1931 Detroit Stars

1931 Detroit Stars / Franchise: Detroit Stars / BR Team Page

Record: 25-33, Finished 4th in Negro National League (1931 NNL)

Managed by Bingo DeMoss

Ballpark: Hamtramck Stadium

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1931 Detroit Stars were 4th in the 1931 NNL despite a stellar campaign from CF Turkey Stearnes.

Stearnes hit .376/.465/.632 for a 201 OPS+ and drove in 33 runs in 38 games (box scores have been located for 42 of Detroit's 58 games, so some data is missing), leading the league in home runs (8), slugging, OPS and OPS+ (tied with Chicago's Nat Rogers). The team OPS+ was only 83, though, 5th in the league, as he had little support. LF Wade Johnston did hit .302/.432/.383 with a league-high 35 walks and scored 37 runs in 45 games (126 OPS+), while C Clarence Palm batted .311/.351/.435 (116 OPS+) and RF Lou Dials .291/.331/.437 (111 OPS+). On the other hand, regulars included 3B Bobby Robinson (.263/.308/.316, 72 OPS+, .880 FLD%), SS Saul Davis (.242/.273/.326, 65 OPS+), OF Jelly Gardner (.215/.275/.264, 49 OPS+), 2B Anderson Pryor (.225/.286/.239, 46 OPS+), 2B Augustus Saunders (.193/.256/.241, 37 OPS+, .878 FLD%) and 1B Andrew Love (.151/.185/.202, 7 OPS+, .957 FLD%). They led the league in errors and had the lowest team fielding percentage (.943).

The staff was not bad, with a 100 ERA+, 3rd in the NNL. A big part of that was Nelson Dean (7-3, 2.06, 207 ERA+), who tied for the league lead in wins and was second in ERA in a career year. Luther McDonald (2-1, 2.85, 149 ERA+) and Bill McCall (2-6, 4.17, 102 ERA+) also pitched well, though McCall suffered from poor support and defense. Workhorse Willie Powell (5-9, 4.89, 87 ERA+) led the league in losses and several other categories (both neutral and negative). Dixon (1-2, 8.48, 50 ERA+) and Rats Henderson (0-3, 7.46, 57 ERA+) were the other hurlers with five or more appearances and clearly struggled.

Sources include Seamheads DB accessed 6/22/2021