TUSCALOOSA, AL — “Big Train” Lavender.
It’s a baseball nickname that, for all its implied strength, is as smooth as the gradual, uncoiling windup of Walter Johnson that so many of us can envision, but can never say we’ve actually seen in real time. And I would wager it’s a name that most of you have never heard, either.
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George Otis Lavender’s size and power likely earned him his baseball nickname in the 1940s, as opposed to the pitching prowess made famous by the nickname’s forebear, who retired as the best pitcher in baseball history two decades before Lavender adopted the moniker.
And while stars of the time like Joe DiMaggio dated movie stars and made an annual salary of roughly $65,000 — nearly a million dollars when adjusted for inflation — Lavender played seemingly every day he could, living and dying in relative obscurity in the once-segregated Deep South.
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Mind you, by the time Lavender had what were arguably his best statistical seasons in the local Negro Leagues from 1946 to 1947, he would have no doubt been aware of the changes coming to the major league game with the ascent of Jackie Robinson. It’s unclear if he had any desire to follow in Robinson’s footsteps, but his passion for the game was undeniable.
In doing research ahead of Major League Baseball’s opening week — and Jackie Robinson Day coming up next week — I stumbled upon this forgotten local icon and set out to peel back the layers best I could to tell his story and give him the due credit he deserves as the best Tuscaloosa-area ballplayer you’ve never heard of.
Birth Of ‘The Big Train’
Alabama Citizen archives
According to a copy of his World War II draft card, Lavender was born on New Year’s Eve 1923 to George and Charlotte Lavender.
Census records from 1920 show the Lavender family, like many, moved around from rental property to rental property, spending time in nearby Greene County before eventually settling in Buhl on 27th Avenue. Those same records also show that George Sr. worked as a railroad laborer to support his family.
By multiple accounts, George Sr. seemed to want better for his numerous children and, in an instance rare for any race living below the poverty line at that time, George Jr. attended three years of high school at Tuscaloosa’s Industrial High School — a segregated school for Black students that was at the present location of Central Elementary School on 15th Street.
George Jr. was apparently a stellar athlete, too, excelling in both football and baseball during his high school years. But an ambitious love of sports would have to be put on hold when Uncle Sam came calling for Lavender and so many other young men with the onset of World War II.
He was 19 when he was drafted and listed his occupation as “unemployed/student,” due to enrolling at Tuskegee University. Despite having more formal education than most of his peers, he listed his skills as “warehousing, storekeeping, handling, loading, unloading, and related occupations.”
Little can be found about his service in the U.S. Army after being drafted in 1942, although the only clear picture found of Lavender, appearing in the Alabama Citizen newspaper, shows him in his dress uniform and hat sometime during his service, with the caption:
“Cpl. George Otis Lavender, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lavender, 17th Street, 27th Ave., is on duty somewheres with the U. S. Army overseas. Cpl. Lavender is a former student of Industrial High School and is well known in this city.”
Despite coming home alive and victorious from the war, Lavender was welcomed back not with a ticker-tape parade, but with segregation.
Still, this obviously didn’t stop the young man from returning to college, with one account in a local newspaper saying he was a three-year letterman at Tuskegee University in baseball and football. And on the side, like so many college athletes of the day, he made extra money playing on semipro, industrial league or local Negro League baseball teams.
This would have jeopardized his college eligibility had he been found out by school officials, so this could very well be — at least partially — the reason he and so many other ballplayers of all colors, took on colorful nicknames.
And, thus, a star was born.
A League Of Their Own
Negro Leagues baseball is one of the most fascinating and overlooked chapters not just in sports, but American history as a whole. To this reporter, it truly underscores the ills of racial segregation, as Herculean efforts were undertaken to bar African-Americans and Hispanics from the professional ranks, despite the obvious talent staring big league executives in the face.
While intentionally disorganized for various legitimate reasons, as many scholars have pointed out, the history of Negro Leagues baseball is a rich one, filled with colorful names, otherworldly talent and moments that would leave spectators slack-jawed.
Names like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Pop Lloyd, Cool Papa Bell, Rube Foster, Bullet Rogan, Turkey Stearnes and the list of legends goes on and on and on.
Baseball’s color barrier would not be broken by Jackie Robinson until April 15, 1947 and some teams, like the Boston Red Sox, still refused to sign Black players until as late as 1959. While many young Black men did have the desire to compete on the game’s biggest stage, some of the best baseball talent in the world was relegated to playing in hayfields, sandlots and segregated city parks. It’s not to say these games weren’t filled with fun and excitement, as many featured traveling comedy troupes and brass bands.
