I recently chatted with Jeremy Krock, the founder of the Negro League Baseball Grave Marker Project to see what projects the NLBGMP has in the pipeline. I also wanted to ask him about the possibility of the NLBGMP working toward getting markers placed at the graves of a couple players here in New Orleans — particularly John Bissant and Lloyd “Ducky” Davenport, both of whom I’ve discussed fairly frequently on this blog, such as posts here, here and here. And, as it turns out, both subjects had connections to one of the top touring teams in the 1920s, and they both died tragic, early deaths, dem ..read more

From Black Sports Magazine in 1974 Editor’s note: Here’s another slice of prime Creole Pete Robertson, following the first entry here. For this one, we jump ahead some to Pete’s arrival in New York City following his move in the 1930s from the Big Easy to the Big Apple, where he eventually established himself as a vital and vibrant part of the African-American community by bringing his passion for N’Awlins food to the denizens of NYC. This is taken from my lengthy essay about Pete that I started more than a couple years ago. I apologize for kind of jumping around within the narrative and shift ..read more

Editor’s note: More than two years ago, I wrote this article for The Louisiana Weekly newspaper about how the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project has provided a grave stone for “Creole” Pete Robertson, a New Orleans native who became a fixture on the Black baseball scene in two cities. Using that article as a jumping-off point, I began work on a blog post that expanded upon the Robertson story, but I eventually got bogged down with the length of the burgeoning post and also became distracted by other projects. As a result, I decided to publish the post in sections to make it more dige ..read more

Herald-Press (Saint Joseph, Mich.), May 21, 1946 Another follow up on the life, career and legacy of John Bissant, Negro Leagues great and arguably the greatest all-around athlete New Orleans has ever produced. For some earlier posts, check out this, this and this. In this post I want to kind of outline a little more about John’s athletic career, which, when reviewed from modern times, is pretty incredible. Aside from his baseball achievements and exploits, Bissant, who was born in 1914 in New Orleans, excelled on the gridiron, on the hardwood and on the cinders, first at historic McDonogh 35 ..read more

Rodney Page (photo courtesy Rodney Page). Editor’s note: I recently wrote an article for The Louisiana Weekly newspaper here in New Orleans about the very last Negro League World Series, which was held in 1948. One game of the series was played in the Crescent City, with legendary businessman and sports promoter Allen Page organizing and hosting the event. For my article, I got a few thoughts from Rodney Page, Allen’s son, and he generously agreed to do so. I used some of his comments for my article, but I wanted to show people the entirety of the amazing few paragraphs he put together about t ..read more

The National Baseball Hall of Fame. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this, but I need to go ahead with it, quite unfortunately … Many of us in the Negro Leagues research and fandom community have consistently expressed dissatisfaction with the haphazard, slapdash and dismissive way the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., has handled the induction of segregation-era Black players, managers, executives, umpires and other representatives of a time when American society denied them the right to compete against and alongside white individuals and teams. The rules of eligibilit ..read more

Saint Joseph (Mich.) Herald Press, June 2, 1942. This is a fairly short follow-up post to my previous ones (here and here) about John Bissant, his family and his grave in New Orleans’ Carrollton Cemetery. … There’s been some confusion and lingering question marks about a few details in John’s life, and I wanted to maybe clear some of them up by connecting once again with Charisse Wheeler, Bissant’s granddaughter. I chatted once more with Charisse, this time via text, a week or two ago and posed her a few questions, the first being about the specifics of John’s burial situation. Given that he ..read more

John Bissant’s descendants show off the jersey made in his honor. (Photo courtesy Charisse Wheeler) Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been in contact with Charisse Wheeler, a New Orleanian and the granddaughter of local Negro Leagues great John Bissant. I originally broached the subject of Bissant on this blog a few years ago with this post, about the ramshackle, anonymous nature of his grave in Carrollton Cemetery. The cemetery, located in the Carrollton/Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans near the main campus of Tulane University, was historically divided into white and Black sections; t ..read more

Hamtramck Stadium, July 20, 2023 Here’s a bunch of pics from the 2023 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference a couple weeks ago in Detroit. The first set are from the opening reception at historic Hamtramck Stadium. (For info and background about Hamtramck and its incredible preservation and revival, check out this, this and this.) This second group is from the July 21 Detroit Tigers game, at which the team celebrated its annual Negro Leagues day ..read more

Attendees of New Allen’s grave marker dedication gather in Cincinnati’s Union Baptist Cemetery. (Photo by Paul Debono) Editor’s note: I recently asked a couple SABR buds if they might be able to write a short essay detailing the dedication of a new grave marker on second baseman Newt Allen’s burial site earlier this year in Cincinnati. Below is such an article by Paul Debono, author of multiple fantastic books on the Negro Leagues, who was gracious and kind enough to unspool the story of providing a gravestone for the formerly unmarked grave of an overlooked Negro Leagues legend. Jackie Robins ..read more