by Daniel Johnson
June 15, 2025
The Detroit Tigers not too long ago performed their twenty ninth annual Negro Leagues Tribute Sport, honoring Detroit legends like Norman ‘Turkey’ Stearnes.
The Detroit Tigers, simply half a recreation behind the most effective report in Main League Baseball, are within the midst of a six-game homestand that additionally marks their Black in Baseball Weekend. On June 14, the staff held its twenty ninth annual Negro Leagues Tribute Sport, paying homage to Detroit icons like Norman “Turkey” Stearnes.
In response to Audacy, on the day of the tribute recreation, the Tigers gave away Detroit Stars jerseys to the primary 15,000 followers who entered Comerica Park and performed a Q&A session with former Negro Leagues gamers together with Minnie Forbes, Johnny Walker, Ron Teasley, and Pedro Sierra forward of the sport, in addition to a curated mini concourse museum below the ballpark’s Comerica Touchdown part and various picture ops across the ballpark.
Kaleb Johnson and Kyle Terry, MVP’s of the Black Baseball Motor Metropolis Traditional, threw and caught the primary pitch at at present’s recreation! pic.twitter.com/BhkdO343QJ
— Detroit Tigers Neighborhood Affect (@TigersCommunity) June 15, 2025
In response to WXYZ, the late Stearnes’ daughters, Joyce Stearnes Thompson and Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown, sang the Nationwide Anthem on June 13and the Black Nationwide Anthem on June 14.
On June 15, which closes the Tigers’ Black in Baseball Weekend, the primary pitch shall be thrown out by Kyle Terry and Kaleb Johnson, the MVP’s of the Black Baseball Motor Metropolis Traditional.
On Juneteenth, which closes the Tigers’ homestand, Angela Davis, the President of Detroit’s NAACP department, will sing “Carry Each Voice and Sing” whereas Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and Daryl Beebe, a saxophonist, will carry out the Nationwide Anthem.
Main League Baseball has been extra deeply integrating the Negro Leagues lately, epitomized by the inclusion of Negro Leagues statistics into the report books of the MLB in 2024, and the inclusion of the Negro Leagues into MLB The Present’s Storylines mode over the previous a number of years.
Bob Kendrick, the president of Kansas Metropolis’s Nationwide Negro Leagues Baseball Musuem, a central determine within the Storylines mode, instructed the In the present day Present that for him, the central query the Negro Leagues requested, in distinction to MLB’s apartheid system, was “are you able to play?”
In 2024, Kendrick mirrored on the constructive impact that the museum’s function within the online game mode has had in an interview with Paste Journal.
“All final 12 months, folks had been coming as a result of they noticed the museum within the videogame. That was, to me, one of many methods in which you’ll already start to measure the influence that this recreation has had. The month of February was made freed from cost by our buddies over on the Kansas Metropolis Royals, simply because it has been the earlier two years, and we noticed report attendance this 12 months. Over 16,000 folks within the month of February, which is approaching June, July sort of numbers after we’re in our peak visitation season. That was large to see,” Kendrick stated.
He continued, “I’ve introduced it to you the place you possibly can have interaction with it, and now you wanna study extra, and to me that’s what makes this recreation have such a significant influence. By this videogame, we have now launched the Negro Leagues to tens of millions of younger folks and younger adults who doubtless would have by no means identified in regards to the historical past of the Negro Leagues, and even for that matter possibly not even cared in regards to the historical past of the Negro Leagues till they acquired it on this videogame. That’s extra younger folks, younger adults who’ve been linked to this recreation than has walked by way of these turnstiles over the 30 plus years that this museum has been in operations. That’s the influence.”
RELATED CONTENT: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Honors Black Managers With New Exhibit
