Former Monarchs, other Negro Leaguers tour country’s ‘other’ Negro Leagues museum
When Eugene Scruggs ventured to Kansas City from Birmingham, Ala., in 1957 to suit up for the famed Negro Leagues’ Monarchs, he encountered another native Alabaman, the venerable William “Dizzy” Dismukes.
The 67-year-old Dismukes was in the waning stages of a career that spanned roughly a half-century as a pitcher, manager, executive and journalist, a tenure that, by ’57, had made him one of the Negro Leagues’ elder statesmen.
Scruggs, a fresh-faced teenager and Huntsville, Ala., native, was duly deferential to Dismukes, a fellow pitcher and now skipper for the Monarchs. That awed respect deepened the first time Scruggs goofed up under the watchful eye of his new manager.
“One time a ball was hit to the right side of the field, and I didn’t cover first,” Scruggs said, recalling how he automatically sensed that he was headed for the doghouse. “(Dismukes) didn’t have to tell me. I just knew. I didn’t play for two weeks after that.
“I liked him, and he liked me,” Scruggs added, “but just one play I had messed up, and he sat me.”
Scruggs told that tale of mentor and student that took place nearly 60 years ago as he relaxed in the lounge of the La Quinta hotel in the Homewood section of Birmingham on a recent June evening.
Several other Negro Leagues veterans sat chatting with old friends and former teammates, a handful of the dozens of ex-players who had converged on Birmingham for the eighth edition of the annual Negro Leagues players reunion in that city.
The event is organized annually by Dr. Layton Revel, the director of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research who also served as the driving force behind the Negro Southern League Museum (NSLM), a complex that covers nearly 16,000 feet of space and thousands upon thousands of vintage items collected over decades by Revel and others from the Negro Leagues and African-American baseball history.
The museum, which cost the city of Birmingham $3.6 million, is situated downtown, right next door to Regions Field, home of the Class AA Barons. It includes information and items about several Alabama natives who played for the Kansas City Monarchs, including a handful of living players, some of whom attended the reunion and had a chance to tour the sparkling new facility, which opened last August.
“It’s gorgeous,” said Ray Richardson, a reunion attendee who donned his spikes for the Monarchs in the 1950s. “It’s the making of something heavenly. It’s beautiful.
“History is being brought back.”
The creation of the NSLM caused some initial concern with officials of the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, who wondered if the new facility would divert attention from the NLBM, which has struggled financially during its two-decade run but has recently regained solid footing thanks to the reinvigorated leadership of its current director, Bob Kendrick.
“Our initial concern was to protect the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum brand, one that we had invested 25 years in building,” Kendrick said. “Officials associated with the Birmingham project adequately addressed that concern.”
Revel and other proponents of the NSLM believe that their facility serves more as a compliment to the NLBM, not a rival. They say the NSLM’s focus on blackball in Birmingham, in Alabama and the entire South helps shine a light on a facet of the Negro Leagues — the extensive history of the game below the Mason-Dixon Line — is much needed and deserving of attention.
“The state of Alabama and the city of Birmingham has rich black baseball history and plays an important role in the story of the Negro Leagues,” Kendrick said. “That history deserves to be preserved and celebrated.”
The new museum includes a large amount of information and displays about the Birmingham industrial and city leagues, a thriving fraternity of semi-pro players and teams that existed for decades and served as a launching pad for dozens of local players into the blackball big time.
Many native Alabamans cut their teeth in the industrial leagues before catching on with the hometown Black Barons and beyond, including slots with the Monarchs and other Northern teams. That fact was reflected at the reunion, when several men and family members sported T-shirts dedicated to the local industrial squads and circuits.
One player who made the jump from the industrial leagues was Henry Elmore, a 74-year-old native of Birmingham who spent a handful of years in the Negro American League with the Black Barons and the Philadelphia Stars.
“I have so many memories,” Elmore said. “I played in two East-West All-Star games in a row.”
