totally random, vol. 2.5

Today’s subject: Rufus Lewis. Lewis, a high school baseball and football star in Hattiesburg and an Army veteran, pitched in the Negro Leagues after Jackie Robinson broke the “organized baseball” color line. Lewis, a right-hander, posted an 18-3 record for the 1946 Newark Eagles and also won Game 7 of the Negro Leagues World Series that year. In 1948, he started in the East-West All-Star Game, quite a notable honor. He never got a shot at the major leagues but did pitch in the minors in 1952, at age 33, in the Arizona-Texas League. That was his final season in pro ball.
P.S. There were reports last week that Nettleton native Bill Hall was talking with the New York Yankees about a minor league deal, but there has been no word of an agreement. Hall hit .211 without much of his trademark power during brief stints with Houston and San Francisco last year.