Top Ten Black First Basemen of All Time Part 2

This is the fourth article in a series where the top ten Black baseball players at each position will be ranked.

Introduction

Some of these lists will include active players, and you may be surprised by some of my additions and omissions. I hope to spark debate and discussion of Black baseball players of the past and present with my writing, especially by baseball fans who are a part of the African diaspora.

The careers of those who played in the Negro Leagues, Latin America, and the Caribbean before the integration of MLB will be included. Black baseball players who have worn MLB uniforms will be featured as well.

Because of the lack of statistical data for Negro Leagues players, firsthand and secondhand accounts will play a significant part in these rankings. Surface level and advanced statistics will be present, so I hope those who strongly prefer one or the other are satisfied with my assessments.

The position player rankings will be much more difficult but rewarding and exciting, so I wanted to get those out of the way first. I will start with the catcher position and go in order based on each position's assigned number. There will be separate lists for Black starting pitchers and Black relievers, published last.

The Top Ten First Basemen of All Time (#5 - #1)

5. Eddie Murray

“His game never has been one of knock-’em-dead showmanship, but of delicious subtlety and nuance. And an unwavering focus on singular goals — a strict attention to, and the repetition of, the smallest of details, executed game after game, year after year, with a wonderous mechanical efficiency. It is a game so blatantly understated, so incredibly unpretentious, that it has made Eddie Murray the most underrated and misunderstood player of his generation.” — Michael P. Geffner

The all-time leader in defensive appearances as a first baseman, “Steady” Eddie Murray is one of the most iconic and visible players to man the cold corner. He has one of the most complete skillsets and accolade-filled careers of any of the players on this list. He won the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year Award, 8x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger winner, 3x Gold Glove Winner, 1x batting champion, and a World Series champion in 1983.

Murray was born in 1956 and raised in the Watts section of Los Angeles, California as the eighth of 12 children, seven girls and five boys. His parents moved to California from Mississippi during the second wave of The African-American Great Migration in the mid-1940s. All four of Eddie’s brothers played in the minor leagues and one of them made a brief cameo in MLB for parts of two seasons with the San Francisco Giants.

Ozzie Smith Jr. & Eddie Murray as teammates at Locke HS in 1973

He didn’t begin playing high school baseball until his senior year and was teammates with fellow switch-hitting Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith Jr. at Locke High School. Despite this, Murray was still selected in the 3rd round of the 1973 MLB Draft directly out of high school by the Baltimore Orioles. Originally just a right-handed hitter, he tore through the lower levels of the minors during his first two years in MiLB.

During an extended slump in the 1975 season while with the Orioles Double-A affiliate, he began switch-hitting at the suggestion of his manager and former big leaguer Jimmie Schafer. Despite skepticism and extreme concern from the front office, Murray was adamant about following through with the experiment. During his first professional plate appearance as a left-handed hitter, he got a hit.

The Hall of Famer made his MLB debut during the 1977 season, going .283/.333/.470 across 160 games for a 97-win Orioles club that finished second in the AL East. He finished fourth in wRC+, fifth in fWAR, first in home runs, and second in doubles amongst 57 qualified rookies, winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award. He quickly established himself as one of the best first basemen in MLB by the end of the 1970s, making his first All-Star appearance in 1978. He helped the Orioles reach the 1979 World Series after winning 102 games to win the AL East where they lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

During the 1980s Murray was second in games played, second in hits, third in home runs, sixth in doubles, first in RBI, and eighth in walks logged by an individual player. His .293/.374/.497 slash line for the decade across 6437 plate appearances grades out to a 139 wRC+. He made six consecutive All-Star appearances between 1981 and 1986 and was a core piece of the Orioles team that won the 1983 World Series. In between the 1985 and 1986 seasons the Orioles front office made him the highest-paid baseball player in the world with a five-year extension worth $13 million dollars. He finished top ten in AL MVP votes for six consecutive seasons which included back-to-back years in second place for the decade.

He was traded from Baltimore to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1988 season and spent three years with his hometown ball club wearing Dodger Blue before a two-year stint with the New York Mets. He then signed with the Cleveland Indians before the 1994 season and played there before being traded back to Baltimore in 1996. During his final season in 1997, the kid from Watts coincidentally played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels before retiring.

Murray finished his career as the third member of the 3000 hits/500 home runs club after Willie Mays and Henry Aaron and there have only been three players to achieve the feat since. He has 12 seasons with at least 170 hits and 12 seasons with at least 25 home runs. He is the all-time leader for RBI driven in and is second in total hits as a switch hitter. He is 11th amongst all MLB players in total bases and RBI while being 22nd in total extra-base hits. He played in 150 games in 16 of his 21 seasons and is among only 10 players in MLB history to have played in at least 3000 games.

4. George “Mule” Suttles

“He didn’t get the ballyhoo that Satchel and Josh got. They were the ones who it seemed all the sports writers put the praise on. Mule Suttles was a powerful hitter. I can’t fathom why he didn’t get the publicity they got. He was a laid-back person. He didn’t do much talking. He wasn’t the boastful type. Sometimes the better players get overlooked.” - Squire Moore

Born in 1901 and raised in coal mining towns strewn across rural Alabama, George “Mule” Suttles dominated the Negro Leagues, California Winter League, and Cuban Winter League. He played with and against individuals such as Martín Dihigo, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Biz Mackie. While Buck Leonard was more well-known due to his proximity to Josh Gibson, Suttles had a lower profile because of his standing as a quiet, gentle giant with an easygoing disposition despite being just as good.

He stood around 6’2’’, weighing around 250 pounds. His reputation for his immense strength preceded him as there is a popular but thoroughly debunked myth about the first baseman using 50-ounce bats. He had an official sponsorship with Hillerich & Bradsby Company, the entity that produces the famous Louisville Slugger bats. His specific model was a 36-inch, 36-ounce bat although sometimes he would have the weight tinkered with when ordering a batch.

His career started with the Birmingham Black Barons before his prolific stint with the St. Louis Stars, where he formed an elite trio with fellow Hall of Famers Willie Wells and Cool Papa Bell during the mid-to-late 20s and early 1930s. Suttles batted at least .340 in five consecutive seasons, also making a name for himself with the power that drew comparisons to Babe Ruth.

After playing for the Detroit Wolves and Washington Pilots in 1932 he played with the Chicago American Giants for three seasons. He was teammates with Hall of Famers Turkey Stearns, Bill Foster, and Willie Wells. From 1936 until his retirement in 1944 Suttles settled on the East Coast, playing for the Newark Eagles and New York Black Yankees. He would be an important mentor to second-generation Negro Leagues stars such as Monte Irvin, Larry Doby, and Don Newcombe.

A .339 hitter for his Negro Leagues career, Mule Suttles blended an elite combination of contact skills and power. A one-time Triple Crown winner and two-time batting champion, he posted an OPS over 1.000 in 11 seasons. Suttles posted a career .317 batting average in the integrated California Winter League, going against competition from MiLB, MLB, the Negro Leagues, and Latin American Winter Leagues.