Showing posts with label Negro Leagues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Negro Leagues. Show all posts

Sunday, April 16, 2023

New Book Release: True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy

True is a probing, richly-detailed, unique biography of Jackie Robinson, one of baseball's―and America's―most significant figures.

For players, fans, managers, and executives, Jackie Robinson remains baseball’s singular figure, the person who most profoundly extended, and continues to extend, the reach of the game. Beyond Ruth. Beyond Clemente. Beyond Aaron. Beyond the heroes of today. Now, a half-century since Robinson’s death, letters come to his widow, Rachel, by the score. But Robinson’s impact extended far beyond baseball: he opened the door for Black Americans to participate in other sports, and was a national figure who spoke and wrote eloquently about inequality.

True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson by Kostya Kennedy is an unconventional biography, focusing on four transformative years in Robinson's athletic and public life: 1946, his first year playing in the essentially all-white minor leagues for the Montreal Royals; 1949, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award in his third season as a Brooklyn Dodger; 1956, his final season in major league baseball, when he played valiantly despite his increasing health struggles; and 1972, the year of his untimely death. Through it all, Robinson remained true to the effort and the mission, true to his convictions and contradictions.

Kennedy examines each of these years through details not reported in previous biographies, bringing them to life in vivid prose and through interviews with fans and players who witnessed his impact, as well as with Robinson's surviving family. These four crucial years offer a unique vision of Robinson as a player, a father and husband, and a civil rights hero―a new window on a complex man, tied to the 50th anniversary of his passing and the 75th anniversary of his professional baseball debut.

CHECK OUT TRUE:The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson on Amazon

Saturday, February 05, 2022

Minor League Baseball adds to inclusion efforts with 'The Nine'

Minor League Baseball has announced the launch of “The Nine,” a new, Black-community focused outreach platform specifically designed to honor and celebrate the historic impact numerous Black baseball pioneers made on the sport, provide new opportunities for youth baseball and softball participation, further diversify the business of baseball, and embrace millions of passionate fans throughout MiLB’s 120 communities nationwide.

Named for the number Jackie Robinson wore during his only season playing in MiLB with the Triple-A Montreal Royals in 1946, The Nine will connect MiLB teams’ existing, Black-community focused development efforts with new national programming and future special events in a coordinated and centralized campaign. The new inclusion initiative follows MiLB’s Copa de la DiversiĆ³n -- the Latino fan engagement platform introduced in 2017 that included 76 MiLB teams in 2021.

The Nine will recognize and honor numerous Black pioneers and trailblazing civil rights leaders in all 120 MiLB communities, ensuring the heroes of the past and their contributions continue to be celebrated through ceremonies and events at MiLB ballparks and in the community. Recent tributes and celebrations have included Negro Leagues commemorative games honoring the Austin Black Senators in Round Rock (TX), the Bradenton (FL) Nine Devils, and Page Fence Giants near Lansing (MI). Additional tribute games are being planned for the 2022 season and beyond.

“The Nine will shine bright spotlights on these successful initiatives and transform them into national campaigns reaching more fans and communities, further showcasing our teams’ commitment to representing, honoring, and welcoming all fans to MiLB’s unique brand of fun,” said Kurt Hunzeker, MLB’s Vice President of Minor League Business Operations. “The Nine is just the latest example of MiLB teams being true community champions.”

In addition to player- and team-related content, The Nine will focus heavily on creating new opportunities for youth participation among young Black boys and girls, particularly in communities where youth baseball and softball programming is either nonexistent or difficult to access.

Central to this youth-focused push is a planned expansion of Major League Baseball’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program throughout MiLB’s national footprint. New competitions in MLB’s Pitch, Hit & Run and Junior Home Run Derby event series will also debut in MiLB markets beginning in 2022.

MiLB teams will continue to build relationships with local Black-owned and operated businesses, local artists and entertainers in an effort to embrace Black culture and make MiLB ballparks a hub for culturally relevant concerts, shows, and community events.

With several MiLB teams having a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in their community, opportunities will be provided for those schools to start internship and mentorship programs with their local team, creating opportunities for on-the-job experience for students prior to entering the job market. Additionally, MiLB recently partnered with TeamWork Online to create a more inclusive virtual job fair and ongoing talent pipeline that aims to recruit and position qualified and ready-for-hire candidates from across the country for potential management- and executive-level roles within MiLB team front offices.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City Flooded by Vandals

Officials at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri found their building flooded after vandals cut through water pipes above the cultural institution’s newly renovated Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center. The museum estimated nearly $500,000 dollars in damages, putting the historical space in financial peril.

