Henry Allen Kimbro (February 10, 1912 – July 11, 1999), nicknamed "Jimbo", was an American Negro leagueoutfielder from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. He played for the Washington Elite Giants,
Baltimore Elite Giants
The Baltimore Elite Giants were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues from to . The team was established by Tom Wilson (Negro baseball), Thomas T. Wilson, in Nashville, Tennessee as the semi-pro Nash ...
, and the
New York Black Yankees
The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and ...
and managed the Birmingham Black Barons from 1952-1953 before retiring from baseball.
Kimbro was a lead-off hitter for most of his professional baseball career, owing to his patience at the plate and speed around the base paths. Notable accomplishments include finishing third in batting average twice; .371 in 1946, .363 in 1947. He appeared in six East-West All-Star Games.
In 1939, the Elite Giants made the postseason in unique circumstances. They participated in a four-team tournament that matched them against the Newark Eagles. He batted .313 with a run batted in as the Giants won in four games. In the League Championship Series, facing the legendary Homestead Grays, he batted .167 with three hits in five games, but they prevailed over Homestead for their first and only pennant. 1940, he led the Negro National League in runs (48), walks (39) along with at-bats (213) and plate appearances (254). In 1947, he led the league in runs (69), hits (93), doubles (24), RBI (52) to go along with a .384/.448/.624 batting line. He was the second Elite Giant to win a league batting title (teammate Roy Campanella won it 1945 and
Lester Lockett
Lester Lockett (March 25, 1912 – October 4, 2005) was an American baseball player in the Negro League baseball, Negro leagues. He played from 1937 to 1948 with several teams.
References
External links
anSeamheadsCuban Winter League during the 1947-48 season.
In 1948, he played a league high 58 games in the final major league season of the Negro leagues. He batted .269, but he walked 58 times to lead the league in on-base percentage for .450 while also leading the league in plate appearances (265), hit by pitch (seven), and runs (53). In 1948, the Giants contended for the league pennant once more. In four games, Kimbro batted .615 with eight hits, but Homestead beat Baltimore. In batting, Kimbro ranks highly among all-time statistics in Elite Giants history: first in hits (599), Wins above replacement (14.4), games (511), walks (285), stolen bases (55), and runs batted in (264). As a center fielder, he led the league in games five times, putouts three times, assists twice, and errors twice.
Kimbro once hit a home run over the roof of
Briggs Stadium
Tiger Stadium, previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Corktown, Detroit, Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. The stadium was nicknamed "The Corner" for its location at the intersection of U. ...
in Detroit.
In 2004, Kimbro was posthumously inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.