Former Negro League Baseball Players Honored At All-Star Fan Fest

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Baseball players from the Negro Leagues took a bow this All-Star Weekend, and fans lined up to pay tribute to the legends at the Javits Center in Manhattan. NY1's Cheryl Wills filed the following report.

Ten-year-old Shane Durand waited patiently on a long line to shake hands with an important chapter of baseball history: the Negro League players.

"I think they were very brave and very strong to play well when they were not allowed to," Shane says.

Shane was one of the lucky fans to get Pedro Sierra's autograph. Sierra left Cuba at the age of 16 to pitch with The Indianapolis Clowns.

The baseball legend says it is important to keep the legacy of the Negro Leagues alive.

"It should be something hopefully that's taught in schools. It should be a curriculum in the schools, where you don't only talk about Negro Leagues in February, for Black History Month. It should be something that should be taught throughout the year," Sierra says.

Black ball players were banned from Major League Baseball until Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1947. At the All-Star Fan Fest at the Javits Center, there is a
impressive display dedicated to the players who gave it their all, in spite of segregation.

"I get choked up when I think of this attraction because this is a lot of sad history but it's really beautiful stuff, and you know what? The painful stuff is important to the history of this game and, of course, this sport and this country," says Jacqueline Secaira-Cotto, the director of MLB Special Events.

Bob Scott, who was a pitcher with the New York Black Yankees from 1946 to 1950, is 82 years old and says he is proud of his contributions to baseball.

"When we played, we was professional. We were the people that made everything happen," Scott says.

"These guys really were the Jackie Robinsons before 'the' Jackie Robinson, some of the greatest players in the history of baseball," says baseball fan Michael Pantelidis.

The Negro League's display at the Javits Center is packed with priceless memorabilia, including Jackie Robinson's jersey from the Montreal Royals, on loan from his family.

And here's a grand slam: next month, President Barack Obama will honor members of the Negro Leagues in a special ceremony.

Source: http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/185469/former-negro-league-baseball-players-honored-at-all-star-fan-fest

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