Willie Wells Marquee Hall of Fame 1997

b. August 10, 1904 · St. Louis Stars 1924–1931, Chicago American Giants 1929, 1933–1935, Detroit Wolves 1932, Homestead Grays 1932, 1937, Kansas City Monarchs 1932, Newark Eagles 1936–1939, 1942, 1945, New York Black Yankees 1945–1946, Baltimore Elite Giants 1946, Cincinnati-Indianapolis Clowns 1947, Memphis Red Sox 1948

He led the Negro National League in runs in 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930, in hits in the last three of those, and in home runs in 1927, 1929 and 1930, hitting 29 in the middle year. He led in doubles three times and in runs batted in three times. He did all of it while playing 996 games at shortstop.

Across twenty-one seasons from 1924 he had 1,304 hits, 145 home runs, 863 runs batted in and 941 runs in 1,052 recorded games, batting .328. He was chosen for eight East-West All-Star games. The totals are partial: these statistics were not kept with the resources the white major leagues had.

He is credited with wearing the first batting helmet, a modified construction hat, after being beaned. He later managed the Newark Eagles, where Larry Doby and Monte Irvin played for him. The Veterans Committee elected him in 1997, eight years after he died.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Negro Leagues East-West Classic	8	1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1945

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1924	SLS	45	170	29	51	12	4	1	37	12	0	2	.300
1925	SLS	87	338	83	98	19	7	8	53	53	0	18	.290
1926	SLS	84	279	66	104	12	4	13	64	50	1	16	.373
1927	SLS	96	359	90	131	21	5	29	105	55	0	13	.365
1928	SLS	78	315	82	113	28	5	22	81	25	1	13	.359
1929	CAG/SLS	99	379	109	137	24	6	27	121	49	0	32	.361
1930	SLS	91	341	113	136	36	4	18	112	56	0	27	.399
1931	SLS	34	122	35	39	12	3	3	27	24	0	9	.320
1932	DW/HG/KCM	55	208	40	57	16	6	2	42	19	1	4	.274
1933	CAG	36	156	30	41	7	3	0	23	7	0	8	.263
1934	CAG	38	144	23	30	7	4	0	13	17	1	4	.208
1935	CAG	47	184	53	65	14	5	5	36	25	0	14	.353
1936	NE	29	111	24	35	6	1	2	12	12	1	0	.315
1937	HG/NE	32	120	32	39	9	5	3	27	12	1	2	.325
1938	NE	27	90	22	29	7	2	2	15	13	0	3	.322
1939	NE	38	150	31	40	4	0	3	21	19	3	4	.267
1942	NE	51	199	50	68	12	1	6	32	16	0	3	.342
1945	NBY/NE	27	100	13	25	6	0	0	10	9	0	1	.250
1946	BEG/NBY	62	229	23	67	13	3	1	38	21	0	2	.293
1947	CIC	6	19	2	6	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	.316
1948	MRS	6	17	6	8	2	1	0	3	2	1	1	.471
Career	—	1068	4030	956	1319	267	70	145	875	497	10	176	.327

Pitching, season by season

Year	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1945	NE	0	0	1	0	0	0.2	0	0	0	0	0.00
Career	—	0	0	1	0	0	0.2	0	0	0	0	0.00

On this day & linked events

1904

Born August 10, 1904

Shawnee, OK, USA

1989

Died January 22, 1989

1949

Final major-league game: Willie Wells

Willie Wells played a final major-league game on June 23, 1949.