Yankees Mag: Classic Celebration

On Saturday afternoon of a picture-perfect Memorial Day Weekend, several thousand baseball fans flocked to the village of Cooperstown, N.Y., to revel in the game’s storied past. They filed into the stands at 103-year-old Doubleday Field, anticipating the 1:05 p.m. ET start of the Hall of Fame East-West Classic -- a celebration of the Negro Leagues featuring more than two dozen recently retired big leaguers. Basking in mid-70s sunshine, they joined Cardinals icon Ozzie Smith in standing and removing their caps as his son, Nikko Smith, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (commonly known as the Black national anthem), then looked up as four Boeing Apache helicopters from nearby Fort Drum soared against the backdrop of azure skies, the climax of a patriotic pregame ceremony.

Behind home plate, all-time Mariners legend-turned-sports photographer Ken Griffey Jr. was wearing a Kansas City Monarchs uniform. He put down his camera for a moment, linked his right arm around the left elbow of Billye Aaron and began escorting her toward the pitcher’s mound. Fifty years after Henry Aaron topped Babe Ruth’s career home run mark, his widow had come to Cooperstown for the unveiling of a bronze statue of her husband that now welcomes visitors to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and she was about to deliver a ceremonial first pitch to Yankees great CC Sabathia.

Still radiant at 87 years old, Aaron appeared up to the task, at least from a short distance. But as she and Griffey kept on walking, nearly everyone in the crowd wondered, *"Is she going to try and throw from the rubber?"* Aaron reached the top of the mound, turned to face home plate and quickly decided that the answer to that question was an unequivocal, "No." Her about-face drew laughter from the crowd, as well as from Sabathia, whose booming laugh provided a soundtrack for the entire day.

The Hall of Fame East-West Classic was billed as a tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game, which was held 35 times from 1933 to 1962, including on four occasions at Yankee Stadium. And while the former big leaguers who donned flannel uniforms of Negro Leagues teams for the six-inning game on May 25 did a remarkable job of bringing attention to their forebears, the greatest tribute might have come from the joy and the camaraderie that was on display all weekend long.

Mrs. Aaron delivered a strike to Sabathia from the lip of the grass in front of home plate, and the festivities were officially underway -- an event that was an enormous success, thanks -- in no small part -- to Sabathia himself.

***

The original East-West Classics were a huge deal -- “Black America’s answer to Augusta’s Masters Tournament, Louisville’s Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the Olympics and March Madness all wrapped into one spectacle,” wrote Larry Lester, a curatorial consultant for the Hall of Fame’s Black Baseball Initiative. The games were usually held in August at Chicago’s Comiskey Park -- a central location that drew fans from all over the country. Attendance regularly topped 30,000, and it exceeded 50,000 in 1941 and ’43, with many attendees showing up to the ballpark wearing their finest threads.

“It was a HOLIDAY for at least 48 hours,” the late sportswriter Sam Lacy, who received the BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award in 1997, once recalled of attending the games. “It was a case where it was much more enjoyable. More like a picnic.”

Sabathia, with help from former Diamondbacks and Yankees outfielder Chris Young, made sure that the 2024 version had the same vibe.

It all started roughly two years ago, when John Odell, the longtime curator of history and research for the Hall of Fame, suggested that his colleagues find a way to resurrect the East-West All-Star Game to coincide with The Souls of the Game, an exhibit that opened to the public on May 25 and tells the story of the Black baseball experience through the voices of those who lived it. Their first call was to Sabathia.

“When we first reached out to CC and said, ‘Hey, would you help us put together these teams?’ he goes, ‘Absolutely. You’re going to have more guys than you need,’” said Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch. “About 48 hours later, C.Y. was involved, and a week later, we were full with rosters. It just tells you how much they wanted to be there and how special those two are.”

Sadly, Odell never got to see his idea come to fruition; he died from pneumonia at age 62 in July 2023. The historian surely would have delighted in watching Orioles great Adam Jones win the Home Run Derby while wearing a Baltimore Elite (pronounced “ee-light”) Giants uniform, seeing Dexter Fowler chase down fly balls at Doubleday Field with Chicago’s “American Giants” written across his chest, or Prince Fielder manning first base in a Pittsburgh Crawfords uni, or Ryan Howard being mobbed by his East teammates at home plate after smashing a three-run homer in his Birmingham Black Barons threads.

There were 30 former players in all, with 53 All-Star selections among them, but the event felt like more than just a get-together centered on an exhibition game. From the moment players met at the Otesaga Hotel to the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Hall of Fame, to the bus ride over to Doubleday and all throughout the game, every participant could expect a warm embrace from his baseball brethren -- when he wasn’t getting ragged on, of course.

