James McCurine Jr. (May 8, 1921 – May 24, 2002), nicknamed "Big Stick", was an American

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" F ...

from 1946 to 1949. A native of

Clinton, Kentucky Clinton is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city and the county seat of Hickman County, Kentucky, Hickman County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,388 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, a decline from 1,415 ...

, McCurine's powerful hitting caught the eye of

manager

Candy Jim Taylor James Allen "Candy Jim" Taylor (February 1, 1884April 3, 1948) was an American third baseman and manager in Negro league baseball. In a career that spanned forty years, he played as an infielder in the early years of the 20th century for over a ...

in a 1945 exhibition game. Taylor signed him, and McCurine and John "Mule" Miles became one of the top slugging duos in the Negro leagues. McCurine played for the Giants through 1949, and died in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 2002 at age 81.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
* Jim McCurine a
Negro League Baseball Players Association
1921 births 2002 deaths Chicago American Giants players 20th-century African-American sportsmen Baseball outfielders 21st-century African-American sportsmen Baseball people from Kentucky {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub