1932 East-West League

The 1932 East-West League was the only major league that did not last through a whole season. With the collapse of the Negro National League during the Great Depression, there was no longer a major Negro League. Cum Posey tried to solve this by setting up the East-West League, bridging the long Negro League divide between midwest and east (represented by the NNL and Eastern Colored League respectively from 1923-1928 and the Negro American League and NNL respectively from 1937-1948). He only drew three established teams, the Baltimore Black Sox and Hilldale along with his own Homestead Grays. Other former NNL members either joined the 1932 Negro Southern League or functioned as independents (Pittsburgh, Kansas City). The Detroit Wolves (built from the ashes of the St. Louis Stars) were the top team in the East-West League - until they folded and merged with the Grays. The league collapsed later in the year, a victim of its large scope, lack of established teams and the Great Depression. Given the somewhat lower talent than in the NNL (both pre-1932 and post-1932), several less prominent players made it onto league leader lists than would be common; league OPS leader Tom Finley, for instance, had a career OPS+ of 94.

Standings

Rank	Team	G	W	T	L	WPCT	GB
1	Detroit Wolves	31	26	5	0	.839	--
2	Homestead Grays	31	24	16	1	.600	6.5
3	Baltimore Black Sox	55	29	26	0	.527	9.0
4	Pollock's Cuban Stars	22	10	12	0	.455	11.5
5	Newark Browns	4	0	4	0	.000	12.5
6	Cleveland Stars	17	5	11	1	.312	13.5
7	Hilldale Club	29	11	18	0	.379	14.0
8	Washington Pilots	47	17	30	0	.362	17.0

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Dewey Creacy	Detroit Wolves/Washington Pilots	63
At Bats	Bert Johnson	Washington Pilots	234
Runs Scored	Vic Harris	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	48
Hits	Tom Finley	Baltimore Black Sox	70
Doubles	Tom Finley Mule Suttles	Baltimore Black Sox Detroit Wolves/Washington Pilots	22
Triples	Bert Johnson Buddy Burbage	Washington Pilots Baltimore Black Sox	6
Home Runs	Tom Finley	Baltimore Black Sox	7
Runs Batted In	Mule Suttles	Detroit Wolves/Washington Pilots	48
Stolen Bases	Willie O'Bryant	Washington Pilots	21
Walks	Dewey Creacy	Detroit Wolves/Washington Pilots	33
Hit-by-Pitch	Dick Seay	Baltimore Black Sox	6
Sacrifice Hits	Willie O'Bryant George Giles	Washington Pilots Homestead Grays	21
Batting Average	Judy Johnson	Hilldale Club	.356
On-Base Percentage	Branch Russell	Cleveland Stars	.452
Slugging Percentage	Tom Finley	Baltimore Black Sox	.557
On-Base plus Slugging	Tom Finley	Baltimore Black Sox	946
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Mule Suttles	Detroit Wolves/Washington Pilots	157

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Bert Hunter	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	10
Losses	Paul Carter Tom Richardson	Hilldale/Baltimore Black Sox Washington Pilots	8
Win-Loss Percentage	Lefty Williams	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	1.000
Appearances	Lefty Holmes	Baltimore Black Sox	18
Games Started	Tom Richardson	Washington Pilots	14
Complete Games	Tom Richardson Ray Brown	Washington Pilots Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	11
Shutouts	Half Pint Allen Ted Trent Harry Salmon	Baltimore Black Sox Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays Homestead Grays	2
Saves	Five tied		1
Innings Pitched	Lefty Holmes	Baltimore Black Sox	116
Batters Faced	Ray Brown	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	507
Hits Allowed	Tom Richardson	Washington Pilots	140
Home Runs Allowed	Bun Hayes	Washington Pilots	7
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Lefty Holmes	Baltimore Black Sox	50
Hit Batsmen	Webster McDonald	Washington Pilots	6
Strikeouts	Bert Hunter	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	72
Wild Pitches	Chet Brewer	Washington Pilots	5
Runs Allowed	Tom Richardson	Washington Pilots	88
Earned Runs Allowed	Tom Richardson	Washington Pilots	72
Earned Run Average	Joe Strong	Homestead Grays	2.07
WHIP	William Bell	Detroit Wolves/Homestead Grays	1.14

Sources:

• The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway
• Seamheads database (accessed 3/16/2021)
• Seamheads article on the league by Gary Ashwill

Related Sites

• BR page