Tony Lloyd

Tony Lloyd at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field in 2023 (Courtesy of Jeb Stewart)

Tony Lloyd1 was a second baseman for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1959, which was his only season in professional baseball. He was a right-handed hitter and thrower who stood 5-feet-9 and weighed 150 pounds.2

Anthony Carl “Tony” Lloyd was born on April 27, 1936, in Fairfield, Alabama,3 to Arthur Lloyd and Alberta Alley Lloyd. His father was from Evergreen, Alabama, and found work at the Fairfield Sheet Mill while his mother was employed at a school cafeteria.4 He had five siblings: brothers Arthur, Jr., Joseph, and Richard William, and sisters Myrtle and Barbara.

Lloyd attended kindergarten at St. Mary’s Catholic School and later Robinson Elementary in Fairfield. There was no organized Little League baseball in his community, but boys played baseball and formed teams representing different neighborhoods, including Fairfield, Ensley, and Westfield.5  

He got a late start playing baseball, but by age 11 or 12 Lloyd played for a team in Fairfield called the Outlaws. He recalled:

“We black kids had to play on the black side of town on a field that was rocky and weedy, but we did the best we could because we enjoyed playing baseball … My mother would have to call me in at night, because I’d be playing baseball, … If you didn’t play baseball, you weren’t hanging out with me. I didn’t date. I didn’t do a lot of other things. It was baseball, baseball, baseball.”6

He initially played shortstop but soon discovered that his throwing arm was not strong enough to make long throws to first, so he moved to second base.7 A lady who lived next door gave him a glove as a present. The glove was slightly too big for his hand, but after using it he always preferred having a larger glove. Although he could not recall any of his teammates playing professional baseball, Robert Underwood, who later played with the Black Barons in the mid-1950s, was an older shortstop for another team.

While growing up in Fairfield, Lloyd occasionally attended Black Barons’ games at Rickwood Field. There was a hole in the right-field side of the ballpark, and he used to sneak into games. Although there was an employee stationed near the fence who could have stopped Lloyd and his friends, he “turned the other way” when he saw them coming. Inside Rickwood, he saw Piper Davis and Willie Mays play for the Black Barons. He recalled that Mays was able to catch everything in the outfield because of his speed. He also attended a few games of the Class AA Southern Association Birmingham Barons and remembers seeing Jimmy Piersall play. Piersall was a member of the Barons in 1951 and 1952.

Lloyd attended Fairfield Industrial High School, where both Davis and Mays had graduated. He played second on the Hornets’ baseball team and credited coach William Brown with teaching him how to hit and field. Tony picked up the rest of the game by watching. One of his high school teammates nicknamed him “Bucket” because whenever a ball was hit to Lloyd it was “in the bucket” (i.e., an out).

Lloyd also made the Hornets’ football squad as a reserve. When he graduated from Fairfield in 1954, coach Brown recommended him to the head coach of Tuskegee Institute’s baseball team.

His skills as a baseball player paid immediate dividends when he arrived on campus. As a freshman, he beat out an upperclassman and was named the starting second sacker for the Golden Tigers’ varsity team, which was unheard of in those days. The player he beat out resented losing his job and vowed revenge if Lloyd dared to pledge the baseball fraternity, so he remained independent. However, as the squad’s first-ever four-year starter, he was honored by receiving a gold baseball from the school in 1958 “for his exceptional performance.”8 He always wondered how Tuskegee, which was an HBCU, might have fared against Auburn’s all-white baseball team, which was just 20 miles away, but such a contest was not yet possible in the Jim Crow South.9

As a junior, Lloyd also became a two-sport star when he joined the football team. He played defensive back and running back. He was a backup until a starter got injured. During his senior season, he scored the only touchdown of his football career on a 70-yard punt return, which the Huntsville Times described as “sensational,” and helped lead Tuskegee to a 28-12 road win over Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama.10

