As if sent on assignment from the baseball gods, three former Negro league players and the widow of a fourth descended onto the State House complex in Annapolis yesterday afternoon. Technically, they were there to speak to the Senate and House members on behalf of a joint bill to establish an official day in honor of Maryland's contributions to the Negro leagues.
In essence, they also were there to remind everybody, at a time it was needed most, that as foul as baseball can be sometimes, it still can give birth to heroes.
Eddie Banks, Luther Atkinson, Al Burrows and Geraldine Day (wife of the late Leon Day) actually were there to talk about the past. About "the opportunity the state of Maryland has to pay some long-overdue respect to the leagues and to these players," said Del. Melvin Stukes, who is co-sponsoring the bill with a fellow Baltimore Democrat, Sen. Verna Jones.
About sacrifices made decades ago by players who were first kept out of the big leagues and their farm systems because of their race, and then were openly discriminated against when they were allowed in.
"A lot of prices were paid for guys to get to the level they are today," said Banks, 66, a former infielder and one of the youngest surviving Negro leaguers.
About support for the players and the game that went unrecorded - for example, from Jones' father, who ran a boarding house for the players to stay in when they came to play in Baltimore, and at whose cleaners on Eutaw Street cleaned the uniforms.
"We made $7 a week, and that was a lot of money in those days," said Burrows, 77, a former pitcher and first baseman. "If it wasn't for these people, I wouldn't be here today."
The bill, received favorably by the committees in which they were introduced, is expected to breeze through, and Jones is confident it will be signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley in time for Negro Baseball League Day to be celebrated next year, and on the second Saturday in May thereafter. It is believed that Maryland would become the first state to officially commemorate the Negro leagues.
Ideally, the annual commemoration will illuminate the depth of the history black baseball shares with Maryland. It is home to some of its most famous teams (the Baltimore Elite Giants), most extensive leagues (the Tri-State League, which was still active in segregated ball's final days in the late 1950s), oldest ballpark still standing (in Oakville in St. Mary's County) - and, of course, greatest players, such as Hall of Famers Judy Johnson and Day. Geraldine Day, who still lives in Baltimore, received an ovation from the House of Delegates committee members and attendees when she was introduced.
