Posted on 02/19/2010 8:32:36 AM PST by Leg Olam
'A good friend of mine lost a good friend yesterday.
My friend is Claire Smith, and her friend was Alfred “Slick” Surratt. Slick was a player for the Kansas City Monarchs, a teammate of Satchell Paige and Jackie Robinson in the Negro Baseball League. He died at 87.'
(Excerpt) Read more at trueslant.com ...
At a sportscard show I’d say at least 15 years ago, I was 14 or 15 at the time, I had the privellege of meeting 5 former Negro League players. To my suprise not a lot of people came by the table set up for them. In the hour I spent with these gentlemen, I laughed and I cried. Oh the stories! I wish I could remember their names.
Sounds like you were blessed.
Yeah, Slick would tell stories about being on the road back in the day. Never bitter or on a soapbox but soooo funny. Such a kind and generous man. Little kids would follow him around. He gave me the revolver he carried on the road. It must have been handed down from player to player. On the holster were dates and scores from long before he was with the team. I tried to donate it to the Negro Baseball Museum but they didn’t think it was an appropriate item for display.
Wow, that revolver sounds amazing. The museum should’ve been honored to have it. Such history of where we once were as a nation to where we are now. Would Slick have been in a wheelchair in the mid 1990s? The gentleman I remember the most from that day was in a wheelchair and hysterical. I think he played catcher.
The gun is a 1924 knockoff of a Smith and Wesson open top break 5 shot 32 special made in Spain. It shoots well,(I test fired it once) but ammo is hard to find now and new rounds are a bit too robust for old pieces. I wish it could talk! The dives and sleazy hotels those guys must have frequented would be a story in itself.
He wasnt in a wheelchair until he was in a nursing home a few years back. Slick was a fielder baserunner and pinch hitter. He’s going to be interred wearing his uniform and with a bat.
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