Samuel Howard Bankhead (September 18, 1910 – July 24, 1976) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

. He played from 1931 to 1951. He also played for the Dragones de Ciudad Trujillo along with Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. In 1951, he became the first black coach in Minor League Baseball when he 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. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the

Farnham Pirates The Farnham Pirates were a minor league baseball team located in Farnham, Quebec, Canada. They played in the Provincial League from 1948 to 1951. The team was managed by Sam Bankhead, who was a player-manager. He was the first black coach in M ...

of the Provincial League. He played in several East-West all-star games from 1933 to 1946. At age 26, Bankhead married Helen M. Hall on 25 February 1937 in

Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed ...

. He died in Allegheny in July 1976."United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JP64-G23 : accessed 24 January 2013), Sam Bankhead, July 1976; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing) His brothers Joe,

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...

, and Garnett all also played in the Negro leagues, and his brother Dan played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

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an
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* 1910 births 1976 deaths African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Alabama Birmingham Black Barons players Farnham Pirates players Homestead Grays players Industriales de Monterrey players Kansas City Monarchs players Leopardos de Santa Clara players Louisville Black Caps players Mexican League baseball players Minor league baseball managers Nashville Elite Giants players People from Sulligent, Alabama Pittsburgh Crawfords players Sabios de Vargas players Baseball outfielders 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball infielders {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub