Category: History and More

Split seasons have long been common in baseball’s farm system. Once the first half of a schedule is completed, the records are reset and the second half of the slate begins.

But a season that sees a club split from its minor league circuit in order to move up to the majors?

That’s quite the rarity.

However, that was the turn of fortune for the Birmingham Black Barons (and Memphis Red Sox) 100 years ago. They started out the 1923 season as franchises in the Negro Southern League – then considered a minor league – only to finish as associate members of the top-tier Negro National League.

The “traditional” season began on May 1 at Rickwood Field, where 5,000 fans were on hand to watch the Black Barons – managed by Poindexter Williams – defeat the Red Sox, 16-4. According to press reports, the game featured 27 hits, seven stolen bases and 10 errors.

Birmingham, down 3-0 entering the bottom of the third, scored five runs in the frame and cruised from there.

In fact, that year the Black Barons spent much of their time in the Southern League cruising past the opposition. The team was overflowing with talent, from power-hitting left fielder/first baseman (and future National Baseball Hall of Famer) George “Mule” Suttles to shortstop Geechie Meredith to pitcher Harry Salmon, who boasted a 2.19 ERA in 1923.

Birmingham took one game of a doubleheader from Memphis on July 15 to improve to 54-6, having long since clinched the first half of the NSL title. According to a Birmingham News story, the team also held their Tennessee rivals scoreless for 63 innings during a stretch in May.

The clubs were scheduled to meet again at Memphis’ Lewis Park on July 16, but that didn’t happen.

Instead, both organizations became associate members of the National League, prompting the Southern League to cancel the rest of its 1923 season.

The big league was founded by Rube Foster on February 13, 1920, and featured some of the game’s top players. Among them were future Hall of Famers Bernardo Baro, Oscar Charleston, Valentin Drake, Pete Hill, Biz Mackey, Jose Mendez, Bullet Rogan, Ben Taylor and Cristobal Torriente.

Foster, who was a great player before becoming a manager and executive, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.

The 1923 Negro National League was made up of the Kansas City Monarchs, Chicago American Giants. Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Cuban Stars West, St. Louis Stars, Toledo Tigers (replacing the Cleveland Tate Stars, which dropped out of the league midseason) and Milwaukee Bears. Black Barons team owner Joe Rush put up $10,000 to help make the move up possible, and the addition of the Red Sox gave the Negro National League solid footing in the Deep South.

Before ever playing a game, Birmingham’s team was in the national spotlight.

“For the first time in the history of the Negro National League, the American Giants and Chicago will leave home during the middle of the season and make a trip South, playing in Birmingham on Aug. 20, 21 and 22,” touted The Chicago Defender. “These three days will be gala days in the Southern metropolis and many people are expected to come out and witness the new Southern entry in the Negro National League play Rube Foster’s club, thrice winners of the league pennant.”

The Black Barons’ first major league outing resulted in a 4-4 draw with Milwaukee on July 19 at Rickwood, a clash that earned a glowing review from the Birmingham News:

“The Birmingham Black Barons opened their career as Major Leaguers at Rickwood Field on Thursday afternoon by fighting the famous Milwaukee giants to a 4-4 tie in the 10 hectic and exciting innings of real baseball. Seldom has the old park seen such a fiercely waged battle as was fought within the confines of its walls Thursday. The game was featured by the diminutive Black Baron shortsmith, Geechie, and the hitting of (Charles) Wesley, the local keystoner (second baseman).”

Birmingham went on to win the series, which also made news far from the Magic City.

Wrote the Pittsburgh Courier: “The Birmingham Black Barons, pride of the South, made an auspicious debut into the big-league circles last week when they won two games from the Milwaukee Bears of the Negro National League, lost one and tied one.”

Birmingham’s season ended on September 29 with a 5-3 home loss to the American Giants. In 45 Negro National League games that summer, Williams’ charges compiled a 16-25-4 record and earned the support of overflow crowds at Rickwood Field.

The Black Barons existed from 1920 to 1960, and during that time competed in the Negro Southern League (1920-1923, 1926, 1931-36); Negro National League (1924-25, 1927-30); and Negro American League (1940-1960). They claimed four NAL titles (1943, 1944, 1948 and 1959).

On Dec. 20, 2020, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the sport would correct “a longtime oversight in the game’s history” by granting all Negro Leagues as well as their 3,400-plus players official major league status.

“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,” Manfred said in a statement. “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”

Turns out the Black Barons were big leaguers even before they reached the big stage a century ago.

(If you’re in or near Birmingham and want to learn more about the history of the Black Barons and these leagues, visit the Negro Southern League Museum across from Regions Field. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday).

As much as I love hockey, I’m not what you’d call a worldly person when it comes to watching it live. In fact, before last Monday, I had seen professional games in person at a grand total of four venues – the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum (now Legacy Arena) in Birmingham; Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena) in Atlanta; Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina; and Gila River Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) in Glendale, Arizona.

