Today: James “Red” Moore

Claim to fame: He’s one of the last survivors from the Negro Leagues, a slick-fielding first baseman who played five seasons for the Atlanta Black Crackers, and against Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. He also played for the Newark Eagles and the Baltimore Elite Giants, where he roomed with a stocky teammate named Roy Campanella. A 1939 graduate of Washington High, Moore was inducted into the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. The AJC’s Darryl Maxie caught up with him.

About the Black Crackers

“I was fortunate to play for the Atlanta Black Crackers. We used to play against white teams. They used to play us after their season was over. We did that until 1940, when Commissioner [Kenesaw Mountain] Landis stopped it. He said black players would never play in the major leagues while he was commissioner. We were beating them as much as they were beating us. Some of the white fans at the game would ask us, ‘Why aren’t you in the major leagues?’ “

About becoming ‘Cuban’

“I was kind of light-skinned and some said, ‘You should go to Cuba and learn how to speak Spanish and then come back and try’ to play in the majors. I told them as many people as had seen me and knew me … I never would’ve gotten away with that. … Before Castro took over, Cubans would play baseball teams over here. But when communism came and Castro took over, he stopped all those players from coming over.”

About suffering bigots

“By being Southern, I could take it because I was brought up that way. A lot of the Northern players got upset when they were called [epithet ]. My mama told me how things were, but some fellas from above the Mason-Dixon line, they’d come down here and travel around and [when playing against white teams] would hear things like, ‘If you beat my boys, we’re going run you out of town. And some boys would get teed off. But God ain’t looking at color. If you need Type O blood, they’re going to take mine like they would anyone else’s.”

About what Negro Leagues lost with integration

“When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and white owners weren’t afraid of having colored ballplayers, the better ballplayers [in the Negro Leagues] were phased out. That helped some, but it hurt more than it helped. Back then, there was a black American League and a black National League and they had six teams each, so that was 12 teams. When the majors started taking black ballplayers, the Negro American and the Negro National didn’t have enough players to form a league; by then they were just barnstorming. That’s why I say it hurt more than it helped.”

About his flashy first-base play

“Everybody used to say I was pretty fancy. I learned to catch the ball behind my back. People would come out early to see that. [After flubbing one in a game] I stopped doing that in games, I just did it before the game. I never will forget Leon Day [a pitcher] on the Newark team. Leon said, ‘If we had lost that game, I was going to beat you.’ So I’m glad we won. But he and Satchel Paige used to hook up in some battles.”

Vital stats

Age: 92

Resides: Oakland City

Family: Wife, Mary (17 years).

Occupation: Retired almost 28 years from job as warehouse foreman, which followed his career in the Negro Leagues.