The eldest of four baseball brothers, C.I. Taylor was regarded by many players and peers as the finest manager in black baseball history. He was patient and dignified, a strict disciplinarian and a good teacher, scrupulously fair and honest with his players. After ten years managing the Birmingham Giants, he moved with the club to West Baden, IN in 1914. As the Sprudels, the club challenged Rube Foster‘s American Giants for the Chicago area’s supremacy. With the backing of the American Brewing Company, the team settled in Indianapolis in 1915 as the ABC’s.
Taylor’s teams were perennial powers. At the time of his death, the ABC’s were financially sound and one of the top three black teams in the Midwest. Taylor was also instrumental in the founding of the Negro National League and the National Association of Colored Professional Baseball Clubs.
