Sports Snippets: June 29, 2023
Hall of Fame To Open ‘Souls of the Game’ in 2024
COOPERSTOWN—The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced that a new exhibit, “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball,” will open in spring 2024. It will trace the long history of Black baseball from the early decades prior to the formation of the Negro Leagues, through the complexities of re-integration, to the challenges that remain today. The new exhibit is part of the Hall of Fame’s Black Baseball Initiative, which includes additional outreach programs, educational material and virtual programming.
“‘The Souls of the Game’ will share the stories of Black baseball through the voices of the men and women who lived, and still live, that history,” said Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch. “The exhibit will provide an authentic, cohesive narrative of Black baseball history while celebrating baseball through the lens of Black culture and vice versa.”
The title of the exhibit pays tribute to the seminal 1903 book “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. Du Bois, arguably the most significant American philosopher and political theorist of the 20th century.
“Du Bois’s ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ was and remains one of the most important books by a Black person written in the 20th century,” said Dr. Gerald Early, Washington University professor and one of several curatorial consultants for the Black Baseball Initiative. “One of the main messages of Du Bois’s book was that, in their status as free men and women, Black people needed to use all that was around them to invent, shape, and resurrect their own culture. By echoing Du Bois’s book title, this exhibit emphasizes that message about the meaning of baseball for Black Americans. Baseball was not merely a sport for Blacks. It was an element, a brick, in building a culture. Baseball was about Blacks creating themselves anew as a free people, as Americans of African descent.”
The exhibit was announced at a Juneteenth event in Paterson, New Jersey’s Hinchliffe Stadium on Monday, June 19. Larry Doby Jr., the son of Hall of Famer Larry Doby, who became the first Black player in the American League three months after Jackie Robinson integrated the National League, was in attendance. Doby was from Paterson and played baseball and football and ran track in Hinchliffe Stadium before he began his Negro National League career in 1942.
For more information about the museum’s Black Baseball Initiative, visit https://baseballhall.org/The-Black-Baseball-Initiative?mc_cid=35fe9a1678&mc_eid=0691805ed7.
SUNY Oneonta Announces Baseball Prospect Clinic
ONEONTA—The SUNY Oneonta baseball program announced it will be holding its annual End of the Summer High School Recruiting Clinic on August 20 at Red Dragon Field. It will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with registration opening at 8:30. The clinic is intended for all current high-school athletes (classes of 2024-2027) who wish to improve their skills or demonstrate their abilities to the SUNY Oneonta coaching staff. Participants will focus on offensive and position instruction in the morning, with live game play in the afternoon. The cost is $120.00. For more information and registration forms, visit https://oneontaathletics.com/news/2023/6/8/baseball-announces-aug-20-end-of-summer-high-school-prospect-clinic.aspx.
Seamon Named Division II Player of the Year
COOPERSTOWN—The Center State Conference announced its 2023 all-star player list on Friday, June 16. Dani Seamon, the Cooperstown Central School pitching and hitting star, was named Division II player of the year. Seamon and teammates Katie Crippen, Savannah Kirkby and Jeana Geertgens were all named to first-team all-star divisional honors. Sophia Hotaling, Tori France and Brenna Seamon received honorable mentions.
Andrades Honored for 1,000-Point Career
LAURENS—Laurens Central School senior and three-season star Gabby Andrades had her number 3 basketball jersey hung on the LCS gymnasium wall in a ceremony on Thursday, June 8. She became the first girls basketball player and the fourth player overall in school history to score 1,000 career points on February 3. She averaged 23 points per game in the 2022-2023 season and was named to Tri-Valley League First Team All-Star honors. Andrades was also named a TVL First Team All-Star in the 2022 soccer season and 2023 softball season. She helped lead Laurens to victory in the 2023 TVL softball tournament. In addition to the framed jersey presentation, Andrades took home the Coach’s Award in soccer and basketball and the softball Sportsmanship Award at the Awards Banquet. She will play at SUNY Cobleskill next year.