One of the men clad in a industrial league T-shirt was Charles Reed, who defended the creation of the NSLM, arguing that it celebrates local history, and does so extremely well.
“It’s fantastic,” Reed said. “It’s good for kids to go back in history. There’s nothing else like [the NSLM]. It’s the best Negro League museum in the world.”
After arriving in Birmingham on Tuesday, the reunion attendees spent the afternoon touring the NSLM and enjoying a barbecue at the facility. The gathering continued the following day, when the players were honored at the 21st annual Rickwood Classic, held at majestic Rickwood Field, the country’s oldest ballpark in continuous use.
The facility celebrates its 106th birthday this year, having over the last century-plus hosted professional, semi-pro, college and high school games. That includes countless contests hosted by the Black Barons and other African-American aggregations.
As a result, every Negro Leagues reunion in Birmingham includes attendance at the Rickwood Classic, and this year was no exception. Despite 90-degree heat, the former players, many of them with walkers or wheelchairs, lined up along the third base line before the Barons and Chattanooga Lookouts took the field. The crowd responded with a rousing ovation.
The reunion-goers then assembled under a tent behind the stadium for a picnic lunch before settling into the stands to take in the game. As they gazed at the middle innings of the contest, Elmore and fellow ex-ballplayer Jaycee Casselberry enjoyed the memories that came flooding back to them with the experience.
Both men of few words, Casselberry in particular, as he sat solemnly and savored the experience. Casselberry, a center fielder, competed for the industrial league’s 24th Street Red Sox before catching on with the Indianapolis Clowns and Black Barons. His career included many games at the legendary stadium.
“It’s home,” he said of Rickwood, almost in a whisper. “It’s always good to be home.”
Chatting with Casselberry and Elmore was local resident Larry Summers, who brought his kids to the game to honor the former players.
“To have all these Negro Leaguers in one place at the same time, to have all these players together, it’s amazing,” Summers said. “These guys don’t want to be recognized. They don’t want attention, but they deserve the respect, and I respect them.”
David Brewer, president of the Friends of Rickwood organization that supports the preservation and event scheduling of the stadium, said the former Negro Leaguers are a key part of each Rickwood Classic.
“It’s fantastic,” Brewer said. “The crowd loves having them here, and they’ve e stablished themselves here. They’ve become a big part of the event.”
As the game wound down — the Lookouts trumped the hometown Barons, 7-4 — and the attendees gathered together to board a bus back to the La Quinta, one of the reunion’s most unique participants, Florida native Yogi Cortez, munched on a turkey sandwich under the picnic tent.
In the late 1950s, Cortez earned a spot on the Indianapolis Clowns’ roster as an astounding contortionist. Almost from birth, Cortez was able to wrap his legs behind his head and perform other body-bending feats, a talent right up the Clowns’ alley.
Clad in a dapper pink shirt, dark-gray vest, black-rimmed glasses and sun visor, Cortez reflected on both his career and the week’s reunion that included visits to the new museum and a historic ballpark. He knows the NSLM generated some controversy, including in Kansas City, but he still savors returning to Birmingham every year. He views it almost as an encapsulation of his many years in the sport.
“I’ve had a good life,” he said. “I have no regrets.”
Kendrick, president of the museum in Kansas City, hopes the addition of the NSLM could lead to new partnerships and more awareness of a rich period in our country’s baseball history.
“Ideally, I’d love to see other cities, where Negro Leagues baseball was prevalent, build similar tributes with the hope of creating an affiliate-type alliance with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum,” Kendrick said. “I haven’t had the opportunity to visit Birmingham but am looking forward to touring the museum in the near future and begin dialogue to explore partnership possibilities.
“A Negro Leagues Baseball Museum affiliate program of regional museums would create an exchange of ideas, research, programming collaboration, merchandising, traveling exhibit tours and more.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Former Monarchs, other Negro Leaguers tour country’s ‘other’ Negro Leagues museum."