1933 Negro National League

The 1933 Negro National League marked the return of the Negro National League name. While the 1920s edition of the NNL was a midwestern league, anchored by Chicago and Kansas City, the second edition was an eastern circuit primarily, with cities like Pittsburgh, New York and Baltimore. The 1933 NNL did still have a midwestern contingent, though. The league's first season had plenty of issues, with only three teams (Chicago, which had to move to Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; Nashville) surviving the full year. The Homestead Grays were expelled mid-season for raiding Detroit of players, Indianapolis had to move to Detroit due to poor attendance and teams in Akron and Cleveland not lasting.

Standings

Rank	Team	G	W	T	L	WPCT	GB
1	Pittsburgh Crawfords	65	41	21	3	.661	--
2	Chicago American Giants	64	41	22	1	.651	0.5
3	Homestead Grays	30	14	14	2	.500	10.0
4	Cleveland Giants	1	0	1	0	.000	10.5
5	Nashville Elite Giants	42	19	22	1	.463	11.5
6	Akron Grays	10	3	7	0	.300	12.0
7	Baltimore Sox	31	13	18	0	.419	12.5
8	Columbus Blue Birds	42	15	27	0	.357	16.0
9	Indianapolis ABCs/Detroit Stars	48	17	31	0	.354	17.0

The Homestead Grays were expelled from the league for raiding the Detroit Stars; Cleveland, Akron, Baltimore, Columbus and Detroit/Indianapolis did not complete the season

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	73
At Bats	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	295
Runs Scored	Oscar Charleston	Pittsburgh Crawfords	66
Hits	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	94
Doubles	Oscar Charleston	Pittsburgh Crawfords	19
Triples	Oscar Charleston Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords Pittsburgh Crawfords	7
Home Runs	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	18
Runs Batted In	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	74
Stolen Bases	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	16
Walks	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	28
Hit-by-Pitch	Goose Curry	Nashville Elite Giants	6
Sacrifice Hits	Anthony Cooper	Pittsburgh Crawfords Baltimore Black Sox	11
Batting Average	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	.395
On-Base Percentage	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	.442
Slugging Percentage	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	.744
On-Base plus Slugging	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1186
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	218

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Bertrum Hunter	Pittsburgh Crawfords/Akron Grays	11
Losses	Bill Byrd	Columbus Blue Birds	8
Win-Loss Percentage	Tom Richardson	Baltimore Black Sox	0.833
Appearances	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	21
Games Started	Bertrum Hunter Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords/Akron Grays Pittsburgh Crawfords	15
Complete Games	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	11
Shutouts	Bertrum Hunter Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords/Akron Grays Pittsburgh Crawfords	2
Saves	Six tied		1
Innings Pitched	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	148 1/3
Batters Faced	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	606
Hits Allowed	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	137
Home Runs Allowed	Columbus Vance	Indianapolis ABCs-Detroit Stars	7
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Sug Cornelius	Chicago American Giants	40
Hit Batsmen	Slim Jones	Baltimore Black Sox	6
Strikeouts	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	100
Wild Pitches	Slim Jones	Baltimore Black Sox	2
Runs Allowed	William Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	73
Earned Runs Allowed	William Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	62
Earned Run Average	Satchel Paige	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1.94
WHIP	Satchel Paige	Pittsburgh Crawfords	0.83

All-Star Game

The first East-West Game was held at Comiskey Park September 10. In the 1933 East-West Game, the NNL had most of the players on both the East and West teams. The West prevailed, 11-7, with Chicago's Willie Foster getting a complete-game win.

Sources: The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway, Seamheads database (accessed 12/23/2020), Agate Type blog

Related Sites

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