Wayne Blackburn

Wayne Tennyson Blackburn

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10½", Weight 165 lb.

• Born July 10, 1914 in Mount Joy, OH USA
• Died February 16, 2000 in Portsmouth, OH USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Wayne Blackburn was an infielder 19 years (1936-1956), all in the minor leagues (1936-1944; 1946-1954; 1956), losing one year to the Military and one year to inactivity. He then continued as a minor league manager and major league coach until 1969.

There is confusion regarding his birthdate. According to the TSN 1964 Baseball Register, he was Wayne Clark Blackburn, born July 10, 1916 at Mt. Joy OH. According to SABR's Minor League Stars, Volume III he was Wayne T. Blackburn, born January 10, 1917 at Harmon OH. Government VA Records has him as Wayne T. Blackburn, born July 10, 1914.

Blackburn drew over 1400 walks in 2016 minor league games. From 1948-1956, he had 715 hits and 742 walks in 711 games. He led the 1936 KITTY League with 124 runs, the 1943 American Association with 114 runs, and the 1951 KITTY with 116 runs. He also led the 1948 Southern Association with 36 SB.

Blackburn was actually player-manager at the end of the season in 1937 for the Peoria Reds of the Three-I League. Blackburn really began his managerial career in 1951 with the Owensboro Oilers. He moved to the Detroit Tigers organization, where he was a player-manager in the minors (1952-1954, 1956), minor league manager (1958, 1965-1966, 1968) and major league coach (1963-1964 and again in 1975).

His Kinston Eagles had the best record in the 1952 Coastal Plain League, as did the Augusta Tigers of the South Atlantic League he took over in mid-1958. His teams also lost in the playoffs in 1953 and 1954.

He managed the GCL Tigers in 1968. Also the Detroit entry in the Florida Instructional League in 1964, 1967 and 1969.

Blackburn would scout for the Detroit Tigers into at least the mid-1980s.

He married Jeanne Anderson on October 14, 1939. He served in the U.S. Army as a TEC 4 during World War II (1945). He had brown hair and blue eyes. He died at age 86 at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Portsmouth, OH [1] and is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Portsmouth.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1937	Peoria Reds	Three-I League	3-9	4th	Cincinnati Reds		replaced Ben Tincup (42-57) on August 15
1951	Owensboro Oilers	KITTY League	71-48	2nd	none	Lost League Finals
1952	Kinston Eagles	Coastal Plain League	76-47	1st	Detroit Tigers	Lost in 1st round
1953	Wausau Timberjacks	Wisconsin State League	76-49	2nd	Detroit Tigers	Lost League Finals
1954	Jamestown Falcons	PONY League	59-28	2nd	Detroit Tigers	Lost League Finals	replaced Danny Litwhiler (19-20) on June 21
1956	Jamestown Falcons	PONY League	24-26	5th	Detroit Tigers		replaced Don Lund (4-2) on July 17
1958	Augusta Tigers	South Atlantic League	46-41	1st	Detroit Tigers	Lost in 1st round	replaced Stan Charnofsky (1-1) on June 12
1965	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	63-74	6th	Detroit Tigers
1966	Montgomery Rebels	Southern League	66-72	5th	Detroit Tigers
1968	GCL Tigers	Gulf Coast League	27-36	7th	Detroit Tigers	none

VA Hospital Records

BLACKBURN, WAYNE T TEC 4 US ARMY WORLD WAR II DATE OF BIRTH: 07/10/1914 DATE OF DEATH: 02/16/2000 BURIED AT: GREENLAWN CEMETERY 1618 OFFNERE STREET 740-353-4969 PORTSMOUTH, OH 45662 (740) 354-7766

Sources

Principal sources for Wayne Blackburn include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (1964) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) and SABR's Minor League Baseball Stars, Volume III; The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 by Marshall D. Wright; The International League: Year-by-year Statistics, 1884-1953 by Marshall D. Wright; and The American Association: Year-By-Year Statistics for the Baseball Minor League, 1902-1952 by Marshall D. Wright and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• For a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)