Ben Taylor (Negro Leagues)

Ben Taylor

First baseman

Born: July 1, 1888
Anderson, South Carolina

Died: January 24, 1953 (aged 64)
Baltimore, Maryland

Batted: Left

Threw: Left

Negro leagues debut

1908, Birmingham Giants

Last appearance

1929, Bacharach Giants

Teams

As Player

Birmingham Giants (1908–1909)^[1]
West Baden Sprudels (1910–1913)^[2]
St. Louis Giants (1911–1912) ^[3]
Habana (1911–1912)
New York Lincoln Giants (1912)
Chicago American Giants (1913–1914)
Indianapolis ABCs (1914–1918, 1920–1922) ^[4]
Jewell's ABCs of Indianapolis (1919)
Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (1919, 1929)^[5]
Washington Potomacs (1923–1924)
Harrisburg Giants (1925)
Baltimore Black Sox (1926–1928)

As Manager

Member of the National

Baseball Hall of Fame

Inducted

2006

Election Method

Committee on African-American Baseball

Benjamin Harrison Taylor (July 1, 1888 – January 24, 1953) was an American first baseman and manager in baseball's Negro leagues. Taylor played for the Birmingham Giants,^[1] Chicago American Giants, Indianapolis ABC's,^[4] St. Louis Giants, Bacharach Giants, Washington Potomacs, Harrisburg Giants, and Baltimore Black Sox. His playing career played lasted from 1908 to 1929. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Early life

Taylor was born in Anderson, South Carolina. He was the youngest of four brothers who all became famous in baseball, including C.I., Candy Jim and Johnny "Steel Arm".

Negro league career

Taylor initiated his career as a pitcher for the Birmingham Giants in 1908. After playing for the St. Louis Giants (1911–12), New York Lincoln Giants (1912) and Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants (1913–14), Taylor made his name playing for the team one of his brothers, C.I. Taylor, managed and owned, the Indianapolis ABCs.

Following a 1915 season in which he hit .308, he set Cuba ablaze, hitting .500 in winter league play. He took that hot bat into the 1916 championship season. Ben went 11-for-18 in the World Series, stealing three bases in five games.

Other than a 1919 season split between Hilldale and a managerial stint with the Bacharach Giants, Ben played with the ABCs from 1914 to 1922. In that final season, he replaced C.I. as manager, following his death.

In 1923, Taylor organized the Washington Potomacs, bringing brother Johnny along as pitching coach. The team joined the new Eastern Colored League in its inaugural season the following year.

Defensively, he was good on ground balls and could execute all the plays at first, making the other infielders look good by digging out low throws and making difficult plays with such ease that they appeared routine.

Ben continued as a player/manager, joining Harrisburg in 1925 and the Baltimore Black Sox from 1926 to 1928. He was then traded to the Bacharach Giants in exchange for their manager Dick Lundy prior to the 1929 campaign, the final season of his playing career. In all but one of his first 16 seasons, Taylor batted over .300. During his career, he was also a manager and excellent teacher of young players. It was from him that Buck Leonard learned to polish and refine his skills as a first baseman. He continued to coach and manage until 1940.

Later life

After retiring, Taylor was an active businessman, operating a poolroom and acquiring the rights to print and sell game programs at Baltimore Elite Giants games. In a 1949 Philadelphia Evening Bulletin article, Oscar Charleston selected Ben Taylor as his first baseman on his all-time All-Star team. In 1952, as the Negro League's decline was in rapid motion, the Pittsburgh Courier polled its readers to name the greatest players of the Negro leagues. They eventually named 5 teams plus honorable mentions. Among those honored, Taylor was awarded 2nd team, first base.

He died at age 64 in Baltimore, Maryland.

