Oliver E "The Ghost" Marcelle was born in New Orleans in 1897. In the 1920s he played baseball for Brooklyn, Atlantic City, Baltimore & New York. And was said to be the best 3rd baseman in the Negro League. Marcelle quit playing ball in 1930 and coached for awhile. In 1933 he toured with the Miami Giants and ended up in Denver. In 1934 the Denver Post (newspaper) sponsored one of the biggest semi-pro baseball tournaments and Marcelle convinced the editor to invite the Kansas City Monarchs, which was a black team, and whose pitcher was Satchel Paige. It is believed that Marcelle speeded up the intergration of baseball as the next year Denver's baseball teams were intergrated. Marcelle was a laborer doing house painting and odd jobs, and died in poverty in 1949 and was buried in a unmarked grave. A mortgage broker by the name of Sanford learned about Marcelle while he was studing the Negro League and he started an effort to mark Marcelle's grave. With the help of the Zephers and the Colorado Rockies there was a ceremoney on June 1, 1991 unveiling the headstone for Marcelle. Marcelle was inducted into the Louisianna Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
Oliver E "The Ghost" Marcelle was born in New Orleans in 1897. In the 1920s he played baseball for Brooklyn, Atlantic City, Baltimore & New York. And was said to be the best 3rd baseman in the Negro League. Marcelle quit playing ball in 1930 and coached for awhile. In 1933 he toured with the Miami Giants and ended up in Denver. In 1934 the Denver Post (newspaper) sponsored one of the biggest semi-pro baseball tournaments and Marcelle convinced the editor to invite the Kansas City Monarchs, which was a black team, and whose pitcher was Satchel Paige. It is believed that Marcelle speeded up the intergration of baseball as the next year Denver's baseball teams were intergrated. Marcelle was a laborer doing house painting and odd jobs, and died in poverty in 1949 and was buried in a unmarked grave. A mortgage broker by the name of Sanford learned about Marcelle while he was studing the Negro League and he started an effort to mark Marcelle's grave. With the help of the Zephers and the Colorado Rockies there was a ceremoney on June 1, 1991 unveiling the headstone for Marcelle. Marcelle was inducted into the Louisianna Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
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