Birmingham's Bethel Baptist Church Southside (later Bethel Baptist Church - Berney Points) where he continued to preach into 2023.[ 4]
In 2011 Greason was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Alabama Black Achievement Awards Gala.[ 8] Montford Point Marines , including Greason, were awarded a group Congressional Gold Medal .[ 9]
As of June 2024, Greason is the second-oldest living major league player after Art Schallock .[ 10] ceremonial first pitch at the MLB at Rickwood Field game.[ 11] turned 100 in September 2024.
See also
Notes
^ On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".[ 1]
References
^ "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League' . MLB.com . December 16, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2024 .^ a b Negro League Baseball Players Association Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ^ a b Avallone, Michael (April 13, 2020). "Hoskins Broke Barriers in Texas League" . mlb.com . Retrieved July 13, 2023 . ^ a b c d Lazar, Louie (June 4, 2023). "A Negro Leagues Star is Still Sharing His Story" . The New York Times . Retrieved July 15, 2023 . ^ a b c Powell, Larry, The Black Barons of Birmingham. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009, pp. 172-180
^ a b "Bill Greason" . baseball-reference.com . Baseball Reference . Retrieved July 13, 2023 .^ 1954 pitching log from Retrosheet ^ Birmingham Times online Archived March 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ^ Vergun, David. "Sports Heroes Who Served: Montford Point Marine Went From Iwo Jima to Major Leagues" . US Department of Defense . Retrieved January 22, 2022 . ^ Brown, Daniel. "Oldest MLB player turns 100: Roomed with Yogi Berra, stymied Ted Williams" . ^ Lee, Michael (June 20, 2024). "Now 99, the oldest living Negro leaguer 'never thought they would recognize me" . The Washington Post . Retrieved August 28, 2024 .
External links
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