Bill Greason

Bill Greason
Bill Greason
	Greason at Rickwood Field in 2006
	Pitcher
	Born: September 3, 1924 (age 99); Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
	Batted: Right Threw: Right
Professional debut
	NgL: 1948, for the Birmingham Black Barons
	MLB: May 31, 1954, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
	June 20, 1954, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Win–loss record	3–3
Earned run average	4.62
Strikeouts	36
Teams
	Negro leagues Birmingham Black Barons (1948–1951); Major League Baseball St. Louis Cardinals (1954);
Career highlights and awards
	NgL All-Star (1949);
Allegiance
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1943–1945, 1951–1952
Unit	V Amphibious Corps
Battles/wars	World War II (Battle of Iwo Jima); Korean War

William Henry Greason (born September 3, 1924) is an American former professional baseball player who years later became a Baptist minister in Birmingham, Alabama.^[2] Greason played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro leagues from 1948 to 1951 and for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League in 1954.

Early life

Greason was born in Atlanta, where, as he told a 2020 interviewer, "I grew up across the street from Martin Luther King Jr."^[3] Greason enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during World War II — one of the first black Marines^[4] — and did his basic training at Montford Point. He embarked with the 66th Supply Platoon, an all-black unit, for the Pacific Theater of Operations and took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima.^[4]^[5]

Negro league career

Greason was a 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 170 lb (77 kg) right-handed pitcher. After the war, he played professional baseball in the Negro leagues for the minor league Nashville Black Vols and Asheville Blues, and the major league Birmingham Black Barons,^[2] where he was a teammate of Willie Mays.^[5] According to Baseball Reference, Greason posted a 3–2 record in eight games pitched for the 1948 Black Barons, with four complete games, one shutout and one save, with an earned run average of 4.44. That season, in the last-ever Negro League World Series, he defeated the soon-to-be champion Homestead Grays to claim Birmingham's lone victory in the five-game series.^[4]

In 1950 and 1951, Greason also played for the Charros de Jalisco of the independent (outside "Organized Baseball"), racially integrated Mexican League.^[6]

National League career

In 1952, Greason joined minor league baseball as a member of the Oklahoma City Indians of the Double-A Texas League, where he won nine of his ten decisions and posted a 2.14 earned run average.^[6] Earlier that season, the Texas circuit had been integrated by another African-American pitcher, Dave Hoskins of the Dallas Eagles. On August 3, 1952, the two men faced each other in a game at Dallas that drew 11,000 fans, half of them from the black community; Greason won the game, 3–2.^[3]

Another successful year at Oklahoma City in 1953 led to Greason's acquisition by the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, where he would become the team's second African-American player, after Tom Alston.^[5]

He appeared in three games for the 1954 Cardinals, two as a starting pitcher. In his May 31 debut, he took the loss after allowing five earned runs and five hits over three innings in a rain-shortened game against the Chicago Cubs. In Greason's next start, he failed to record an out against the Philadelphia Phillies and allowed one earned run. In his final MLB game, he pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the New York Giants.^[7]

Altogether, Greason allowed eight hits and six earned runs in four MLB innings pitched, with four bases on balls and two strikeouts. He spent the remainder of his professional baseball career in the upper levels of the minor leagues in the Cardinal farm system, retiring after the 1959 campaign.

Ministry and later life

After his playing days, Greason became a member of the 16th Street Baptist Church. After his church was infamously bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, killing four children, on September 15, 1963, he studied for the ministry at Birmingham Baptist Bible College and Samford University. In 1971, he became pastor of Birmingham's Bethel Baptist Church Southside (later Bethel Baptist Church - Berney Points) where he continued to preach into 2023.^[4]

In 2011 Greason was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Alabama Black Achievement Awards Gala.^[8] In 2012, the Montford Point Marines, including Greason, were awarded a group Congressional Gold Medal.^[9]

As of June 2024, Greason is the second-oldest living major league player after Art Schallock.^[10] On June 20, 2024, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the MLB at Rickwood Field game.^[11]

Notes

^ On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".^[1] Greason's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues during his 1948 season.

References

^ "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'". MLB.com. December 16, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Negro League Baseball Players Association Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b Avallone, Michael (April 13, 2020). "Hoskins Broke Barriers in Texas League". mlb.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Lazar, Louie (June 4, 2023). "A Negro Leagues Star is Still Sharing His Story". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Powell, Larry, The Black Barons of Birmingham. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009, pp. 172-180
^ ^a ^b "Bill Greason". baseball-reference.com. Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
^ 1954 pitching log from Retrosheet
^ Birmingham Times online Archived March 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
^ Vergun, David. "Sports Heroes Who Served: Montford Point Marine Went From Iwo Jima to Major Leagues". US Department of Defense. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
^ Brown, Daniel. "Oldest MLB player turns 100: Roomed with Yogi Berra, stymied Ted Williams".
^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/06/19/bill-greason-negro-leagues/

External links

Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors) and Seamheads

[2] On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball declared the Negro leagues, from the span of 1920–1948, to be a "Major League".^[1] Greason's statistics reflect his time in the Negro leagues during his 1948 season.

[1] "MLB officially designates the Negro Leagues as 'Major League'". MLB.com. December 16, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2024.

[bill1-3] Negro League Baseball Players Association Archived September 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

[Hoskins-4] Avallone, Michael (April 13, 2020). "Hoskins Broke Barriers in Texas League". mlb.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.

[Lazar-5] Lazar, Louie (June 4, 2023). "A Negro Leagues Star is Still Sharing His Story". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2023.

[Bill2-6] Powell, Larry, The Black Barons of Birmingham. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009, pp. 172-180

[JHS2014-7] "Bill Greason". baseball-reference.com. Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 13, 2023.

[8] 1954 pitching log from Retrosheet

[9] Birmingham Times online Archived March 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

[10] Vergun, David. "Sports Heroes Who Served: Montford Point Marine Went From Iwo Jima to Major Leagues". US Department of Defense. Retrieved January 22, 2022.

[11] Brown, Daniel. "Oldest MLB player turns 100: Roomed with Yogi Berra, stymied Ted Williams".

[12] ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/06/19/bill-greason-negro-leagues/

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