Turkey Stearnes's Real Name: Norman Thomas Stearnes

Quick answer: Turkey Stearnes's real name is Norman Thomas Stearnes. He was born on May 8, 1901, in Nashville, Tennessee. He died on September 4, 1979.

Real name and early life

This page covers Turkey Stearnes, the Negro leagues baseball star. It is not about the country. The National Baseball Hall of Fame lists him under his real first name, Norman, and reference sources give his full name as Norman Thomas Stearnes.

"Turkey" was a nickname, not a given name. Accounts of where it came from vary, and we found no single authoritative explanation, so we don't repeat any one story as fact.

Quick facts

• Real name: Norman Thomas Stearnes
• Known as: Turkey Stearnes
• Born: May 8, 1901, in Nashville, Tennessee
• Died: September 4, 1979
• Known for: Negro leagues baseball player
• Sources checked: National Baseball Hall of Fame

Career highlights

Stearnes was a center fielder and one of the great power hitters of black baseball. He played 18 seasons in the Negro leagues, including nine with the Detroit Stars (1923–1931), six with the Chicago American Giants, and three with the Kansas City Monarchs.

He led the Negro National League in home runs six times and won NNL batting titles in 1929 and 1931. After Major League Baseball recognized Negro leagues statistics, his career .616 slugging percentage and .348 batting average placed him among the all-time leaders. He died on September 4, 1979, and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Because Negro leagues records were long incomplete, his reputation grew largely after his playing days, as researchers rebuilt the statistics. The Hall of Fame plaque that honors him uses his nickname, Turkey Stearnes, which is why most searchers know him by it.

Name notes

Searchers sometimes land here looking for "Turkey" alone. If you mean the ballplayer, his real name was Norman Thomas Stearnes, and Turkey was his nickname. Fan sites often copy names from one another, so we checked this page against National Baseball Hall of Fame. Where sources disagree, we say so rather than guess. We also leave out middle names, nicknames, and origin stories that we couldn't confirm in a reliable source. A popular claim isn't enough to earn a place on this page if no encyclopedia, official record, or major news outlet backs it up.