Negro League Baseball Blog

Audio Profiles Of New Hall Of Fame Inductees

TBO.com is featuring an excellent set of career profiles of the newly elected members of the Hall of Fame selected by the special committee yesterday, Feb. 27th. Also included are profiles of all other candidates for induction who were not elected in yesterday's balloting.

The profiles are accompanied by audio narratives by Larry Hogan, a Negro Leagues historian who was a voting member of the committee.

"Shades of Glory : The Negro Leagues & the Story of African-American Baseball" (Lawrence D. Hogan)

Technorati Tags: Hall Of Fame, Negro League, Negro League Baseball, Negro Leagues

Hall Of Fame Profile: Willard Brown

A career that began with the Monroe (La.) Monarchs (Negro Southern League)  in 1934 took Willard "Home Run" Brown from the Southern "majors" of segregated baseball to a sterling career with the Kansas City Monarchs, a stint with the St. Louis Browns, and a few dazzling years in the integrated Texas League during the 1950s. Along the way Brown became the first black player to hit a homerun in the American League (with St. Louis in 1947) and a genuine legend in Puerto Rico. In the end, ten years after his death in 1996, Brown's career will come to a fitting conclusion with his induction into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame.

During the Hall of Fame's annual induction ceremony to be held on July 30th, Brown will join 16 other former Negro League players and executives to be enshrined in baseball's most sacred place. Baseball historians are almost universally agreed that Brown's career was of Hall of Fame caliber. But, as impressive as Brown was at the plate, leading the Negro American League (NAL) in homeruns seven times and winning three NAL batting titles, it is very possible that his statistical record fell considerably short of his potential. Paul Letlow, writing in the thenewsstar.com examines Brown's career and quirky personality.

Technorati Tags: Negro League, Negro Leagues, Hall Of Fame, Willard Brown

Seventeen Negro League Inductees Selected For Baseball Hall Of Fame

A select committee of baseball historians have elected 12 former Negro League and pre-Negro League stars and 5 Negro League executives to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Negro League luminaries will be inducted during ceremonies to be held at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY on July 30. For the complete story, see this announcement on the National Baseball Hall of Fame website.

Technorati Tags: Baseball Hall Of Fame, Negro League, Negro League Baseball, Negro Leagues

Negro League Legend Monte Irvin Returns To Cuba After 50 Years: DVD Released

The Bases Are Loaded, a newly released documentary film from Nagel Films, chronicles a trip by Hall of Famer Monte Irvin to Cuba where he reunites with former teammate, and Cuban baseball legend, Connie Marrerro. The Negro League-Cuban League baseball connection was a very important factor in the development of the game in both countries, and we can think of no better repository of the history than the recollections of Monte Irvin and Connie Marrero. With fan interest in Negro League baseball history reaching higher and higher levels during the past few years, it is good to see some attention being focused on Cuba--a home away from home for many Negro League stars in the pre-Castro years.

Buck Leonard Still A Hometown Hero

Buck Leonard passed away in November, 1997, but his life and contributions to his hometown remain fresh in the minds of Rocky Mount, NC residents. As the National Baseball Hall of Fame considers the nominations of 39 additional Negro League candidates for induction into baseball's shrine, the North Carolina community fondly remembers it's own Hall of Famer. Read more in this News & Observer article.

Technorati Tags: Buck Leonard, Negro League, Negro Leagues

Robert Peterson, Negro Leagues Historian, Has Passed Away

Robert W. Peterson, historian and author of the groundbreaking Negro Leagues baseball history Only The Ball Was White passed away Saturday in Salisbury Township, Pennsylvania. Peterson's book, which first appeared in 1970, stands as the first extensive study of Negro Leagues baseball since the demise of the Negro National and Negro American Leagues, and the book sparked a new interest in Negro League research that intensified during the 1990s. For more information about Peterson, his life and work, read this article at KansasCity.Com.

Technorati Tags: Negro League, Negro League Baseball, Negro Leagues, Robert W. Peterson