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Mud Hens pay tribute to Toledo Tigers

Short-lived Negro National League club honored on 100th anniversary
@RobTnova24
October 12, 2023

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

Twins affiliate changes identity to the Monrovians for special game
August 9, 2023

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

Talent-laden barnstorming club played in area for three seasons
@RobTnova24
July 17, 2023

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

Tourists commemorate Blues with reimagined jerseys and caps
@RobTnova24
July 15, 2023

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

Yard Goats honor local legend Johnny "Schoolboy" Taylor
@RobTnova24
June 24, 2023

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

Cardinals-Giants, Barons-Biscuits to play at historic ballpark next season as part of Negro Leagues tribute
June 20, 2023

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

Fresno and Jacksonville don alternate identities, salute rich history
@RobTnova24
June 18, 2023

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

Chattanooga, Birmingham honor historic Choo-Choos, Black Barons
@RobTnova24
June 11, 2023

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 season marks 75th anniversary of San Diegan's breakthrough
@JoshJacksonMiLB
April 17, 2023

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'

Robinson disciple endured racism in Minors in Deep South
February 27, 2023

This article was first published on Feb. 1, 2006, prior to Ed Charles' passing in 2018.

The Day Jackie Came To Town

A Forgotten Game Remembered on the 75th Anniversary Of Jackie Robinson’s Historic Day
April 15, 2022

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 and every day, Tortugas pay tribute
@BensBiz
April 15, 2022

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

19th-century Black baseball trailblazer grew up in Cooperstown
February 23, 2022

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

Seven-decade career also reached Dayton, Indianapolis, St. Paul
@Gerard_Gilberto
February 10, 2022

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

Minors’ first Black female coach held versatile role for FCL club
@Gerard_Gilberto
February 2, 2022

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

Future MVP took lessons learned from Jim Crow South to Majors
@MavalloneMiLB
February 16, 2021

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

Baseball icon honed his skills in Eau Claire and Jacksonville
@BensBiz
January 26, 2021

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

Right-hander continued integration of Minor League Baseball
April 13, 2020

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

Outfielder demoted after breaking Southern Association barrier
January 29, 2020

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

Minor Leagues helped hasten overdue changes in South
January 15, 2020

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

Jones was first African American in the Georgia-Florida League
12:24 AM EST

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

Hurler tossed 33 consecutive complete games from 1957-59
November 1, 2019

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

Shunned by Cotton States, led Smokies to MSL championship
October 29, 2019

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

MiLB.com recalls Jackie's path, legacy on trailblazer's birthday
January 31, 2019

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

Tortugas' Jackie Robinson Ballpark pays tribute to 1946 season
September 20, 2018

"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