NYPL Mahoning Valley Scrappers

Ted Toles Bobbleheads on Sunday

Published on August 1, 2009 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Mahoning Valley Scrappers News Release


On Sunday, August 2, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers will be honoring local Negro League star and Warren native Ted Toles, Jr. with a special bobblehead. The limited edition figure will be given to the first 1,000 fans as the Scrappers take on the Auburn Doubledays.

As noted from Ted's website:

Inducted into the Ebony Lifeline All Sport Hall of Fame, Ted Toles was honored in 1941 for his outstanding performance and leadership as a New Castle Indians baseball player. Theodore Toles graduated from Braceville High School in 1943.

His first stop after high school was playing for Charlie Caffle's Warren GC's. In 1946 he played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro Leagues, often barnstorming with the Jackie Robinson All Stars on exhibition tours across the country. He played with ball players like Larry Doby and Warren native Bill White, who was an outstanding major league player. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians and spent time in their farm system, as well as in the Philadelphia Athletics System. He also was an outstanding boxer and track star. Today, he still shoots a mean game of pool! Ted is married to Jean and they are the proud parents of six sons; Theodore III, Nelson, Leslie, Robert, Lonnie and Larry, and one daughter; Evelyn. Other sports notables in Ted's family include NFL's Deryck Toles, Track Star Walter Toles, and Heavyweight Boxing Legend Roscoe Toles. Ted's sons, Lonnie and Larry received full football scholarships to Youngstown State University.

The road Ted Jr paved for others to follow is an important part of Negro Sport's History. The racial slurs shouted at him, the filthy run-down rooms he stayed in because hotels didn't allow blacks as guests and the meager paychecks were important moments that can't be forgotten. Ted has been able to overcome the racial injustice he experienced throughout his career by never straying from his father's advice... "Don't let any white man think he's better than you." Ted Junior's father, Theodore Toles, was the first black Deputy Sherrif in Trumbull County in 1942.

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