Although I’m a New York Rangers fan, I used to love going to the ATL and watching the Thrashers. I even got to see them play in their one and only playoff series (before relocating to Winnipeg) which came – fortunately for me – against the Rangers. And, I was one of 18,644 fans in the building for the 2008 NHL All-Star Game there. It was half-speed hockey, but still fun.

During my 15 years in G-Vegas, I got to root for the ECHL Greenville Road Warriors (now Swamp Rabbits). My wife accompanied me to many Sunday games, where we sat in section 217 – usually having that entire segment of the 14,000-seat arena all to ourselves.

As for the desert hockey experience, that was basically just a fluke.

I was in Glendale, Arizona, covering the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, and even though it was played on January 11, 2016, our plane wasn’t leaving for Greenville until the wee hours of January 13.

So, what better way to spend a long layover than witness the NHL Western Conference showdown between the Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers with a couple of my co-workers? I like to think they were impressed when I told them that the first time I saw the Oilers play, they were in the World Hockey Association.

But the teams I’ve seen more than any other have been the Birmingham Bulls, who skated at the Civic Center as members of the WHA (1976-79), Central Hockey League (1979-81), Atlantic Coast Hockey League (that iteration of Bulls played just three regular season games before folding in 1983) and ECHL (1992-2001).

(There was also the Birmingham South Stars of 1982-83 … I’ll write more about them in a future column).

The version of the Bulls I had neglected, however, were the ones who now play in the Southern Professional Hockey League and call the Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena home. They were founded in 2017, and since I was still living in South Carolina at the time, they weren’t on my radar.

But I moved back to Birmingham in 2021, and even though I hadn’t followed a Birmingham-based hockey team for more than two decades, I just never made the effort to go watch them play.

Now that I have, I’m kicking myself for staying away so long.

The SPHL Bulls hosted the Huntsville Havoc on an MLK Day matinee, and it made me realize how much fun watching live hockey can be. And it’s even more enjoyable when there are lots of enthusiastic fans in the building.

Seating capacity is 4,100, and to me the Civic Complex gave off a cool Federal League/Charlestown Chiefs/War Memorial vibe (as a Slap Shot fan, I mean that as a huge compliment). The fact that 3,346 fans were jumping and bouncing and keeping the aluminum seating area vibrating from the first puck drop to the final horn added to the experience.

Since the SPHL is a developmental independent league – players who excel will graduate to the ECHL rather than the AHL or NHL – I probably didn’t see the next Gordie Howe or Wayne Gretzky on the ice.

And that was fine.

All I wanted was entertainment, and I got more than my share.

I cheered for the home team, naturally, but was hardly distraught by Huntsville’s 6-3 victory. When I see nine goals, a couple of fights, and it all happens within a two hour and 30-minute window, I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

Michael Gillespie took 14 shots and scored twice for the Bulls, while Scott Donahue got his only shot past the Havoc goalie. (I’ve decided that – until further notice – Gillespie is my favorite player because we’re both 5-9).

Oh, and I can’t forget ZOOperstars Dominik Hashark, Whale Gretzky and Tommy Laswordfish. These inflatable entertainers danced, pranced and contorted themselves during intermission, and it was silly, funny and weird.

Silly, funny and weird is right up my alley.

So, now that I’ve witnessed a new generation of Birmingham Bulls, I need to commit.

Back in 1976 I went from knowing next to nothing about the game to becoming a (fairly) knowledgeable superfan of our WHA team, absorbing everything I could about hockey rules and hockey history.

Now it’s time to get up to speed on SPHL history, and teach myself what I need to know about the Bulls, Havoc, Knoxville Ice Bears, Quad City Storm, Evansville Thunderbolts, Macon Mayhem, Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, Fayetteville Marksmen, Pensacola Ice Flyers, Vermilion County Bobcats and Peoria Rivermen.

I’ve already learned that Knoxville is the most successful club in SPHL history with five league titles, and Vermilion County’s team is located in Danville, Illinois, which is not in the American South or even the Illinois South yet competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

Here’s more geography for you; the Quad City Storm uses Moline, Illinois, as their home ice, although the team also represents Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, as well as Rock Island and East Moline, Illinois.

Of course, aside from history, league logos and nicknames are important to me.

The Thunderbolts’ badge is my favorite because of the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane image, and the Ice Flyers have a cool logo, too. I guess I must have a thing for aircraft.

I’ve also determined that Rail Yard Dogs is a quite clunky, yet clever, nickname, while the Peoria Rivermen has a nice flow to it.

Bottom line, I look forward to following this league and cozying up to Birmingham hockey once again. The SPHL made a terrific first impression on me.

One thing’s for sure … I’m not waiting 22 years before I go to my next Bulls game.