The Lost Triple Crown of Lester Lockett

In 1948, Lester Lockett did something he’d shown now signs of doing before, and he made baseball history when he did it. And now, sadly, that achievement seems to have been lost in most circles, almost like it didn’t happen.

But it did. It most certainly did, and it’s time Lockett got credit for it.

As with most players from the Negro Leagues, there isn’t much biographical information available about Lockett. We know he was born in 1912 in Princeton, Indiana, a small town about 20 miles north of Evanston. His mother’s name was Ora, and she was divorced and worked as a hotel chambermaid in Princeton at the time of the 1930 census. Lester lived with her, along with his much younger sister, Marietta, who was just four at the time.

When he registered with the Selective Service in October, 1940, he was living with his mother in Chicago. No wife was listed on his registration card, nor was any employer, but by then Lockett had already been a player in the Negro Leagues for several years. It’s not clear how he got his start, but his name first appears on a roster in 1937 with the St. Louis Stars. He had a great debut with them, collecting 8 hits in 19 plate appearances, but that spanned just 6 recorded games. A year later he was with the Birmingham Black Barons and was pretty awful, hitting .032/.167/.065 in 9 more games. Not surprisingly, the Barons didn’t keep him, and he caught on with the Chicago American Giants in 1939. He played just 4 games that were recorded and went 1-for-13 in them.