Buster Clarkson
Encyclopedia
James Buster Clarkson better known as Buster or Bus Clarkson, was a baseball
player who played briefly in the major leagues
and had a long career in the Negro leagues
, the minor leagues
, and the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League
. He is also known as Buzz.
, where he grew up practicing baseball. In the Negro leagues, he played shortstop
for the Crawfords
in Pittsburgh in 1937–38, in Toledo
in 1939, and in Indianapolis
in early 1940, where the team folded. He also briefly played in 1940 for the Newark Eagles
before signing with the Mexican League
, where he played in 1940–41 and 1946–47. In 1942 he returned to the Negro leagues, playing for the Philadelphia Stars
and hitting .360. He spent 1943–45 in the military service. He played part of the 1946 season with Philadelphia and returned to play with them again in 1949-50. In 1948, he played in the independent Canadian Provincial League.
In 1950 at age 35, Clarkson entered the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers
of the American Association
. He played third base
and shortstop, hitting .302 in 1950 and .343 in 1951.
In 1952, five years after Jackie Robinson
became the first African American
major leagues baseball player, Clarkson at age 37 had his only opportunity to play in the major leagues when he played fourteen games for the Boston Braves
. He managed to connect five hits in 25 at bats, with one RBI.
He spent the rest of 1952 in Milwaukee, hitting .318. In 1953–54, he played with Dallas
in the Texas League
, hitting .330 and .324. In 1954 he led the league with 42 home runs. In 1955 he played with the Los Angeles Angels
in the Pacific Coast League
and hit .294. The next year was his final season in the minors, as he played with Los Angeles, Tulsa
in the Texas League, and Des Moines
in the Western League
.
As a younger man, Clarkson went to the Caribbean
, where he became very well known, particularly in Puerto Rico
. Clarkson played in Puerto Rico's winter baseball league until he was in his 40s. It was at the age of 39, in early 1955, that he participated in the Caribbean Series, with the Santurce Crabbers. During the 1940s and 1950s, Clarkson was a resident of Puerto Rico, leading the Crabbers to a number of championships. The Crabbers took five years to win a new national title when the Caribbean Series was first played, in 1950.
With the Crabbers, Clarkson played alongside two young stars in the making: Roberto Clemente
and Willie Mays
. Clarkson helped the team win the 1955 national title, and become the first team representing Puerto Rico to win a Caribbean Series championship.
After his retirement, Buster Clarkson led a relatively quiet life in Pennsylvania
, until his death, on January 18, 1989, in the small town of Jeannette
. His remains are buried at the Brush Creek Cemetery, in nearby Irwin
.
Some of the artifacts he used as a baseball player are on exhibition at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
.
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player who played briefly in the major leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and had a long career in the Negro leagues
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
, the minor leagues
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
, and the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League
Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League
The Puerto Rico Baseball League formerly known as Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico or LBPPR, is the main professional baseball league in Puerto Rico. In 2007, the LBPPR recessed for the first time since its creation...
. He is also known as Buzz.
Playing career
Clarkson was a native of Hopkins, South CarolinaHopkins, South Carolina
Hopkins is an unincorporated community in Richland County, South Carolina, United States that was founded in circa 1836 named after John Hopkins...
, where he grew up practicing baseball. In the Negro leagues, he played shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
for the Crawfords
Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords were originally a youth semipro team sponsored by...
in Pittsburgh in 1937–38, in Toledo
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
in 1939, and in Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
in early 1940, where the team folded. He also briefly played in 1940 for the Newark Eagles
Newark Eagles
The Newark Eagles was a professional Negro league baseball team that played in the second Negro National League from 1936 to 1948.- Formation :...
before signing with the Mexican League
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol
The Mexican League is a summer minor league baseball league with teams based across Mexico. Along with the International League and the Pacific Coast League, it is one of three leagues playing at the triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It is the only Minor League...
, where he played in 1940–41 and 1946–47. In 1942 he returned to the Negro leagues, playing for the Philadelphia Stars
Philadelphia Stars (baseball)
The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930...
and hitting .360. He spent 1943–45 in the military service. He played part of the 1946 season with Philadelphia and returned to play with them again in 1949-50. In 1948, he played in the independent Canadian Provincial League.
In 1950 at age 35, Clarkson entered the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers (minor league baseball team)
The Milwaukee Brewers were a Minor League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They played in the American Association from 1902 through 1952.-A Milwaukee Tradition:...
of the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
. He played third base
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
and shortstop, hitting .302 in 1950 and .343 in 1951.
In 1952, five years after Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
became the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
major leagues baseball player, Clarkson at age 37 had his only opportunity to play in the major leagues when he played fourteen games for the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
. He managed to connect five hits in 25 at bats, with one RBI.
He spent the rest of 1952 in Milwaukee, hitting .318. In 1953–54, he played with Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
in the Texas League
Texas League
The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
, hitting .330 and .324. In 1954 he led the league with 42 home runs. In 1955 he played with the Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels (PCL)
The Los Angeles Angels were a team based in Los Angeles, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1957, after which they transferred to Spokane, Washington to become the Spokane Indians. Los Angeles would later become the host city to a Major League Baseball team, the...
in the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
and hit .294. The next year was his final season in the minors, as he played with Los Angeles, Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
in the Texas League, and Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
in the Western League
Western League (defunct minor league)
The Western League is a name given to several circuits in American minor league baseball. Its earliest progenitor, which existed from 1885 to 1899, was the predecessor of the American League...
.
As a younger man, Clarkson went to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, where he became very well known, particularly in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Clarkson played in Puerto Rico's winter baseball league until he was in his 40s. It was at the age of 39, in early 1955, that he participated in the Caribbean Series, with the Santurce Crabbers. During the 1940s and 1950s, Clarkson was a resident of Puerto Rico, leading the Crabbers to a number of championships. The Crabbers took five years to win a new national title when the Caribbean Series was first played, in 1950.
With the Crabbers, Clarkson played alongside two young stars in the making: Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball right fielder. He was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. Clemente played his entire 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates . He was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in...
and Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
. Clarkson helped the team win the 1955 national title, and become the first team representing Puerto Rico to win a Caribbean Series championship.
After his retirement, Buster Clarkson led a relatively quiet life in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, until his death, on January 18, 1989, in the small town of Jeannette
Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,788 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Jeannette is located at ....
. His remains are buried at the Brush Creek Cemetery, in nearby Irwin
Irwin, Pennsylvania
Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, electrical goods, and mirror factories provided...
.
Some of the artifacts he used as a baseball player are on exhibition at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri.-History:The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 by a group of former Negro Leagues baseball players, including Kansas City Monarchs outfielder, Alfred Surratt, Buck O'Neil, and Horace Peterson...
.