“Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting,” the story of Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier ...
Is currently running at Chicago's Lookingglass Theater. A playhouse co-founded by David Schwimmer (of TV Friends fame); Andy White, Mary Zimmerman among others.
The play which will run through February 19th, will feature former Negro League pitching Legend Johnny "Lefty" Washington, NegroLeagueLegends.org founder Gary Crawford, and author of "Opening Day, Jackie Robinson's first season; "Luckiest Man - Lou Gehrig Story" and "Get Capone," Jonathan Eig.
The play has received great reviews. Three and a half out of four stars!
Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times says, "it’s a good bet you will never witness a fiercer, more competitive
championship game on any field than the one now unfolding on the stage
of Lookingglass Theatre.
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune says, "Sports plays are very much in vogue — Broadway last season had a piece
about Vince Lombardi, and a piece about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson is
on its way. In this production, anyway, "Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting"
strikes me as a very commercial property
that should attract a broad audience to the Water Tower Water Works.
It's a show that is never boring for a moment, that goes beyond the
usual sports-drama cliches and that speaks to how athletes are always
expected to pulse with ruthless ambition but be ever-mindful of their
public obligations."
Johnny
"Lefty" Washington, Gary Crawford, and Jonathan Eig will speak to the audience Sunday January 22nd 2012 at about 4:30 PM. Immediately following the play which begins its Sunday matinee at 3pm.
For tickets, directions and additional information please go to www. http://LookingGlassTheatre.org
UP-COMING SHOW:
CHICAGO
SUN-TIMES
MOUNTED MEMORIES Sports Collectibles
Convention
March 16-18, 2012: Friday 4:00 - 7:00pm. Sat 10 - 4:30pm
Sun
10-2:00pm
Donald E. Stephens Convention
Center in Rosemont, Illinois
*(Adjacent to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport & Check back for 100% confirmation of exact dates in March.)
Players expected to attend are: Johnny "Lefty" Washington; Hank "Baby" Presswood; Nathan "Sonny" Weston; Don "Groundhog" Johnson; Lou "The Grey Cat" Clarizio Jr; Ray "Boo Boy" Knox; Robert "Bob" Wiggins.
email and or call with pre-orders or for more information. (312) 859-7788 info@negroleaguelegends.org
Denver Post 08-08-2011 - Courtesy Mr. Bill Porter
Half a century has passed since the
demise of Negro League baseball, and of the thousands of men who played
on scores of teams, only about 200 survive. Like aging veterans of any
vanished pursuit, they have a dwindling hold on the public's memory.
"Pride and Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience" is an
effort to spark our consciousness about these players' role in the
nation's pastime — and history.
The traveling exhibit starts Wednesday at the Aurora History Museum,
which is co-hosting the show with the Aurora Central Library. Sponsored
by the American Library Association, the free exhibit runs through Sept.
23, along with several concurrent educational programs.
"Players in the Negro League were
Mack
Pride of Wheat Ridge played for the Memphis Red Sox and Kansas City
Monarchs in the 1950s. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
some
of the most talented and inspiring sports figures of their day," said
Jennifer Kuehner, the museum's acting director. "The exhibit tells many
remarkable stories of players and teams who were shut out of
major-league baseball, but persevered in a sport they loved."
The show, which is arriving from Marion, Ind., before heading to
Eugene, Ore., features photographs, lots of info and memorabilia from
the heyday of the various leagues, which lasted from the 1870s until the
demise of the last one in 1960, 13 years after Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the color barrier. It also explores the post-integration role of blacks in baseball.
The exhibit's arrival in Colorado is appropriate, said Jay Sanfordhttps://www.storesonlinepro.com/account/921482,
an area baseball historian who consulted on "Baseball," Ken Burns' 1994
PBS documentary.
Negro League baseball had a strong presence here. The Denver White
Elephants flourished from 1915-35, owned by A.H.W. Ross, a black
businessman (Five Points' Rossonian Hotel was named after him.) In 1884,
the Pueblo Blues played against white teams. In 1885, pitcher Bud Fowler, considered the first black professional player, joined the Pueblo Pastimes.
