Bob Thurman

Bob Thurman was a standout in the Negro Leagues and Puerto Rican winter league who reached the Major Leagues late in his career.

Born in 1917, Thurman played semipro ball with various teams in the Wichita area before entering the U.S. Army at the beginning of World War II. He was stationed in New Guinea and Luzon and saw combat action in the Pacific Theater. When he was discharged in 1945, the Homestead Grays in the Negro National League offered him a contract.

Playing alongside greats Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Cool Papa Bell, Thurman pitched and played the outfield, hitting .408 for the season in 1946.  The following year he hit .338.

In 1948 he posted a 6–4 win–loss record as a starting pitcher and also hit .345 to help the Grays win the last Negro National League pennant. They went on to defeat the Birmingham Black Barons in the World Series.

Thurman also played winter ball in Puerto Rico for twelve seasons, eleven with the Cangrejeros de Santurce and one with the Leones de Ponce. With Santurce he was a great fan favorite. Thurman led the league in homers in the 1947–48 season with 9, and the following season he had 18. His remains the Puerto Rican Winter League’s career leader in homers with 120.

In 1949 he reported to the Kansas City Monarchs of the newly reorganized Negro American League. The Monarchs were managed by Buck O’Neil.  By the end of the season, the Monarchs sold his contract to the New York Yankees, who assigned him to the minor leagues.

Thurman continued to play in the minor leagues, although the Yankees had traded him to the Chicago Cubs.  In 1955, Cincinnati bought his contract, and he made his debut with the Reds in April of that season.  Over five seasons in Cincinnati, he hit .246 with 35 home runs.  He was 42 years old in his last season with the Reds.

He joined Minnesota as a scout after his playing career ended, and later scouted for the Reds and Kansas City. He died in Wichita in 1998, aged 81.

For more, read Bob Thurman’s Society for American Baseball Research bio.