Louis Adward Lankford (January 20, 1882 – June 1967) was an American

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

between 1912 and 1920. A native of

Canton, Missouri Canton is a city in Lewis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,774 at the 2020 census. Canton is the home of Culver-Stockton College, a small liberal arts college affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It al ...

, Lankford made his Negro leagues debut in 1912 for the

St. Louis Giants The St. Louis Stars, originally the St. Louis Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently from as early as 1906 to 1919, and then joined the Negro National League (NNL) for the duration of their existence. After the 192 ...

. He went on to play for several teams, including the

Lincoln Giants The Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930. Founding The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According to Sol White ...

and

Philadelphia Giants The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol Whi ...

, and finished his career in 1920 with the

Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York The Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York were an independent baseball club that played in the Negro leagues during 12 seasons spanning 1916–1934. The title of this team had little to do with the state of Pennsylvania, but it did have a close connect ...

. Lankford died in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

in 1967 at age 85.

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* an
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1882 births 1967 deaths Date of death missing Brooklyn Royal Giants players Lincoln Giants players Lincoln Stars (baseball) players Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York players Philadelphia Giants players St. Louis Giants players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Missouri People from Canton, Missouri 20th-century African-American people {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub