The work is just beginning — but a new, organized direction should help.
Announced Thursday was the formation of the Negro Leagues Family Alliance, a group aimed at preserving “the legacies, history and intellectual properties of the Negro Leagues while contributing to the education and uplift of baseball and sports.”
It’s often said that good things come in threes, and it appears the group is taking that to heart: The Alliance rolled out a three-pronged set of initiatives in its opening press conference, which took place virtually on Zoom with members of several Negro League players, including Detroit legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Norman Thomas “Turkey” Stearnes.
First things first: The Alliance aims to help institute a National Negro Leagues Day, which would take place every year on May 2 — the anniversary of the first Negro League game in 1920 — and follow the same celebratory structure as other MLB holidays, like Jackie Robinson Day, complete with old-timey uniforms and all.
The group’s second initiative is “education,” specifically “focus on the 21st-century learning” and “behavioral health.” The third is “sports,” which aims to re-engage African Americans with baseball through new opportunities in the game and the telling of Negro Leagues history, both on the field and off.
“It’s important that we have a day for all of Negro League baseball,” said Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley, a Detroit community staple and the second-oldest surviving Negro Leagues player.
Teasley was the first African-American baseball captain for Detroit Northwestern High School and owns the all-time batting average record at Wayne State; he is in both schools’ Hall of Fame.
After being released by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm team, Teasley cut his teeth in the Negro Leagues with the Toledo Cubs, where he spent one season. He later played briefly for the New York Cubans before getting his education at Wayne State, and then returned to Northwestern High School as a teacher and coach.
“Jackie Robinson, naturally, we are proud of his success. But there’s so many other players that deserve recognition,” Teasley said. “Negro League baseball really changed America socially, culturally, educationally, militarily, and I think that’s something that we should really strive to attain, a day for Negro League baseball.”
Patrice Biddle, the wife of former Negro Leagues player Dennis Biddle, said a May 2 National Negro Leagues Day “would be a great way for Major League Baseball to recognize Negro League baseball as equal.”
Some teams, including the Detroit Tigers, already have built Negro Leagues tribute nights into their yearly calendar. The Tigers in 2022 celebrated their 20th annual Negro Leagues Weekend, an event featuring many of the members in attendance at Tuesday’s press conference: Teasley, the families of Hall-of-Famer Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, who was described by iconic commentator Ernie Harwell as the Tigers’ “best friend” upon his passing, and more.
The 2023 MLB schedule has been released for some time, and it does not include a National Negro Leagues Day. Sean Gibson, the great grandson of Hall-of-Famer Josh Gibson, said the Alliance has not had discussions with MLB regarding the proposed baseball holiday but is hoping the group’s new public focus can “make this come to fruition.”
Teasley’s daughter, Lydia, did say she has been working with Michigan state representative Helena Scott to raise the topic with state reps “throughout all the cities that we are all in.”
As it attempts to get a national Negro Leagues celebration off the ground, there are plenty of other areas for the Alliance to turn its attention to in the meantime. Doug Foster, representing his great-uncles, William Foster and the organizer of the Negro National League, Andrew “Rube” Foster — a Hall-of-Famer known as “The Father of Black Baseball” — spoke Thursday about the need to focus attention on behavioral and mental health.
“For those who don’t know, Rube Foster…he’s been credited with having the most brilliant mind in the sport of baseball — not just in Negro League baseball, not just in the early 20th century, but in the sport of baseball — because of what he was able to accomplish as a player, a manager, and the owner and president of the league,” Doug Foster said.
“And yet, he did in an insane asylum. So obviously, there were mental health challenges back then that African Americans and Negro League players faced back in the early 20th century, as there are challenges that we face in our communities today.
“As a group, we would like to provide the necessary education and awareness in our communities, as well as some resources, so they can deal with the challenges of mental health.”
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The Alliance is hopes that teaching young people about the struggle of Negro Leagues players can “create critical thinking and problem-solving skills” by using “those lessons to apply to their own lives.”
As it pertains to “sport,” the Alliance is building on the “Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities” program (RBI) and the work done by Rose Fox-Hunter, the daughter of Hall-of-Famer Walter “Buck” Leonard and co-founder of the Buck Leonard Association for Sports & Human Enrichment.
According to Leonard’s grandson, Brian Patterson, the percentage of African-American baseball players declined from a high of 18% in 1981 to a low of 6% in 2016.
RBI and the Buck Leonard Association Baseball League have worked in tandem since 2010. Now, with the added help of the Alliance, Patterson is hoping to streamline the mission.
“The Negro Leagues Family Alliance would like to formally throw its hat in the game to increase the percentages of African-American youth playing the great sport of baseball,” Patterson said.
“The sooner we get kids introduced to the wonderful game of baseball, the better. We want to create more opportunities for inner-city youth to participate in structured league play, potential travel tournaments and competitions,” Patterson said.
Patterson said that part of the Alliance would also “encourage academic achievement through the Negro Leagues Alliance platforms and STEM education,” connect the youth to “our community’s inherent legacy attached to Negro League baseball” and “identify and procure resources needed for youth baseball programs and activities.”
More information on the Negro Leagues Family Alliance can be found at the organization’s website, negroleaguesfamilyalliance.com.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi