Tommie Dukes Marquee

Tommie Dukes hit .301 in the games the record covers, which for a catcher of the era was unusual enough to be the reason clubs wanted him. He caught for the Nashville Elite Giants for three seasons and then for the Homestead Grays for five, arriving in 1935 just as their long run of pennants was beginning.

He batted left-handed and threw right, and he shared the Grays job with Josh Gibson, which limited his playing time in the way it limited every other catcher who passed through that clubhouse.

Born in Picayune, Mississippi in 1906, Dukes collected 253 hits with 13 home runs and 141 runs batted in across 257 recorded games. His death came in January 1991, at eighty-four.