Doc Sykes Explained

Doc Sykes
Position:Pitcher
Birth Date:April 10, 1892
Birth Place:Decatur, Alabama
Death Place:Baltimore, Maryland
Bats:Right
Throws:Right
Debutleague:Negro league baseball
Debutyear:1914
Debutteam:Brooklyn Royal Giants
Finalyear:1924
Finalteam:Baltimore Black Sox
Teams:

Frank Jehoy Sykes (April 10, 1892  - November 10, 1986), nicknamed "Doc", was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1910s and 1920s.

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]

External links

and Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats and Seamheads

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Doc Sykes . seamheads.com . August 4, 2020.
  2. Web site: Dirk Lammers . Black Sox’s ‘Doc’ Sykes tosses no-no, 98 years ago today . nonohitters.com . September 11, 2020 . September 20, 2020.
  3. Web site: KL Mitchell . Negro League Baseball and HBCUs . klmitchell.com . March 26, 2018 . August 4, 2020.
  4. Web site: Tony McClean . Former Negro League pitcher Doc Skyles remembered . lasentinel.net . May 20, 2010 . August 4, 2020.