Carl Long
Negro League veteran and African American law enforcement pioneer Carl Russell Long was born May 9, 1935, in Rock Hill, South Carolina. His father William Long was a catcher for the black Rock Hill Blue Jays and his mother Ella Griffin Long operated a laundry business. Long graduated from West End School in Rockville where he excelled at sports. In 1951, at age sixteen, Long was recruited by John William Parker of the Nashville Stars of the Negro Baseball League (NBL). In Nashville, Long was taught to play center field by NBL legend and Hall of Famer, Oscar Charleston. He played for the NBL Black Barons in 1952, where he competed on the field with Willie Mays, Charlie Pride, Ernie Banks and Frank Robinson.
In 1953, Long was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and hit twenty home runs for Class A team, St. Johns, Quebec. In 1955, he was chosen as the first African American to play for the Kinston, North Carolina Eagles, also of the Pirates organization. Joined by other black players, Curt Flood and Leon Wagner, Long hit 111 runs and made the All Star Team. In 1956, Long married and hoped to be called up to the big leagues. However, he badly injured his shoulder in the Mexican League and never played major league baseball again. Starting as a truck driver, Long worked a succession of jobs including being named the first African American Deputy Sheriff in Lenoir County, North Carolina. In the 1970s, Long was appointed as the first black police detective in the history of Kinston.
The Kinston Indians started celebrating Carl Long Day in 1999. Carl Long Day is a three day celebration of Long and other Negro League veterans. Long, a member of the Negro Leagues Players Association, honored for his youth work and his baseball knowledge, lived in Kinston with Ella, his wife of fifty-two years. He passed away on January 12, 2015, at age 79.
Carl Long was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 21, 2005.
A2005.246
Male
11/21/2005
Long
Emmett Scott School
West End Elementary School
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Carl
Rock Hill
LON02
Summer
South Carolina
Kentucky
I Want To Be Right.

North Carolina
5/9/1935
Kinston
USA
Barbeque (Chicken, Fish)
1/12/2015
Police officer and baseball player Carl Long (1935 - 2015 ) played for the Negro Leagues and later became the first African American police detective in the history of Kinston, North Carolina.
Negro League Baseball
Pittsburgh Pirates
State of North Carolina
City of Kinston, North Carolina
Blue
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305177">Tape: 1 Slating of Carl Long's interview</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305178">Tape: 1 Carl Long lists his favorites</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305179">Tape: 1 Carl Long describes his mother's family background</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305180">Tape: 1 Carl Long recalls his mother's family's community in Rock Hill, South Carolina</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305181">Tape: 1 Carl Long describes his father's family background</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305182">Tape: 1 Carl Long recalls his childhood in segregated South Carolina</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305183">Tape: 1 Carl Long describes his earliest childhood memories</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305184">Tape: 1 Carl Long recalls the start of his professional baseball career</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305185">Tape: 1 Carl Long describes his tenure on the Birmingham Black Barons</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305186">Tape: 2 Carl Long describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305187">Tape: 2 Carl Long describes his father's work as a bootlegger</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305188">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls his childhood neighborhood in Rock Hill, South Carolina</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305189">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls his father watching him play baseball</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305190">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls lessons in injustice from his career in the Negro Leagues</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305191">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls leaving the Negro Leagues in 1954</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305192">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305193">Tape: 2 Carl Long recalls playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304989">Tape: 3 Carl Long recalls playing for the Billings Mustangs in 1955</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304990">Tape: 3 Carl Long recalls playing for the Kinston Eagles in 1956, pt. 1</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304991">Tape: 3 Carl Long recalls playing for the Kinston Eagles in 1956, pt. 2</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304992">Tape: 3 Carl Long reflects on the effects of the Civil Rights Movement on baseball</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304993">Tape: 3 Carl Long recalls playing baseball in the Mexican League</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/304994">Tape: 3 Carl Long recalls the shoulder injury that ended his baseball career</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307546">Tape: 4 Carl Long describes why he retired from baseball after his shoulder injury</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307547">Tape: 4 Carl Long recalls becoming a deputy sheriff in North Carolina</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307548">Tape: 4 Carl Long recalls the death of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, pt. 1</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307549">Tape: 4 Carl Long recalls the death of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, pt. 2</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307550">Tape: 4 Carl Long describes his son, Sotello Long</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307551">Tape: 4 Carl Long describes his hopes and concerns for the African American community</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307552">Tape: 4 Carl Long reflects upon his life</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307553">Tape: 4 Carl Long reflects upon his legacy</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/307554">Tape: 4 Carl Long reflects upon debates about the accuracy of Negro League history</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305004">Tape: 5 Carl Long recalls the experience of playing in the Negro Leagues</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305005">Tape: 5 Carl Long describes how he would like to be remembered, pt. 1</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305006">Tape: 5 Carl Long describes how he would like to be remembered, pt. 2</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/305007">Tape: 5 Carl Long reflects on movies made about Negro League Baseball</a>
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