Home / Slept On / Slept on: The Laurel Black Cats

Slept on: The Laurel Black Cats

September 19th, 2024

Let’s learn about the Laurel Black Cats, one of Mississippi’s original independent Negro league’s charter franchises.

To fully understand who the Laurel Black Cats are and what they stand for, we need to start at the beginning.

What is a Negro league? Dating back to 1920, the South needed a Negro League due to systemic racial segregation and discrimination that prevented Black athletes from participating in Major League Baseball. Black athletes not only struggled to compete in the Major Leagues, but struggled to play in any league at all. All of the racial tension was felt through the United States, but it was especially felt in Mississippi.

The formation of the Negro Leagues provided a platform for talented Black players to showcase their skills and gain recognition. It fostered a sense of community and pride, allowing players to compete at a high level despite the barriers they faced. The Black Cat’s understood the black and southern community, having ballgames every Sundays, but always starting at 3:00 pm so that fans could attend after church.

According to one source, the Laurel Black Cats were founded in 1932, in another source 1925. They were located in (you guessed it) Laurel, Mississippi. Laurel, which is still known for its timber industry, was a booming town for industry and business when this team was founded. In fact, Laurel had been ranked the No. 1 industrial town in Mississippi every year straight since 1900. I even think in this instance, booming might not be a strong enough word- Laurel had 34 millionaires in 1925, more than any town its size in the entire United States.

With millionaires and business men by the handful, Laurel was the perfect place for this team. The semi-professional team was founded by Dayton Hair, a business man who dabbled in real estate, insurance, rental collection agency, the Black Cat Inn, and the Black Cat Taxi Service. Hair would travel across Mississippi and neighboring states to scout players from all over the south, exclusively to find the most talent. His scouting efforts do not go unnoticed, as almost 10 of his players ended up going to the big leagues, despite the racial tension at the time. As baseball gradually desegregated in the late 1940s and 1950s, the Black Cats developed a niche as a team that developed black baseball talent for local colleges and professional baseball teams.

Negro leaguers such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Piper Davis, Lester Lockett, Artie Wilson and Ed Steele are among the many players to play for the Black Cats that went professional. The Black Cats also frequently had players that toured with Negro league franchises such as the Kansas City Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons, and Memphis Red Sox. One of the teams most notable players is Ted Nicholson, who in the 1969 Major League Baseball Draft was selected 3rd overall pick by the Chicago White Sox.

On top of great players, the Black Cats gained popularity through an infamous rivalry. The Black Cats got their claws out against a competing team, the Hattiesburg Black Sox. This specific rivalry was intense and is arguably the fiercest and most historic in the state of Mississippi semi-pro baseball.

Currently, the Laurel Black Cats baseball team (from what I can tell) are still in operation. They struggled in the early 2000’s, and ceased operations in 2006. However, they returned to play in 2010, thanks to Jody P. Babineaux, a former assistant baseball coach at Jones College, who took over as the team’s owner and manager.