E. H. “Eugene” or “Gene McLin”
This article uses the term “Negro” in order to stay consistent with the times and with McLin’s own words.
Little is known of “Negro Baseball” of any kind in Florida. Due to a dearth of Negro newspapers in Florida there was seldom coverage of negro happenings that did not involve crimes. Florida was highly segregated and ole “Jim Crow” affected all facets of life. The St. Petersburg Evening Independent and the St. Petersburg Daily Times (now Tampa Bay Times) eventually came around to devoting a page to Negro news. E.H. McLin was responsible for advertising, sports, and school news and appeared in both papers.
McLin recollects his parents came to St. Petersburg in 1917 when his father became the pastor at one of the negro community’s major churches (Bethel AME). McLin initially became a teacher and a successful coach in Tampa (Booker T. Washington School). He then became principal of Union Academy, a Negro school in Tarpon Springs at least by the 1939/40 school year. In 1943 he is named Recreation Director of the St. Pete Negro schools and finally is named the City of St. Petersburg Negro Recreation Supervisor. At this point he takes on the newspaper jobs.
McLin began chronicling Negro baseball in the paper late in 1945. In addition to his news reporting, he would eventually receive his own column called “Sports Parade”. Online sources on Negro baseball indicate the Florida State Negro Baseball League (FSNBL) began in 1945 which is when McLin began writing about it. The genesis of the league began in December 1931during a league organization meeting in Jacksonville. McLin who was a league officer from the beginning, recalled all the participants, the proposed towns and the teams. Perhaps it was recorded by him at the time because he was elected league secretary and recorded the details. Throughout the years he continued to be league secretary as well as the added title of statistician (to track the scores and the standings).
McLin credits David “Fats” Waitman with putting the 1932 meeting and eventually the league together. Prior to moving to Tampa, Waitman had been a coach with the Negro Major League’s Philadelphia Stars and Hilldale Giants. He wanted to bring high caliber Negro League play to Florida. 1932, not ’45 was actually the beginning of the league. However, any information between 1932 and 1945 has yet to be unearthed and recorded. McLin does indicate there was a break in play for some period of time as he writes in ’45 that “(the managers) are aware that this is the beginning of organized baseball in Florida and they are appreciative to the public for its patience and cooperation so far.” Yet, McLin’s shared memories of individual players would indicate the league existed in at least some of those years.
As recreation supervisor, McLin ran all Negro baseball in St. Pete from youth to professional and reported on all of it with vigor. Many times, you saw a short article mentioning each team’s battery and as often as space permitted printed a line score. The articles that carried extra detail were games in which McLin umpired as he served as umpire-in-chief for most leagues. So, when you see Negro baseball posts, most of it region wide, the information likely came at the hands of McLin’s pen. One last recollection from McLin. The Campbell Park baseball field opened in1928. McLin was still coaching in Tampa, and he remembers coaching a basketball game played in the corner of the outfield – yes, I said basketball! That field was replaced by what is now Oliver Field directly to the north in 1952. The original field became the site of the park’s swimming pool appropriately named the E. H. McLin Pool.