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Solomon Chew

Solomon "Sol" Chew, born about July 1877 in Texas,1 was a Negro baseball player with the Hot Springs Arlingtons around 1901.2

Biography

Chew was probably born in Palestine, Texas.3 He was the son of John Chew and Easter Chew.

Chew was well-known as a pitcher in Texas. In addition to pitching for black teams in his home town of Palestine, he played for the Waco Yellow Jackets, San Antonio Rosebuds 4 Sherman Sluggers,5 Dallas, TX,6 , Tyler Cannibals7 and the Hot Springs Arlingtons.

Chew died in 1907 in Dallas, TX.8 He was reportedly buried in Palestine, TX.

Excerpts

"News reached Nashville Sunday of the death of Mr. Solomon Chew, whose native home was in Palestine, Tex. Mr. Chew was a young man about twenty-nine years of age, and was prominent in the sporting world, especially in baseball circles. He was a pitcher of national reputation and had played ball in some of the teams in the country. As a pitcher he ranked with such men as Mose "Doublehead" Foster, Gatewood and others. He had played on such famous teams as the Waco Yellow Jackets, Waco, Tex; Hot Springs, Ark.; Birmingham, Ala.; Tyler, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas. He had many offers to go with St. Louis, Chicago and New York, but he had peculiar notions about living in the South. Hence he would never venture to assist in baseball circles with the teams across the Mason and Dixon line. He was also a very accomplished musician and a sweet singer. His death occurred at Dallas, Tex., and he was buried at his old home in Palestine, under the auspices of the Heart of Oak Lodge, K. of P., of which he was a member."9

"However, the Waco Yellow Jackets had two wonderful pitchers--as they went in those days-- Sol Chew and Andrew [Rube] Foster. . . . I [Dave Wyatt] thought well of Sol Chew."10