Elija James Humphries (November 17, 1890 – September 10, 1971) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

player,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and executive. He was a longtime figure in

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

Biography

Humphries' playing career in

spanned 1907 to 1918. A

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

, he had a career-best .277

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in 1916, compiling 136 hits in 136 games with the McAlester Miners of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

, although batting records for multiple of his seasons are incomplete. He appeared in at least 376 minor league games during a 10-season playing career. Humphries was a

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with the

Bonham Boosters Bonham may refer to: * Bonham (surname), an English and Welsh surname * Bonham (band), a British hard rock band formed by Jason Bonham * ''Bonham'' (Rouse), a percussion work by Christopher Rouse * Bonham, Wiltshire, a place in the United Kingdom ...

in 1911, the Sherman Cubs in 1912, the Sherman Lions in 1913, and the McAlester Miners from 1915 to 1917. He led the Miners to a first-place finish in 1917. In 1919, Humphries was hired as the

Oklahoma City Indians The Oklahoma City Indians was the primary name of an American professional baseball team representing Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from 1904 though 1957, except for 1913 and three seasons during World War II. The team played in several different minor ...

team

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

and in 1920, he briefly managed the team. He served as the team's business manager in the 1930s and 1940s, and in 1948, he became the team's president. In 1951, Humphries bought the franchise and became its owner. He signed pitcher Bill Greason in 1952, making Greason the second African American player in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. Humphries owned the team through 1957; it folded when the Texas League reorganized after that season. All told, Humphries was with the Oklahoma City Indians for 39 years, "one of the longest careers with a single franchise in baseball history." In 1958, Humphries moved his franchise to

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

, to become the

Corpus Christi Giants Corpus (plural ''corpora'') is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of ...

, and remained owner. He later had a stake in the

Victoria Giants The Victoria Titans (known in its final two seasons as the Victoria Giants), were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Melbourne, Victoria. History The Titans ...

of the Texas League. Humphries was born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

, and attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

. He died in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, in September 1971, and was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery there.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphries, Jimmie 1890 births 1971 deaths Sportspeople from Waco, Texas Baylor University alumni Minor league baseball managers Minor league baseball executives Corsicana Oilers players Bonham Boosters players Sherman Cubs players Sherman Lions players Paris Snappers players McAlester Miners players Albuquerque Dukes players 20th-century American sportsmen Petersburg Goobers players