"Until he got off the train they didn't know
The
St. Paul Gophers were among several independent, all-black teams to
proclaim themselves "Colored World Champions" in 1909. (National
Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
he was black," Sanford
said. "He was important not just because of his skill but his
entrepreneurial ability. He did a lot to advance baseball for blacks."
And The Denver Post Tournament broke ground in 1936, when black and
white teams played one another. "That was considered a real
breakthrough," Sanford said.
Blacks had created their own professional teams by the late 1870s,
and even played on white teams until an 1887 agreement among major
league owners to not use black players. So regional leagues were formed,
and in 1920, the Negro National League was created. It included teams
such as the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants.
That started what is viewed as the golden age of black baseball, at least
The popular Pittsburgh Crawfords in front of their team bus in 1935. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
in
the years before Jackie Robinson. Players such as Josh Gibson, Cool
Papa Bell, Buck Leonard and Leroy "Satchel" Paige became legends.
But Robinson's jump to the Dodgers, and the subsequent influx of
other black players, led to the decline of the various Negro Leagues.
The last surviving outfit, the Negro American League, was largely a
barnstorming and de facto minor-league operation until its 1960 demise.
At 79, Mack "The Knife" Pride harbors vivid memories of the Negro
Leagues. A pitcher with a wicked arsenal, the Wheat Ridge resident
played for the Memphis Red Sox in 1955 and the Kansas City Monarchs in
1956.
Pride knew the legendary player-coach Buck O'Neil, and Hall of Famer Paige, who taught him a sidearm
Pitcher
Leroy "Satchel" Paige at his 1971 Baseball Hall of Fame induction. He
was the first player inducted solely on his Negro Leagues play.
(National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)
delivery, once
said of him: "I ain't never seen anybody that little throw a ball that
hard." (For the record, Pride in his prime was 5 feet 10 and a strapping
190 pounds.)
He is philosophical about the racism that led to the Negro Leagues and several generations of deferred dreams.
"I don't like to go back in history," he said on a recent afternoon
at his kitchen table, where he leaned forward on a forearm that is still
muscular. "I don't even like to back a car up. Racism is still out
there, black and white. Let's not be naive about it.
"But you can't hate. It'll eat you alive. I'm not gonna walk around
here with hate in my heart over something that happened 60 or 100 years
ago."
Pride, who is slated to speak Sept. 18 at the Aurora History Museum,
grew up in a baseball-playing family in Sledge, Miss. He had a brother
who was also a fine pitcher but an even better singer — country singer Charley Pride.
"I remember we pitched against each other during a game in Memphis at
the old Crump Stadium," Pride recalled. "Charley was ragging me before
the game, about how he was going to outpitch me. I get up to bat and,
wham, I hit a home run off him. Went 398 feet."
By his account, that felt even better than the time he struck out 15 batters in a game.
Pride's major-league aspirations were derailed not so much by race as
by an accident. A mishap with a screwdriver ruined his left eye,
interfering with his ability to pitch and bat.
But he enjoyed a brief day in the major-league sun.
On June 5, 2008, Major League Baseball held a "draft" of surviving
Negro League players as a gesture of reconciliation. Pride was tapped by
the Rockies and honored during a game at Coors Field.
Sanford, the baseball historian, has high hopes for the "Pride and Passion" exhibit.
"What I'm counting on seeing is just a good chronology that goes back
to the 1870s, when the first black players were paid to play," he said.
"It's just such a deep history."
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
You can learn more on how to book players for appearances, by emailing us at pgcmarketlink@sbcglobal.net or ...
by emailing us thru this website @ info@negroleaguelegends.org OR CALL: (312) 859-7788 FOR FURTHER INFO.
WE WELCOME THOSE 50 LIBRARIES NATIONWIDE WHO ARE HOSTING THE PRIDE & PASSION EXHIBITION. THIS EXHIBITION IS CURRENTLY TRAVELING THROUGH 50 LIBRAIES NATIONWIDE HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CONCLUDING IN THE SPRING OF 2013.
HAVING JUST STARTED BACK IN THE SPRING OF 2009, MANY FORMER NEGRO LEAGUE PLAYERS HAVE BEEN BOOKED BY APPEARING IN SUCH WELL KNOWN LIBRARIES AS IN OAK PARK, LOCKPORT & HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS; MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN; CYPRESS (HOUSTON), TEXAS; DES MOINES, IOWA; CASPER, WYOMING; AURORA, COLORADO; DETROIT MICHIGAN, ETC., ETC.
NEGRO LEAGUE LEGENDS.ORG IS A PROUD CONTRIBUTOR TO THIS EVENT BY ASSISTING LIBRAIRIANS NATIONWIDE WITH THEIR BOOKING OF BOTH PLAYER AND SPEAKERS.
WE ARE HONORED TO BE LISTED AS THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, AND THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME (OF COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK) AS THEIR OFFICIAL "GO TO SOURCE" FOR BOTH SPEAKERS AND NEGRO LEAGUE LEGEND BALL PLAYERS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION & FOR ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR EVENT, PLEASE CALL (312) 859-7788 OR EMAIL US AT INFO@NEGROLEAGUELEGENDS.ORG
BACK IN THE DAY:
On Friday January 30th 2009, former
Negro League Legend Nathan "Sonny" Weston, 78 had his baseball jersey retired by Bloom High School, where he was a three-sport athlete, and arguably one of the fastest of them all!
Bloom, located in Chicago Heights, Illinois, has had many famous alums attend its great school, including Jim Bouton, Bryant Young and Jerry Colangelo, now 69, an American Businessman and Sports Mogul, as the former majority owner of the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. Colangelo was also instrumental in getting the former Winnipeg Jets of the NHL transfered to Phoenix now becoming the Phoenix Coyotes. Most recently, he was the National Director for USA Basketball helping Team USA bring home the Gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
As for Mr. Weston he played the 1951 season with the Chicago American Giants (along with the late great Ted "Double Duty" Radcliff) and also had tryouts with both the Brooklyn (nee Los Angeles) Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox where he was their "last cut."
------------------------------------------------------
On
Friday Friday May 15th 2009, former
Negro League Legend Johnny "Lefty" Washington, 79 had his #20 baseball jersey
retired by Morgan Park High School, located in Beverly Illinois.
Washington was a two-sport athlete, and
arguably one of their fastest swimmers! Today, the Morgan Park High School baseball club, nicknamed the Mustangs, is managed by a newphew of the legendary Double Duty, Head Coach Ted Radcliff. A versatile player, Washington was a left-handed starting pitcher, who also played first base and the outfield during his two seasons in baseball’s Negro Leagues. Even before Johnny finished high school, baseball was in his blood.
In 1948 Washington joined the Armour Meat Packing Company’s semi-pro team which played on Chicago’s South Side over at Washington Park. There he pitched twice a week in front of huge crowds, and it was during that time that he and fellow Negro League infielder Jack Marshall were encouraged to visit Dr. J. M. Martin - the owner of the Chicago American Giants.
-----------------------------------------
On May 16th thru May 18th 2008, we celebrated with a nice gathering of former Negro League Legends in Naperville, (Chicago) Illinois.
Legends on hand included many who played both in the Major Leagues and in the Negro Leagues such as; Cubs great GEORGE "Daddy Long Legs" ALTMAN, Hall of Famer MONTE IRVIN, Reverend BILL GREASON, SAMMY DRAKE and JC HARTMAN.
Some of the other names appearing included:
Carl Long, Hank "Baby" Presswood, Jim "Zapper" Zapp, Johnny "Lefty" Washington, Nathan "Sonny" Weston, and Ernest "Ernie" Westfield.
The Negro League Legends were there to help celebrate the 88th Anniversary of the first ever Negro League Baseball game, which was played May 20th 1920.
• In 1954 REV. BILL GREASON was the St. Louis Cardinals 1st African American Pitcher
• The late SAMMY DRAKE - along with his brother Solly (who was unable to attend this show) were the first African American brother combination to play in the Majors. They both broke in with the Chicago Cubs and played along side Ernie Banks. The also played with Cubs & NY Mets.
• Mr. J.C. HARTMAN played with the Houston Colts 1962-1963 was the mentor to Hall of Famer Joe Morgan.
OTHER NEGRO LEAGUE LEGENDS...WHO WERE THERE:
* Carl Long - Birmingham Black Barons - who resides in North Carolina
* Jim "Zapper" Zapp (3B, OF) 1948-1954 - Birmingham Barons who lives in Texas