The Education and Research Center at the museum was the latest addition to a large renovation plan that started in 2011 and has cost $4 million of an estimated $15 million thus far. Just months away from reopening, the museum’s first floor bore the brunt of flood damage.

“There has been a community investment in this project that goes beyond finance,” Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick told the Bleacher Report. “This was an investment of sweat equity. When we first started cleaning the building up, ordinary people from the community would come in, put their boots on and start gathering debris. A lot of people in Kansas City are hurting right alongside the Negro Leagues Museum, as we think about this very heinous attempt to damage the center.”

Although the museum is still negotiating with its insurance company, its first claim was denied.

Fortunately, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has seen a groundswell of support in recent weeks with donations coming to the museum from across the country. As a historically community-based organization, the museum has received nearly $200,000 to help shoulder the expenses of reconstruction. Claudia Williams and the board of directors of the Ted Williams Museum in Florida pledged $10,000. The Kansas City Star also reports that Hy-Vee, a supermarket chain, recently gave the museum a $20,000 check. The Kansas City Royals also donated $26,000 in proceeds from a recent charity game in honor of the Negro Leagues.

Those wishing to contribute to the fund can go to the museum’s site here: https://www.nlbm.com/buck/buck.htm

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones donates $20K to Negro Leagues museum

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, the target of racial taunts during a recent game in Boston, has donated $20,000 to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

Jones visited the museum and spoke with its president, Bob Kendrick, on Saturday before the Orioles continue their series against the Kansas City Royals.

The museum, founded by a group of former Negro Leagues stars, is located in the historic 18th and Vine district, a hub of black culture in Kansas City during the first half of the 20th century.

Jones' experience on May 1 in Boston touched off a discussion of racism across the sports landscape. Major League Baseball is reviewing security protocols at all 30 of its stadiums, and the Red Sox banished a fan from Fenway Park for using a racial slur against another fan in a separate incident.

He said Saturday that the widely condemned racial insult hurled at him at Fenway illustrates the need for dialogue about race and for fans to police each other.

[SOURCE: ESPN]

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Hall of Fame baseball player Monte Irvin dies at 96

Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, a power-hitting outfielder who starred for the New York Giants in the 1950s in a career abbreviated by Major League Baseball’s exclusion of black players, has died. He was 96.

Irvin was 30 when he joined the Giants in 1949, two years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Irvin spent seven of his eight big-league seasons with the Giants and one year with the Chicago Cubs in 1956. A native of Haleburg, Alabama, Irvin played in the Negro, Mexican and Puerto Rican leagues during his 20s.

Irvin batted .300 or more three times with a high of .329 in 1953. He finished with a career average of .293 with 99 home runs and 443 RBI, numbers that would have been far higher if not for the game’s racial segregation.

Irvin was one of the most important contributors during the Giants’ amazing pennant drive in 1951 when they overtook the Brooklyn Dodgers after trailing by 131/2 games in mid-August. Irvin batted .312 with 24 homers and an NL-leading 121 RBI.

That year Irvin teamed with Hank Thompson and Willie Mays to form the first all-black outfield in the majors. He finished third in the NL’s MVP voting.

Irvin is survived by daughters Patricia Irvin Gordon and Pamela Irvin Fields and two granddaughters.

[SOURCE]

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Statement by the President and First Lady on the Passing of Ernie Banks

President Obama and the First Lady released the following statement on the death of baseball legend Ernie Banks:

Michelle and I send our condolences to the family of Ernie Banks, and to every Chicagoan and baseball fan who loved him.

Ernie came up through the Negro Leagues, making $7 a day. He became the first African-American to play for the Chicago Cubs, and the first number the team retired. Along the way, he became known as much for his 512 home runs and back-to-back National League MVPs as for his cheer, his optimism, and his love of the game. As a Hall-of-Famer, Ernie was an incredible ambassador for baseball, and for the city of Chicago. He was beloved by baseball fans everywhere, including Michelle, who, when she was a girl, used to sit with her dad and watch him play on TV. And in 2013, it was my honor to present Ernie with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Somewhere, the sun is shining, the air is fresh, his team's behind him, and Mr. Class -- "Mr. Cub" -- is ready to play two.