I’ve long been a fan of the Negro Leagues. Whenever I’d come across a T-shirt or cap or any other paraphernalia (most of them never at auction), I’d snap it up. I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I do love the grit and determination of the people who created their own at a time when they were barred from the majors.
I was happy to learn this week that four former U.S. presidents tipped their caps in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter joined the National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO, in its “Tip Your Cap” campaign. Abe “Rube” Foster founded the first official league, the National Negro League in 1920, and was followed by others.
At an auction some years ago, I was so happy to find a photo of Terris McDuffie, a star pitcher on several Negro Leagues teams. He had autographed the photo to his sister. McDuffie was a colorful character on and off the field. The photo was in a box of other photos, and I went after it tit-for-tat with another bidder. After I won the bid, an auction-goer asked what was so important in that box. History was in that box.
Interestingly, when Branch Rickey finally decided to add a black player to his Brooklyn Dodgers, McDuffie was one of two Negro Leaguers who were given a chance to try out in 1945. By then, both were nearing the end of their best playing years and weren’t the “type” of player whom Rickey was looking for. That player was Jackie Robinson.
I join the former presidents and the museum in ensuring that we don’t forget these ball players. But as we tip our caps, we must also remember the women who played right beside the men. There was Toni Stone, the first female player whose story was told in an off-Broadway play in New York last year, Connie Morgan and Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, both of whom followed Stone on the Indianapolis Clowns.
