Johnny Taylor
| Date and Place of Birth: | April 29, 1916 Dallas, TX |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 26, 1944 Guam |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Third Base |
| Rank: | Corporal |
| Military Unit: | Company E, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Marines, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade US Marine Corps |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
Johnny P. Taylor was a third baseman with an outstanding arm. He was
born on April 29, 1916 in Dallas, Texas, and attended North Dallas High
School, fine-tuning his baseball skills on the sandlots of the city
before signing with the Lubbock Hubbers of the newly formed Class D West
Texas-New Mexico League in 1938.
Taylor batted .312 in 124 games his rookie year with 14 home runs and 94
RBIs, but it was his throwing antics that one young fan remembered.
"Johnny played third base and was known for his strong arm," recalled
Bill Cope of Lubbock, who was 12 years old at the time. "There was a
contest that was staged to see who had the strongest arm and players
lined up in centerfield and threw toward home plate. When it was
Johnny's turn he threw a ball that went clear past home plate and hit
the top of the grandstand. He was kidded considerably about his lack of
accuracy!" [1]
The following year Taylor batted .308 with 12 home runs and 114 RBIs
with the Hubbers, as the team clinched the league title and went on to
defeat Pampa, four games to one, in the playoff finals. At the end of
the year most of the Hubbers of the 1939 championship team were released
and despite Taylor's great numbers he did not play regularly with
another club the following year, having brief spells with the Longview
Texans of the Class C East Texas League and the Waterloo Hawks of the
Class B Three-I League. In 1941, Taylor was back in Organized Baseball
with the El Dorado Oilers of the Class C Cotton States League, and in
126 games he batted .295 with 15 home runs and 67 RBIs.
Taylor joined the Marines after the 1941 season and served in the
Pacific as a corporal with the 22nd Marines. On July 21, 1944,
they landed at Guam and faced Japanese counter-attacks
throughout the first few days. On July 26, as they attacked
against more than 2,000 enemy troops entrenched in dugouts and
pillboxes, Corporal Taylor was killed in action. He was buried at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, and his
name is inscribed on the Asan War Memorial on Guam.
|
Team |
League |
Class |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
|
| 1938 | Lubbock | W. Texas-New Mexico | D | 124 | 529 | 125 | 165 | 39 | 11 | 14 | 94 | .312 |
| 1939 | Lubbock | W. Texas-New Mexico | D | 140 | 522 | 108 | 161 | 35 | 9 | 12 | 114 | .308 |
| 1940 | Longview | East Texas | C | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1940 | Waterloo | Three-I | B | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1941 | El Dorado | Cotton States | C | 126 | 518 | 85 | 153 | 21 | 8 | 15 | 67 | .295 |
Notes
1. Correspondence with Bill Cope, 2007.
Thanks to Bill Cope and Davis O. Barker for help with this biography.
Date Added May 6, 2012 Updated July 21, 2016
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