November 2, 1925 – January 27, 2011
from The Greenwood Project
Nashville native Butch McCord graduated from Pearl High School and earned a football scholarship to Tennessee State University. While still in college, he signed a contract with Nashville Black Vols baseball (1947), moving on to Baltimore (1949) and Chicago (1950), where he batted .349 for the season. In 1951 he advanced to the minor leagues, playing first base with the Paris Lakers, the Denver Bears, and other teams. McCord became the first African American to play AAA ball when he joined the Richmond Virginians in 1955. Maintaining a batting average just below .400, he was the first minor league player to win the Silver Glove in two consecutive years. Unable to overcome the color barrier in major league ball, he ended his career in the minors, breaking the league’s record for fielding in his final year. During his eleven seasons McCord won two batting titles, two Silver Gloves, and three pennants, and he was voted the league’s most popular player.
Image taken from baseball card in the author’s collection.
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The Greenwood Project is a series of 160-word biographies of individuals who lie at rest in Mt. Ararat and Greenwood cemeteries, two historic African American burial grounds in Nashville, Tennessee. The project, which began in September 2014 (and is still available on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064806156276), shares the stories of more than 300 consequential individuals, primarily African American, who changed the course of city, state, and national history through their words and deeds. (All biographies were written by Kathy Lauder unless otherwise noted.)
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