Frank Jehoy Sykes (April 10, 1892 – November 10, 1986), nicknamed "Doc", was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1910s and 1920s.
| Doc Sykes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: April 10, 1892 Decatur, Alabama | |
| Died: November 10, 1986 (aged 94) Baltimore, Maryland | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Negro league baseball debut | |
| 1914, for the Brooklyn Royal Giants | |
| Last appearance | |
| 1924, for the Baltimore Black Sox | |
| Teams | |
|
A native of Decatur, Alabama, Sykes was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer Melvin Sykes. He attended Atlanta Baptist College and Howard University College of Medicine.[1] He broke into professional baseball in 1914 with the Brooklyn Royal Giants, but his longest tenure was with the Baltimore Black Sox in the early 1920s. In 1922, Sykes tossed a no-hitter for Baltimore against the Bacharach Giants at Maryland Baseball Park.[2]
After his baseball career, Sykes returned to Decatur to practice dentistry.[3] While living in Decatur in 1931, he provided critical testimony in the Scottsboro Boys trial, challenging the fairness of an all-white jury in the case. The backlash of his involvement in the case eventually caused him to move to Baltimore, Maryland, where he continued his dental practice and lived until his death in 1986 at age 94.[4]
References edit
- ^ "Doc Sykes". seamheads.com. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
- ^ Dirk Lammers (September 11, 2020). "Black Sox's 'Doc' Sykes tosses no-no, 98 years ago today". nonohitters.com. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
- ^ KL Mitchell (March 26, 2018). "Negro League Baseball and HBCUs". klmitchell.com. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
- ^ Tony McClean (May 20, 2010). "Former Negro League pitcher Doc Skyles remembered". lasentinel.net. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
External links edit
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference and Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats and Seamheads
.jpg){kind=small} | This Negro league baseball pitcher article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |