A Celebration of Greatness

After being away for the majority of last week, I sat down in front of the television Sunday to catch up on what had been going in Baton Rouge while I was gone. I caught the news just in time to see highlights of the series between Southern and Grambling. The broadcaster was giving his commentary when I realized I could not tell the two teams apart. I then realized why when he said that both teams were wearing the uniforms of the Black Negro League.
I was so moved to see our baseball team take part in a celebration of our history.
The uniforms were replicas of the dozens of uniforms, worn by the members of the many different Negro Leagues, the first being the Negro National League.
Rube Foster founded the Negro National League in 1920. A second league, the Negro American League, showcased the great athleticism of African-Americans in the 1930s and 1940s.
The leagues continued to prosper until Major League Baseball was integrated in the late 1940s. The integration of the MLB stripped the Negro Leagues of their top players, forcing a financial breakdown.
The period during which many of the Negro Leagues operated produced stars such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson who is said to have hit 84 homers in a season, Cool Papa Bell “the fastest man in baseball” and so many others who have shaped the history of baseball.
Baseball is such a great sport shaped by so many great athletes. I can only hope that the members of Southern and Grambling’s baseball teams were knowledgeable of the amount of history they carried on their backs in last weekend’s games.
I hope they understand the ridicule the wearers of those uniforms had to endure just to play a sport they truly enjoyed.
I hope they understand that because of the Negro Baseball Leagues and their willingness to never give up there are hundreds of African-Americans in the major league making big names for themselves.
Southern itself has produced many major league stars such as Lou Brock and now Michael Woods is well on his way to making a name for himself.
I also hope that every African-American playing the sport of baseball knows the reputation they must uphold to continue on in greatness.