1945
Championship Season - Second Half
The Second Half of the season has the Buckeyes winning two games in Kansas City
against the Monarchs on June 30th by the scores of 6-4 and 5-2. George Jefferson and Eugene
Bremer were the pitching stars for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes travel to Indianapolis on July 7th to play what amounted to an interleague
game against the New York Cubans of the Negro National League. They would play a double-
header against the Cubans in Indianapolis on Sunday the 8th. Both teams would travel to
Nashville and play single games on the 9th and 10th.
Limited newspaper stories of those games show that George and Willie Jefferson won
two of those games for the Buckeyes by defeating the Cubans 8-7 and 5-2. |
One of the Buckeyes stars is Parnell Woods, pictured here, who was the
team captain and third baseman. Through July 14th he led the Negro
American League with 13 stolen bases.
Clevelanders are excited about the first home game of the second
half of the season against the first half runners up, the Birmingham
Black Barons, who were hungry to take the second half crown in an
attempt to repeat as American League Champions, the title the Barons
won in 1944.
After a doubleheader in Louisville on July 15th that the teams split,
the Buckeyes and Black Barons were scheduled to play Monday night
July 16th in Municipal Stadium. This would be the first game they played
there during the 1945 season as their home games were usually played at
League Park. A record crowd was expected as part of the proceeds were
to go to the Future Outlook League building fund drive against juvenile
delinquency. Those that attended had a memorable evening.
Next - Summer in the City, Part Two |