What do baseball players wear on Sunday?
All Major League Baseball teams and players will wear a red and white patch with the blue silhouette of a baseball player on their jerseys on Sunday, August 16, 2020. This patch is worn in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the founding of ‘ the Negro National League, the first of several well-structured, long-running leagues now simply grouped under the name of Negro Leagues.
The logo, based on the The own 100th anniversary logo of Negro League Baseball Museum (free designed by Adam Rolf of Kansas City-based firm Global Prairie), includes the silhouette of a player who is not meant to represent one specific individual, although, according to Bob Kendrick, chairman of the NLBM, draws the heavy on the image of Hall of Famer Raleigh “Biz” Mackey.
“We wanted this logo to bring strength, we wanted this logo to bring pride, because those are the things that are the hallmark of the Negro Leagues,” Kendrick told SportsLogos.Net earlier this year. “I think the designer did a wonderful job of capturing what the Negro Leagues represented.”
The patch is just one of many ways the league will celebrate the Negro League centennial today – the centennial logo will also appear on lineup cards and base jewels, and the Miami Marlins will go one step further by throwing uniforms from the Miami Giants to carry, a Negro League team of the 1930s.IN new digital channel about the leagues, maintained by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, was also launched on MLB.com.
Through this seventeenth anniversary, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum hopes to bring the story of the Negro Leagues to the larger baseball community – not just the story of the integration of baseball, but the critically important role played by the Negro Leagues played before the integration of the sport.
“It’s one of the most important things that has to happen in the annals of American history, and a lot of people don’t know that,” Kendrick said. “It is our job to help people understand why the Negro leagues were so important and what this milestone anniversary really means in the history of our country.”
“The Negro Leagues have made Major League Baseball better, and that is undeniable. Even though these players were kept out of the big leagues, once the door opened, the Negro Leagues really helped create Major League Baseball major. I do not think it became Major League Baseball major until after 1947 when you allowed all the great players the field, so it seems to me that it would only be natural that there should be some kind of partnership [with Major League Baseball] in this attempt. ”
Earlier this year, the league and the Players’ Association made a joint donation of $ 1 million to the museum. You can also help support the preservation of this crucial moment in the history of baseball through the museum by signing up for a membership or by making a donation. Visit their website here for information.
Parts of this article, including our interview with Bob Kendrick, first appeared in Paul Caputo’s story about exposing the Negro Leagues Centennial logo for SportsLogos.Net in February 2020.
