Melvin Elijah Sykes (January 10, 1901 – March, 1984) 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 ...

in 1926. A native of

Decatur, Alabama Decatur () is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County, Alabama, Morgan County (with a portion also in Limestone County, Alabama, Limestone County) in the U.S. state of Alabama. Nicknamed "The River City," it is located in North Alabam ...

, Sykes was the brother of fellow Negro leaguer

Doc Sykes 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 At ...

. Younger brother Melvin attended

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

, where he was captain of the baseball and basketball teams, and graduated in 1926. His Negro league career was limited to a single season, 1926, when he split time between the

Hilldale Club The Hilldale Athletic Club (informally known as Darby Daisies) were an American professional Negro league baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. Established as a boys team in 1910, the Hilldales were developed by their ...

and the

Lincoln Giants The New York Lincoln Giants were a Negro league baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930. Founding The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of Lincoln, Nebraska, from the 1890s. According t ...

. After his brief professional baseball career, Sykes worked in real estate in New York, but eventually returned to Decatur, where he became involved in various organizations including the

Alabama Democratic Conference The Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC) is an African-American political league, co-founded by Orzell Billingsley and others, in cooperation with the national Democratic Party. Formed in 1960 as the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, it was the f ...

. Sykes died in Decatur in 1984 at age 83.

References

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1901 births 1984 deaths Hilldale Club players New York Lincoln Giants players Baseball outfielders 20th-century African-American sportsmen Baseball players from Decatur, Alabama {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub