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Negro Leaguer of the Month  Negro Leaguer of the Month Turkey, according to fellow Negro Leaguers, "played a whole lotta center field." In other words, he had great range. Turkey, who got his nickname from the way he ran, had great foot speed, and caught everything he got to. Many compared him favorably to Willie Mays. It was hitting the long ball, though, that Turkey was most noted for. Built slender and muscular, like a left-handed Eric Davis, Stearnes used an odd batting stance, somewhat like a combination of Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski, to produce tremendous bat speed. Stearnes is credited with hitting more career homers (181) in Negro League play than Josh Gibson. Stearnes hit for a high average, too! According to one report, Stearnes once collected seven consecutive hits of the nearly unhittable Satchel Paige, and he also hit over .350 against Major Leaguers in exhibitions. The man could hit! And Turkey didn't just hit great numbers of homers (he led his league seven times!), but he also hit them far! Stearnes grew up in Nashville and went to Pearl High School where he played pitcher on the baseball team. Stearnes first played for money with his hometown Nashville Elite Giants of the Negro Southern League. In 1921, Stearnes played with the independent Montgomery (Alabama) Grey Sox, who also boasted Steel Arm Dickey, but Turkey struggled at bat in limited time. In 1923, Stearnes made it to the big time--the Negro National League--with the Detroit Stars, and played with them for seven years straight, and nine seasons over his career. With Detroit, Stearnes became one of the top power hitters in baseball, averaging a homer every 16 at bats, the same rate that Hank Aaron and Lou Gehrig boasted. After short stints with the New York Lincoln Giants and Kansas City Monarchs, Stearnes spent several seasons with the Chicago American Giants where he continued to slug over .500. In the first East-West All-Star game in 1933, Stearnes was the leading vote-getter among outfielders, and drew more votes that all players except pitcher Willie Foster and first baseman Oscar Charleston. Leading off and representing the Chicago American Giants, Stearnes went two for five with a double as his West squad won, 11-7. In 1934, Stearnes was recruited to play with the Kansas City Monarchs when they entered the Denver Post Tournament. Though they lost in the final to the white House of David team (with the addition of Satchel Paige!), Stearnes was named the best player of the tournament, leading his team with eight hits and three doubles in seven games. Each player on the Monarchs made $150 in prize money for their work, about $2500 in today's dollars! Turkey was a quiet man who didn't "run with the other ball players much," according to teammates, but instead concentrated fully on baseball. Turkey had a few idiosyncrasies, including talking to his bat and not allowing anyone else to use it, and was known as a vicious slider. Turkey married the niece of Negro League star Double Duty Radcliffe. This soft-spoken superstar finally received the recognition he deserved when he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in July, 2000.
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