OK, I checked the professions list this morning before I went out of town, and I had a feeling "athlete" was not listed. Rather than take the time to develop an athlete profession, I will use the blue collar worker profession and select the three skills in line with an athlete. Hopefully, my character background tells why this person is a blue collar worker/athlete.
OK, I did some research on baseball in the 1920s. I found the Negro Leagues the most fascinating, so I would like my character to have been a member of these leagues. Now, I know Lovecraft never had African Americans in his stories because of his prejudices, and possibly playing one in the 1920s might also be problematic, but if it is OK with you Gomez, I would like to try. A blue collar black man might help spice up any potential professional Caucasian party!
Newt "Bullet Joe" Wright was born in 1889, the fifth and last in a line of children to an impoverished black family in New York. His father was a hard-nosed dock worker and his mother a iron-willed housemaid and cleaner. Even with the long hours his father and mother put in at their jobs, the family was always strained for money. The family's demands often meant that Newt spent much of his time at the docks with his father or doing odd jobs around the city, rather than spend time at school. Newt enjoyed school, a time to read and explore new worlds. Through his teenage years, Newt watched his father slowly sink into depression and alcohol. With more and more time spent on the docks with his father, Newt felt that his fate was already determined: a life of poverty with escape not lying in books, but in booze. The booze drove his father into rages, often leaving his wife and children beaten. The rages always ended in tears, with the devastating realization his fury had on his family. Newt never stopped loving his father, even when he was sent to prison for five years for robbery. As the youngest, Newt had to grow up fastest with no father figure around.
When Newt turned eighteen, his father returned home to find Newt a strapping, powerful young man. Newt always excelled on the athletic field with his other black classmates, and his abilities soon reached the ears of Nat Strong, owner of the Brooklyn Royal Giants. Newt excelled at baseball with the Giants, enjoying the multiple championships during the late 1910's. Newt's family saw Newt as an inspiration, a hero that many in the black community looked up to. Newt's father's demeanor even changed, forsaking alcohol in favor of afternoons watching his son play baseball. To help ends meet, Newt stilled worked at the docks and a general fix-it man. But on the field, Newt earned the name "Bullet Joe" because of his speed in the outfield, and the speed of his bat at the plate.
It was during these glory times, when the Giants occasionally played white minor league teams, that Newt met Jackson Elias. Newt was introduced to Elias through Nat Strong, Elias being invited to many of the games at Strong's courtesy. Newt always enjoyed his conversations with Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson had a worldly air about him, something that Newt had not encountered since he had opened those treasured books so many years ago. Mr. Jackson's stories always held Newt in rapture. The two formed a strong relationship, possibly because Jackson found Newt such a willing listener to his tales of world travel. Their times together were generally short, such as hot evenings after afternoon games sipping beer, but the conversations were good.
During the 1920's, the Giants feel onto hard times. The team foundered, the crowds who came to watch dwindled. Newt's father even took up drinking again. After the summer of 1924, Nat Strong informed Newt that 1924 summer was to be his last with the team. Younger talent was needed to help the team. Newt was crushed. Baseball was his way out of following in his father's steps. He had never taken a wife or had kids, fully expecting his time on the field to last forever. During the fall of 1924, Newt found himself on the docks full time, his glory on the baseball field and times spent with Elias a fleeting memory. A memory he yearns so much for to achieve again, to break the monotony of his daily life. In October 1924, his father fell off the docks drunk and drowned. Unless something happens soon, Newt sees the same fate for himself. Already his mind grows dark with despair...
I don't have my book, so no statistics until next mid-week!
