Sam Jethroe—What Might Have Been

 By JT 

Sam Jethroe had his best baseball stolen from him due to bigotry and segregation. He entered MLB in 1950 at age 33 (though he purported to be 28, he was much older). He was amazing fast and he showed off that speed in 1950 when he won the NL  Rookie of the Year and was All-Rookie by leading the NFL in stolen bases that year.

He also led the next year, 1951, with the same total of 35.

Jethroe was flawed as a ballplayer for that era in that he struck out too much and committed too many errors in centerfield, but he did some great things, too. He threw out a ton of runners (45 assists in three seasons leading the NL twice), he led the NL in the Bill James' Power-Speed Number in 1950 and 1951 for example.

Here is a fun chart done with the search engine at Baseball-Reference.com—

To qualify one has to be at least 33 years old (the age Jethroe was when he got to finally play in the bigs), scored 75 runs, hit 13 or more home runs, stolen 19 or more bases, hit 20 or more doubles and have at least seven triples and have a stolen base percentage of 75% or better.

Here is the chart, sorted by the Power-Speed Number—

Twenty-one players have met that criteria and Sam Jethroe owns three of the top 19 spots and two of the top eight. And he only played those three seasons. 

Wish we could have seen more, like so many of the Negro League stars, he was held back due to racism in American sports. 

Jethroe spent his younger years with the Cleveland Buckeyes in the Negro American League and after his stint in the Major Leagues, he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the International League where he continued to hit with power and run with good speed, despite his advanced age. 

Nice job, Mr. Jethroe.