Monarchs Hitting Stats & Leaders

There was much rejoicing among a segment of baseballdom this week when Negro Leagues stats compiled many moons ago finally saw the light of day with their posting on Baseball Reference. There are many issues and complications with trying to compile Negro Leagues stats, and we will never be able to have a full accounting, so it is important to take all Negro Leagues stats with a mountain of salt. Certain eras were better reported on than others. There are no era or ballpark adjusted stats included yet. So far, the stats don't break down performance by team for seasons that players spent with more than one squad. Full season totals are given with a note such as "stats are for two teams." So in compiling Monarchs stats, I've had to divide some season stats evenly between those teams, not knowing how much time was actually spent with the different clubs. The end point for the Baseball Reference stats is 1948, though the Monarchs were a going concern in Kansas City through '55 and limped along through '63 as a Grand Rapids, Michigan based operation. 


So with all that in mind, I've compiled some highly dubious Monarchs franchise leaderboards. It is at least a starting point to help identify some of the great Monarchs in a quantifiable way to complement the oral histories we already have.


Some things that have jumped out to me so far:

Heavy Johnson

• Oscar "Heavy" Johnson was a beast. The former catcher played the outfield for KC in '22, '23 and part of '24. He tops the leaderboards in batting average, OBP, slugging, wOBA, doubles per plate appearance and homers per plate appearance. From the numbers available, no other Monarch hitter was in his class when it comes to the rate stats. Heavy had played with future Monarch greats Bullet Rogan and Dobie Moore on the Army's 25th Infantry "Wreckers" team before joining the Monarchs at the age of 27. He was a murderous slugger while with KC, and moved on to play for Negro Leagues teams in Harrisburg, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Memphis through 1930. Heavy very well may have been a Hall of Fame caliber player. As tough as it is to quantify his Negro Leagues performance, his time with the Army team is even murkier.


• Bullet Rogan is on the very short list of best players ever. The list may be about this long: Babe Ruth and Bullet Rogan. Bullet comes in the top five Monarchs leaders for just about every offensive category in both rate and counting stats. Add in his playing time, and Bullet looks like the most valuable hitter the Monarchs ever had. And he was a dominant pitcher when not playing the outfield. I don't know of another player besides Babe and Bullet who was both an elite hitter and pitcher. But in the Babe's case, his career was split fairly cleanly between a pitching phase and a slugging phase. Bullet did it all, all the time.



• Hilton Smith could swing the stick. Unlike Bullet, pitching great Smith did not usually play the field when it wasn't his day to pitch, so there aren't a ton of plate appearances compiled for his Monarchs career (257). But those appearances are impressive, including an average of .327, good for seventh best among Monarchs with at least 100 PAs. He apparently didn't walk much, but had impressive doubles power. When you can get that from an all-time great pitcher, that's amazing. Hitters of the '40s said Hilton was just as tough to face as Satchel Paige. Satchel's hitting (.207/.208/.244 with KC) didn't hold a candle to Hilton's though (.327/.331/.434).



Below are top 10 lists for various offensive categories.




Minimum 100 PAs


Batting Average


1. Heavy Johnson - .392
2. Cristobal Torriente - .348
3. Dobie Moore - .347
4. Hank Thompson - .340
5. Willard Brown - .339
6. Bullet Rogan - .338
7. Hilton Smith - .327
8. Hurley McNair - .325
9. Barney Serrell - .324
10. Bartolo Portuondo - .323


On Base Percentage


1. Heavy Johnson - .429
2. Cristobal Torriente - .419
3. Hank Thompson - .390
4. Bullet Rogan - .382
5. Dobie Moore - .372
6. Ted Strong - .371
7. Hurley McNair - .366
8. Willard Brown - .361
9. Hallie Harding - .358
10. Wade Johnston - .357


Slugging


1. Heavy Johnson - .679
2. Willard Brown - .542
3. Hank Thompson - .525
4. Dobie Moore - .520
5. Bullet Rogan - .515
6. Turkey Stearnes - .514
7. Cristobal Torriente - .486
8. George Carr - .483
9. Lee Livingston - .475
10. Hurley McNair - .474


wOBA (unadjusted)


1. Heavy Johnson - .463
2. Hank Thompson - .394
3. Cristobal Torriente - .388
4. Willard Brown - .386
5. Bullet Rogan - .385
6. Dobie Moore - .380
7. Turkey Stearnes - .363
7. Hurley McNair - .363
7. Ted Strong - .363
10. George Carr - .347


wRAA (unadjusted)


1. Bullet Rogan - 147.9
2. Hurley McNair - 120.1
3. Dobie Moore - 116.7
4. Heavy Johnson - 109.0
5. Willard Brown - 61.1
6. Wade Johnston 32.4
7. George Carr - 24.8
9. Newt Joseph - 24.6
10. Cristobal Torriente - 23.1


