Mud Hens pay tribute to Toledo Tigers
Baseball history runs rich and deep in Toledo, Ohio. On Sept. 16 at Fifth Third Field, the Mud Hens paid tribute to their roots with a celebration of the Toledo Tigers, the city's first Negro League team, which played just 28 games before being disbanded in 1923. "An entire generation
Wind Surge pay tribute to Wichita's baseball roots
Baseball history is like the ocean: there’s so much yet to be explored and there is always a new story to be found. On Saturday, one of those stories was told when the Wichita Wind Surge paid tribute to the Wichita Monrovians. For the night, the Twins' Double-A affiliate wore
Omaha's celebration of Rockets takes flight
The Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers celebrated their diversity night by taking the field as the Omaha Rockets, and lived up to that billing by blasting off for an 8-3 victory over Indianapolis. Part of the club's community celebration series, Saturday was Omaha's Negro Leagues Tribute Game at Werner Park. The
Asheville Blues coast to victory again
The Asheville Tourists morphed into the the Asheville Blues on Friday night, and cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash in front of a sellout crowd at McCormick Field. It was a familiar result for the Blues, who were one of the most successful professional Black baseball teams
Hartford suits up as Schoolboys to celebrate Juneteenth
The Hartford Yard Goats took on the identity of the "Hartford Schoolboys" for the first time on Friday night to honor legendary Negro Leagues pitcher -- and Hartford native -- Johnny "Schoolboy" Taylor, as part of the club's Juneteenth/Celebration of Negro League Baseball at Dunkin' Park. Taylor's daughter, Lynette Taylor,
Rickwood Field to host MLB, MiLB games in 2024
Major League Baseball has announced that Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and former home of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues, will be the site of a special Regular Season contest between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants on June 20,
Grizzlies, Jumbo Shrimp honor Negro Leagues
For the second consecutive year, the Fresno Grizzlies transformed into the Fresno Tigers to pay tribute to the 1946 West Coast Negro League baseball team on Friday night at Chukchansi Park. Since scant visual representation of the Fresno Tigers has survived, the club donned newly reimagined Tigers uniforms as part
Lookouts, Barons celebrate the Negro Leagues
For the second straight season, Double-A Chattanooga celebrated Negro League Appreciation Weekend. The event started on Friday and continued Saturday night as the Lookouts hosted the Barons at AT&T Field. For both games, the two clubs donned commemorative uniforms. The Lookouts suited up as the Chattanooga Choo-Choos to honor the
The year after Jackie, Ritchey integrated PCL
This story originally ran on MiLB.com on Feb. 21, 2018. We are highlighting it again now in honor of the 75th anniversary of John Ritchey breaking the PCL color barrier.
Charles: 'Blacks had to be twice as good'
This article was first published on Feb. 1, 2006, prior to Ed Charles' passing in 2018.
The Day Jackie Came To Town
In the Sun Herald Sports section on Wednesday, October 21, 1953, the headline of a column read “Jackie Robinson All-Stars Slate Biloxi Appearance.” In the five-paragraph announcement, readers were informed that an opportunity to see “Big League baseball stars in action” was coming to the Gulf Coast on November 2
#9: Celebrating the legacy in Daytona Beach
On Jackie Robinson Day, what better place to turn one's attention than the stadium that bears his name? Jackie Robinson Ballpark, home of the Daytona Tortugas, opened as City Island Ballpark in 1914 and is now the oldest stadium in all of Minor League Baseball. Jackie Robinson played there during
Full circle: Bud Fowler set for Hall enshrinement
Bud Fowler, the first Black player in professional baseball history, grew up in Cooperstown, N.Y. He’ll return there on July 22, 2022 -- 109 years after his death -- when he receives his long-overdue induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fowler's career, improbable and wholly unique, began in the
Miñoso put talents on display with PCL Padres
In a playing career that lasted longer than anyone else’s, Minnie Miñoso still knew how to make a quick impression. The White Sox legend and member of the 2022 National Baseball Hall of Fame class has one of the most impressive resumes in the history of the game -- one
Smith looks back on first season with Red Sox
The end of Red Sox fantasy camp in Fort Myers was the beginning of another busy week for Bianca Smith. And she’s had a lot of those over the past year. Smith, 30, became the first Black female uniformed coach in the Minor Leagues when she was hired by the
Allen's final days in Minors marked by fear, racism
It's easy to forget that less than 20 years separated Jackie Robinson's integration of affiliated baseball in 1946 and Dick Allen's Triple-A debut in 1963. Between the time Robinson set foot in Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947 as the first Black man to play in the Majors and Allen's
Hammer time: Aaron's Minor League career
Henry Aaron, one of the most talented and accomplished players in the history of professional sports, passed away Friday at age 86. It is difficult to overestimate how much Aaron meant to the game, and to American society at large. As many have pointed out in the course of eulogizing
Hoskins broke barriers in Texas League
April 15, 1947 might be baseball's moment to cherish, but the historical significance of that date transcends the sport. When Jackie Robinson stepped onto the diamond on a chilly spring afternoon at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field as a member of the Dodgers, he left an indelible mark not only on the
Questions plague Peeples' trailblazing story
Minor League Baseball is known for its rich history dating back more than 100 years. While much has been written about the best teams and top players who have graced the Minors, there remain many stories either untold or largely forgotten. Each week, MiLB.com will attempt to fill that gap
Integration spread from field to stands
It was 10 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball and even three years after the breakthrough Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education, but in places like Durham, N.C., that didn't matter much. Segregation was still pretty universal.Things were starting to shift
Class D trailblazer turned to teaching
Minor League Baseball is known for its rich history dating back more than 100 years. While much has been written about the best teams and top players who have graced the Minors, there remain many stories either untold or largely forgotten. Each week, MiLB.com will attempt to fill that gap
Righty Spearman finished what he started
What Al Spearman was able to accomplish during a remarkable 18-month period in the late 1950s remains one of the most unheralded feats in all of Minor League Baseball.Yet the fact that he pitched an astounding 33 consecutive complete games seems to remain a bittersweet memory for the durable right-hander,
Tugerson made pitch for integration in '53
Jim Tugerson is an overlooked name in the baseball annals. Instead of being widely remembered as a leading figure in the integration of America's pastime, he is the mostly forgotten roommate of a Hall of Famer.Six years after Jackie Robinson broke the Major Leagues' color barrier -- and six years
Robinson made mark in Minor Leagues
Jackie Robinson's lifetime of accomplishment was so remarkable that to consider a single aspect of it undermines the whole. To focus on him as a socio-political figure is to risk forgetting he was one of the most electric ballplayers who ever lived, one whose play changed baseball. To focus on
On the Road: Making history in Daytona
"There's no ballpark like this. This is where history was made." That's how historian Bill Schumann describes Jackie Robinson Ballpark, home of the Florida State League's Daytona Tortugas (Class A Advanced affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds).The facility, which has gone through extensive renovations over decades, opened in 1914 as City Island