1948 Negro Leagues Pitchers
It’s been a constant of Fantasy Astrology Baseball, for as long as I’ve been doing this project, that Cancer has trouble finding starting pitching depth. Even though the Crabs benefitted from Shohei Ohtani in 2023, the most electrifying player in the game right now, it takes more than one superstar to get through a season. And the situation was no different for the AL/NL in 1948, with New York Giants ace Larry Jansen (2,158 / 51.4) throwing the second-most innings in the National League, but only one other 1,000-point scorer to follow in the whole staff.
But this whole situation changes when you look at the Negro Leagues, which has no statistical information after 1948. Going down the list of innings-pitched leaders in ’48, the first member of the Negro National League (v2) you see is Bill Byrd, whose sun sign is… Cancer! In real life, Byrd pitched for the Baltimore Elite Giants, a nickname that fans pronounced EE-light Giants, all the way back to the club’s original city of Nashville. The Elites also stopped in Columbus, OH and Washington D.C. on their way to Baltimore.
The Canton, GA native Byrd led the league with 10 wins and 123 innings over 12 starts and 5 relief appearances – so a much smaller sample size than most of his AL/NL counterparts. This performance works out to a fantasy line of 1,457 points and 85.7 points-per-game. For reference, that’s the second-highest PPG average in all of organized baseball in 1948, eclipsing the top AL/NL entrant, Harry Brecehen (2,682 / 81.3) of the Cardinals.
The Black Cancer depth doesn’t end with Byrd. Leniel Hooker (763 / 54.5) was a solid #2 or #3 starter for the Newark Eagles. Henry Miller (714 / 39.7) had the most innings on the Philadelphia Stars. And Byrd’s Elite Giants teammate Ernest Burke (390 / 39.0) had the misfortune to just hit his stride in the last season of the Negro Leagues’ existence.
So, as it turns out, there wasn’t strictly a lack of good Cancer pitching in 1948 – it’s just that many of the best options were kept out of the recognized Major Leagues because of segregation. That got me thinking of which other signs might have had significant roster holes plugged by Negro League talent… and Gemini sticks out above the rest.
The Twins are the only sign to have never led the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League in points over a full season, and in 1948, there were only four (4!) AL/NL Gemini pitchers to reach 40 innings. That total doubles when you consider Negro League pitchers.
Jimmie Newberry (574 / 44.2) had more relief appearances than starts, but he was the ace of the Birmingham Black Barons, the team for which Willie Mays made his professional debut. Webbo Clarke (467 / 51.9), another hurler from Panama, was pretty much the only good pitcher on the Cleveland Buckeyes. And Roy Partlow (409 / 40.9) was an important part of the Philadelphia Stars.
Adding Negro League players to my database also strengthens some of the existing powerhouses. Earlier, I said that Bill Byrd had the second highest points-per-game average in 1948. Who has the first? Max Manning (1,299 / 86.6) ace of the Newark Eagles… and a Scorpio. Also in the Stingers All-Negro League rotation is Pat Scantlebury (954 / 59.6), a Panamanian who pitched for the New York Cubans, and would later pitch for the Cincinnati Redlegs.
Scorpio was by far the top sign in the sport, and would continue its dominance over the next decade, and now they add two great pitchers to their rotation? I guess it’s true that the rich get richer, even in Fantasy Astrology Baseball.