John Boyce Taylor (August 12, 1879 – March 25, 1956) was the second-oldest of four baseball-playing brothers, the others being

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

, and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

. Taylor was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and played in professional pre-league and

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 ...

from 1903 to 1925. Taylor was given his baseball nickname, "Steel-Arm Johnnie," by a white sportswriter for the Charlotte Observer (a predominantly white paper during the time) wrote about Taylor's great speed, when he pitched for Biddle University in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

in 1898. In the summer of 1898, he played two months for the Greenwood, South Carolina Red Stockings, and finished the season with the Greenville, South Carolina team."Frank Lelands' Chicago Giants Base Ball Club" Fraternal Printing Company, 1910
/ref> In 1899 and 1900, Taylor pitched for his home club in Anderson, South Carolina where he reportedly won 90 percent of his games. During the spring months of 1899 and later in 1905, he coached the Biddle University team. He pitched the 1903 season for the

Birmingham Giants The Birmingham Giants were a Negro league baseball team, based in Birmingham, Alabama, from 1904 through 1909. They were the first black professional baseball team in the city. C. I. Taylor managed and played for the Giants. His brothers Candy Ji ...

where he pitched from thirty to forty games per season. He also reportedly never lost over seven games per season while at Birmingham. All four brothers were on that team by 1908, and he beat Hall of Famer Joe Williams 1-0 in San Antonio, striking out the side with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. In the Spring of 1908, Taylor coached the M. and I College team of Holly Springs, Mississippi, developing players like Cobb and Pinson, who both went on to become the battery for the

Taylor pitched for the

St. Paul Colored Gophers The St. Paul Colored Gophers was a small club of black baseball players formed in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1907. They were not a formal Negro league baseball, Negro league team, as the commonly referred-to "Negro leagues" were not created until 1 ...

in 1909, helping them claim a share of the western championship that year, posting a combined record of 37-6 between Birmingham and St. Paul. He pitched for the

Chicago Giants The Chicago Giants were a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois which played in the Negro leagues from 1910 to 1921. History The team was founded by Frank Leland after he and his partner, Rube Foster, split up the Leland Giant ...

in 1910, the

St. Louis Giants The St. Louis Stars, originally the St. Louis Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently from as early as 1906 to 1919, and then joined the Negro National League (NNL) for the duration of their existence. After the 192 ...

in 1911, 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 ...

in 1912, and 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 ...

in 1913 before reuniting with his brothers in 1914 on the Indianapolis ABCs. When 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 ...

started in 1920, Taylor managed the

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

Black Devils for half a season, joining the Indianapolis ABCs again on June 21, 1920. Then 40-year-old Taylor pitched at least 3 known games that year. Taylor pitched professionally until 1925. During his years of coaching college baseball, it was said he reportedly never used tobacco, and did not drink alcohol and often emphasized to his players the virtues of clean living and hard work. Taylor laid in an unmarked grave for 51 years, until researchers with the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project put a proper gravestone on his grave in 2007."Larry Lester's 'Krock Watch'" Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project 2010 Newsletter
/ref>

References

* ''The Indianapolis ABCs: History of a Premier Team in the Negro Leagues'', by Paul Debono * ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues'', by Jim Riley * *

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Steel Arm Johnny 1879 births Bacharach Giants players Birmingham Giants players Chicago American Giants players Chicago Giants players Hilldale Club players Indianapolis ABCs players Louisville White Sox (1914-1915) players St. Louis Giants players St. Paul Colored Gophers players West Baden Sprudels players 1956 deaths 20th-century African-American people