But one of the beautiful things about baseball is how the game doesn’t really change, no matter how hard we try. Indeed, a 450-foot home run goes the same distance whether it’s traveling over the Green Monster at Fenway Park or is lost among the dried stalks in some corn field in Greene County. There’s only one way to catch a fly ball and a 90 mph fastball doesn’t change speeds based on the pitcher’s color, creed or age.
And while, yes, the 1940s especially were a vitriolic time as color barriers were broken, it was also a kind of golden age for Black baseball, as Robinson — who was the best pure athlete in the country, regardless of race — suddenly made it seem like the big leagues were in reach for so many who had previously been denied.
It’s important to note that white-owned newspapers of the time steered clear of any mention of what they likely viewed as inferior baseball, but Black papers like the Alabama Citizen filled countless column inches with riveting tales from the various independent leagues across the state.
I also believe it’s fair to argue that few leagues in the region were as vibrant and beloved as the four-team Tuscaloosa County league consisting of the Tuscaloosa Red Sox, Tuscaloosa Grey Sox, Northport Yellow Jackets and the Holt Iron Men.
The league featured forgotten names like George “Snake” Lockett, Peewee Cross, Ulysses “Devil” Washington, Big Tappin and “Doc” Rochelle.
It was during the 1940s, too, that legendary Alabama football coach and athletic director Frank Thomas granted the league permission to use Denny Stadium to play some of its games — a thought easily outshined by the cathedral of a football stadium that now occupies its place.
The Tuscaloosa Red Sox, by all accounts, was easily the most dominant team of the 1940s. The team consisted of well-known local talent like infielder Manuel Reed and pitcher Bill “Little Willie” Croom Jr. — the brother of Rev. Sylvester Croom Sr., a talented football player himself whose son would become the first Black All-American for Bear Bryant and the first Black head football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
But no star shined quite as bright on those dusty old fields as Big Train Lavender — a power-hitting first baseman who left fans in awe everywhere he played.
Standing at 6-foot, 3-inches and weighing almost 200 pounds, Lavender was roughly the same dimensions as legendary slugger Ted Williams. While his height and weight might not be as eye-popping by today’s standards, he would have been a giant in his time, standing taller than the likes of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize.
He was also bigger than the original “Big Train” Walter Johnson, who barely stood six feet tall.
“‘Big Train’ as he is widely known by local sports fans who paid to see him perform miracles on the industrial gridiron during prep days, is hitting his old stride in knocking the apple all over the park,” a story said in the Alabama Citizen on June 7, 1947. “Last year, this army veteran hit a total of 27 home runs in nine games. The Red Sox brain trust is banking solidly on Lavender’s hitting to pull them through this season.”
Three home runs a game … for nine straight games. That’s one hell of an average, regardless of the level it occurred.
In article after article, Lavender stood out above the rest as the most talented player in the league. While he likely never got the attention of big-league scouts, he was showered with praise by the Black press for every win he was a part of and even some of the losses.
For instance, in a 1947 loss to coach Robert Hasson and the Northport Yellow Jackets, the reporter covering the game couldn’t help but note that Lavender failed to get on base — an occurrence difficult to fathom when reading the scores of other press clippings.
What’s more, in one 1948 account of a Red Sox loss to the Birmingham Black Barons junior squad, the lack of excitement in the 8-2 defeat was due primarily to the absence of Lavender from the Red Sox lineup. Even when he lost, didn’t play well or didn’t play at all, the papers took notice and couldn’t get enough of him.
As was common during the days of independent leagues, Lavender and others would also fill in for other teams in the region to earn money. A couple of instances even saw him cross state lines to play for the Morgan Tigers out of Columbus, Mississippi.
Joined by Tuscaloosa teammates Earnest Tate, J. C. Ike and James Chunker, the Tigers were a force to be reckoned with. It’s an interesting dynamic, too, considering on another occasion in that spring of 1946, the Tuscaloosa Red Sox and Lavender absolutely stomped the Morgan Tigers in a double header, 12-3 and 19-3. In that series, Bill Croom Jr. fanned 12 batters in a game, while “Big Train Lavender thrilled the fans with his fancy catching in the field.”
On April 5, 1946, in a 13-3 win for the Tigers over the Marion Black Sox, Lavender hit for the cycle when he went 4-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, a single and a 450-foot home run with the bases loaded. That day, he batted in a total of seven runs.
In another game playing for the Tigers in Mississippi — a 5-4 win over the Greenville Stars — Chunker shined on the mound, surrendering only three hits, while Lavender provided all of the offense for the day, with four singles and an RBI double.
“Lavender played his usual game but saved the game twice by fielding bad throws,” an account of the game said, further underscoring Lavender’s proficiency on defense. Another story, which featured Lavender playing for Robert Hasson and the Northport Yellow Jackets, also spoke to his glove work more than his bat.
“‘Big Train’ Lavender was the first baseman and really put the men out,” the Alabama Citizen wrote. “On Saturday afternoon, the Northport Yellow Jackets defeated the Starkville Stars 5 to 4. Again ‘Big Train’ caused a winning game.”
But for the Tuscaloosa Red Sox, no rivalry was bigger than that with the Tuscaloosa Grey Sox — its crosstown nemesis. The two teams would eventually merge to form the Tuscaloosa Cubs baseball club, but it would have been a sight to witness their legendary 10-inning showdown in October 1946 that ended in a 5-5 tie due to darkness.
The game failed to see a champion of the league playoffs crowned and was rescheduled for the following Sunday, which sets up one of the more interesting mysteries within the Big Train Lavender story.
“The current baseball series between the Tuscaloosa Grey Sox and the Tuscaloosa Red Sox came to a close Sunday afternoon, but it was one of the most peculiar, in the annuals of baseball,” the Alabama Citizen reported. “The Grey Sox was on the playing field early, going through their preliminary warm-ups, and that was all the baseball fans saw. For some reason the Red Sox failed to take the field (they were here and in uniform). Manager Lemon, of the Red Sox has not committed himself as yet.”
The rules stated that the win must be given to the Grey Sox, giving them the series and league pennant, with the series coming down to two wins for the Grey Sox and a tie.
So what was the rationale for the forfeit?
Did the Red Sox not have enough players to fill the roster? That didn’t seem to be the case based on reporting.
Was Willie Croom’s arm sore? What about their other ace, Earnest Tate? Where was he?
Did Big Train come down with a stomach bug? Could he not find his bat? Did he get distracted on the way to the ballpark?
As with so many aspects of Negro Leagues baseball, we’ll likely never know the answer. Like the tale of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson at the crossroads, so much is left for the imagination.
But this would be far from the end of Big Train Lavender’s career on the baseball diamond, as he would stand out during the ’47 and ’48 seasons, before going on to build out independent baseball for African-Americans in Tuscaloosa County.
In 1949, Lavender, along with fellow local baseball icon and coach Fred Baker, formed the Tuscaloosa Cubs by combining former stars from the Grey Sox and Red Sox. The team played their games at Alberta City Park and an interest meeting to field the team was held at Baker’s Cafe on 26th Avenue in Peanut Hill on the night of March 9.
Among the new stars would be Ulysses Lavender, Big Train’s younger brother, who proved to be a talented ballplayer in his own right.
Prior to the Cubs taking the field for the first time, The Tuscaloosa Red Sox — led by the Lavender brothers — defeated the Eutaw Reds 24 to 8.
“Ulysses Lavender, brother of ‘Big Train’ Lavender, really carried the first half of the game,” the Alabama Citizen wrote. “‘Big Train’ also thrilled the crowd.”
Lavender was still thrilling fans into the 1950s, too, as papers took notice of the player-manager’s glove work. In a 10-0 win against the Eutaw Gray Sox in 1950 that saw 16-year-old pitcher James Eakle strike out 15 batters and hit a two-run homer to help his own winning effort, Lavender still got a mention for his contributions.
“Supporting the young right-hander, the entire team played errorless ball,” one newspaper article said. “One of the spectacular plays of the day was made when [Ed] Germany, unable to hang onto a drive, knocked the ball down, retrieved it and tossed a wild throw to Big Train Lavender, who sunk it in a beautiful backhand catch in time for the out.”
It’s the 1950s, though, where the trail goes cold for the most part. While Lavender’s talent left an indelible mark on those who saw him play, little else is known about his later years, apart from his involvement in local independent leagues, his brief work as an amateur boxing manager and his unceasing love of baseball.
George “Big Train” Lavender died in Tuscaloosa on Dec. 15, 2003, two weeks shy of his 80th birthday. He is buried in Tuscaloosa’s Cedar Oak Park Cemetery.
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