James "Shorty" Doyle Counts

[oddsox1919]

Have a friend whose great great uncle played in the minors.
James Doyle "Shorty" Counts
Catcher, played in the 1920s
White Sox organization, or maybe the Orioles (family disagrees on that).

They say he never played in the Bigs, but checked anyway, couldn't find him.
Also tried the minor league registry
No "Shorty" or James Doyles, No "Counts"

Can anybody help or point to the right place to search?

[Macker]

Do you know where he lived? Do you have a death date for him?

Any chance he was from the Waxahachie area of Texas? I found the following Counts in Waxahachie newspapers:
1929 -- "R. Counts" catching for MWA in city baseball league.
1929-1930 -- Cecil Counts outfielder for Rotarians in city baseball league. (also a Counts, no first name or initial catching; possibly Cecil)
1945 -- numerous Counts people listed in legal notice, including James Counts.
1962 -- obit of RL Counts lists Cecil & HL as his brothers, but no mention of a James.

A James Doyle Counts appeared in court news in Missouri newspaper in 1945 and 1952 for driving offences but no age given.

[Dude Paskert]

Have a friend whose great great uncle played in the minors.
James Doyle "Shorty" Counts
Catcher, played in the 1920s
White Sox organization, or maybe the Orioles (family disagrees on that).

They say he never played in the Bigs, but checked anyway, couldn't find him.
Also tried the minor league registry
No "Shorty" or James Doyles, No "Counts"

Can anybody help or point to the right place to search?

It's worth mentioning that the big league teams did not really maintain minor league organizations at that time, there were some teams that had "understandings" but the minors were essentially independent.
The Baltimore Orioles were a very powerful minor league team at the time (Lefty Grove was with them for 5 years until Connie Mack finally forked $100k over to Jack Dunn for him), so I think we would be able to find Mr. Counts if he had been on that team.
I see a Clovis Counts playing for the McAllen (TX) Packers in 1938, surely not our man.

[oddsox1919]

James Doyle "Shorty" Counts

More info on James Doyle "Shorty" Counts:

Went by "JD" or "Shorty"
DOB October 21, 1905; DOD May 8, 1993
Married 27 years, married in Fayetteville, 1932

Born and lived in Arkansas (Madison, Prairie, Washington, Fayetteville), so playing in Waxahachie TX in 1929 a fair possibility.

Any pictures of that MWA city baseball team? Link to articles?
Thanks in advance for any help!

[oddsox1919]

Thanks for your help... still looking for clues.
There's a photo out there somewhere.