John Craig

John Craig (Johnny, Homer)

John Craig was a Negro National League umpire from 1935 through 1946. Umpiring in the Negro Leagues, from its inception until its end, was always a problem. The leagues usually depended upon the teams to provide umpiring for their own home games, with a resulting inconsistency in competence and fairness. There were only a handful of professional arbiters who had significant careers in the Negro Leagues, and John Craig was one of the most respected umpires in the eastern Negro leagues. He spent most of his early career umpiring games in Pittsburgh, though he umpired the East-West Game in 1935, 1936, and 1942, as well as three of the four official games in the the 1942 Negro World Series. He spent most of 1943 and 1944 out of baseball, working in a war-related job, umpiring only in Pittsburgh and only on weekends.