Hilldales Power Hitter Louis Santop


 
 
“Big Bertha” was the nickname given to large German artillery guns used during the First World War.  It was also the nickname given to a 6’ 4” tall, 240 pound navy veteran hailing from Tyler, Texas named Louis Napoleon Santop.

Gifted with explosive power both behind the plate and at the plate, Santop was the premiere catcher and power hitter in African-American baseball in the pre- and early negro league era.

In pre-game warm-ups, Santop entertained the crowd with an exhibition of his arm strength, throwing a baseball over the centerfield fence, and then randomly throwing to each of the bases, all while in the crouched position behind the plate.

At the plate, Santop hit massive line-drives in the dead ball era.  It has been said that he could call his shots long before Babe Ruth did it in the 1932 World Series, and even hit one home run about 500 feet.

At age twenty, Santop made-up half of the “kid battery” of the 1910 Philadelphia Giants, along with twenty year old pitcher Dick Redding.  Redding earned the nickname “Cannonball” for his devastating fast ball.

At his peak, Santop earned $500 a month, and could hold his own against white major leaguers in exhibition games.  In 1917, Santop had six hits in three games, batting against Philadelphia Athletics greats Chief Bender and Bullet Joe Bush.  In 1920, when playing against Casey Stengel’s all-stars, Santop got four hits when facing Carl Mays and Slim Harriss in two games where a young Babe Ruth went hitless.

In the early 1920s, Santop played for the dominant Hilldale Club that played out of Darby, PA.  His most infamous moment came in the first Colored World Series of 1924, when the Hilldales, the pennant winner of the Eastern Colored League, faced the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League.  While he hit .346 in the series, in the ninth inning of eighth game with two outs, Santop muffed a foul pop-up hit by Frank Duncan while the Hilldales were up 2-0.  Duncan proceeded to drive in two runs with a single.  The Hilldales lost the game 3-2, and then lost the series 5 games to 4.

Santop could not live down is error.  In the following year, he lost his starting catcher’s job to Biz Mackey.  By 1926, Santop was dropped by the Hilldales.

Because African-American teams made their money barnstorming and playing exhibition games, statistics for the era are hard to calculate accurately.  Santop’s lifetime batting average has been estimated to be between .324 and .406.  In 1914 season with the Lincoln Giants, it is believed that Santop hit an unimaginable .517.

Santop was finally recognized for his impressive career in 2006, when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.


By:  William J. Kovatch, Jr.

References
 
Holway, John, “Louis Santop, Big Bertha,” SABR Research Journal Archives, http://research.sabr.org/journals/louis-santop.

“Louis Santop,” Baseball-Refernces.com, http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Louis_Santop.

“Louis Santop,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, http://baseballhall.org/hof/santop-louis.

“Louis Santop,” Negro League Baseball Museum eMuseum, http://coe.k-state.edu/annex/nlbemuseum/history/players/santop.html.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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