In Memoriam: James A. Riley
James Andrew Riley III, an expert on the history of baseball’s Negro Leagues and a former SABR Board President, died at the age of 86 on April 21, 2026. His landmark reference volume, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues has been recognized as one of the most comprehensive works chronicling the segregated era of Black baseball. The book won a Macmillan-SABR Research Award, an honor Riley had previously received in 1990 for his work (with the late John Holway and Dick Clark) compiling Negro Leagues statistics for the eighth edition of Macmillan’s The Baseball Encyclopedia.
Riley, who joined SABR in 1979 and remained an active member for the next four decades, served on SABR’s Board of Directors from 1996 to 2001, including one term as Board President from 1999 to 2001. He was the Director of Research at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City from 1996 to 2001. He also was a recipient of the SABR Negro League Committee’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Robert Peterson Recognition Award, and a past president of SABR’s Central Florida Chapter. His friendship with Atlanta native James “Red” Moore, a former Negro Leagues first baseman, facilitated Red’s appearance at several SABR Magnolia Chapter meetings.
Riley was born on July 25, 1939, and grew up in Elizabethton, Tennessee. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree from East Tennessee State University. He also earned a doctorate degree from Nova University, and spent 30 years as a teacher, coach, and administrator at Florida high schools. He married Dorothy (Taylor) in 1960 and they had two sons, Jubal and Josh.
In his introduction to The Biographical Encyclopedia, first published in 1994 and updated in 2002, Riley expanded on what drove him to put together such a monumental work:
“Other publications have maintained a broader perspective and presented an overview of Black baseball, or focused on sociological conditions that contributed to the existence of the Negro Leagues. Individual players, with the exception of a select number of stars, have been neglected and remain unknown to the American sports world. Previously, no source existed for an interested reader to learn about these forgotten specters from the shadows of the past.
“At first my interest and research were on a personal level, but gradually, as I realized the dearth of information available on the subject, I began to expand the perimeters of my research to encompass a goal of preserving a complete and accurate history of the Negro Leagues, with a special interest on the men who were destined to spend their careers in the shadows of relative obscurity.”
“I considered it imperative to contact living players from the Negro Leagues to secure both personal histories and evaluations of their deceased contemporaries who had passed away without leaving an account of their own baseball memories. As I traveled across the country speaking with these men, I was encouraged by their caring and sharing attitude and by their genuine appreciation of finally being remembered for their contributions to baseball.”
Riley’s other baseball books included All-Time All-Stars of Black Baseball (1983); Dandy, Day, and the Devil (1987); Buck Leonard: The Black Lou Gehrig (1995); Nice Guys Finish First: The Autobiography of Monte Irvin (1996); Negro Baseball Leagues: African-American Achievers (1997); and Of Monarchs and Black Barons (2012). He also served as editor for the book Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams (2006).
In addition to his wife and sons, he is survived by four grandchildren, Andy, Mark, Graham, and Delaney. A private family service was held.
Originally published: May 15, 2026. Last Updated: May 14, 2026.