Wilmer Fields

Pitcher / Outfielder / Third baseman

Born: August 2, 1922
Manassas, Virginia

Died: June 4, 2004 (aged 81)
Manassas, Virginia

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

debut

1940, for the Homestead Grays

Last appearance

1958, for the Diablos Rojos del México

Teams

Homestead Grays (1940–1942; 1946–1950)
Indios de Mayagüez (1947–'48–1950–'51)
Brantford Red Sox (1951; 1953–1955)
Cervecería Caracas (1950–'51–1951–'52)
Toronto Maple Leafs (1952)
Patriotas de Venezuela (1952–'53)
Estrellas de Oriente (1953–'54)
Fort Wayne Allen Dairymen (1956–1957)
Sultanes de Monterrey (1958)
Diablos Rojos del México (1958)

Career highlights and awards

Negro World Series championship (1948)
NBL East-West All-Star (1948)
Three-time Intercounty Baseball League MVP Award (1951; 1954–1955)
Puerto Rico Baseball League MVP Award (1948–1949)
Venezuela Baseball League MVP Award (1951–1952)
National Baseball Congress MVP Award (1956)
Colombian League MVP Award (1954–1955)
Caribbean Series All-Star team (1950)
Hit the first grand slam in Caribbean Series history (1949)
Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame induction (2001)

Wilmer Leon Fields (August 2, 1922 – June 4, 2004) was an African American baseball player who was a household name in the Negro Leagues and other baseball circuits between the 1940s and 1950s.

Born in Manassas, Virginia, Fields has been considered one of the most consistent, reliable and versatile two-way players in the Negro League and also in Canada and several Latin American leagues, including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Cuba, Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. In most leagues he was a pitcher, but played at third base or outfield in games when he was not scheduled to pitch. His consistent batting and pitching skills helped him capture the Most Valuable Player award on many occasions throughout the course of his distinguished career.

Fields possessed a running fastball complemented by a curve, a slider and eventually a knuckler, and he had average control of his pitches. He was often referred to as ″Red″, ″Bill″, or ″Chinky″.

At 6-foot 3-inches (1.92 m) and 220 pounds (100 kg), Fields played quarterback at Virginia State University in Petersburg, but left school when he was recruited to play for the Homestead Grays Negro League club in 1939. He spent his entire Negro League career with the Grays, but continued his college education in the off-seasons while also playing football and basketball.

The Grays were one of the finest teams in the Negro League, winning nine league championships before folding in the wake of desegregated professional baseball. They played many of their home games at the old Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. and some in Homestead, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh. After Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 season and broke the color line in Major League Baseball, the Negro Leagues struggled, starting to die off.

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Wikipedia