Edgar Wooded Wesley (May 2, 1891 – July 12, 1966) was a Negro league first baseman from 1917 to 1927. He played most of his career with the Detroit Stars of the first Negro National League (NNL).
| Edgar Wesley | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| First baseman | |
| Born: May 2, 1891 Waco, Texas | |
| Died: July 12, 1966 (aged 75) Austin, Texas | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| debut | |
| 1917, for the Texas All Stars | |
| Last appearance | |
| 1931, for the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .324 |
| Hits | 607 |
| Home runs | 82 |
| Runs batted in | 403 |
| Stolen bases | 47 |
| Teams | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Wesley was born in 1891 in Waco, Texas.[2] He began his professional baseball career in 1917 with the Texas All-Stars.[3] In 1918, he played for the Chicago American Giants team that compiled a 20-8-2 record and finished first among the Western independent clubs.[4]
Wesley joined the Detroit Stars, then a Western independent club, for the 1919 season.[3] In 1920, Wesley's second season with Detroit, he led the Negro National League with 11 home runs in 64 games. He also ranked among the NNL leaders with a .498 slugging percentage (fourth), 50 RBIs (fifth), 15 doubles (sixth), and 123 total bases (eighth).[2]
Wesley's best season was 1925 when he hit 17 home runs (second in the NNL behind teammate Turkey Stearnes), won the NNL batting title with a .404 batting average, and also led the NNL in both on-base percentage (.469) and slugging percentage (.715).[2]
Wesley also played for parts of his career with the Habana club (1923-24), Harrisburg Giants (1924), Brooklyn Royal Giants (1924), Cleveland Hornets (1927), and Atlantic City Bachrach Giants in 19131.[3][5]
Wesley died in Austin, Texas, in 1966 at age 75.[2]
Negro league historian John B. Holway retroactively selected annual Negro league All-star teams and selected Wesley as the Negro leagues' all-star first baseman for six of his years with Detroit.[5] Historian William F. McNeil rated Wesley as the best Negro league first baseman for the era 1900-1925. Other baseball historians (John B. Holway and Davis A. Lawrence) and Larry Doby rated him as the best Negro league first baseman of all time.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Hilldale Wins Final" Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friday, August 8, 1919, Page 14, Column 4
- ^ a b c d "Edgar Wesley". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Edgar Wesley". Seamheads. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ "1918 Chicago American Giants". Seamheads. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
- ^ a b c Steven R. Greenes (2020). Negro Leaguers and the Hall of Fame: The Case for Inducting 24 Overlooked Ballplayers. McFarland. pp. 72–73. ISBN 9781476641119.
External links
edit- Career statistics from MLB, or Baseball Reference and Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats and Seamheads