Top 100 Negro League Cards of All-Time

Very surprised by one omission... 1916 Zeenut Jimmy Claxton. He did have more than 350 wins, less than 200 losses, more than 4,000 strikeouts, and a lifetime batting average of about .360. He pitched in leagues outside the National Agreement so he could play for integrated and segregated teams in the same season for nearly thirty years. His playing career lasted from 1908-1946.

Though most are familiar for one day, May 28, 1916, or his partial season in the Negro Leagues (1932). His 1932 season is extremely skewed considering he suffered a season ending shoulder injury the season before (versus Owl Transfers of Seattle May 1931).

One aspect of his game that is barely acknowledged is his offense. For instance, in 1929, his batting average "never fell below .700" (34 for 46 from newspaper accounts only 12 of 19 games recorded). Including 13 consecutive hits against Spokane, White Center, and Seattle Telephone. He could certainly swing the lumber. Also had above average speed, led the Tacoma Industrial League in stolen bases in 1924 (beat out Tacoma Avenue's, and future Detroit Tiger, Roy Johnson, 11 stolen bases to 9 in a 33 game season). Also threw a no-hitter that season versus 23rd Street Skidoos.

Too many stories to tell about Claxton including a miraculous 20 wins in 20 starts season in 1925 for Edmonds of the Timber League. His career has been underrated, mostly ignored, or marginalized (baseball anomaly).

Great list of cards, especially shortly after the release of the Negro League Baseball Reference!

Claxton apologist, Ty Phelan

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Never thought about Claxton, Ty, but I can see where he would be a fit for this list and rank pretty high on it as well.

BTW I'm surprised that no one has pointed out yet that Luis Aparicio Jr. was obviously never part of the Negro Leagues. I included his Venezuelan League card from 1953 because it follows the same theme as all of the other Winter League cards and is very important as it pre-dates his MLB rookie card by three years.

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I though there was only 1 Cabanas Pete Hill known... am I missing something, any more surface ???

I always put Hill at the top, mainly because of the HOF player collector, only 2-3 can have a contemporary Hill card from any series.

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You may be right, Frank. I am just guessing that there may be another one (or two) out there. I believe that there are a few known duplicates of other players from the set so it would make sense that more than one Hill might be possible.