Dasher
07-13-2010, 07:46 PM
Baseball Fans Step Up for Negro Leaguers
Updated: 2 hours 9 minutes ago
Chris Epting
Contributor
AOL News (July 13) -- Many Negro League stars never had a chance to play in the majors, but that certainly doesn't mean that they weren't good enough or that they didn't make an impact in the majors.
These were the men who paved the way for Jackie Robinson and the others that followed. These were the men who, while not allowed to stay in certain hotels, eat in certain restaurants or even use certain restrooms or water fountains due to the color of their skin, still managed to thrill fans and play some of the most competitive, entertaining baseball in history.
And these are men who deserve the dignity of being laid to rest with a marker identifying them.
Dr. Jeremy Krock, a Peoria, Ill.-based St. Louis Cardinals fan, started the Negro Leagues Grave Marker Project seven years ago to ensure the league's players would at least have a well-marked place to rest.
To date, the project has provided grave markers for 19 Negro Leaguers. Members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) provide the bulk of the project's funding.
On June 29, Krock joined project members Larry Lester and Dwayne Isgrig to give William "Big Bill" Gatewood a proper headstone. The 6-foot-7-inch star pitcher, who served as a mentor to the great Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, had rested in an unmarked Columbia, Mo., grave site since 1962.
Chris Epting for AOL
The "Big Bill" Gatewood marker placed recently by Jeremy Krock.
On July 15, the project will lay a stone at the grave of Sap Ivory, a first baseman for the Birmingham Black Barons in the late '50s.
That will make about 20 grave markers that Krock has placed, and he shows no signs of slowing down. "There were more than 4,000 Negro League players we've identified," Krock told AOL News, "so we've got our work cut out for us."
http://www.aolnews.com/sports/article/baseball-fans-step-up-to-mark-the-history-of-the-game/19540792
Updated: 2 hours 9 minutes ago
Chris Epting
Contributor
AOL News (July 13) -- Many Negro League stars never had a chance to play in the majors, but that certainly doesn't mean that they weren't good enough or that they didn't make an impact in the majors.
These were the men who paved the way for Jackie Robinson and the others that followed. These were the men who, while not allowed to stay in certain hotels, eat in certain restaurants or even use certain restrooms or water fountains due to the color of their skin, still managed to thrill fans and play some of the most competitive, entertaining baseball in history.
And these are men who deserve the dignity of being laid to rest with a marker identifying them.
Dr. Jeremy Krock, a Peoria, Ill.-based St. Louis Cardinals fan, started the Negro Leagues Grave Marker Project seven years ago to ensure the league's players would at least have a well-marked place to rest.
To date, the project has provided grave markers for 19 Negro Leaguers. Members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) provide the bulk of the project's funding.
On June 29, Krock joined project members Larry Lester and Dwayne Isgrig to give William "Big Bill" Gatewood a proper headstone. The 6-foot-7-inch star pitcher, who served as a mentor to the great Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, had rested in an unmarked Columbia, Mo., grave site since 1962.
Chris Epting for AOL
The "Big Bill" Gatewood marker placed recently by Jeremy Krock.
On July 15, the project will lay a stone at the grave of Sap Ivory, a first baseman for the Birmingham Black Barons in the late '50s.
That will make about 20 grave markers that Krock has placed, and he shows no signs of slowing down. "There were more than 4,000 Negro League players we've identified," Krock told AOL News, "so we've got our work cut out for us."
http://www.aolnews.com/sports/article/baseball-fans-step-up-to-mark-the-history-of-the-game/19540792