“Prince” Joe Henry was Rickey Henderson long before there was a Rickey Henderson.
Henry brought a combination of baseball skills to the diamond that included speed, power and showmanship n just as new Hall of Famer Henderson did.
Born Oct. 4, 1930, his skin color kept him from being a Major League prospect until he was well into his twenties.
Henry died on Jan. 2, 2009. He was 78 and was remembered during his funeral last week as one of the greatest Negro League players to ever grace a field.
His grandson Sean Muhammad published the book Princoirs: Official Memoirs of Prince Joe Henry, Ex-Negro Leaguer last year. Henry and other Negro League players were invited to Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft in June. The St. Louis Cardinals symbolically drafted him, as well.
Before the Amateur Draft, Muhammad said, “He represents a small contingency of ex-Negro League baseball players still physically present among us.”
According to his Negro Leagues Player Association website biography, “injuries put an end to a two-plus-season stint holding down second base for the Memphis Red Sox in the early 1950s, but Henry resurfaced in 1955 with the Indianapolis Clowns franchise.”
Henry’s showmanship at third base during two seasons in Indianapolis, a team that counts homerun king Henry Aaron among its alumni and is often compared to basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters, earned him the nickname “Prince Joe.”
Among his showmanship tricks, Henry would come to bat adorned in a tuxedo coat and top hat. He painted his shoes red and could turn his back to the pitcher during the windup, spin and still drive a pitch for a base hit.
After sitting out 1957, Henry joined the Detroit Stars, and the team was renamed “Goose Tatum’s Detroit Clowns” after the famous Harlem Globetrotter.
“As I look back, it was the best experience I ever had in my life,” Henry said.
“The Negro Leagues took me to just about every state in the country and Canada. I had an offer from Goose Tatum to go with him to Europe, but it was across the water and I didn’t like to fly.”
According to pitchblackbaseball.com, Henry played fast-pitch softball, not baseball, as a youth “and was so good that he was quickly discovered by Negro League veteran catcher Josh Johnson, who encouraged him to play baseball.” As a teenager, Henry played frequently against Elston Howard on St. Louis sandlots.
Henry got a shot at playing in the minor leagues in 1952, according to pitchblack baseball.com, when he played with Canton in the Mississippi Ohio Valley League.
He hit .303 with nine homers, 15 doubles, four triples and 43 RBIs in 89 games. In 1953, Henry played with Mount Vernon, batting .275 with 12 doubles, four triples, three homers and 30 RBIs in 92 games. But injuries ended his major League hopes.
Joe and his wife Lula Henry lived quite close to where he grew up in Brooklyn, Ill., and a street was recently renamed in his honor.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Henry is survived by a daughter, Joyce Henry Putman of Brooklyn; two sisters, Dorothy Henry and Ernestine Henry, both of Bloomington, Ill.; a brother, the Rev. Leroy Henry of East St. Louis; 14 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.
Diamonds are forever
The “Diamonds are for Everyone” preview party will kick off the Negro League Baseball “Shades of Greatness” exhibit at the Schmidt Art Center on the Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Ill., at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan 20.
Shades of Greatness, a collection of paintings and sculptures about the history of Negro League Baseball, will be on display at the Schmidt from Jan. 22 until March 7. All Schmidt exhibits are free and open to the public.
Guests can bid on baseball memorabilia in silent and oral auctions while enjoying gourmet versions of stadium food and beverages. One of the last surviving Negro League players in the area, George Altman of O’Fallon, Mo., is scheduled to attend.
Some of the auction items include a signed, framed Lou Brock jersey, a seatback from the old Busch Stadium signed by all of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers, a World Series wrist watch, St. Louis Cardinals baseball tickets and much more. Guests also can buy Cracker Jack boxes to possibly win items such as diamond stud earrings, baseball cards and other fun prizes.
Tickets are $50 each, and proceeds will benefit the children’s programming at the Schmidt.
For more information about tickets, call the SWIC Foundation at 618-222-5215.