MLB Commemorates The 100th Anniversary Of The Negro Leagues

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Minnie Forbes (right) took over as owner of the Detroit Stars from her uncle Ted Raspberry (center) in 1956. Forbes, now 88, is the last living Negro Leagues team owner.

Courtesy of Minnie Forbes

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Courtesy of Minnie Forbes

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Today, Negro Leagues stars such as Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But thousands of Black and Latino players endured bigotry throughout their careers.

Minnie Forbes owned the Detroit Stars from 1956 to 1958. She lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., and is the last living Negro Leagues team owner.

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Minnie Forbes at her home in Grand Rapids, Mich., wearing a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum shirt. The museum is in Kansas City, Mo., where the first Negro League was founded.

Doug Tribou /Michigan Radio

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Doug Tribou /Michigan Radio

Minnie Forbes at her home in Grand Rapids, Mich., wearing a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum shirt. The museum is in Kansas City, Mo., where the first Negro League was founded.

Doug Tribou /Michigan Radio

«The players, traveling, they had nowhere to stay because of the discrimination, so they slept in the buses. And they couldn’t go in places to eat, Forbes said. «So, one person would go to the back door, and get food for all the players.

Pedro Sierra pitched for the Indianapolis Clowns and Detroit Stars in the 1950s. He grew up in Cuba and it was tough to accept the level of racism in the U.S.

«I knew about it. I heard about it. But I hadn’t experienced it, said Sierra, who now lives in New Jersey.

After briefly playing in the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Others followed, but many elite Black players had already missed their shot.

The last of the leagues folded in the early 1960s. At age 88, Forbes worries about being one of the few left to tell the story.

«I just wonder if I’m worthy of representing and speaking about the Negro League because when I got involved, things was easier for me than it was for the ones before me, she said.

Forbes will keep sharing her stories. Others will, too. Major League Baseball has rescheduled its day to honor the leagues to Aug. 16.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has pushed back its celebration of the centennial to next year and renamed it «Negro Leagues 101.