James Allen "Candy Jim" Taylor (February 1, 1884April 3, 1948) was an American

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Negro league baseball 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 ...

. In a career that spanned forty years, he played as an infielder in the early years of the 20th century for over a dozen black baseball teams; by the mid 1920s, he would play less regularly (doing so as a pinch hitter), with his final game came at 58. In 1920, the same year of the start of the golden era of Negro league baseball, he would take on the responsibilities of manager, where he would manage 1,967 games for twelve teams. Described as one of the great strategists of his era, Taylor is the all-time winningest manager in the Negro league era, having 955 wins along with two

Negro World Series The Negro World Series was a post-season baseball tournament that was held from 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east-coast counterparts. The series was a ...

titles and one additional pennant in 27 seasons as manager. He has the most seasons managed by an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

manager along with having the seventh most for a manager in the history of baseball.

Biography

Born in

Anderson, South Carolina Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 28,106 at the 2020 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702. It is one of the principal cities in the Green ...

, Taylor was one of four brothers who played in the Negro leagues, along with

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...

, C. I. and "Steel Arm" Johnny. Taylor began playing ball with an amateur club in Anderson, South Carolina in 1901, starting as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

."Frank Lelands' Chicago Giants Base Ball Club" Fraternal Printing Company, 1910
/ref> He played with several different clubs in 1902 and 1903, finally landing a position with the Birmingham Giants in 1904 where he played third base. That year, he played in 55 regular season games and only made three errors. 1910StPaulGophers

Taylor continued with Birmingham until 1909, and moved to the St. Paul Colored Gophers for part of a season in 1910. He was named the captain of the team. Later in 1910, he was asked to play for the Chicago Giants,"Chicago Giants Will Raise Flag Sunday" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, Page 2, Columns 4 and 5
/ref> but played instead for the

West Baden Sprudels The West Baden Sprudels were an early Negro league baseball team that played as an independent club owned by the Burnett-Pollard-Rogers Baseball Club Company, where Edward Rogers was the Chief Officer. Founding The Sprudels appear to have been ...

as a player/manager until 1913. In 1914, he moved to the

Indianapolis ABC's Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mario ...

as a player/manager, and by 1916, he helped the

to win the Black World Championship. During the War, Taylor seemed to rotate between three teams, the

Indianapolis ABCs The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and fini ...

Dayton Marcos The Dayton Marcos were a Negro league baseball team based from Dayton, Ohio that played during the early twentieth century. Founding and early years The Dayton Marcos history predates the formal organized leagues of Negro league baseball. As an ...

, and the

Detroit Stars The Detroit Stars were an American baseball team in the Negro leagues and played at historic Mack Park. The Stars had winning seasons every year but two, but were never able to secure any championships. Among their best players was Baseball Hall of ...

. In 1918, 34 year-old Taylor registered for the WWI Draft. He lists his current occupation as a "Laborer" for the Penn Freight House at Dela and Georgia Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. Taylor lists his current address as 645 Blackford Street in Indianapolis. He does not list any dependents and lists his closest relative as Charles Isaac Taylor at 446 Indiana Avenue."WWI Draft Registration of Candy Jim Taylor" Local Board Division 4, Fletcher American Bank Building, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, September 12, 1918
/ref> When the newly formed Negro National League started in 1920, Candy Jim worked as a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

for the

. But he moved on to the

Cleveland Tate Stars The Cleveland Tate Stars were a Negro league baseball team from 1919 through 1923. They played as an independent (non-affiliated) team from 1919 through 1921, and joined the Negro National League in 1922. In their only season as a full-fledged le ...

in the next season. He also served as a vice chairman for the league during its tenure (his brother C.I. also served as one of the co-founders of the league and vice president). A disciplinarian and a master strategist, as manager Taylor led the St. Louis Stars to contention in the Negro National League, which coincided with the decision to match first half and second half champions for a Championship Series, starting in 1925 (his third and final season in his first stint). That year, his team won the second half of the season and won the right to be matched against the

Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 193 ...

. They lost that series four to three. Taylor returned in 1927 to St. Louis and managed them to their first championship in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

, doing so over the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

five games to four in the Championship Series. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

took its toll on the economics of the game, and while managing the 1933 Richmond All-Stars, Taylor was forced to sell the team bus, and later had to send the players home. In

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

Taylor took over as manager for the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cumb ...

, which had been led by player-manager Vic Harris. After having won the NNL title for the previous three seasons, the Grays were tasked to try and win it again for the right to advance to the newly created second incarnation of the

title. They succeeded in winning the pennant and the World Series, for which they would repeat their success again the following year.

Death and legacy

Grave of James Allen Taylor (1884–1948) at Burr Oak Cemetery

Taylor died at age 64 of a heart attack in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and was interred in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. He was buried in an unmarked grave which remained that way for nearly 54 years, until the

Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project The Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project is an effort started by Peoria, Illinois anesthesiologist Jeremy Krock and with support of the Society for American Baseball Research to put a proper headstone on the graves of former Negro league bas ...

raised funds for a proper

headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...

in 2004. Taylor managed a variety of black baseball legends in four decades that ranged from

Cool Papa Bell James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game. Stories demonstrating Bell's s ...

Josh Gibson Joshua Gibson (December 21, 1911 – January 20, 1947) was an American baseball catcher primarily in the Negro leagues. Baseball historians consider Gibson among the best power hitters and catchers in baseball history. In 1972, he became the se ...

to Vic Harris while being selected to coach in the

East-West All Star Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

four times.

Managerial record

References

Notes

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
* an
Seamheads
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Candy Jim Negro league baseball managers Baseball players from South Carolina People from Anderson, South Carolina 1884 births 1948 deaths Baltimore Elite Giants players Birmingham Black Barons players Birmingham Giants players Chicago American Giants players Chicago Giants players Cleveland Elites players Cleveland Tate Stars players Columbus Elite Giants players Dayton Marcos players Detroit Stars players Homestead Grays players Indianapolis ABCs players Indianapolis ABCs (1931–1933) players Leland Giants players Louisville White Sox (1914-1915) players Memphis Red Sox players Nashville Elite Giants players St. Paul Colored Gophers players St. Louis Stars (baseball) players Toledo Tigers players Washington Elite Giants players West Baden Sprudels players Burials at Burr Oak Cemetery 20th-century African-American people