Matthew James Bynum, or M.J. as just about everybody knew him, was my grandfather. I didn’t know him that well. By the time I was old enough to understand who he was, he was a much older man and dealing with the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. M.J. was not a perfect man; none of us are. I don’t plan on writing about any of that here. Instead, I’m going to focus on things about my grandfather that I heard, but never been able to prove true…. until today. Anyone who has done this family exploration for any length of time will appreciate the “happy dance” I did when I found not one, but several accounts of my grandfather’s days as a semi-professional baseball player in the negro leagues and a bit of a civil rights activist. Apparently, M.J. was quite the baseball player and played for multiple teams including the North Carolina Stars and the St. Petersburg Pelicans. Both of these teams were part of a negro minor league farm system back in the 30s and 40s. I haven’t been able find out much about them so far, but my grand-dad always told stories of playing against the lies of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. All unsubstantiated , but I’m looking….
Filed under: Bynum, Genealogy Tagged: | Bynum, Florida, Paternal
I’ve just read your blog. What interesting postings you have on your family history and reseach. I thought it
was neat how you had uncovered possible history of your ancestor in the Negro Leagues. I noticed that you have the surname Kimbro. I found a Henry Kimbro from TN that was also in the NL. I am not researching either of these surnames but thought this information may be of possible interest to your research.
Henry Kimbro born Feb. 19, 1912
Initial source:
http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com
http://www.answers.com/topic/henry-kimbro
Fortunately, both online sources give bio’s where you can research for further substantial information.
Looking forward to reading more of your family research in your blog.
Allen McClain
Thanks Allen. I’ll take a look. So far, haven’t found any references other than newspaper stories on google
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xc4KAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lU4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2903,1057256&dq=bynum+st+petersburg
The hunt continues…. thanks again!
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