2012 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

The 15th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held July 19-21, 2012, at the Renaissance Cleveland hotel in Cleveland, Ohio.

The theme of the 2012 Malloy Conference was “Black Baseball in Ohio”. Black baseball has a strong history in Ohio and especially the city of Cleveland. In the 19th century, one of the first African American players in the majors, Moses Fleetwood Walker, played in Toledo. The city of Cleveland had more Negro League entries (11) than any other city in the Negro Leagues from the 1920s through the 1940s. The crowning success came with the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes winning the Negro League World Series. Their roster included such key players as Quincy Trouppe, Sam Jethroe, Eugene Bremer and Archie Ware.

In 1948, the Cleveland Indians boasted the first African American player in the American League with the signing of Larry Doby and, later, the legendary Satchel Paige. The 15th annual Malloy Conference celebrated Ohio’s baseball history. In addition to two days of research presentations and player/author panels, attendees also enjoyed a special presentation about League Park and a Cleveland Indians game. A special stamp honoring Larry Doby, part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Major League Baseball All-Stars collection, also was unveiled during the conference. 

Featured speakers at the conference included Minnie Forbes, last living female owner of a Negro Leagues team; authors Dr. Thomas Aiello, Dr. Lee Lowenfish, Byron Motley, and Terry Pluto; and more. Click here for a list of more speakers.

Essay Contest

In 2012, SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee awarded two $2,500 scholarships to high school seniors Katarina Nguyen of Edmonds-Woodway High School in Edmonds, Washington, and Michael Zoorob of Brentwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee, in its fourth annual essay contest. Students were asked to write a 1,000-word essay on one of the following topics: “What influence or impact did the Negro Leagues have on African American communities?” or “What is the legacy of Rube Foster?” Click here to learn more about the winners. Or download the PDF application for eligibility requirements, submission criteria and style guidelines.  

Library Grants

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee awarded two $1,000 library grants to Windy Hill Elementary School of Jacksonville, Florida, and Buffalo United Charter School in Buffalo, New York. Click here to learn more about the winners and their programs. School libraries from across the country were invited to submit grant proposals centering on educating students about black baseball and American history.

Art Contest

The winners of the third annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference Art Contest were: Professional—Darryl Shelton, “Memories Locked Away in a Drawer”; Amateur—Milbert O. Brown Jr. “The Dream: Scoring by Inches”; Youth—Manning Feldner, “Baltimore Elite”. Click here to learn more about the winners and see photos of their artwork. For more information on the Art Contest, visit Ben Blackburn’s website BaseballAsAmerica.net Some students may not be able to afford the $10 entry fee to enter the Art Contest. Please consider sponsoring one or more youth entries in the Malloy Conference art competition. Contact Leslie Heaphy or Larry Lester to learn how.

One of our newest publications from the SABR Digital Library focuses on the end of an era in black baseball. Bittersweet Goodbye: The Black Barons, the Grays, and the 1948 Negro League World Series, edited by Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin, was inspired by the last Negro League World Series ever played and presents biographies of the players on the two contending teams in 1948 — the Birmingham Black Barons and the Homestead Grays — as well as the managers, the owners, and articles on the ballparks the teams called home.

Also included are articles that recap the season’s two East-West All-Star Games, the Negro National League and Negro American League playoff series, and the World Series itself. Additional context is provided in essays about the effects of Organized Baseball’s integration on the Negro Leagues, the exodus of Negro League players to Canada, and the signing away of top Negro League players, specifically Willie Mays.

Click here to learn more or download the e-book. SABR members can download the e-book edition for free or get 50% off the paperback edition.

Who was Jerry Malloy?

Click a link below for highlights from past Jerry Malloy Conferences: