Oscar McKinley Charleston (October 14, 1896 - October 5, 1954) was an American center fielder and manager in Negro league baseball. In 1915, after serving three years in the U.S. Army, the Indianapolis, Indiana, native continued his baseball career as a professional with the Indianapolis ABCs; his career ended in 1954 as a player-manager for the Indianapolis Clowns. In addition to a forty-three-year career with more than a dozen teams, including the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Negro league baseball's leading teams in the 1930s, he played nine winter seasons in Cuba and in numerous exhibition games against white major leaguers. Charleston was known for his strengths as a hitter and center fielder.
Death and legacy
In early October 1954, Charleston fell ill due to a heart attack or stroke. He was admitted to a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hospital, and died on October 5, 1954, at the age of fifty-seven. Charleston's remains are buried at Floral Park Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Charleston was one of the early Negro league baseball stars. By 1920 he was generally considered as "the greatest center fielder and one of the most reliable sluggers in black baseball." A renowned players of his era, Charleston was recognized for his athletic skills as a powerful, hard-hitting slugger, his speed and aggressiveness as a base runner, and as a top outfielder. He was also an "intense" player with a "volatile temper." Charleston's observers often compared his play to his contemporaries, such as [[Ty Cobb], Tris Speaker, and Babe Ruth. Charleston ranks among Negro league baseball's top five players in home runs and batting averages, and its leader in stolen bases.  Baseball writer Bill James, author of The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (2001), reported that Charleston "did everything exceptionally well" and considered him one of the gam'es top centerfielders. James ranked Charleston as the fourth-best player of all-time behind Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Willie Mays. In addition, numerous baseball historians, sportswriters, and fellow players consider Charleston as possibly the greatest all-around Negro league ballplayer and one of the greatest players in history. In addition to James, these include former New York Giants manager John McGraw; Charleston's contemporaries, Juanelo Mirabal, Buck O'Neill, and Norman "Turkey" Stearnes; sportswriter Grantland Rice; and other baseball experts. The Sporting News list of the 100 greatest baseball players, which was published in 1998, ranked Charleston sixty-seventh. Only four other black ballplayers who played all or most of their careers in pre-1947 Negro leagues placed higher on the list: Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard, and Cool Papa Bell. In 1999 Charleston He was also nominated as a finalist for Major League Baseball's All-20th Century Team..

Q: What legacy did oscar leave behind
A: Charleston was one of the early Negro league baseball stars.

Q: How successful was he?
A: By 1920 he was generally considered as "the greatest center fielder and one of the most reliable sluggers in black baseball."

Q: How did the media view him?
A: reported that Charleston "did everything exceptionally well"
How did Oscar die?
Charleston fell ill due to a heart attack or stroke.
Charleston fell ill due to a heart attack or stroke.