American Hall of Fame baseball player (1906?1989)
Baseball player
Willie Wells
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Shortstop
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Born:
(
1906-08-10
)
August 10, 1906
Austin, Texas
, U.S.
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Died:
January 22, 1989
(1989-01-22)
(aged 82)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
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Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
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1924, for the St. Louis Giants
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1948, for the Memphis Red Sox
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Batting average
| .330
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Hits
| 1,292
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Home runs
| 140
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Runs batted in
| 873
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Stolen bases
| 160
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Managerial record
| 64?79?3
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As player
As manager
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- 10×
All-Star
(1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939(1), 1939², 1942(1), 1942², 1945)
- 2×
Negro National League
pennant (1928, 1930)
- 2× Cuban League
MVP
(1929/30, 1939/40)
- Negro National League batting champion
(1930)
- Triple Crown
(1930)
- Negro National League
record for most home runs in a season, 27 in 1926.
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Induction
| 1997
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Election method
| Veterans Committee
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Willie James Wells
(August 10, 1906
[1]
– January 22, 1989), nicknamed "
the Devil
", was an American baseball player. He was a
shortstop
who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the
Negro leagues
and in Latin America.
Wells was a fast base-runner who hit for both power and
average
. He was at his finest with his glove, committing almost no
errors
and having the speed to run down anything that came in his direction. He is widely considered the best black shortstop of his day. He also taught
Jackie Robinson
how to turn a
double play
.
[2]
Wells was also notable as being the first player to use a
batting helmet
, after being hit and receiving a
concussion
while playing with the
Newark Eagles
(his first helmet was a
construction helmet
).
Wells is a member of the
National Baseball Hall of Fame
.
On February 5, 2022 the baseball field at Anderson High School (8403 Mesa Dr., Austin, TX 78759) was dedicated in Willie's honor. The celebration included members of the Wells' family with the keynote presentation by Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Early life
[
edit
]
Wells was born in
Austin, Texas
. He attended
Anderson High School
in Austin. Wells first played professional baseball in 1923, playing one season for the
Austin Black Senators
of the
Texas Colored League
, a minor league for the
Negro National League
.
[2]
He briefly attended
Samuel Huston College
in Austin before he was called up to the St. Louis team in the NNL.
Negro league career
[
edit
]
After a short stint with the
St. Louis Giants
,
[3]
he entered the NNL with the
St. Louis Stars
in 1924, playing for the Stars through 1931, when both the team and league folded after the 1931 season. In 1926 he hit 27
home runs
, a Negro leagues single-season record. In 1930, he led the Negro National League in home runs (seventeen), runs batted in (114), and batting average (.411) to win the batting Triple Crown; he was the fourth player to achieve the distinction. From 1932 to 1935 he played for the
Chicago American Giants
and played for the
Newark Eagles
from 1936 to 1939. While with the Eagles, Wells was part of the "Million Dollar Infield," consisting of Wells,
Ray Dandridge
,
Dick Seay
, and
Mule Suttles
.
[4]
: p.55
He played in
Mexico
in 1940 and 1941, where he said he experienced democracy, acceptance and freedom. Wells was nicknamed
El Diablo
by Mexican fans for his extraordinary intensity and the English translation ("The Devil") followed him as a nickname in the United States.
[2]
He returned to the Negro leagues in 1942 as a player-manager for the Eagles and then went back to Mexico for the 1943 and 1944 seasons.
Returning to the U.S. in 1945, Wells played for various Negro league teams through the 1950 season, including the
Memphis Red Sox
where he played alongside his son
Willie Wells Jr.
in 1948.
[
citation needed
]
He then went to
Canada
as a
player-manager
for the Winnipeg Buffaloes of the
Western Canadian Baseball League
, remaining there until his retirement from actively playing baseball in 1954. Wells returned to the U.S. and continued as the manager of the
Birmingham Black Barons
.
Later life and legacy
[
edit
]
After his baseball career, Wells was employed at a
New York City
deli before returning to his birthplace of Austin to look after his mother. He died of
congestive heart failure
in Austin in 1989.
[2]
Wells was originally buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Austin, Texas, but was re-interred in the
Texas State Cemetery
in Austin.
He was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame
by the
Veterans Committee
in 1997 for his play in the Negro leagues. He has also been inducted into the
Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame
and
Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame
.
[2]
Known statistics: .319 career
batting average
, .510
slugging percentage
, 98
home runs
, 644
runs scored
, 399
runs batted in
, and 756
games played
.
[5]
Stella Lee Wells, Willie's daughter, created a scholarship fund honoring her father, called the Stella and Willie Wells Scholarship Fund. The fund awards scholarships at
Huston?Tillotson University
in Austin, Texas.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
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]
References
[
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]
- Clark, Dick; Lester, Larry (1994),
The Negro Leagues Book
, Cleveland, Ohio: Society for American Baseball Research
- Hogan, Lawrence D. (2006),
Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball
, Washington DC: National Geographic,
ISBN
0-7922-5306-X
- Holway, John B. (2001),
The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History
, Fern Park, FL: Hastings House Publishers,
ISBN
0-8038-2007-0
- Luke, Bob (2007).
Willie Wells: "El Diablo" of the Negro Leagues
. University of Texas Press.
ISBN
978-0-292-71751-0
.
- Treto Cisneros, Pedro (2002),
The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics, 1937?2001
, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company,
ISBN
0-7864-1378-6
External links
[
edit
]
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Franchise
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Ballparks
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League affiliations
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Hall of Famers
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Negro National
League pennants (3)
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Other play-off
appearances
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1900s
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1910s
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1920s
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1930s
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- 1930
- 1931
· 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1935 · 1936 · 1937 · 1938 · 1939
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Italics
denote members who have been elected, but not yet inducted.
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