The Negro World Series was a best-of-seven match-up between the Negro American League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Negro National League champion Washington-Homestead Grays. In a six-game series, the Monarchs swept the Grays four games to none, with two additional games not counted in the standings. The Monarchs actually won the 1942 series 5-1, but a second game played in Yankee Stadium on September 13 (a seven-inning victory by the Monarchs) was not counted by prior agreement, and the only game played in Kansas City was thrown out on appeal when the Grays used unauthorized players from other NNL teams.
It was the first World Series between eastern and western Negro leagues champions since , resuming after a 14-year lapse since the collapse of the Eastern Colored League had ended the previous post-season meetings. The series featured eight members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, four each from the Monarchs (Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, Buck O'Neil, and Willard Brown) and the Grays (Josh Gibson, Jud Wilson, Ray Brown, and Buck Leonard). One additional Hall of Famer, Leon Day, played in one of the games that was not counted, Monarchs legend Bullet Rogan umpired in that same game.
The Monarchs and Grays had met during the regular season in two exhibition games, in which the Grays had twice defeated Monarch ace Satchel Paige in extra innings. Some of the pre-Series publicity had concentrated on whether Paige would be seeking revenge for his losses or whether the Grays truly held a "jinx" over him and would continue to dominate him. Paige pitched in all four official games and earned one victory and one save in a series that saw four official games, an exhibition game, and a game called due to protest.
This was the Grays' first appearance ever in the Negro World Series, though this was their third consecutive NNL pennant, and fifth in six seasons. They would appear in the next three CWS, winning in 1943 and '44. It was the third appearance by the Monarchs (going back to 1924) in the CWS, their second championship, and their fifth NAL pennant in six seasons. They would appear one more time, losing to the Newark Eagles in 1946.
Summary
Managers: Frank Duncan (Kansas City); Vic Harris (Washington-Homestead)
Matchups
Game One
September 8, 1942, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC
Satchel Paige and Roy Welmaker matched zeros for five innings, before Jack Matchett relieved Paige. Paige allowed consecutive singles to Sam Bankhead and Howard Easterling in the fourth inning, but the Grays batters were hitless otherwise. The Monarchs scored in the sixth on errors by Bankhead and Josh Gibson, and then scored in each inning afterward, routing the Grays by an 8-0 score. Matchett was credited with the victory.
Scrip Lee, who umpired at third base this game, was the losing pitcher in the final game of the first Colored World Series in 1924.
Game Two
September 10, 1942, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh
Before the game, Paige was announced as the starter, but Hilton Smith started instead and pitched five hitless innings before turning pitching chores over to Paige with a 2-0 lead. Paige preserved the lead by pitching out of a two-out bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning when he struck out Josh Gibson on three pitches.
The Monarchs scored three runs in the top of the eighth on William "Bonnie" Serrell's bases-loaded triple (Serrell was thrown out at the plate attempting to make it an inside-the-park grand slam), but the Grays finally broke into the scoring column with four runs in their half of the inning. Paige again pitched out of a jam and ended the inning with a 5-4 lead. Three runs in the ninth gave the Monarchs a final 8-4 cushion, and Paige earned a save for his relief work.
Rain had fallen in Pittsburgh most of the day, and bad weather threatened throughout the game, and attendance was held down as a result.
One of the great legends of Negro league play is the story that Satchel Paige deliberately walked the bases loaded in the late innings in order to face and strike out Josh Gibson, taunting him as he did.