Thomas Bell Turner (June 22, 1915 – June 17, 2013), nicknamed "High Pockets", was an American

Negro league 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 ...

baseball player.

Playing career

A pitcher and first baseman, Turner played for the Cincinnati Stars in 1936. While in the military during the early 1940s, Turner played for the Service Command Unit baseball team. After returning to civilian life, Turner played briefly in Mexico. Returning stateside, he played for 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" F ...

in 1947 and later the Valley Tigers.NewsDemocrat.com obituary

Personal life

Turner was born in Olive Branch, Tennessee. He attended Glendale High School and later the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

. In 1940, he was drafted in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, though he did not serve overseas 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 opposing ...

. and died at the age of 97 in

Georgetown, Ohio Georgetown is a village in Brown County, Ohio, United States located about 36 miles southeast of Cincinnati. The population was 4,331 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. Georgetown was the childhood home of Ulysses S. Gra ...

References

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Tom 1915 births 2013 deaths Baseball players from Tennessee Chicago American Giants players United States Army personnel of World War II African Americans in World War II African-American United States Army personnel