Plate Appearances


1. Newt Allen - 3390
2. Hurley McNair - 2604
3. Newt Joseph - 2598
4. Frank Duncan - 2372
5. Dink Mothell - 2321
6. Bullet Rogan - 2280
7. Dobie Moore - 1905
8. Lemuel Hawkins - 1903
9. Wade Johnston - 1148
10. Tom Young - 991


Runs


1. Newt Allen - 493
2. Hurley McNair - 397
3. Dink Mothell - 365
4. Bullet Rogan - 361
5. Newt Joseph - 357
6. Frank Duncan - 300
7. Dobie Moore - 289
8. Lemuel Hawkins - 249
9. Willard Brown - 172
10. Wade Johnston - 167


Hits


1. Newt Allen - 907
2. Hurley McNair - 769
3. Bullet Rogan - 697
4. Newt Joseph - 662
5. Dobie Moore - 615
6. Dink Mothell - 564
7. Frank Duncan - 536
8. Lemuel Hawkins - 473
9. Wade Johnston - 318
10. Willard Brown - 304


Doubles


1. Newt Allen - 137
2. Newt Joseph - 120
3. Bullet Rogan - 110
4. Hurley McNair - 109
4. Dobie Moore - 109
6. Dink Mothell - 103
7. Frank Duncan - 94
8. Heavy Johnson - 57
9. Tom Young - 55
10. Lemuel Hawkins - 53


Triples


1. Bullet Rogan - 60
1. Hurley McNair - 60
3. Dobie Moore - 51
4. Newt Allen - 44
5. Newt Joseph - 38
5. Dink Mothell - 38
7. Heavy Johnson - 26
8. Willard Brown - 25
9. Frank Duncan - 23
10. Lemuel Hawkins - 22
10. Wade Johnston - 22


Home Runs


1. Bullet Rogan - 45
2. Hurley McNair - 42
3. Heavy Johnson - 36
4. Dobie Moore - 32
5. Willard Brown - 30
6. Newt Joseph - 26
7. George Carr - 23
8. Newt Allen - 16
9. Dink Mothell - 15
9. Lee Livingston - 15
9. Turkey Stearnes - 15


Walks


1. Newt Allen - 216
2. Newt Joseph - 201
2. Frank Duncan - 201
4. Dink Mothell - 187
5. Hurley McNair - 184
6. Bullet Rogan - 174
7. Lemuel Hawkins - 95
8. Dobie Moore - 93
9. Wade Johnston - 92
10. Hallie Harding - 78


Stolen Bases


1. Newt Allen - 114
2. Bullet Rogan - 99
3. Hurley McNair - 87
4. Newt Joseph - 75
5. Dink Mothell - 72
6. Eddie Dwight - 58
7. Ben Taylor - 55
8. Dobie Moore - 53
9. Frank Duncan - 49
10. Henry Milton - 47


Hits/550 Plate Appearances


1. Heavy Johnson - 197
2. Willard Brown - 180
3. Dobie Moore - 178
4. Hilton Smith - 175
5. Barney Serrell - 172
6. Hank Thompson - 170
7. Bullet Rogan - 168
8. Cristobal Torriente - 166
9. Bartolo Portuondo - 164
10. George Carr - 163


Doubles/550 PA


1. Heavy Johnson - 38
2. Hilton Smith - 36
3. Dobie Moore - 31
3. Tom Young - 31
3. Cristobal Torriente - 31
6. Jesse Brooks - 29
6. Cliff Bell - 29
6. Hank Thompson - 29
9. Mickey Taborn - 28
10. Hallie Harding - 27
10. Bullet Rogan - 27


Triples/550 PA


1. Barney Serrell - 20
2. Ed Mayweather - 17
2. Heavy Johnson - 17
2. Lee Livingston - 17
5. Jesse Brooks - 16
5. Byron Johnson - 16
7. Bill Williams - 15
7. Otto Ray - 15
7. Willard Brown - 15
7. Dobie Moore - 15


Home Runs/550 PA


1. Heavy Johnson - 24
2. Turkey Stearnes - 22
3. Willard Brown - 18
4. George Carr - 17
5. Hank Thompson - 14
5. Ted Strong - 14
7. Lee Livingston - 12
7. Bill Drake - 12
9. Joe Greene - 11
9. Bullet Rogan - 11


wRAA (unadjusted)/550 PA


1. Heavy Johnson - 73.3
2. Hank Thompson - 40.1
3. Cristobal Torriente - 37.1
4. Willard Brown - 36.1
5. Bullet Rogan - 35.7
6. Dobie Moore - 33.7
7. Turkey Stearnes - 25.5
8. Hurley McNair - 25.4
9. Ted Strong - 25.3
10. George Carr - 17.8