occupation bill gatewood
In baseball , the pitcher is the player who throws the baseball from the pitcher ' s mound toward the catcher to begin each play , with the goal of retiring a batter , who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk . In the numbering system used to record defensive plays , the pitcher is assigned the number 1 . The pitcher is often considered the most important defensive player , and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum . There are many different types of pitchers , such as the starting pitcher , ___MASK79___ , middle reliever , lefty specialist , setup man , and closer . The Birmingham Black Barons played professional baseball for Birmingham , Alabama , in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1960 when the ___MASK65___ Leagues successfully integrated . They alternated home stands with the Birmingham Barons in Birmingham ' s Rickwood Field , usually ___MASK33___ larger crowds and equal press . The Chicago Giants were a professional baseball team based in Chicago , Illinois which played in the Negro leagues . Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races . This is most commonly used in reference to the United States . Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement , both before and after the United States Supreme Court ' s decision in " Brown v . Board of Education ", particularly desegregation of the school systems and the ___MASK2___ (" See ___MASK2___ history of African Americans "). Racial integration of society was a closely related goal . The Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930 . William Miller `` Big Bill '' Gatewood ( born August 22 , 1881 ) was a Negro Leagues pitcher and ___MASK20___ for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League , and in its first few seasons . He pitched for the Leland Giants , Chicago Giants , St . Paul Colored Gophers , Chicago American Giants , New York Lincoln Giants , Cuban X - Giants , Philadelphia Giants , Brooklyn Royal Giants , St . Louis Giants , Indianapolis ABCs , Detroit Stars , St . Louis Stars , Toledo Tigers , Milwaukee Bears , Memphis Red Sox , Atlantic City Bacharach Giants , and Birmingham Black Barons . The Toledo Tigers were a Negro National League team that operated during the season , its only season in the league , representing Toledo , Ohio . It played its home games at Toledo ' s Swayne Field , home of the minor league Mud Hens . The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans and , to a lesser extent , Latin 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 1920 that are sometimes termed " Negro ___MASK65___ Leagues ". ___MASK24___ Solomon " Sol " White ( June 12 , 1868 - August 26 , 1955 ) was an American professional baseball infielder , manager and executive , and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues . An active sportswriter for many years , he wrote the first definitive history of black baseball in 1907 . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 . The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911 . From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball , winning five eastern championships in six years . The team was organized by Sol White , H . Walter Schlichter , and Harry Smith . The Leland Giants , originally the Chicago Union Giants , were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century . The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Giants in 1901 , and then split in 1910 to form the Chicago Giants and what would become known as the Chicago American Giants . The team was named after its owner and ___MASK20___ , Frank Leland . Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States , achieving statehood in 1818 . It is the 5th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area , and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country . The word " Illinois " comes from the Algonquin word for " tribe of superior men ". With Chicago in the northeast , small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois , and natural resources like coal , timber , and petroleum in the south , Illinois has a diverse economic base and is a ___MASK65___ transportation hub . The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes , via the ___MASK52___ Lawrence Seaway , to the Atlantic Ocean , as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River , via the Illinois River . For decades , O ' Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world ' s busiest airports . Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics . In baseball and softball , a ___MASK79___ or reliever is a pitcher who enters the ___MASK14___ after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury , ineffectiveness , fatigue , ejection , or for other strategic reasons , such as being substituted by a pinch hitter . Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles , such as closers , set - up relief pitchers , middle relief pitchers , left / right - handed specialists , and long relievers . Whereas starting pitchers usually rest several days before pitching in a ___MASK14___ again due to the number of pitches thrown , relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch more games but with fewer innings pitched . A team ' s staff of relievers is normally referred to metonymically as a team ' s bullpen , which refers to the area where the relievers sit during games , and where they warm - up ___MASK12___ to entering the ___MASK14___ . World War I ( WWI or WW1 ), also known as the First World War , or the Great War , was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 . More than 70 million ___MASK53___ , including 60 million Europeans , were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history . Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war ( including the victims of a number of genocides ), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents ' technological and industrial sophistication , and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare . It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , and paved the way for major political changes , including revolutions in many of the nations involved . James Raleigh " Biz " Mackey ( July 27 , 1897  September 22 , 1965 ) was an American catcher and ___MASK20___ in Negro league baseball . He played for the Indianapolis ABC ' s ( 1920  22 ), New York Lincoln Giants ( 1920 ), Hilldale Daisies ( 1923  31 ), Philadelphia Royal Giants ( 1925 ), Philadelphia Stars ( 1933  35 ), Washington and Baltimore Elite Giants ( 1936  39 ), and Newark Dodgers / Eagles ( 1935 , 1939  41 , 1945  47 , 1950 ). The Birmingham Barons are a minor league baseball team based in Birmingham , Alabama . The team , which plays in the Southern League , is the Double - A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox ___MASK65___ - league club and play most of their games at Regions Field in downtown . Frank C . Leland ( 1869  November 14 , 1914 ) was an African - American ___MASK93___ , field manager and club owner in the Negro Leagues . Rickwood Field , located in Birmingham , Alabama , is the oldest professional baseball park in the United States . It was built for the Birmingham Barons in 1910 by industrialist and team - owner Rick Woodward and has served as the home park for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues . Though the Barons moved their home games to the Hoover Met in the suburbs , and most recently to Regions Field in Birmingham , Rickwood Field has been preserved and is undergoing gradual restoration as a " working museum " where baseball ' s history can be experienced , the Barons also play one regular season ___MASK14___ a year at Rickwood Field . Rickwood Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Catcher is a position for a baseball or ___MASK91___ . When a batter takes his / her turn to hit , the catcher crouches behind home plate , in front of the ( home ) umpire , and receives the ball from the pitcher . In addition to this primary duty , the catcher is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field the position well . The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket - keeper in cricket . The Columbia Giants were a professional , black baseball team based in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century , ___MASK12___ to the Negro leagues . Baseball is a bat - and - ball ___MASK14___ played between two teams of nine players each , who take turns batting and fielding . The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn , New York . Formed in 1905 by John Conner , owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe , the team initially played against white semi - pro teams . They were one of the prominent independent teams ___MASK12___ to World War I before organized league play began . Chicago ( or ), officially the City of Chicago , is the third - most populous city in the United States , and the fifth - most populous city in North America . With over 2 . 7 million residents , it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States , and the county seat of ___MASK61___ County . The Chicago metropolitan area , often referred to as Chicagoland , has nearly 10 million people and is the third - largest in the U . S . The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter ___MASK95___ of the first Negro National League ( NNL ). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916 , and finished second in the 1922 NNL . Among their best players were Baseball Hall of Fame members Oscar Charleston , Biz Mackey , and Ben Taylor . Toledo is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County , Ohio , United States . Toledo is in northwest Ohio , at the western end of Lake Erie bordering the state of Michigan . The city was founded by United States citizens in 1833 on the west ___MASK37___ of the Maumee River , and originally incorporated as part of Monroe County , Michigan Territory . It was re - founded in 1837 , after conclusion of the Toledo War , when it was incorporated in Ohio . The St . Paul Colored Gophers was a small club of black baseball players formed in St . Paul , Minnesota in 1907 . They were not a formal Negro league team , as the commonly referred - to " Negro leagues " were not created until 1920 . However , like other barnstorming teams of the time , they put considerable pressure on the desegregation of baseball . Historians rarely mention the Colored Gophers in Negro baseball history , and statistics are hard to find . The City of New York , often called New York City or simply New York , is the most populous city in the United States . With an estimated 2015 population of 8 , 550 , 405 distributed over a land area of just , New York City is also the most densely populated ___MASK65___ city in the United States . Located at the southern tip of the state of New York , the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area , one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world . A global power city , New York City exerts a significant impact upon commerce , finance , media , art , fashion , ___MASK60___ , technology , education , and ___MASK78___ , its fast pace defining the term " New York minute ". Home to the headquarters of the United Nations , New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world . The Cuban X - Giants were an African - American professional baseball team that played from 1896 to 1906 . Originally most of the players were former Cuban Giants , or ex - Giants . Like the Cuban Giants , the original players were not Cuban ( though the team would later sign Cuban players ). Edward B . Lamar Jr . served as ___MASK59___ for the team . The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago - based Negro league baseball team , owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player - ___MASK20___ Andrew " Rube " Foster . From 1910 until the mid - 1930s , the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball . Charter members of Foster ' s Negro National League , the American Giants won five pennants in that league , along with another pennant in the 1932 Negro Southern League and a second - half championship in Gus Greenlee ' s Negro National League in 1934 . The team was disbanded in 1952 . Oscar McKinley Charleston ( October 14 , 1896  October 5 , 1954 ) was an American center fielder and ___MASK20___ in baseball ' s Negro leagues from to . The Chicago Unions were a professional , black baseball team that played in the late 19th century , ___MASK12___ to the formation of the Negro leagues . In baseball ( hardball or softball ), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the ___MASK14___ for each team . A pitcher is credited with a ___MASK14___ started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent ' s first batter of a ___MASK14___ . A pitcher who enters the ___MASK14___ after the first pitch of the ___MASK14___ is a relief pitcher . Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the ___MASK14___ , although their ability to do this depends on many factors , including effectiveness , stamina , health , and strategy .