Lloyd Benjamon Davenport (October 11, 1911 – September 1, 1985) 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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who played for several clubs of the

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

and

Minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

leagues during 17 seasons spanning 1934–1953. Listed at 5' 4" , 150 lb. , Davenport batted and threw left-handed. Born in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, he was nicknamed Ducky.Minor and Negro leagues statistics
''Baseball Reference''. Retrieved on February 1, 2016. A five-time Negro league All-Star, he also played in the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

leagues.Swanton, Barry (2006). ''Mandak League: Haven for Former Negro League Ballplayers, 1950-1957. McFarland & Company. . Davenport managed to hit .300 or better in five Negro leagues seasons, collecting

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s of .302 (1937), .360 (1938), .364 (1939), .333 (1942) and .395 (1945). He later spent four seasons in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

from 1945 to 1948. In between, Davenport played winter ball with the Cuban Alacranes del Almendares in the 1946–47 season and for the Venezuelan

Navegantes del Magallanes The Navegantes del Magallanes (Magellan Navigators), commonly known as Magallanes, are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. Based in Valencia, Magallanes has won 13 LVBP championships and two (2) Caribbean Series. It wa ...

in 1949–50. He later played for the

Elmwood Giants The name Elmwood Giants has been used since 1905 by various Canadian baseball teams based in the Elmwood community of Winnipeg, Manitoba. , the Elmwood Giants Baseball Club, Inc. operates four teams: the Elmwood Giants Juniors (AAA) (members of ...

of the

Mandak League The Manitoba-Dakota League was an independent baseball league based in Manitoba and North Dakota that was founded in 1950. It became the home for many African-American and Latino players. The league lasted through the 1957 season. It was known inf ...

in 1951. Davenport was 41 years old when he joined the

Danville Dans The Danville Dans are a collegiate summer league baseball team located in Danville, Illinois. The team plays in the Prospect League, which their former league, the NCAA-sanctioned Central Illinois Collegiate League, was absorbed into after the 20 ...

in 1953, during what turned out to be his career's final season. He died in 1985 in his home of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the age of 73.

Pro career

Davenport joined the Philadelphia Stars of the Negro National League II in 1935. He appeared in 18 games and batted a meager .179 as a reserve outfielder. Davenport served a s aback-up to former all-star Ted Page and

Chaney White Chaney Leonard White (April 15, 1894 – February 23, 1967), nicknamed "Reindeer", was an outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defende ...

. Davenport played a second season in Philadelphia before jumping to the Cincinnati Tigers of the Negro American League. It was in Cincinnati under the guidance of player/manager

Ted Radcliffe Theodore Roosevelt "Double Duty" Radcliffe (July 7, 1902 – August 11, 2005) was a professional baseball player in the Negro leagues. An accomplished two-way player, he played as a pitcher and a catcher, became a manager, and in his old age b ...

that Davenport became a starter for the first time. His hitting improved as he finished second on the team in batting average, hitting .327 compare to shortstop

Howard Easterling Howard W. Easterling (November 26, 1911 – September 6, 1993) was an American third baseman in Negro league baseball. He played between 1937 and 1954. A native of Mount Olive, Mississippi, Easterling served in the US Army during World War II. ...

who batted .346. After the season, the Cincinnati Tigers franchise ceased operations and Davenport followed Radcliff to 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 ...

. Again, Davenport hit over three hundred and when the season ended, he could call himself a champion, as Memphis defeated the

Atlanta Black Crackers The Atlanta Black Crackers (originally known as the Atlanta Cubs and later briefly the Indianapolis ABCs) were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league ...

for the league championship, 2 games to 0. In the series, Davenport went 2-4 and drove in two runs. Davenport missed the 1940 season, and spent the 1941 season with Memphis before he joined the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal pres ...

and thus began an odyssey that saw him play for several teams over the course of the next several years, including 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 ...

and the Cincinnati/Cleveland Buckeyes. Davenport retired from baseball after the 1945 season.

Sources

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Lloyd 1911 births 1985 deaths African-American baseball players Alijadores de Tampico players Almendares (baseball) players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Azules de Veracruz players Baseball players from New Orleans Birmingham Black Barons players Chicago American Giants players Cincinnati Tigers (baseball) players Cleveland Buckeyes players Danville Dans players Elmwood Giants players Memphis Red Sox players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New Orleans Crescent Stars players Philadelphia Stars players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba