Spoon Carter

Ernest G. Carter

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lb.

• Debut 1932
• Final Game 1948
• Born December 8, 1902 in Harpersville, AL USA
• Died January 23, 1974 in Birmingham, AL USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Spoon Carter was a journeyman Negro League hurler, wandering from team to team. His repertoire was not quite as long as the list of squads he played for, but still impressive, including a knuckleball, curveball, fastball, slider, changeup and screwball.

Carter debuted in 1932 at age 29, going 2-2 for the Memphis Red Sox and 2-1 for the Birmingham Black Barons. in 1933, he was 0-2 for the Cleveland Giants and 0-2 for the Pittsburgh Crawfords. He bounced between Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Red Sox and the Bismarck Churchills in 1934. For the famed Crawfords of 1935, Spoon was 2-2. He went 2-3 for Pittsburgh in 1936.

With the Estrellas Orientales of the 1937 Dominican League, Ernest was 1-1. He was 1-2 for the Habana club of the 1937-1938 Cuban Winter League. In 1938, he was 6-2 for the Philadelphia Stars, then 0-1 for the same club in 1939. His next stop was the Newark Eagles, going 4-2 in 1940. In 1941, he went to the Mexican League, going 1-1 with a 10.13 ERA, 15 hits and 7 walks in 8 innings for the Algodoneros de Torreon.

Carter returned to southwestern Pennsylvania in 1942 to join the region's new powerhouse, the Homestead Grays, who had surpassed the Crawfords. He went 1-4 in 1942. In the 1942 Colored World Series, he pitched 2/3 of a shutout inning as Homestead was swept by the Kansas City Monarchs. Carter went 7-1 for the Grays in 1944. In the 1944 Negro World Series, he had a 0-1, 3.00 record, losing game four to Birmingham.

Spoon then returned to the South, where he was originally from, working with the Memphis Red Sox from 1945 to 1949 and with Birmingham for part of 1949. In the second 1947 East-West Game, the 44-year-old pitched shutout ball from the 6th to the 8th against the East in a 8-2 win. He allowed two hits and a walk and struck out two in his lone All-Star stint.

Notable Achievements

• 2-time NAL All-Star (1947 & 1948)
• NNL Winning Percentage Leader (1943)
• NNL Games Pitched Leader (1938)
• 3-times League Saves Leader (1940/NNL, 1944/NNL & 1946/NAL)
• Won two Negro World Series with the Homestead Grays in 1943 & 1944

Sources

• The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James Riley
• The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues by John Holway
• Black Baseball's National Showcase by Larry Lester
• Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History by Jorge Figueredo
• The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics by Pedro Treto Cisneros

Related Sites

• Spoon Carter at the SABR Bio Project