St. Louis Stars, 1931

In the era of segregation, mainstream (white) newspapers generally ignored black baseball teams, aside from publishing box scores (as they did for nearly all high-profile baseball games, at least before the 1930s). There was very little reporting, very few interviews with players, managers, or owners, and almost no commentary. There were exceptions, however. On July 26, 1931, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat Magazine published a two-and-a-half-page article, with photos, on the St. Louis Stars. Here, courtesy of Newspapers.com, are images of the article. There is a ton of interesting detail in it.

Sadly, the Globe-Democrat was a little late with this effort, as both the original Negro National League and the original St. Louis Stars were already on their last legs. The last NNL games took place exactly a month after the publication of this article (August 26), and the Stars would play their last known game (against the Max Carey All Stars) on October 2, 1931.

Comments

[Bob Poet]

Yes it is! He's in the photo catching behind Mule Suttles.
Has to be the earliest shot of Trouppe playing ball!
He's also mentioned in the copy below...
"....Quincey Trouppe, a 17 year old boy who graduated this spring from the Vashon(?) High School. This is his first year in the big league and "Sparkplug" (manager Reese) holds out great promise for him."

[Bob Poet]

Wasn't Quincey Trouppe on this team?
He'd have been 18 years old....

[Gary Cieradkowski]

I always wondered where that picture of Suttles batting came from - seen it in several places with just the end of the headline peeking out. Now I know. Thanks for find this, Gary