While in school, he joined ROTC for two years but did not serve in the military after graduation. He graduated from Tuskegee in 1958 with a degree in mechanical industries,11 and was inducted into the school’s sports hall of fame in 2007.12 After graduation, he traveled to New York and lived with his older brother Joseph in Brooklyn. He worked odd jobs at the post office where his brother was employed, but Lloyd dreamed of playing professional baseball and briefly played industrial league ball with the Fairfield Gray Sox.13

In early 1959, he saw an advertisement in The Sporting News for Ken Boyer’s Florida Baseball School in Tampa , Florida. The ad claimed that “900 players from our camp have signed contracts since 1946,” and Lloyd hoped he could join them.14 The instruction included coaching from Boyer, Hal Smith, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Spud Chandler over two sessions from February to April 1959.15 Lloyd saved up the $100-125 tuition, which was a lot of money at the time, thereafter boarded a bus for a two-day ride to Florida to follow his dream.

Lloyd recalled that games at Boyer’s baseball camp were not segregated, but this caused no issues, as integrated baseball was becoming the norm, even in certain parts of the Deep South. However, Black players suffered the indignity of having to find room and board outside the camp because of segregation laws.16

At the camp, Lloyd honed his hitting and defensive skills. When Boyer found out he was from Fairfield, he spoke glowingly about Willie Mays. Major league scouts watched the games and Lloyd hoped one might sign him to a minor-league contract. However, by the end of the camp, he learned from Boyer or Hal Smith that he was not going to be signed.17 One problem that plagued him was developing Bell’s palsy during the camp, which made it difficult for him to close his right eyelid. Nevertheless, “Lloyd was one of the last players cut from the camp.”18

He knew he was good enough to play professionally. However, Black players “had to be super good to make the [major league] team,” according to Lloyd.19 He returned to Fairfield and soon heard that the Birmingham Black Barons were holding a tryout camp at the American Cast Iron Pipe Company’s field. Invitations were extended to players from 15 to 21 years of age.20 Although he was nearly 23, Lloyd was still young enough to dream and believed that playing professionally in the Negro American League might give him another chance to get to the major leagues. Lloyd’s audition with the Black Barons went well, and GM Arthur Williams signed him to play with the club for $150 per month, although he never received that much. Sportswriters cited Lloyd as a good prospect “who starred the past four years at Tuskegee”21

Late that winter, Black Barons president Winfield Welch hired Piper Davis to manage the team.22 Welch had managed him from 1942-45 when Davis was a player for the Black Barons, and the club won NAL pennants in 1942 and 1943 but lost to the Homestead Grays both times in the Negro League World Series. Davis became the player-manager of the team in 1948-49. The Black Barons won the 1948 NAL pennant and played in the last Negro League World Series but again lost to the Grays. After spending nearly a decade playing in the Pacific Coast and Texas Leagues, Davis retired as a player and returned to Birmingham. The 1959 campaign was his last season as a professional manager. Years later, Davis recalled, “[t]he old Negro American League was about gone, really just an exhibition outfit by then, but I was glad to go back with the team one last time.”23

By Opening Day, newspapers reported that Davis had assembled “an all-Alabama lineup” that included “Willie Harris, first baseman, Tony Lloyd, second baseman; Jim Ivory, third baseman; and shortstop Bobby Sanders … all natives of Alabama. Other starters from the state are outfielders John Mitchell, Ernie Harris, and Bob Brown. Occie [Otha] Bailey will be the catcher and Willie Smith will be on the mound.”24

For his part, Lloyd loved playing for Davis. He recalled that his manager had a reputation for being a hothead, but he never saw that side of him. His manager was a “good guy” who taught him a lot about playing baseball. Davis, who had mostly played second base during his career, showed Lloyd how to pivot when turning a double play.25 He also taught him how to hit behind a runner.

In 1959, newspapers did not regularly report Negro League statistics within their sports sections. What is available is at best incomplete, and there are questions about accuracy. Accordingly, statistics for Tony Lloyd are based on his memory. As a hitter, Lloyd recalled being a respectable .280 pull hitter who could also hit to right field. He remembers hitting one home run, either in Memphis or Mississippi, in 1959.26 He added, “That was something for me. I don’t know how it happened. A guy threw me a fastball and I connected just right, and the ball flew over the left-field wall.”27

He did not hit for much power but was a line-drive hitter. Speed on the basepaths was his primary offensive weapon. He stole a lot of bases and reckons that he led the club in steals. He was given a green light to steal whenever he was on base unless Davis signaled him to hold. Although there are few box scores available, Lloyd was rated highly as a hitter in the limited news coverage.

In a preview for a game between the Black Barons and Memphis Red Sox in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the local paper reported:

“The [Black] Barons will count heavily on their three top hitters to make life rough for [Ace] Robinson. They are center fielder Earnest Harris, second sacker [sic] Anthony Lloyd and right fielder Buddy Jackson.

Lloyd rates as one of the top athletes in the tough Negro American League and has been one of the league’s leading hitters. He hails from Fairfield, Ala.”28

Sportswriters observed that Lloyd was a top young prospect and a “good hitting second baseman [who] Davis has a lot of hopes for.”29 Other reports noted that Lloyd was having such a solid rookie year that he was drawing comparisons by league observers to Willie Mays, presumably for his hitting and speed game,30 but also because of geography, since they were both Fairfield natives.31

Lloyd remembers that he was a solid defender. In 1959 he played every game for the Black Barons except one. In the second game of a doubleheader, Davis inserted himself in the lineup and played second base. “He did good for an old guy,” Lloyd remembered.

The Black Barons played on Sundays at Rickwood when the Birmingham Barons, an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, were on the road.32 Lloyd remembers the patrons who came out to games after church wearing their Sunday best. The crowds were also loud at the ballpark as the fans rooted hard for the Black Barons. As a professional ballpark, Rickwood had a nice playing surface and made playing defense easier than the rocky infields that frequently existed in many small-town ballparks.

The Black Barons also played in a few major league parks that season. Lloyd played in Yankee Stadium,33 Comiskey Park, Connie Mack Stadium, and also at Ebbets Field against the Roy Campanella-sponsored Brooklyn Stars.34 Those games were especially important because he knew scouts were often watching from the stands. He noted, “I wanted to play in as many parks as I could. I was hoping to be signed.”35 He dreamed of being discovered by a major-league scout, but it never happened.

There was added importance of playing second base at Ebbets Field, which was not lost on Lloyd. That was Jackie Robinson’s primary position as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who had moved west after the 1957 season. Playing the same position as Robinson in his home ballpark “felt real nice. I felt honored to play where Jackie played,” he recalled.36 “All of the Black kids during my time, when Jackie Robinson went to the major leagues, we said, ‘Man, we’ve got a chance now. They opened the doors for blacks to go to the major leagues.’”37 The doors were not yet fully open though, as the Boston Red Sox did not desegregate until 1959,38 the same year that Lloyd played for the Black Barons.

Under Davis, the Black Barons won nine of their first eleven games.39 The club continued its torrid pace into summer and had a 25-7 record by early July, and spent most of the season in first place.40 To increase revenues, the Black Barons played numerous exhibition games along with their league schedule. Lloyd remembered, “We played a lot of games. We’d play maybe six days a week, with a lot of doubleheaders.”41

Most of the Black Barons’ games were played on the road and required the team to travel long distances in the hot and cramped condition of a bus driven by longtime Negro Leaguer Paul Hardy, who even played catcher in a few games that season.42 Life on the road was hard for Black players, particularly in the segregated South, as Lloyd told baseball historian Larry Powell:

“There were times, especially in Mississippi, [that] they’d let us play in the ballpark, but we couldn’t use the showers. So, we’d have to get on our bus and ride another fifty or sixty miles to the next town before we could take a shower. And during those times, the buses didn’t have air conditioners or bathrooms. So, we all sweated. You can imagine how it was.”

