1935 Negro National League

The 1935 Negro National League was the third season of the second edition of the Negro National League. It was dominated by 1933 champion Pittsburgh, the Crawfords being considered perhaps the greatest Negro League teams. This is not without question, as Pittsburgh barely even won the title. They won the first half but lost the second half to New York and needed seven games to top New York in the finals. While 1934 was dominated by one-year wonder Slim Jones, 1935 had more long-term stars shining bright, like Martín Dihigo, Willie Wells, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. Leroy Matlock (8-0, 1.52, 334 ERA+) was the most dominant pitcher.

Standings

BOLD indicates League Champion

Negro National League

BR page

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
1	Pittsburgh Crawfords	81	51	27	3	.654	--
2	New York Cubans	61	31	25	5	.554	9.0
3	Philadelphia Stars	72	37	31	4	.544	9.0
4	Columbus Elite Giants	55	29	24	2	.547	9.5
5	Brooklyn Eagles	61	32	31	0	.508	11.5
6	Chicago American Giants	56	24	31	1	.436	15.5
7	Homestead Grays	64	26	36	2	.419	17.0
8	Newark Dodgers	62	18	43	1	.295	24.5

Postseason:

• Negro National League Championship: Pittsburgh Crawfords defeated New York Cubans, 4 games to 3

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	Jake Dunn	Philadelphia Stars	58
At Bats	Alex Radcliff	Chicago American Giants	217
Runs Scored	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	68
Hits	Sam Bankhead	Pittsburgh Crawfords	70
Doubles	Buck Leonard	Homestead Grays	18
Triples	Matt Carlisle	Homestead Grays	11
Home Runs	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	10
Runs Batted In	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	57
Stolen Bases	Willie Wells	Chicago American Giants	14
Walks	Cool Papa Bell	Pittsburgh Crawfords	31
Hit-by-Pitch	Seven tied		3
Sacrifice Hits	Dick Seay	Philadelphia Stars	11
Batting Average	Buck Leonard	Homestead Grays	.389
On-Base Percentage	Turkey Stearnes	Chicago American Giants	.469
Slugging Percentage	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	.661
On-Base plus Slugging	Josh Gibson	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1109
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Turkey Stearnes	Chicago American Giants	185

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Ray Brown Leroy Matlock Webster McDonald	Homestead Grays Pittsburgh Crawfords Philadelphia Stars	8
Losses	Will Jackman	Brooklyn Eagles	9
Win-Loss Percentage	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1.000
Appearances	Will Jackman Webster McDonald	Brooklyn Eagles Philadelphia Stars	21
Games Started	Will Jackman Webster McDonald	Brooklyn Eagles Philadelphia Stars	15
Complete Games	Will Jackman	Brooklyn Eagles	11
Shutouts	Luis Tiant Sr.	New York Cubans	3
Saves	Eight tied		2
Innings Pitched	Webster McDonald	Philadelphia Stars	142 1/3
Batters Faced	Webster McDonald	Philadelphia Stars	616
Hits Allowed	Webster McDonald	Philadelphia Stars	156
Home Runs Allowed	Webster McDonald	Philadelphia Stars	11
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Tom Parker	Homestead Grays	45
Hit Batsmen	Leon Day	Brooklyn Eagles	10
Strikeouts	Luis Tiant Sr.	New York Cubans	64
Wild Pitches	Ray Brown Ossie Brown	Homestead Grays Chicago American Giants	3
Runs Allowed	Will Jackman	Brooklyn Eagles	86
Earned Runs Allowed	Will Jackman	Brooklyn Eagles	75
Earned Run Average	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1.52
WHIP	Leroy Matlock	Pittsburgh Crawfords	1.00

All-Star Game

The 1935 East-West Game was one of the most dramatic, with the West scoring four in the bottom of the 10th to tie it then they won it in the 11th on Mule Suttles' historic three-run dinger.

Sources: The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway, Seamheads database (accessed 4/16/2021), Black Baseball's National Showcase by Larry Lester