Negro national League

 “We are the sky, all else the sea.” Andrew “Rube” Foster, founder of the National Negro league 

Reading a biography of baseball legend Leroy “Satchel” Paige loaned to me by Ron Cohen, I became fascinated with the life and legacy of William Augustus “Gus” Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, a club Paige pitched for during the early 1930s when it was the most dominant team in the Negro National League, which Greenlee resuscitated after Rube Foster suffered a mental breakdown. Born in Marion, North Carolina, Greenlee moved to Pittsburgh in 1916, lured by the prospect of work in the steel mills. He served with distinction in the decorated all-black 356th regiment during World War I.  During the 1920s, after working a variety of jobs, including shining shoes and operating a jitney, he became a numbers runner and eventually gained control of Pittsburgh’s lucrative policy racket.  At a time when doors were closed to African Americans in most legitimate fields, enterprising Black entrepreneurs such as Greenlee turned policy wheels into a million-dollar business built with the nickels and dimes of working-class customers. Like prostitution and the booze business (Greenlee also had a hand in the latter), demand remained high even during the Great Depression. 

 

Greenlee’s showcase was the Crawford Grill, a posh “mixed race” (“black-and-tan) nightclub that featured such entertainers as Cab Calloway, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, the Mills Brothers, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Former heavyweight champ Jack Johnson enjoyed the Crawford Grill’s amenities, as did white customers such as Art Rooney, founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Greenlee rebuffed efforts by Italian gangsters to take over his numbers operation, unlike Gary policy boss Louis “Buddy” Hutchinson, who was gunned down in 1948, allegedly on orders of the Chicago Outfit. 

 

In 1931 the main rival of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, nicknamed the Craws, was a nearby team known as the Homestead Grays. In 1932 Greenlee signed several Grays stars, including slugger Josh Gibson, and, led by Satchel Paige, assembled the greatest Negro League team ever. Greeenlee also built at a cost of nearly $100,000 a brick ballpark that seated 7,500 and thus was not dependent on getting access to the home field of the Pirates when they were out of town. Greenlee also lent out Paige to other teams playing exhibitions and on barnstorming tours during the off season. The Negro National League finally disbanded after the 1948 season, as Black players, beginning with Jackie Robinson, broke the major league color barrier. In fact, that year, Paige, signed by Bill Veeck, pitched for the World Champion Cleveland Indians.

 

Greenlee became widely respected for his philanthropic efforts on behalf of the African-American community, offering college scholarships to gifted students and financial help to would-be homeowners unable to secure loans from white banks. He died of a stroke in 1952 at age 58.  The venerable Crawford Grill survived another half-century.