. . .

“A lot of times we’d stop by the side of the road to relieve ourselves and go from there. There were places that would sell us gas, but wouldn’t let us use their bathrooms. There were places that we could buy food, if we paid for it up front and go to the back to pick it up. You’d order 20-25 hamburgers,” he added. “They’d want their money first, and you’d go back to collect the hamburgers. Suppose you only had 13. You pay for 20 to 25, but you only get 13 to 15 hamburgers. You had to accept that and go on.”43

Reports on Negro League games had long since taken a back seat to the big leagues by 1959. Box scores of Black Barons’ games (much like statistics) rarely appeared in print, even in Birmingham. In games described in two box scores that were published, Lloyd contributed two hits and scored a run, as the Black Barons split a twin bill against the Memphis Red Sox at Martin Stadium in Memphis in August.44

The Black Barons finished the campaign against Memphis in a three-game series. Birmingham took two of three games to claim the NAL pennant.45 One of the key moments in the final game, which was played in Chattanooga, happened when Lloyd hit a triple to drive in a run. On the next pitch, he stole home to give the Black Barons an insurance run as Birmingham won the championship over the Red Sox, 7-5.46

That fall, he visited his older brother Arthur, who worked for General Motors in Detroit. Tony was looking for off-season work until he could return to the Black Barons in 1960. He also considered joining the Army and even spoke to a recruiter. He then ran into some friends from Cleveland who told him there were more opportunities there. He took a job with the Cleveland Post Office working with the letter sorting machine.

He told his supervisor that he wanted to take a leave of absence to play for the Black Barons in 1960 but was told that returning to his job would not be guaranteed and that he would even have to reapply. Leaving a good job with benefits to continue to chase a dream was too great a risk for him. So, Lloyd made the difficult decision to retire from professional baseball at only 23. However, the Center for Negro League Baseball Research determined that Lloyd continued to play both semipro and industrial league baseball with the Cleveland Dodgers and Commerce Ford until 1964.47

He worked for the Cleveland Post Office for 14 years. While living in Cleveland he regularly attended Indians and Browns games at Municipal Stadium. In December 1973, he transferred to a Post Office in Detroit, which promised better opportunities for him. He also had four daughters, Wanda, Barbara, Karen, and Anthonette, who was named after him. Information regarding their mothers and/or Lloyd’s marriages is not known by the author.

While living in Detroit, he took up running marathons as a hobby. In 1981, he finished a Canada to Detroit marathon in just four hours and 30 minutes. After 19 years of working for the Post Office in Michigan, Lloyd retired in 1992. He moved back to Alabama and has lived in Fairfield ever since. In retirement, he owned a Negro League merchandise company.48 He used profits from this business to assist “former players with medical bills and funeral expenses.”49 He was also a regular guest at the annual Rickwood Classic from 1996 to 2019.

Lloyd has some resentment over not getting a better opportunity to play in the major leagues, but he holds no grudges. He added, “We were good. We had players that should have been in the majors but weren’t because of segregation. Some guys didn’t have the opportunity and went to their graves never knowing [if they could play in the big leagues].”50

Thanks to a Local Chapter grant from SABR, the Rickwood Field SABR Chapter in conjunction with the Friends of Rickwood was able to update Rickwood’s Championship Wall in advance of the 2022 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference. Pennants appear on the third base side to the grandstand remembering championship seasons for the Birmingham Barons, Black Barons, and Athletics. One of the teams that was added is the 1959 NAL champion Black Barons. On July 23, 2023, Tony Lloyd visited the ballpark and happily posed for a photograph under the pennant. For himself and his teammates, he remarked, “It makes me feel proud to be remembered.”

