When the River Valley Film Festival takes place later this week, it will feature a documentary about one of the Negro Leagues’ most notable and underappreciated stars, Herbert “Rap” Dixon. But who was “Rap” Dixon? He is considered one of the best former Negro League players not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dixon was born in Kingston, Georgia, in 1902 and moved north with his family to Steelton, Pennsylvania, just outside Harrisburg, shortly before World War I, during the “Great Migration.”
Even as a youth, he started to show the qualities of an outstanding baseball player. He initially started playing semi-professional baseball, but by 1922 had graduated to an independent professional team, the Harrisburg Giants, a team with which he would play through 1927.
Rap’s Harrisburg team became a member of the professional Eastern Colored League in 1924, where they would become one of the league’s standout teams. They were beaten by the Hilldale Daisies in the league championship series in 1925.
Dixon joined an outstanding Giants outfield that included future Hall-of-Famer, Oscar Charleston, and future outfielder, “Fats” Jenkins. It is considered one of the greatest outfields of the Segregated Era, white or black.
His fine 1925 season made Dixon a star. New York Giants manager John McGraw told the press that winter that, “If that boy Dixon was not so black, I could make a Cuban out of him and the National League would have another star to talk about. He is, without question, one of the greatest outfielders in the United States.”
During the next three winters, Dixon saw action with the Philadelphia Royal Giants in the highly regarded integrated California Winter League, where he did well.
In early 1927, the Royal Giants undertook a baseball tour of Japan, Korea, and the Hawaiian Islands. He made such a mark in Japan that he was presented with a loving cup by Emperor Hirohito.
During his stint with the Giants, Dixon and his teammates appeared in a professional baseball game at Bowman Field on April 29, 1927, when they took on the local professional nine, the Williamsport Grays. The Giants won the contest, and Rap Dixon blasted a triple in it.
After the Harrisburg Giants disbanded in 1928, Dixon went to the Baltimore Black Sox, where he would enjoy two of his best seasons and help lead the Black Sox to a championship.
During his 1929 season with the Black Sox, he “rapped” out an astounding 14 consecutive hits. In one doubleheader, he had eight straight hits.
In 1930, he helped lead the Black Sox to the pennant. He batted .314 with 16 homers and 92 RBIs.
Also in 1930, Dixon and his teammates played the first ever Negro League game at Yankee Stadium against the Lincoln Giants. Dixon hit a mammoth home run against Bill Holland to highlight the contest. Some said the blast rivaled some of the prodigious pokes of the legendary Babe Ruth.
In 1931, he saw action with both Hilldale and the Black Sox.
In 1932, he rejoined old teammate Oscar Charleston when he joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords. That team featured an up-and-coming catcher named Josh Gibson.
The following year, he played with the independent Philadelphia Stars and had an outstanding season, being named to the first Negro League East-West Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
He spent his last seasons in the Negro Leagues, from 1934 to 1937, with the Baltimore Black Sox, Brooklyn Eagles, and Homestead Grays, enduring some injury-riddled seasons. He ended his playing career in 1937.
Dixon died on July 20, 1944.
He left a major mark on Black Baseball and was highly regarded.
When the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum announced its All-Century Team in 2020. The team of 30 players, a manager, and an owner was to honor the greatest Negro League players of all-time. Of the 19 position players on the team, only one was not already enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York — Herbert Alphonso “Rap” Dixon.
In 1949, the greatest of all Negro League outfielders, Oscar Charleston, was asked by a reporter from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin for his all-time Negro League lineup. Charleston, whose career began before the Negro Leagues were organized and ended several years after their demise as a major league, offered his team. In the outfield, he placed future Hall of Famers Martin Dihigo in left and Cristobal Torriente in right … between that pair, at his old position of center field, he inserted Rap Dixon. High praise indeed for a lesser-known player among the pantheon of Negro League stars.
As you can see, Rap Dixon was quite a player, worthy of Hall of Fame induction. The Rap Dixon documentary, to be shown at this week’s film festival, should be quite fascinating, particularly for those interested in the feats of the unsung heroes of the Negro Leagues.
