Leroy Holmes (December 12, 1912 – October 7, 1985), nicknamed "Philly" and "Buddy", was an American Negro league shortstop between 1937 and 1945. A native of

Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick () is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Sa ...

, Holmes was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer

Lefty Holmes Frank "Lefty" Holmes (February 28, 1907 – December 27, 1987), also nicknamed "Sonny", "Ducky", and "Eddie", was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. A native of Brunswick, Georgia, he was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer Philly H ...

and attended Bethune-Cookman College. He made his Negro leagues debut in 1937 for the

Jacksonville Red Caps The Jacksonville Red Caps were a Negro league baseball team based primarily in Jacksonville, Florida. They played the Negro American League from 1938 until 1942. History The team was based in Jacksonville, Florida playing at Durkee Field in 19 ...

, and played for Jacksonville again the following season. Holmes split 1939 with the

Cleveland Bears Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and Indianapolis ABCs, then played for 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

Cincinnati Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. The ...

in 1945. He died in Atlanta, Georgia in 1985 at age 72.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
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1912 births 1985 deaths Jacksonville Red Caps players New York Black Yankees players 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball infielders Sportspeople from Brunswick, Georgia Cleveland Bears players Indianapolis ABCs players Cincinnati Clowns players {{Negro-league-baseball-infielder-stub