Today, Phillies celebrate 100th anniversary of baseball’s Negro Leagues and the Philadelphia Stars
Today, Sunday, August 16, the Philadelphia Phillies are joining Major League Baseball to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues before and during today’s 1:05 p.m. game against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. The centennial commemoration will also pay homage to the legacy of the Philadelphia Stars Negro League baseball team and include a lineup of events both on and off the field.
To lead off the celebration, the Philadelphia Stars will be front and center at Sunday’s game, where they will be honored with the best seats in the house.
Players from this era will be featured as Phillies game faces, where their cardboard replicas will be placed in seats directly behind home plate, giving these legends a much-deserved nod throughout the game.
The entire Phillies roster and all on-field personnel will also be celebrating this important milestone by wearing a Negro Leagues 100th anniversary logo patch on their jerseys.
In addition, the Negro Leagues anniversary logo, a derivation of the official logo created by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, will be featured on base jewels and lineup cards.
The Phillies will also be tipping their caps to #NegroLeagues100 on social media with the debut of They Said They Couldn’t Play, an oral history of the Philadelphia Stars, on their YouTube channel. This 75-minute documentary captures an important era in baseball and features what life was like in America’s segregated Negro Leagues, as told by exclusive interviews with the former Philadelphia Stars players. Narrated by former slugger Ryan Howard, the film originally made its debut in 2016 on DVD.
Other highlights include a special pregame edition of Behind the Pinstripes, which will include a feature story about the making of They Said They Couldn’t Play with Dan Stephenson, the Phillies’ Emmy Award-winning videographer who produced and wrote this historical documentary.
The Phillies are also inviting children to learn about the Negro Leagues by taking part in a Negro League 100th Anniversary Challenge, available through MLB’s free Summer Slugger program, an engaging learning experience for children during the summer months.
Sunday’s game will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia, as well as SportsRadio 94 WIP and WTTM 1680 AM (Spanish). Fans are also invited to follow the Phillies on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat for more coverage related to #NegroLeagues100.
You can checkout the highlights from the August 14 matchup between the Phillies and Mets in the video below.
(Cover Photo – 1939 Philadelphia Stars – Image credit: eBay)
(Source: MLB)
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
