Oscar Charleston
- In full:
- Oscar McKinley Charleston
- Born:
- October 14, 1896, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
- Died:
- October 5, 1954, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (aged 57)
- Also Known As:
- Oscar McKinley Charleston
- Awards And Honors:
- Baseball Hall of Fame (1976)
Oscar Charleston (born October 14, 1896, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.—died October 5, 1954, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American baseball player and manager who was one of the best all-around ballplayers in the history of the sport. Barred from Major League Baseball because of the unwritten rule against Black athletes, he spent his career in the Negro leagues.
In his mid-teens, Charleston left school and entered the United States Army. He first played organized baseball while stationed in the Philippines. He was the only African American player in the Manila League in 1914. He returned to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1915 and signed with the ABCs, the local Black club for which he had been a batboy as a child.
The barrel-chested Charleston quickly made an impression with his expert play in center field and his lively bat, which helped the ABCs win a championship in 1916. A left-hander who hit for both power and average, he was best known for his exceptional speed, his strong throwing arm, and a volatile temper that often led to fights on and off the field. He joined the Chicago American Giants in 1919 but returned to the ABCs the following year, when the team joined the newly formed Negro National League. In 1921 he enjoyed a typically strong year, batting .433, stealing 32 bases in 77 games, and leading the league in runs (104), home runs (15), and runs batted in (91). In 1922 famed player and manager John McGraw, having seen Charleston play in exhibition games against white players, said, “If Oscar Charleston isn’t the greatest baseball player in the world, then I’m no judge of baseball talent.”
Charleston played with the St. Louis Giants, the Harrisburg Giants (serving also as manager), and the Philadelphia Hilldales in the 1920s. He joined the Homestead Grays in 1930 and was part of the 1931 team that also starred Josh Gibson. From 1932 to 1938 he was player-manager for the Pittsburgh Crawfords.
Charleston retired as a player in 1941 with a lifetime batting average of .363. He then managed various teams; in 1954 he guided the Indianapolis Clowns to a Negro World Championship. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. The magnitude of Charleston’s accomplishments as a player were obscured for many years as a result of the incompleteness of Negro league statistics. However, research efforts during the 21st century recovered much box score information for Charleston and other Black players. When the statistics of players in the Negro leagues were finally incorporated into MLB history in 2024, Charleston’s place among the best hitters in the history of the game was confirmed. The corrected data show that he ranks in the top 10 in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and on-base plus slugging percentage.