1931 Homstead Grays

MLB has revealed the 1931 Homstead Grays as the greatest Negro League team of all time.

1931 Homestead Grays best ever
Team with galaxy of Negro League stars dominated

Editor's note: Any number of Crawford and Monarch teams might well have been the greatest ever. So might some of the pre-Negro League teams like the 1910 Leland Giants or the 1905 Philadelphia Giants. Even some of the powerhouse Grays teams could lay claim to No. 1. At the end, a Grays team did take the No. 1 spot. With hitters like a then-young Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Boojum Wilson, Vic Harris and George Scales, and pitchers like Smokey Joe Williams, Willie Foster and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, the '31 Grays were, voters said, the greatest of the great. Here is their story:

Look closely at the roster of the 1931 Homestead Grays:
Oscar Charleston ... Hall of Famer

Jud "Boojum" Wilson ... Hall of Famer

Smokey Joe Williams ... Hall of Famer

Willie Foster ... Hall of Famer

Josh Gibson ... Hall of Famer
...
Sift through the history books on black baseball, and great ballplayers and great teams litter its pages. But few teams have had the widespread recognition as the "best of the best" the way the '31 Grays have.

Authorities on the Negro Leagues have made them the consensus pick as the best team ever. Sure, the 1932, '35 or '36 Pittsburgh Crawfords always get plenty of support as well. So do a handful of other teams. But picking the 1931 Grays No. 1 overall isn't a choice that people dismiss out of hand.

"The Grays, obviously, were one of the great black franchises of all time," said Dick Clark, a respected baseball historian who's written several books on the Negro Leagues. "The biggest reason is the number of great players that were on the team."

Credit for that stretch of greatness, including the '31 season, goes to one man: Cumberland Posey, the Hall of Fame owner of the storied franchise. Starting as a player in the early half of the 1900s, Posey spent 35 years as the brains behind the Grays. Few men had the eye for talent that he did, and in the freewheeling world of the Negro Leagues, Posey opened his wallet to stock the Grays with the best talent on the market.

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