Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams

16. Remembrance of Players Past

16 Remembrance of Players Past As part of growing up, children should view parents as strong and sacred, powerful and everlasting, perpetually vibrant and joyful. At least, that's how my brothers and sisters and I saw ours. And it was good. Besides our parents, we had others we perceived as larger than life: King Tut, Buster Haywood, BunnyDowns, Verdes Drake, Speed Merchant, Ray Neilmen the heart of the Clowns, a "great group of men:' remembered forever strong and young, sacred and, above all, joyful, always deflecting the worst the road had to offer, taking the extra base, slashing one more line drive, earning one more massive ovation. And with them-cigarette between teeth, record ash curled-charting it all in his scorebook on the bench in the dugout, Dad. Second baseman Ray Neil and shortstop Jim Oliver, friends from Florida, joined the Cincinnati Ethiopian Clowns to start the 1942 season. They grew up together a double-play combination in St. Petersburg, Florida. Oliver played short until he went into the service. When he came out, he signed a contract with the Cleveland Buckeyes but wanted to play for the Clowns. Dad found an inequity in the standard Buckeye contract, and C. Richard Fulmer, the Clowns' Indianapolis lawyer, persuaded Cleveland to transfer Oliver's contract to the Clowns. Oliver covered plenty of ground, and his powerful arm beat runners from deep in any hole. Homesick daily throughout his career, Oliver constantly missed his wife, who never wanted him to travel, and he left the Clowns for home, having played a total of less than three full seasons. But while Oliver was with the Clowns, according to John "Buck" O'Neil of the Monarchs, "Neil and Oliver were as good a double-play combination as ever played baseball:' 162 PAR T F 0 U R THE FOR TIE 5 Most often, Ray Neil is the first player mentioned by those recalling the Clowns. He was a quiet, determined leader, who played the game smoothly and hard. He was as great with the glove as with the bat and as great on the basepaths. One winter in Venezuela, Neil set a record that might never be broken. He had 19 putouts and assists in a single game without an error. He was as fine a second baseman as ever played the sport. Tut was loved as the joy of black baseball. Henry "Speed"Merchant too was loved, not just because he was a great player, but because he was happy. To Merchant, life was a rally about to start, soon as the next Clowns hitter entered the batter's box. Fans loved him because if black baseball was played on the run, Merchant galloped. If the Clowns played with fire, Merchant was an explosion, a conflagration. Recalling Merchant's chronic "soft cough" and occasional shortness of breath, Jim Colzie said, "Some thought Merchant had TB. Way I see it, fast as he was, he sometimes outran his own breath is alI:' John "Buck" O'Neil said, "Merchant ran like poetry; Merchant running was a thing of beauty. Only Jesse Owens was as beautiful to watch. Merchant was every bit as fast as Cool Papa Bell or Tetelo Vargas:' Clowns 1945 infielder Leroy Cromartie called Speed Merchant one of the greatest players he ever saw. "He could field, hit and throw with the best:' Cromartie said. "And he ran like no one else. Long, long strides. He skimmed the ground like a piston-driven machine:' My brother Don could not pick an all-time major league-Negro league team without including Merchant. Buster Haywood said, "Merchant made great catches coming in and going out. He was a great ballplayer with quick moves. He was always on his own to run. Often scored from second on an infield groundout:' Sam Hairston was surprised no major league team signed Merchant after integration. "Sure, he was older, but he had the perfect baseball body, the perfect baseball hands, and Good Lord, could that man run:' Hall of Farner Monte Irvin, who played for years with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, considered Merchant the best of all Clowns players. During the war, when Goose and Peanuts were in the service, Merchant REM E M BRA NeE 0 F P LAY E R SPA S T 163 performed the fishing and dentist sketches with Tut, and Buster Haywood recalls a serious moment the...