Olan "Jelly" Taylor (July 10, 1910 – October 1, 1976) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

in the

Negro leagues 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 ...

. He played for the

Cincinnati Tigers The Cincinnati Tigers were a professional Negro league baseball team that was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founding The club was founded in 1934 in sports, 1934 by DeHart Hubbard, who was the first African American to win an individual Olympic Ga ...

in 1934 and 1937 and the

Memphis Red Sox The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the la ...

from 1938 to 1942, and again in 1946. Taylor was selected to three East-West All-Star Games. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Pro career

Taylor made his professional debut for the

, becoming the team's starting first baseman in the franchise's first and only season as a Negro league ball club. During his rookie year, Taylor led the team with 349 putouts and batted .275. After the Tigers ceased operations, Taylor followed manager Ted Radcliffe over to Memphis and became a member of the

. As a member of the league champion Red Sox, Taylor batted .296 and drove in 16 runs. Taylor remained the regular first baseman for Memphis for the next several years, ever after catcher Larry Brown replaced Radcliffe as the team's player manager. In 1943, Taylor was replaced at first with Jim Canada. Taylor missed the 1944 season, having enlisted in the military, but returned in 1945. In 1946, Taylor was not only the regular first baseman for Memphis, but he was also the team's manager. After the team started 8-18-1, Ruben Jones was fired and Taylor, at the age of 35. Memphis went 28-22-1 the rest of the season, finishing 34-38-2. Despite the strong finish, Taylor was not named the manager for the 1947 season. Instead, the club brought back Brown to manage the team. Taylor then retired from baseball. Taylor was a three-time all-star in the Negro Leagues, 1939, 1940 and 1941. He had 28 hits in 1940, good enough for sixth in the league. In 1937, he had the best fielding percentage and finished third in 1937 and 1938 in putouts. In both of those seasons he ranked as one of the league leaders in turned double plays as well.

References

External links

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Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
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1910 births 1976 deaths Cincinnati Tigers (baseball) players Memphis Red Sox players Baseball players from Ohio United States Army personnel of World War II People from London, Ohio African-American baseball players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball infielders {{Negro-league-baseball-infielder-stub