Ted Kimbro
| Date and Place of Birth: | September 8, 1895 St. Louis, MO |
| Date and Place of Death: | September 19, 1918 Camp Dix, NJ |
| Baseball Experience: | Negro League |
| Position: | Shortstop/Third Base |
| Rank: | Private |
| Military Unit: | 52 Company, 13th Training Battalion, 153rd Depot Brigade US Army |
| Area Served: | United States |
Ted Kimbro was a rising star of Negro baseball before World War I.
Ted Kimbro, the son of Isaac and Susie Kimbro, was born in St. Louis,
Missouri, on September 8, 1895. He attended school in Oklahoma City,
where his father worked at an oil refinery.
Kimbro began his professional baseball career as an 18-year-old
shortstop with the West Baden (Indiana) Sprudels, an independent Negro
team, appearing in five games and batting .176. The following year he
played for West Baden, the Louisville White Sox and the St. Louis
Giants, appearing in 31 games and batting .239. He played 28 games and
hit .276 with St. Louis in 1916, and 34 games for a .35 batting average
with the New York Lincoln Giants in 1917. That year, Kimbro was living
at 143 West 140th Street in New York, and with the United States at war
with Germany, he registered for the draft in June, claiming exemption
due to a rupture.
In 1918, Kimbro played for the New York Lincoln Giants, the Philadelphia
Hilldale Club and the Grand Central Red Caps, before, despite his
exemption claim, entering military service with the army - along with
teammate Pearl "Specks" Webster - on
July 18. Both men were stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, and played on
the baseball team, as well as making occasional appearances for Hilldale
and the Lincoln Giants.
Serving with 52 Company, 13th Training Battalion, 153rd Depot Brigade,
Private Kimbro fell ill in September, and died on September 19, 1918,
from broncho-pneumonia, caused by influenza. He was just 22 years old.
His teammate, Pearl Webster, served in France with the 807th Pioneer
Infantry. He, too, succumbed to influenza, just two months after Kimbro.
Date Added May 22, 2017
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