“The thing that’s cool about it is that we’re all really close,” Sabathia said. “We all go on vacation together, we all hang out together, but a lot of us never got a chance to play together. To be able to lace it up one more time was pretty cool. It’s pretty special.”

That feeling spilled over into the grandstands. The final Hall of Fame Game, an in-season exhibition featuring two Major League teams, was played at Doubleday Field in 2007. Two years later, the annual Hall of Fame Classic debuted with retired players, but the chance to celebrate the Negro Leagues and the contributions of all Black baseball players made this year’s game unique. It attracted enthusiasts such as Marlene Faso, a Mets fan from New Jersey who has been a vocal advocate for Thurman Munson’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame. “I came up to represent Toni Stone,” said Faso, who was wearing a blue and red Indianapolis Clowns jersey similar to the one B.J. Upton wore at third base in the game. “Toni Stone was the replacement on the Indianapolis Clowns when Hank Aaron got picked to play for the Braves. She was a really good second baseman! She didn’t hit like Hank Aaron, but she could turn a double play.”

When Renee Jackson heard that Sabathia was going to be involved, she and her husband, a disabled United States Army veteran, decided to make the trek from their home in East Hartford, Conn. “We love CC,” she said. “That was the draw for us. It was a bit of a journey, but worth the ride.”

Sporting an Aaron Judge No. 99 shirt, Dave Rowley, of Oneonta, N.Y., was drawn by the history of the Negro Leagues and was impressed to see Dave Winfield among the 14 Hall of Famers in attendance, as was his friend Jeff Katz, who served as Cooperstown’s mayor from 2012 to 2018.

“There is a difference when you have CC Sabathia, Prince Fielder, Ken Griffey Jr.,” Katz said. “Seeing people you know -- Adam Jones was playing, like, three years ago -- that adds a lot to the event. Winfield doesn’t tend to come to these things because he’s always here for Induction Weekend, but this is kind of a big deal, so for guys like him to come, it really shows how good this idea was.”

The day before the game, the Hall of Fame announced that tickets were sold out, and many of the 5,740 fans in attendance took advantage of free admission to the museum that had been underwritten by the Players Alliance, an organization of current and former baseball and softball players dedicated to growing the game in the Black community. Sabathia is vice chair on its board of directors.

LaTroy Hawkins, who pitched in more than 1,000 games over his 21-year career (including 33 for the 2008 Yankees), took a look at the crowd and said that “it feels like Opening Day. The excitement has that Opening Day feel, and it’s pretty cool that people would want to come out and support what’s going on here today because a lot of them weren’t born when the last East-West All-Star Game was played in 1962. So, we know the people here are pure baseball fans.”

“When you have the sheet of paper and see the names on the list, fans are going to come,” Jones said moments after defeating Fielder in the Home Run Derby. “Baseball fans love baseball, and they love being around this group of guys. A lot of us meant a lot of things to each organization. A lot of Orioles fans are here, a lot of Yankees fans, Boston. So, we meant a lot to different organizations.”

All day long, fun was at the forefront. There was Harold Reynolds -- a 12-year MLB vet and now one of the main faces on MLB Network -- running around the field with a microphone and camera crew, interviewing players midgame. Hall of Famers Fred McGriff and Jim Rice were the judges for a kids’ Big League Chew bubble-blowing contest. After leading the crowd in the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” Ferguson Jenkins implored, “Let’s get some runs!”

But beyond enjoying themselves, the players had a greater goal. Each team had an honorary member who played in the Negro Leagues -- Sam Allen for Sabathia’s West squad and Pedro Sierra for Young’s East team -- and connecting with them was equally meaningful.

“I hope that every player gets the opportunity to talk to Sam Allen and Pedro Sierra and pick their brain a little bit and share some stories,” Young said. “And I hope everybody gets a chance to go see the new Souls of the Game exhibit at the Hall of Fame Museum, and really be able to take something away, and hopefully be that next generation that’s sharing stories with their children about who paved the way for them.”

***

As for the game itself — it was pretty entertaining! Although Jerry Hairston Jr.’s hamstring might have been barking the next day, no one appeared to seriously injure himself or herself. Little League World Series legend Mo’ne Davis -- now a Columbia grad student who stepped away from her studies as she was finishing up her semester -- patrolled center field for a bit, retiring former Yankees catcher Russell Martin. David Price busted out a knuckleball and knocked in a run for the East. Curtis Granderson smacked a two-run homer off East starter Edwin Jackson.

East skipper Joe Torre was all smiles as he sauntered out to the mound to get Hawkins after he gave up a hit. When the pitcher joked that he should have arrived one pitch earlier, the four-time World Series-winning manager quipped, “I started walking out, but it takes me this long to get out here!” But Torre, who serves as vice chairman of the Hall of Fame’s board of directors, didn’t spend the holiday weekend in Cooperstown just cracking jokes and making calls to the bullpen. He understood the importance of the event taking place.

Torre grew up in Marine Park, Brooklyn, going to school with kids of all different races. He was 14 in 1954, just as the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to take shape, when he visited Georgia’s Ponce de Leon Park to watch his brother Frank play for the Double-A Atlanta Crackers. It was there that he first saw restrooms and water fountains marked “colored.”

“I said, 'This can’t really mean what I think it means,'” Torre said.

Six years later, traveling around the Class C Northern League in station wagons as a member of the Eau Claire Braves, Torre recalled having to order food to go for his teammates who weren’t allowed inside certain restaurants because of their skin color. And so, Torre believes that “it should be mandatory that the players understand the history and how we got here and all the people that had to sacrifice over the years,” he said. He lauded baseball’s recent efforts to acknowledge the Negro Leagues, but added that, as a society, “We’ve still got a long way to go. There’s still some divisiveness in this country that shouldn’t be, let’s put it that way.”

Those experiences as a youth helped open Torre’s eyes to the reality of racial inequality in America, as well as how baseball can be a conduit for greater understanding. For the recently retired players who participated in the Hall of Fame East-West Classic, playing pro ball allowed them to expand their horizons and their view of the world far beyond what they learned in the communities in which they grew up.

The day after he graduated high school, Hawkins left Gary, Ind., and began his pro career with the Twins in the Gulf Coast League, where he met teammates from all over the map. “I didn’t know there were people that looked like me that spoke a different language. I had no clue,” said the 51-year-old Hawkins, who is currently working on a bachelor’s degree in sociology. “Being in this game, it helped me see the world completely differently. And my travels in baseball -- I’ve been all over the world, promoting the game, playing the game -- it just helps me understand different cultures.”

At Vallejo High School, just north of Oakland, Calif., Sabathia was surrounded by Black teammates. After being drafted 20th overall by Cleveland in 1998, the teenage phenom reported to the Appalachian League’s Burlington Indians in North Carolina and saw a whole section of people in one corner of the clubhouse that looked like him -- but they were all Dominican. Like Hawkins, Sabathia quickly learned about the different people and different cultures that comprise the brilliant tapestry of baseball. When one of his teammates, a young catcher from Venezuela, had difficulty ordering food on road trips due to the language barrier, Sabathia took it upon himself to help.

“And me and Victor Martinez are best friends to this day,” Sabathia said. “Now, he’s my brother, you know what I mean? So, baseball has definitely changed and shaped my life. And it’s a blessing to be able to be around so many different people, so many different cultures, and to connect through this game.”

***

Howard’s three-run homer in the fifth inning proved to be the difference in the East team’s 5-4 victory. The former Phillies slugger accepted the Bob Feller Player of the Game Award from the Hall of Fame’s chairman of the board, Jane Forbes Clark, calling it “a great way to cap off the entire weekend. … And just to have this kind of brotherhood -- and continue to have it -- is special.”

Meanwhile, Sabathia, the West team captain and designated hitter who collected a single and scored a run in the losing effort, insisted that the final play should have been reviewed.

“This game is under protest!” Sabathia had shouted at first-base umpire Albert Jones, motioning for a headset and emanating his unmistakable laugh for the thousandth time that day.

The ebullient 43-year-old said it was just his second trip to Cooperstown, the first having come when one of his sons played in a tournament there as a 12-year-old, but that it was his first real opportunity to tour the museum.

No one believed it would be his last.

The 2009 World Series champion retired after the 2019 season with 251 wins and 3,093 strikeouts -- third most all-time among left-handers. Along with Ichiro Suzuki, he’ll be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year, with the results set to be announced in January.

“I think he’s going to be a first-ballot [Hall of Famer], for sure,” said Jenkins, the 1991 inductee and fellow member of the 20-game-winning “Black Aces.” “Well over 200-plus wins, 3,000 strikeouts -- I think he’s got a great opportunity to get in.”

Hall of Fame voting was far from Sabathia’s mind as he changed out of his cleats on a dusty dugout bench at Doubleday Field. The smile that had been plastered on his face all day long still remained as he and Young basked in the afterglow of a dream realized.

“This was awesome,” said Granderson, whose 16-year career included four seasons with the Yankees, and who now serves as board chair for the Players Alliance. “With C.Y. and CC helping put this together, with the highlight and focus on the exhibit here at the Hall of Fame to bring attention to those that helped pave the way, but then to also be on the field and say thank you and be with these greats as our special managers and coaches for today is just truly awesome.”

“CC!” someone called out. It was Rawitch, the Hall president.

“Thank you, dude. So proud to be around you guys.”

“Of course,” Sabathia said. “This was fun. Someone described this as like a family reunion. That’s exactly what this was.

“This game is still under protest, though.”