The Minnie Minoso Era Cuban Giants (1945-1948) & Oval Park, East Orange, NJ

[TerryB]

It is really great to see a thread here with a nice exchange of information and several people making contributions. This is something that is desperately needed when it comes to most subjects related to Negro League baseball. I look forward to seeing more threads like this one.

[Dude Paskert]

Very majorly excellent case for electing MM was made in one of the Bill James books - Historical BB Abstract, I think? The thing is, his career is exactly bisected by the segregation thing -- not quite enough of his career spent in the Negro Leagues, not quite enough in MLB. But he totally belongs in the HOF.

My impression is that Minnie was sort of an Enos Slaughter plus, although Enos aged better than Minnie. You could probably argue that Enos lost about as much to WWII as Minnie did to segregation, Minoso's first ML season came when he was 25 and he pretty clearly could have been effective there earlier, while Slaughter lost three good years to the war. Enos was an effective player until near 40 while Minnie was pretty much done around 36, but Minnie's peak was a little better. They were both hustling outfielders who did about everything well without being really dominant in any aspect of the game.

[TerryB]

[QUOTE=philliesfiend55;1791859]
I believe that Yankee Stadium or The Polo Grounds was the team's chief homefield, but I used to live about four miles from a field that 'according to legend' was often used to play official Negro League games in, when there were scheduling conflicts with the big league teams and park. That park was called Oval Park in the 1940s and it survives today. It takes up most of a very large city block so it had the size to be used for league games. It has since become part of East Orange, New Jersey's recreational park system. In recent years They've added a jungle gym, swings and slides for the younger kids and basketball courts for the older ones, however it's quite big and you can imagine it without these new additions, with stands, a backstop, a pitcher's mound, a dirt infield, and a very broad expanse of green.

-philliesfiend55

Dyckman Oval was sometimes used by the New York Cubans:
http://www.washington-heights.us/his...eagues_98.html

TerryB