Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
The 16th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held June 13-15, 2013, at the Renaissance Newark Airport Hotel in Newark, New Jersey. The conference is open to all baseball, history and sports fans of all ages.
Click here to download the conference information packet and mail-in registration form. Make your checks or money orders out to SABR – Malloy Conference. 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite D-140, Phoenix, AZ 85018.
Special registration packages are available for educators and students, along with single-day rates. The early conference registration rate ends April 15, 2013; the full rate will be available until May 31.
Hotel reservations should be made directly with the Renaissance Newark Airport; click here to book your room online or call (908) 436-4600 and ask for the "Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference." Our special room rate for this hotel is $139/night (plus tax.) The cut-off date to book your room at the Renaissance is May 25, 2013. Click here for more information on booking your room (PDF.)
Those thinking about presenting at the conference should start planning their proposals, which will be due March 22, 2013. The conference theme is "Pop, Max, Effa and Black Ball in the Garden State." Proposals should be sent to Lheaphy@kent.edu.
Essay Contest
SABR's Negro Leagues Committee has awarded two $2,500 scholarships to high school seniors in its fifth annual essay contest in 2012-13: Emma Charlesworth-Seiler of Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and Madison O'Shields of Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee. Click here to learn more about the winners. Students are 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, past and present?" or “What is the legacy of Satchel Paige?”
Click here to learn more about the essay contest or click here to download the PDF application for eligibility requirements, submission criteria and style guidelines.
Library Grants
SABR's Negro Leagues Research Committee has awarded two $1,000 library grants for 2012-13 to Randolph High School in Randolph, New Jersey and Joseph L. Carwise Middle School in Palm Harbor, Florida. Click here to learn more about the winners. School libraries from across the country are invited to submit grant proposals centering on educating students about black baseball and American history. Click here to learn more about the school library grant opportunities or click here to download the PDF application for eligibility requirements, submission criteria and style guidelines.
Art Contest
The fourth annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference Art Contest is now accepting applications in three categories: professional, amateur and youth. Art from the winners and runners-up will be on display in a special area at the Malloy Conference. Click here for details or to download an application form. The winning entry in the professional and amateur categories will receive a $400 prize and a certificate. The winning entry in the youth category will receive $200 and a certificate. For more information, visit Ben Blackburn's website BaseballAsAmerica.net or contact Leslie Heaphy or Larry Lester.
About the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
When the Society for American Baseball Research was founded on August 10, 1971, just a single player from the Negro Leagues had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame — the ageless pitching wonder Satchel Paige, who delivered his speech on the library steps in Cooperstown on the afternoon before SABR's first meeting. Today, largely due to the research of SABR members over the ensuing four decades, there are 35 representatives from baseball's pre-integration leagues for black players with plaque in the Hall of Fame gallery.
"Smokey Joe Williams", by Bill Cormalis Jr.: winner (professional) of the 2011 Negro Leagues Committee art contest
SABR's Negro Leagues Research Committee — one of its original committees, formed in 1971 — has continued to preserve and highlight the contributions of African-American players in baseball history. Led by co-chairs Dick Clark and Larry Lester, the committee published the landmark The Negro Leagues Book in 1994, which featured a complete register of more than 3,000 players, team rosters and in-depth histories from leagues of the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth.
The committee has also spawned the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project, which was started in 2003 by SABR member Jeremy Krock and has provided proper grave markers to the unmarked graves of more than 20 former Negro Leagues players around the country. (Their work was featured in an "NBC Nightly News" special that can be viewed here.)
SABR members and nonmembers alike can learn more about the Negro Leagues Committee and its groundbreaking work at the annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference
The Malloy Conference, hosted by SABR's Negro Leagues Committee, promotes activities to enhance scholarly, educational, and literary objectives. For the past 15 years, the event has been the only symposium dedicated exclusively to the examination and promotion of black baseball history. The conference is open to baseball and history fans of all ages.
Each year, monies are targeted to donate books to schools or libraries; raise funds for the Grave Marker Project; and award scholarships to high school seniors in a nationwide essay contest and a nationwide art contest.
For more information on SABR conferences throughout the year, visit SABR.org/events.
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