Seattle Steelheads
The Seattle Steelheads were a Negro league baseball team from Seattle, Washington.
| Seattle Steelheads 1946–1946 Seattle | |
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Founding
The Cincinnati Crescents were an All-Star barnstorming baseball team that played in the mid-1940s. The team later became the Seattle Steelheads. The team was managed by W. S. Welch.
The team was owned by Abe Saperstein.[1]
Players on the roster included Luke Easter, Johnny Markham, Bill Blair, Al Saylor, Willie D. Smith, Jim Ford, John Hundley, Paul Hardy, Joe Spencer, Greene Farmer, John Smith, Ulysses Redd, Percy Howard, George Alexander, Joe Brooks, Lefty Napoleon, Fred Thomas, W.C. Duffy, Frank "Groundhog" Thompson, Everert Marcell, and Joe Wiley.
The Steelheads played in the West Coast Negro Baseball League and played their first game on June 1, 1946, against the San Diego Tigers, in front of 2,500 fans at Sick's Stadium. The league folded after a month of play.
Home fields
Their primary home ballpark was Sick's Stadium. They also planned home games in Tacoma, Bremerton, Spokane, and Bellingham.[2]
MLB throwback jerseys
The Seattle Mariners honored the Steelheads when they wore 1946 Steelheads uniforms on September 9, 1995, at home against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals wore Kansas City Monarchs uniforms.[3] The Mariners beat the Royals 6–2 in front of 39,157 fans at the Kingdome.[4] The game was attended by former Steelhead player Sherwood Brewer.[5] The Mariners wore a different variety of the Steelheads uniform on May 16, 2015 on "Turn Back the Clock Night" against the Boston Red Sox at Safeco Field,[6] and lost to the Red Sox 4–2.
References
- "Negro Stars In 9th Appearance". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Hawaii, Honolulu. October 8, 1946. p. 1. Retrieved September 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- Gastineau, Mike; Art Thiel; Steve Rudman (2009). The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists. Basic Civitas Books. p. 170. ISBN 0-7624-3522-4. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- Anderson, Lenny (1995-04-14). "Negro League Seattle Steelheads Gone, But Not Forgotten". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- "September 9, 1995 Kansas City Royals at Seattle Mariners Box Score and Play by Play". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- "Negro Leagues Salute". Jet. 1995-10-02. p. 45. Retrieved 2009-05-20.
- Seattle Mariners [@Mariners] (April 23, 2015). "The 1946 Seattle Steelheads will take the field on Turn Back the Clock Night, May 16. Tix: atmlb.com/1Dntk4O" (Tweet). Retrieved April 23, 2015 – via Twitter.