Cleveland’s Forgotten Championship

With the World Series come and gone again, it brings up memories of the Indians past great contests. Of these, the Indians have won just two 1948 and 1920 of which Tribe fans should be well versed. It is often commented on the city’s tragic lack of world titles with the last coming in 1964 and while Browns fans will often claim 1950, 1954 and 1955 as well, none of these were even in the Super Bowl and some fans will count 1946, 1947, 1948 and 1949 and those were not even in the NFL. The Cavaliers have never won an NBA title and while the Cleveland Crunch did win championships in 1994, 1996 and 1999, very few people consider indoor soccer to be one of the big four sports. With so few championships to remember in the history of the city of Cleveland, it is hard to believe, but one World Series winner has been completely forgotten.

The Buckeyes franchise began in 1942 in Cincinnati, playing games all around Ohio and ultimately choosing Cleveland as its new home. In 1943 the Buckeyes of the Negro American League moved full time to Cleveland where they would remain through 1948. Just two years later, they would bring Cleveland its first title since the Indians 1920 World Series win. Cleveland had been wanting a Major League level Negro League team for years, but every time they created one, they would be gone within two years including the Tate Stars (1922), Browns (1924), Elites (1926), Hornets (1927), Tigers (1928), Cubs (1931), Stars (1932), Giants (1933), Red Sox (1934) and Bears (1939-40). These teams came from other towns or were true expansion franchises (not just name changes) and all failed, just to be replaced by the next comer. Only one finished with a season above .500 (the Cubs, who held the services of Satchel Paige) and none had real success until the Buckeyes.

In 1945, the Buckeyes were lead by player/manager Quincy Trouppe, who was also the team’s starting catcher. In addition, they had great defensive first baseman Archie Ware (.296 average*), short stop prospect Avelino Canziares (the Cuban who was considered the Negro League second best short stop after Jackie Robinson) and the Jefferson brothers on the mound. The Buckeyes won both halves of the Negro League season that year with a final record of 53-16 as they cruised to the Negro American League title. Leading the way were star pitchers Bill and George Jefferson who combined for a record of 21-2 against Major League quality opponents during the regular season. Older brother Bill had the best ERA on the team at 1.57, although he won one less game than George, who posted a 1.75. Long-time Buckeye Gene Bremmer was a solid third starter with a regular season ERA of 2.44.

Offensively, the Buckeyes weren’t too bad either, despite not having many big names. Sam Jethroe lead the league in batting (.393) and steals (21) while Ware lead the team in RBI. Parnell Woods was also an important presence, despite no longer being the team manager. Starting when they were still in Cincinnati, Woods had been the Buckeyes’ player/manager, but he was replaced by Trouppe going into the 1945 season. Woods remained the starting third baseman, number three hitter and team captain and batted .335, his best since his first season with the team.

On the other side of the 1945 Negro League World Series, the Homestead Grays were in the final year of what would be nine straight National League pennants. The juggernaut, featuring future Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Cool Papa Bell, had already won the World Series in 1943 and 1944 and would do so again just three years later in 1948. This was one of the greatest franchises in Negro League history and the Buckeyes were up to the challenge.

Bill Jefferson started the first game of the series and was lights out, completing a 2-1 victory with the backing of an RBI double from the catcher, Trouppe. The second game was all about Bremmer as the Buckeye starter not only pitched a complete game, allowing just two runs, but won the game on his own. With a 2-2 tie heading to the ninth thanks to the only home run of the series from either team coming from the light hitting Willie Grace (a mid-season replacement for Lloyd Davenport, who jumped from the Negro Leagues to Mexico for an increase in salary), Trouppe again started things off with a double. After the bases were loaded, it was the starting pitcher, Bremmer, who came through with a walk-off, ground rule double to give Cleveland the 3-2 win.

With the series heading to Pittsburgh 2-0 after the first two games in Cleveland, the Buckeyes had their star pitcher set to start and he didn’t disappoint. George (Jeff) Jefferson kept the impressive offense of the Grays at bay with a complete game, three hit shut out. The Buckeyes scored three in the third and that was more than enough as they looked to sweep the series in four games. Despite winning just five games during the regular season, it was Frank Carswell on the bump for the fourth game of the series, with Bill Jefferson and Bremmer waiting to finish things off if the series continued. It would’t, as Carswell was also able to keep Homestead of the board, throwing a four hit, complete game shut out. The Buckeyes scored a couple early after an error (the Grays committed four in the series compared to Cleveland’s one) and they wouldn’t need any more, but scored a few insurance runs in the fourth and seventh to make sure. With the sweep, the Buckeyes had brought Cleveland its first championship in 25 years, ushering in a new era that would see the Indians go to two World Series in the next ten years and even the Browns win a couple NFL titles.

*Official stats are hard to come by for Negro League Baseball due to unset schedules and poor record keeping. The stats used in this article come from The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues written by James A. Riley and Baseball-Reference.