Part 1: Ed Charles
There have been three African American ball players to make the “white” major leagues that can be claimed as a son of St. Petersburg. Two of whom were native born. All three attended Gibbs High School when it was the segregated “negro” school for St. Petersburg. A unique feature of this story is that as one left Gibbs the next one stepped into prominence.
The first, who had the most prolific major league career of the three, is also the one not born in St. Pete. His nickname was “Gum”, Ed Charles. In the movie “42” a young boy and his mother attend a spring training game to see Jackie Robinson play. They are shown standing in the colored section. Near the end of the movie, that same young boy is at the train station seeing Jackie off at the end of spring training. As the train begins moving, Jackie tosses the young man a ball. The lad runs behind the train down the tracks until the train is out of sight. That character was based on the recollections of Charles as a young boy. The Hollywood version of it anyway.
Charles is from a broken family, drops out of school after 8th grade, leaves Daytona Beach drifts between relatives and finally comes to St. Pete to live with his sister. He finds a job at a bakery and plays fast-pitch softball whenever he can. He meets a refined young lady while delivering pies and is smitten. He realizes that he has no chance with her if he isn’t in school. So, Charles goes to Gibbs High School to register himself as a 10th grader. As they are finishing up with the paperwork, the registration clerk mentions that she will be sending his previous school a request for his records. Now some panic sets in. Charles is later recognized in baseball circles as a poet around the clubhouse and it is likely he was good with words as a youngster. He tells the lady that is the reason he is here. His school burned down, and all of the records burned with it. It is not questioned, and he begins 10th grade.
Charles becomes a sports star right away. He quarterbacks the Gibbs ‘49 football team. The team had been pronounced National Champions (likely of the negro schools) in ‘47. He would run the team for three seasons. He also stars on the baseball field playing third base, shortstop and pitcher. During that time, he begins to play summer baseball with men’s teams such as the St. Pete Pelicans of the Florida State Negro Baseball League, where he is mentored by Jim Oliver among others. Oliver had been a negro major league player, one of his son’s is part of this success chain, and he integrated the minor league team in St. Pete. In 1963, St. Petersburg Times columnist, Bill Buchhalter in writing about the St. Pete players in that season’s major leagues says about Charles football talent that “he is considered one of the finest backs St. Pete has ever produced.”
As Charles is completing high school, he rejects an opportunity to barnstorm with the Indianapolis Clowns and accepts an opportunity to tryout with a minor league affiliate of the Boston Braves. Going through nearly a weeklong tryout process in Myrtle Beach, SC, Charles is signed and sent to Canada, the Quebec City Braves. He succeeds in Canada and the next season is assigned to the Ft. Lauderdale Braves. It is there in 1953 that he comes “home” to St. Pete to play as a professional for the first time. His mother has moved to St. Pete by then, so he plays in front of a crowd of family and friends just about a week before he is inducted into the Army.
Despite his success in the minors, Charles is frustrated in his journey into the big leagues by what he saw as the “quota” system in the big leagues. This was also noted by Frank Robinson, that it seemed like four was the number of negroes any team would carry. Even back to ‘51 when the Giants came to St. Pete for spring training (traded sites with the Yankees for one year), only four negroes were here with them. Despite manager Leo Durocher’s pleas, future Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Ray Dandridge were kept in minor league camp in Sanford. Charles served in the military in ’54 and ’55. He returns to venture through the minor leagues. He gets a couple of shots at second base where he is not a natural and does not stick. His best position is third base, where he finds himself blocked by future Hall of Famer, Eddie Mathews. Finally, Charles is traded to Kansas City and debuts with the A’s in ‘62.
Charles made the all-rookie team and had five solid years in Kansas City before being traded to the New York Mets for the ‘67 season. He got to come back to St. Pete for spring training. He proved to be a critical piece both in the clubhouse and as a key role player on the field. Charles’ career culminated by being on the field when the Mets clinched the ‘69 World Series.
