Baseball fans will enjoy reading this article on Monte
Irvin, written by columnist Richard Justice for today's Houston Chronicle.
Three pieces of trivia (from the article):
1) Irvin, 91, was married for 62 years and now resides in Houston.
2) Irvin, who played for the Newark Eagles, is one of only four living Negro League players to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. The other three? Hank Aaron (Indianapolis Clowns), Ernie Banks (Kansas City Monarchs), and Willie Mays (Birmingham Black Barons).
3) Irvin is the answer to this question: Who made the only out in the bottom of the ninth inning in the Giants-Dodgers game on October 3, 1951, before Bobby Thomson hit the "shot heard 'round the world"?
Pictured: Monte Irvin, card #3 in the Topps 1954 set (no doubt worth a pretty penny on today's market, and probably one of many cards in those shoeboxes that magically disappeared from the days of our youth).
What about Billy Williams (most of career with Chicago Cubs plus couple of years at the end with Oakland A's)? He played for the Mobile Black Bears, a semi-pro team that was a Negro League farm team.
Interesting. You may be right. The story at this link suggests that it was Billy's brother (and perhaps other family members) who played for the Mobile Black Bears.
http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20040403&content_id=688664&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=null