Candy Jim Taylor (February 1, 1884 – April 3, 1948)
Managed Dayton Marcos (1920), Cleveland Tate Stars (1922), Toledo Tigers (1923), St. Louis Stars (1923-1925, 1927-1929), Cleveland Elites (1926), Detroit Stars (1926), Memphis Red Sox (1930), Indianapolis ABCs/Detroit Stars (1931-1933), Nashville / Columbus / Washington Elite Giants (1934-1936), Chicago American Giants (1937-1939, 1941-1942, 1945-1947), Birmingham Black Barons (1940), Homestead Grays (1943-1944)
955–991–21 (.491) / 997-1,121-35 (.471) in 27 seasons
3 league pennants as manager
2 NWS championships
Time has rewarded the Negro leagues. You might know that baseball didn't allow black players to play baseball until the 1940s because of racist slime that operated the leagues. But there were many leagues of baseball for players and managers that operated in the 20th century. It was in 2024 that MLB integrated Negro league stats such as managerial wins into their records. Please note that Retrosheet, Seamheads, and Baseball Reference have their own quibbles about postseason play and even his record is debatable. Please note that black baseball is considered major league in 1920, although Taylor played and managed for many years prior. Okay, work with me on this: Taylor managed 12 teams in the major league era of black baseball and won over 900 games, which is the most for any person in that era. He also lost over 900 games in that era. Taylor apparently started playing baseball before he was even 20, doing so with his brothers Ben, C. I. and "Steel Arm" Johnny, who all played various forms of ball in the early 20th century. He became a player/manager in the 1910s for teams such as West Baden and Indianapolis. In 1925, the Stars 59-30-2 in 91 games for a second-place finish. They were matched against the Kansas City Monarchs for a Championship Series, which resulted in the Stars losing 4-3 as the Monarchs reached the black World Series. In 1928, Taylor led the St. Louis Stars to the Negro National League pennant, going 67-26 in 93 games. In the year that the league didn't send its champion to the black World Series, the Stars instead had a "Championship Series" versus the Chicago American Giants. The Stars won in a best-of-nine series that went the distance. With St. Louis, he managed them for 515 games, the 2nd most he managed for a team officially next to Chicago (593) and went to the playoffs twice.
With Chicago in total, he led them to the playoffs once: in 1937, a third-place finish somehow saw them make the Negro American League playoffs with a 39-37-1 record. They lost 5-1 to Kansas City. Taylor went 244-340-9 in eight on-and-off seasons. It was during World War II that Taylor saw his strategies turn up lucky. When Vic Harris left managing duties to do work at a plant, Taylor became manager of the Homestead Grays for 1943 and 1944. The result saw him go 141-52 that saw him win the Negro National League (II) pennant twice. They faced the Birmingham Black Barons (as managed by Gus Welch) in both years of the Negro World Series (brought back in 1942). In 1943, the Grays and Barons traded wins (and a tie) that forced a pivotal Game 8 where Homestead scored six runs to overcome a 4-2 deficit in the eighth inning to win 8-4. 1944 in contrast saw the Grays win it in five games by an average of five runs. A baseball lifer who never married or had children, Taylor had 11 winning seasons while finishing in the top-three of a league season ten times. Taylor died suddenly before the start of the 1948 season, where he was to manage the Baltimore Elite Giants.
It may interest you to know that Taylor was up for a Hall of Fame vote once, in 2006. He didnt make it, but 17 others did. As of now, in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, only one black person has been inducted for anything relating to managerial effort. Rube Foster was both a domineering pitcher (specifically in the early 1900s) and executive in the Negro leagues, specifically with the Chicago American Giants, where he won 300 games as manager from 1920 to 1926 that saw four league pennants. And that's it, no other black managers are recognized despite obvious standouts. Taylor is the very definition of what it means to understand history of black baseball in all of its facets: the lifer, the winner, the career man, the one who endures.
On behalf of the Unsung Hall of Fame, it is my privilege to welcome Candy Jim Taylor as part of the Unsung Hall of Fame.
Notes
For more info on Candy Jim, seek out SABR: Jim Taylor – Society for American Baseball Research
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