In 2020, Major League Baseball announced that seven professional Negro leagues, which operated from 1920-48, have been designated with “Major League status.”51 SABR has also recommended the 1949-50 NAL teams be categorized as major league.52 However, because he played long after the cut-off, Lloyd’s lone season with the Black Barons – while professional – has not been recognized as having big-league status.

However, his time in the NAL has not been forgotten. On June 20, 2024, the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood in the first regular season game ever played in Alabama. Lloyd and other surviving Negro League players were honored by MLB and singer Jon Batiste before the game, which was billed as “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.” Lloyd was happy to be remembered.

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Tony Lloyd for being so generous with his time both in person and during several telephone interviews. Special thanks are also owed to SABR member Joe DeLeonard who joined the author during the interview of Lloyd at Rickwood Field. In addition, the author appreciates Lloyd’s ex-wife and driver, Joyce Lloyd, who drove him to the ballpark. The group had lunch at the East of Mississippi Diner near Rickwood where several pictures of Lloyd are displayed. The diner owner’s wife was happy to see Lloyd and came from behind the counter to hug him and check on him.

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by James Forr.

Photo credit: Tony Lloyd, 1958 Tuskegee Institute yearbook: courtesy of Jeb Stewart.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author primarily relied on a June 23, 2023 in-person interview with Tony Lloyd, which was conducted at Rickwood Field.

Notes

1 This biography is predominantly based on the author’s June 23, 2023 interview with Tony Lloyd at Rickwood Field and originally appeared as “Tony Lloyd’s Memories of the ’59 season,” in Volume 4, Issue 2 of the Friends of Rickwood’s newsletter, “Rickwood Tales,” on September 22, 2023, 4-6.

2 Tony Lloyd, telephone interview with author, February 23, 2025.

3 Fairfield is part of the metropolitan area of Birmingham, Alabama.

4 Larry Powell, Black Barons of Birmingham (Jefferson. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009), 116.

https://www.baseballinlivingcolor.com/html/player.php?card=131

5 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 117.

6 Powell, 116.

7 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 117.

8 https://tuskegeehof.org/wp-content/uploads/members/TUAHOF_AnthonyCLloyd_Class2007Bio.pdf

9 Powell, 117. HBCU is an acronym for historically Black colleges and universities.

10 “Tuskegee Blasts A&M 28-12 In Grid Opener,” Huntsville (Alabama) Times, September 22, 1957: 20.

11 Tuskegee Institute, Tuskeana (Tuskegee, Alabama: 1957), 153.

12 https://tuskegeehof.org/wp-content/uploads/members/TUAHOF_AnthonyCLloyd_Class2007Bio.pdf

13 Powell, 117. Lloyd’s time with the Fairfield Gray Sox is chronicled by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research in its Negro League Player Register, which can be found at this link: https://www.cnlbr.org/research-library. A PDF of the portion of the register is available here:  https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/I-L-2020.pdf

14 Ken Boyer Baseball School advertisement, The Sporting News, January 14, 1959: 22. According to Powell, “The Cardinals used the camp to identify players who might be invited to spring training.” Powell, 118.

15 Ken Boyer Baseball School advertisement, The Sporting News, January 14, 1959: 22.

16 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 118.

17 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023.

18 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 118.

19 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 118.

20 “Black Barons Tryout Camp Set Saturday,” Birmingham Post-Herald, March 6, 1959: 15; “Negro Baseball School Resumes,” Birmingham Post-Herald, March 25, 1959: 11.

21 “New Prospects Eye Berths on Black Barons’ Roster,” (Montgomery) Alabama Tribune, April 10, 1959: 7; “Black Barons Play Red Sox,” Birmingham Post-Herald, April 18, 1959: 5.

22 “Named Field Manager of Birmingham Black Barons,” Atlanta Daily World, March 20, 1959: 6. ‘Steeple Jack’ Herman Taylor, “Piper Davis Named Black Barons Manager,” Huntsville (Alabama) Mirror, April 4, 1959: 7; “Piper Davis New Black Baron Boss,” Chicago Defender, April 11, 1959: 24.

