Negro League legend to be inducted in N.O. Professional Baseball Hall of Fame

26th May 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

New Orleans University graduate and Negro Leagues legend Dave Malarcher on June 6 will become the second local segregation-era African-American figure inducted into the New Orleans Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

Malarcher and the other 2015 Hall of Fame will be ushered into the NOLA baseball institution at that evening’s New Orleans Zephyrs game against the Nashville Sounds. The Zephyrs, who are the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, sponsor the New Orleans Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Dave had an outstanding career,” said Tim Grubbs, the Zephyrs’ director of broadcasting. “He has all of the traits of who should be in the Hall of fame. As a coach, he led his teams to several championships. He deserves to be recognized for his hard work and dedication. I think the nickname ‘Gentleman Dave’ describes that he was a man of great character and had an outstanding reputation.”

Malarcher will be the second Negro Leagues figure to be inducted into the NOPGHOF, following Algiers native and trailblazing player Herbert Simpson’s entrance into the shrine in 2014.

A native of the modest St. James Parish town of Convent, Malarcher started playing semipro ball in New Orleans roughly a century ago when he arrived in the city to attend New Orleans University, one of the forerunner schools of modern-day Dillard University.

A smooth-fielding, clutch-hitting third baseman, Malarcher graduated from NOU and served in the military in Europe during World War I before returning to the States and hitting the African-American baseball big time with the Indianapolis ABCs.

By the early 1920s, he was holding down the hot corner for the powerful Chicago American Giants, where he also learned the finer points of being a manager from legendary pitcher, owner and executive Andrew “Rube” Foster, who helped found the first Negro National League in 1920.

After Foster’s health deteriorated, Malarcher took over as the American Giants’ manager and guided the squad to three Negro National League pennants as well as Negro World Series titles in 1926 and ‘27.

Along the way, Malarcher earned the nickname “Gentleman Dave” because of his to-a-fault politeness and sportsmanship who adapted Foster’s heady, smart brand of “small ball” to his own personality and management style.

In addition, as an NOU graduate, Malarcher was an extremely well read intellectual who composed poetry extensively, even publishing several of his epic-length poems. But Malarcher’s courtly personality and character belied a ferocious desire to win on the field as well.

While Malarcher himself never had children, his memory is kept alive by numerous other relatives, especially grand nephews and nieces, one of whom is Gloria Malarcher Youngblood, who expressed a great deal of pride for her great uncle.

“It’s truly an honor,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful that somebody in my family, especially my Uncle Dave, is being honored like this.

Since its first class was inducted in 2005, the New Orleans Professional Baseball Hall of Fame has struggled to induct Negro League players, managers and executives because of logistical concerns that have slowly been solved, said Derby Gisclair, a founder of the Hall of Fame and president of the Pelican-Schott chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.

“The greater New Orleans area has been a source of tremendous baseball talent since the 19th century and continues in that tradition today,” Gisclair said. “To the greatest extent possible, we wanted to induct those ballplayers who were still living so that they and their families would enjoy the recognition they so richly deserve.

“Our principal delay in recognizing players from the Negro League era was two-fold,” he added. “First and foremost, no one really had any information regarding these players and their achievements. Statistics for the Negro Leagues are difficult to come by, so we really lacked any serious knowledge about their careers. This dearth of information still plagues us today.

“Secondly, we had no contact information for these fellows or their families, no knowledge whether they were still living and, if so, where might we find them. It wasn’t until Ryan Whirty approached us regarding his research into the local Negro Leagues that we had a glimmer of hope of being able to make any inroads on this front.”

Now that progress has been made on both fronts, the Zephyrs and the NOPBHOF will remain committed to working with the community to induct additional Negro Leagues figures, Grubbs said.

“The challenge is without a doubt identifying players and coaches that deserve to be recognized,” he said. “The goal of our Hall of Fame is for baseball fans to come to Zephyr Field and see players’, coaches’ and administrators’ plaques on the wall that have had an outstanding career and achievements in baseball. We want them to be recognized.”

After stepping away from the game, Malarcher retired to Chicago, where he became a successful real estate agent and continued to stay in touch with former Negro Leagues colleagues and advocate for the induction of pre-integration African-American players into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

He died in 1982 and was buried in his native Convent, where much of his extended family still lives.

Much of that family will make the trip from St. James Parish to New Orleans for the induction ceremony June 6, said Gloria Malarcher Youngblood, who was honored that Gentleman Dave’s relatives are thrilled with the event.

“He deserves it,” she said. “It couldn’t happen to a better person.”

This article originally published in the May 25, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.