About Turkey Stearnes
Norman Thomas "Turkey" Stearnes (May 8, 1901 – September 4, 1979) was an American professional baseball center fielder. He played 18 years in the Negro leagues, including nine years with the Detroit Stars (1923–1931), six years with the Chicago American Giants (1932–1935, 1937–1938), and three years with the Kansas City Monarchs (1938–1940). Stearnes ranks fifth in major league baseball history with a.616 career slugging percentage and seventh in MLB history with a.348 career batting average. He led the Negro National League (NNL) in home runs six times. He won the NNL batting championship in 1929 with a.390 batting average and repeated as batting champion in 1931 with a.376 average. Stearnes was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. == Early years == Stearnes was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1901. There are two versions as to how he acquired the nickname "Turkey". The most common version is that the name came from his unusual style of running the bases while flapping his arms. The second version, advanced by Stearnes himself, was that he gained the nickname due to a pot belly he had as a child.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.