Edward Stone

Edward Daniel Stone (1909 or 1910 – March 20 or April 11, 1983), nicknamed "Ace", was an American Negro league outfielder who played from the 1930s to the 1950s. From Delaware, he attended Howard High School and began his professional career with a team led by his Howard coach. Across a career spanning 20 years in the Negro leagues, Stone was a three-time all-star. He also played several seasons in Mexico.

Early life Stone was born in 1909 or 1910: while the Social Security Death Index identified him as being born on August 21, 1909, other documents listed him with birthdates of January 2, 1909, August 22, 1909, August 23, 1909, August 21, 1910, or August 22, 1910. He is listed on Baseball Reference as having been born in Black Cat, Delaware, a small community near Wilmington, although some ship manifests identified him as being from Wilmington or Newport. By 1930, he was listed in the census as a resident of Christiana with the occupation of "day worker". Stone, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed, had a professional career that ultimately lasted 20 years. He played briefly for the Wilmington Hornets and then joined the Atlantic City-based Bacharach Giants of the Negro National League in 1931 as an outfielder. After returning to them in 1933 and 1934, he played for the Brooklyn Eagles in 1935 and batted .324 with 56 hits and 37 runs batted in (RBIs), being named an all-star. He also spent time that year with the Pittsburgh Crawfords and toured with Jackie Robinson's All-Stars. According to Ryan Whirty in Delaware Today, after Stone's retirement, he "seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, and his fate remains virtually unknown." He received a Social Security benefit while located in Long Island City, New York, in 1983, and he died that year on either March 20 or April 11, in The Bronx. His burial location is unknown. He was posthumously inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 2025.