1931 Negro National League

The 1931 Negro National League was the last season of the first edition of the Negro National League, killed off by the Great Depression. When the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants, the top teams of the 1920s, both dropped out prior to the season, the league was left without a lot of its former talent. That left the St. Louis Stars with Cool Papa Bell, Mule Suttles and Willie Wells to trounce the league. Interestingly, a player named Powell led the league in both runs allowed (Willie Powell) and in ERA (Melvin Powell).

Standings

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
1	St. Louis Stars	48	37	10	1	.787	--
2	Cleveland Cubs	55	23	22	0	.511	13.0
3	Indianapolis ABCs	61	30	30	1	.500	13.5
4	Detroit Stars	58	25	33	0	.431	17.5
5	Louisville White Sox	58	24	33	1	.421	18.0
6	Chicago Columbia Giants	24	6	17	1	.261	19.0

League leaders

(based off games for which box scores could be found)

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Jabbo Andrews Wade Johnston Bobby Robinson	Indianapolis ABCs Detroit Stars Detroit Stars	45
At Bats	Jimmie Crutchfield	Indianapolis ABCs	176
Runs Scored	Cool Papa Bell	St. Louis Stars	46
Hits	Jim Williams	Indianapolis ABCs	57
Doubles	Willie Wells	St. Louis Stars	12
Triples	Five tied with		4
Home Runs	Turkey Stearnes	Detroit Stars	8
Runs Batted In	Mule Suttles	St. Louis Stars	36
Stolen Bases	Cool Papa Bell	St. Louis Stars	16
Walks	Wade Johnston	Detroit Stars	35
Hit-by-Pitch	Wilson Redus Dave Malarcher	St. Louis Stars Chicago Columbia Giants	3
Sacrifice Hits	George Giles	St. Louis Stars	6
Batting Average	Nat Rogers	Chicago Columbia Giants	.419
On-Base Percentage	Nat Rogers	Chicago Columbia Giants	.482
Slugging Percentage	Turkey Stearnes	Detroit Stars	.632
On-Base plus Slugging	Turkey Stearnes	Detroit Stars	1096
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Turkey Stearnes Nat Rogers	Detroit Stars Chicago Columbia Giants	201

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Ray Brown George Mitchell Nelson Dean	Indianapolis ABCs Indianapolis ABCs Detroit Stars	7
Losses	Willie Powell	Detroit Stars	9
Win-Loss Percentage	Leroy Matlock	St. Louis Stars	.800
Appearances	Ray Brown Willie Powell	Indianapolis ABCs Detroit Stars	16
Games Started	Ray Brown Willie Powell	Indianapolis ABCs Detroit Stars	14
Complete Games	Ray Brown	Indianapolis ABCs	12
Shutouts	Four tied with		2
Saves	Joe Strong Ted Trent Clarence White	St. Louis Stars St. Louis Stars Louisville White Sox	1
Innings Pitched	Ray Brown	Indianapolis ABCs	117 2/3
Batters Faced	Ray Brown	Indianapolis ABCs	482
Hits Allowed	Luther McDonald	Detroit Stars/Chicago Columbia Giants	106
Home Runs Allowed	Four tied with		5
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Tom Parker Willie Powell	Indianapolis ABCs Detroit Stars	38
Hit Batsmen	Willie Powell	Detroit Stars	8
Strikeouts	Ray Brown	Indianapolis ABCs	79
Wild Pitches	Percy Miller	Cleveland Cubs	3
Runs Allowed	Willie Powell	Detroit Stars	68
Earned Runs Allowed	Willie Powell	Detroit Stars	50
Earned Run Average	Melvin Powell	Chicago Columbia Giants	1.29
WHIP	George Mitchell	Indianapolis ABCs	0.89

Sources:

• The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway,
• Seamheads database (accessed 5/25/2021)

Related Sites

• BR page