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Oscar Levis, known early in his career as “Chick Levy,” and later as “Oscal,” was celebrated as the premier pitcher in Panama before joining the Cuban Stars and Hilldale Daisies in the Negro Leagues. (Courtesy of Zachary Kranc, via JTA)

JTA — For more than a century, Oscar Levis was hiding in plain sight.

He pitched a no-hitter and dominated the Cuban Winter League. He tallied five straight seasons without losing a game against one of the Northeast’s toughest white semiprofessional clubs. He was so dominant that W. Rollo Wilson, the preeminent Black sportswriter of his era, held him up as a benchmark of pitching excellence — the kind of player a younger star would aspire to equal.

For all of that, Oscar Levis does not appear on any official roster of Jewish major leaguers.

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Promoted: Z3 2026

The reason is straightforward and ugly: the Negro Leagues — the professional leagues Black players built and played in after being barred from the White major leagues — were not…