ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A celebration in Alabama honoring baseball’s Negro Leagues will be a little less brighter, following Tuesday’s death of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. He was 93.
Mays died two days before a game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals to honor the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
The celebration is special to two Rochester-area men; one a fan and the other a former ballplayer. It comes as Major League Baseball recently took steps to honor the statistics put up by Black ballplayers, many of them never allowed to play in the big leagues.
Jeff Klein’s collection of autographs, letters, ticket stubs and jerseys honors a large part of baseball history that was never officially recognized until now — Black ballplayers who weren’t allowed to play in the majors.
“The stories about Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson were what really got me interested in it,” said Klein, of Honeoye Falls.
Klein’s passion for the Negro Leagues grew after his daughter wrote a letter to school integration pioneer Ruby Bridges, as part of a school project. Klein says he wanted to teach his daughter more lessons about civil rights, through the lens of baseball. He showed her some autographs and cards of Black baseball players.
“And she just looks at me, a 7-year-old, and says, 'Why don't you write letters too?'” he recalls.
Over a period of time, Klein sent letters to about 200 former Negro League ballplayers. Seventy-five responded. One that stands out most is a letter from former Kansas City Monarchs player Bill McCrary. It included a Post-it note, asking Klein to call him if he wanted to hear more stories.
“I was like a kid, you know, meeting his hero,” said Klein. “Especially for the Kansas City Monarchs. I mean they were, like, the team in the Negro Leagues.”
The two spoke by phone, prompting a friendship which lasted six years, until his passing, in 2018.
Baseball is a game of numbers. On May 29 of this year, the Major League Baseball all-time stat book had a new look. For the first time, statistics from more than 2,300 Negro League players who played between 1920 and 1948 were included.
“I've been rooting for them and the families that I've talked to,” said Klein. “Because most of the players I've corresponded with unfortunately have since passed.”
Ike Walker never played in the Negro Leagues, but his two older brothers did. Now 83, the Irondequoit man played catcher for Satchel Paige’s All-Stars in the early 1960s. He enjoyed — and learned from — his experience. There were difficult times. Black ballplayers often slept on the field while barnstorming the still-segregated south, because they weren’t allowed in white-only motels. They often heard it from the crowds in the stands during games.
“He told us that you would hear a lot of negative stuff, which we did,” Walker said of Paige, a Hall of Famer who eventually made it to the majors once baseball’s color barrier was broken. “But he said you just have to keep your cool and keep moving on.”
Walker is part of a Juneteenth celebration of the Negro Leagues in Birmingham, Alabama, celebrating players and their accomplishments.
“It means a lot because a lot of hard work was put in,” he said. “We went through a lot by people calling you names and stuff, and it's just a thrilling time right now for the Negro Leagues.”
Ballplayers who are now getting their due.
“It took so long to get here, but now it's here,” said Walker. “So I'm enjoying every minute of it.”
Klein, a retired sheriff’s sergeant and Navy veteran, is the organizer of an annual Rochester recognition of Negro League players called They Stepped Up to the Plate.
“I never thought I’d see, in my lifetime, the stats get recognized,” he said.
Like the 10 hits added to Willie Mays’ stat line. Or Josh Gibson, who supplants Ty Cobb as the MLB all-time leader in batting average. It’s all part of a story now immortalized. And it's now forever recognized.
“I would have loved to have seen it when a lot of these guys were alive,” said Klein. “It didn't happen. But it needed to.”