References

Riley, James A. (1994). "Taylor, Benjamin H. (Ben)". The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Carroll & Graf. pp. 761–63. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.
(Riley.) Ben Taylor, Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-16)

External links

Ben Taylor at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Negro league and Cuban League statistics and player information from Seamheads.com, or Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
Find-A-Grave bio
2006 Hall of Fame Inductee Bio: Ben Taylor (video)

Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2006

BBWAA Vote	Bruce Sutter (76.9%)

Veterans Committee	none

Committee on African-American Baseball	Ray Brown Willard Brown Andy Cooper Frank Grant Pete Hill Biz Mackey Effa Manley José Méndez Alex Pompez Cumberland Posey Louis Santop Mule Suttles Ben Taylor Cristóbal Torriente Sol White J. L. Wilkinson Jud Wilson

J. G. Taylor Spink Award	Tracy Ringolsby

Ford C. Frick Award	Gene Elston

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Pitchers	Alexander Bender Blyleven M. Brown R. Brown Bunning Carlton Chesbro Clarkson Cooper Coveleski Cummings Day Dean Dihigo Drysdale Eckersley Faber Feller Fingers Ford B. Foster Galvin B. Gibson Glavine Gomez Gossage Grimes Grove Haines Hoyt Hubbell Hunter Jenkins R. Johnson W. Johnson Joss Keefe Koufax Lemon Lyons Maddux Marichal Marquard Martínez Mathewson McGinnity Méndez Newhouser Nichols Niekro Paige Palmer Pennock Perry Plank Radbourn Rixey Roberts Rogan Ruffing Rusie Ryan Seaver H. Smith Smoltz Spahn Sutter Sutton Vance Waddell Walsh Welch Wilhelm J. Williams Willis Wynn Young

Catchers	Bench Berra Bresnahan Campanella Carter Cochrane Dickey Ewing Ferrell Fisk J. Gibson Hartnett Lombardi Mackey Piazza Santop Schalk D. White

First basemen	Anson Beckley Bottomley Brouthers Cepeda Chance Connor Foxx Gehrig Greenberg G. Kelly Killebrew Leonard McCovey Mize Murray Pérez Sisler Suttles Taylor Terry Thomas

Second basemen	Alomar Biggio Carew E. Collins Doerr Evers Fox Frisch Gehringer Gordon Grant Herman Hornsby Lajoie Lazzeri Mazeroski McPhee Morgan J. Robinson Sandberg Schoendienst

Third basemen	Baker Boggs Brett J. Collins Dandridge J. Johnson Kell Lindstrom Mathews Molitor B. Robinson Santo Schmidt Traynor J. Wilson

Shortstops	Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis T. Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Jr. Rizzuto Sewell O. Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Outfielders	Aaron Ashburn Averill Bell Brock W. Brown Burkett Carey Charleston Clarke Clemente Cobb Combs Crawford Cuyler Dawson Delahanty DiMaggio Doby Duffy Flick Goslin Griffey Jr. Gwynn Hafey Hamilton Heilmann Henderson Hill Hooper Irvin R. Jackson Kaline Keeler Kelley K. Kelly Kiner Klein Mantle Manush Mays T. McCarthy Medwick Musial O'Rourke Ott Puckett J. Rice S. Rice F. Robinson Roush Ruth Simmons Slaughter Snider Speaker Stargell Stearnes Thompson Torriente L. Waner P. Waner Wheat B. Williams T. Williams H. Wilson Winfield Yastrzemski Youngs

Managers	Alston Anderson Cox Durocher Hanlon Harris Herzog Huggins La Russa Lasorda López Mack J. McCarthy McGraw McKechnie W. Robinson Selee Southworth Stengel Torre Weaver D. Williams

Executives / pioneers	Barrow Bulkeley Cartwright Chadwick Chandler Comiskey Dreyfuss R. Foster Frick Giles Gillick Griffith Harridge Hulbert B. Johnson Kuhn Landis La. MacPhail Le. MacPhail Manley O'Malley Pompez Posey Rickey Ruppert Schuerholz Selig Spalding Veeck Weiss S. White Wilkinson G. Wright H. Wright Yawkey

Umpires	Barlick Chylak Conlan Connolly Evans Harvey Hubbard Klem McGowan O'Day

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