Honoring and Celebrating the History of Black Baseball
Through a new exhibit, events and outreach programs, the Black Baseball Initiative is inspiring people by sharing the stories of those who overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to play the game they loved while fostering an exploration of the deep connections between baseball and Black America.
Located on the Museum’s second floor in the Yawkey Gallery, The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball includes stories of early Black baseball, the Negro Leagues era, the complexities of reintegration, Jackie Robinson, post-reintegration progress and retrogress, and calls for change in today’s game while celebrating the newest superstars of the era.
Geared for students ages 8-12, this online interactive delivers the story of Black baseball and its role in the Civil Rights Movement.
The Black Baseball Initiative includes a full lineup of outreach programs such as a new online interactive for students to explore the stories of Black baseball, virtual programs, grants to fund in-person school visits, and School Resource Kits that are being delivered to classrooms around the country at no cost.
The statue titled Keep Swinging honors Aaron's legacy on and off the field. It was dedicated on May 23.
From left to right: Fred McGriff, Pat Gillick, New York Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, Harold Baines, Ryne Sandberg, Jim Kaat, Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield, Billye Aaron, Eddie Murray, Bud Selig, Joe Torre, Rollie Fingers, Jim Rice, Lee Smith, Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark and Fergie Jenkins.
From 1933 to 1962, the greatest legends of Black baseball demonstrated their talent and desire at the annual Negro Leagues East-West All-Star Game.
The Museum paid tribute to that legacy by hosting the Hall of Fame East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game, presented by Boeing, on Saturday, May 25th, during a Memorial Day Weekend celebration of Black baseball.
Fourteen Hall of Famers and two dozen recently retired major league players took part in the 2024 Hall of Fame East-West Classic in front of a sellout crowd of 5,740 fans. (Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)
No. The exhibition is included with Museum admission.
The Souls of the Game, a title that pays tribute to W.E.B. Du Bois’s seminal 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk, will explore the Black baseball experience of the men, women and children who were and are an integral part of our National Pastime.
Subtitled Voices of Black Baseball, the exhibit will highlight first-person accounts by the many individuals whose Black baseball experiences shaped them, their community, baseball and America at large.
The Museum has had an exhibit focused on the history of Black baseball since the 1970s. The last major update took place in 1997, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. More than 25 years later, there is new research, new historic moments and a different perspective on Black baseball history, all of which made it important to create this new exhibit.
The new exhibit tells the story in a new way. In The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball, we tell the story of Black baseball through the words of those who lived it to capture their perspective.
Yes. Our curatorial staff worked with five subject matter experts who served as Curatorial Consultants on the project. Additionally, we formed an Advisory Committee of nearly 30 prominent people in the game and throughout the Museum industry who lent their expertise and experience to the project. The advisors included Hall of Famers like Ken Griffey Jr. and Ozzie Smith, former players like Dave Stewart and Adam Jones, executives like MLBPA Director Tony Clark and agent Lonnie Murray, Museum experts like Damion Thomas of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Bob Kendrick of the Negro League Baseball Museum and members of the baseball family like April Brown and Tony Reagins of MLB.
Yes. In addition to the new exhibit, updates have been made to several other areas including Taking the Field, which focuses on 19th century baseball, Whole New Ballgame which covers the last several decades in baseball, our art gallery called Art of the Game, Autumn Glory, which focuses on the World Series and Shoebox Treasures, our exhibit about baseball cards. Additional updates will continue to be made.
The Black Baseball Initiative is more than a new exhibit in Cooperstown. Here are a few of the outreach programs that are having a positive impact on communities:
ONLINE INTERACTIVE
We have launched an online interactive for elementary and middle school kids.
SCHOOL RESOURCE KITS
We have already shipped more than 200 School Resource Kits to schools around the country to help deliver our Civil Rights curriculum within a classroom setting.
SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
We have hosted more than 1,000 students and teachers from diverse communities across Upstate New York. These experiences provided students and teachers with complimentary round-trip tour bus transportation, nutritious boxed lunches, a guided museum experience with our museum teachers and a goodie bag with resources to continue their learning journey at home.
VIRTUAL PROGRAMS
We are hosting virtual programs exploring the stories of Black baseball. These programs can be joined live or accessed via the Museum’s YouTube channel.
Visit our baseball and Civil Rights timeline.
Read stories that highlight the lives and experiences of Black ballplayers.
Photography and video recording is encouraged throughout the Museum. Feel free to text, post to social media or access audio, video and more information on our website during your visit. For the best service, connect to our free Wi-Fi during your visit. Tag @baseballhall on X and Instagram so we can see what you post. We may even share it.
The exhibit is not intended to be a complete history of Black baseball. Instead, it focuses on the experience of Black people in baseball, from the perspective of the players, coaches, managers, umpires, executives and fans who lived it. There are many other stories told throughout the Museum and more continue to be added on a regular basis.
YES! You can contribute to ensure we can continue the Initiative’s educational outreach programs.
The Black Baseball Initiative is made possible by the Yawkey Foundation with additional support from Bill Janetschek in honor of his siblings, Robert and Ann, the Anthony A. Yoseloff Foundation and the Bisignano Family.
In recognition of the Yawkey Foundation’s support, The Souls of the Game is located in the Yawkey Gallery.
HEAR FROM THOSE WHO MADE THE BLACK BASEBALL INITIATIVE POSSIBLE
Racism is not what it was a half–century ago, but it is still present. Sports can continue to be at the forefront of progress.
— Adam Jones • Five-Time Major League All-Star
Adam Jones wore these cleats on April 15, 2018, to honor Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. The shoes feature the date of Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers debut (April 15, 1947) and King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech (August 28, 1963).
Many of American history’s watershed moments, both on and off the field, illustrate how baseball was – and is – a part of our collective lives.
Kids are our future, and we hope baseball has given them some idea of what it is to live together and how we can get along, whether you be Black or white.
— Larry Doby • Hall of Fame Class of 1998
Stories that highlight the lives and experiences of Black ballplayers through key moments in history, artifacts and baseball cards.
Is made possible by:
with additional support from
Meet the Curatorial Consultants and the members of the Advisory Committee who helped to guide the initiative.
The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball includes stories of early Black baseball, the Negro Leagues era, the complexities of reintegration, Jackie Robinson, post-reintegration progress and retrogress, and calls for change in today’s game while celebrating the newest superstars of the era.
The initiative includes outreach programs that are creating positive impacts in communities throughout the country with new online tools, virtual and community programs, educational materials and grants to fund in-person visits.
Will you consider helping support this important initiative with a gift today?