23 Prentice Mills, “The Baron of Birmingham, An Interview with Lorenzo ‘Piper’ Davis,” Black Ball News, Vol 1. No. 5, 1993: 12. Major League Baseball considers the NAL to be a major league from 1937-1948. SABR’s Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee has concluded that teams in the NAL during the 1949 and 1950 seasons should also be recognized as having major league status. Thereafter, the league is considered a minor league from 1952 until the league disbanded after the 1962 season.

24 “’59 NAL Season Slated to Open on Two Fronts,” (Baltimore) Afro-American, May 23, 1959: 13; “Memphis Ready with New Faces,” Chicago Defender, May 23, 1959: 24.

25 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023; and Powell, 170.

26 Lloyd told Larry Powell that he hit his home run against the Memphis Red Sox in a game in Nashville. Powell, 119.

27 Powell, 119.

28 “Barons, Red Sox in Game Tonight,” (Ardmore, Oklahoma) Daily Ardmoreite, August 12, 1959: 8.

29 “Black Barons, Detroit Stars in Dell Game,” (Nashville) Tennessean, May 17, 1959: 58.

30 “Black Barons, Memphis Nine Here Tuesday,” Daily Ardmoreite, July 14, 1959: 15; and Britt Martin, “Britt’s Beat,” Paris (Texas) News, August 5, 1959: 5.

31 “Barons Play Monarch ‘9,’” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger, May 12, 1959: 12; Britt Martin, “Britt’s Beat,” Paris News, August 5, 1959: 5

32 Chris Fullerton, Every Other Sunday (Birmingham, Alabama: R. Boozer Press, 1999), 65-68.

33 Powell, 119.

34 “Brooklyn Gets Home Team,” New York Amsterdam News, July 4, 1959: 23; “Brooklyn Stars Lose, But Still Look Good to Camply,” New York Amsterdam News, July 18, 1959: 25.

35 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023.

36 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023.

37 Powell, 119.

38 https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/pumpsie-green/; Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023.

39 “Black Barons Newark Tangle,” Birmingham Post-Herald, June 3, 1959: 15.

40 William J. Plott, Black Baseball’s Last Team Standing: The Birmingham Black Barons, 1919-1962 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing, 2015), 257-58.

41 Powell, 120.

42 “Memphis Clips Barons in 10th,” Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star, June 19, 1959: 11; “Raleigh Tigers Split Twinbill,” Raleigh News and Observer, June 29, 1959: 14; “Tigers Win, 7-2,” Raleigh News and Observer, June 30, 1959: 14; “Black Barons’ Lead Still Intact,” Birmingham News, July 20, 1959: 23; “Barons Beat Red Sox In Negro Game, 4-0,” Ponca City (Oklahoma) News, August 14, 1959, 11; Plott, 248.

43 Powell, 120.

44 “Red Sox, Barons Divide at Martin,” (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, August 17, 1959: 22. 

45 Marcel Hopson, “Black Barons, Memphis Divide, End Official NAL Season,” Birmingham World, August 29, 1959.

46 “Black Barons, Memphis Divide, End Official NAL Season.”

47 Lloyd’s time with the Cleveland Dodgers and Commerce Ford is also chronicled by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research in its Negro League Player Register, which can be found at this link: https://www.cnlbr.org/research-library. Once again, a PDF of the portion of the register is available here:  https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/I-L-2020.pdf

48 Powell, 121.

49 https://tuskegeehof.org/wp-content/uploads/members/TUAHOF_AnthonyCLloyd_Class2007Bio.pdf

50 Tony Lloyd, interview with author, June 23, 2023.

51 https://www.mlb.com/news/negro-leagues-given-major-league-status-for-baseball-records-stats

52 https://sabr.org/latest/sabr-special-committee-acknowledges-1949-50-negro-american-league-independent-black-baseball-teams-as-major-league-caliber/