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John Henry "Pop" Lloyd (born April 25, 1884) was born in Palatka, Florida, USA. He began his professional baseball career in 1905, playing catcher for the Acmes of Macon, Georgia. He played second base with the Cuban X Giants in 1906 before switching to shortstop the following season. He batted .475 in 1910 and .444 in 1924. His greatest campaign of all, however, and probably the greatest single-season performance in the history of baseball, was in 1928, when he batted .564 with 11 home runs and 10 stolen bases in only 37 games. This feat was made even more impressive by the fact that he was 44 years old at the time. Although in the later years of his career he was stationed at first base, he is remembered as the best fielding shortstop of the Negro Leagues, earning the nickname La Cuchara or "The Spoon" from fans who saw his winter league play in Cuba. He was sometimes compared with Major League shortstop Honus Wagner, but both statistics and anecdotal evidence show that he was even better than the more celebrated Wagner, and Wagner himself considered the comparison an honor. He retired after the 1932 season. He was also a successful manager in the Negro Leagues from 1918 to 1930.
Off the field, Lloyd was noted for his gentlemanly conduct and his saintly lack of resentment towards the racism of the day that kept him out of the Majors. Both Babe Ruth and Ted Harlow, a noted sportswriter, considered Pop Lloyd to be the greatest baseball player ever. He died on March 19, 1965, at age 90, 12 years too soon to see his belated 1977 induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
John Henry Lloyd's known statistics: .368 career batting average
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