2023 SABR Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held on Thursday, July 20 to Sunday, July 23, 2023, in Detroit, Michigan.

The conference was highlighted by a tribute to Turkey Stearnes with his daughters Rosilyn Stearnes-Brown and Joyce Stearnes; and a Negro Leagues and Civil Rights Panel with Lisa Alexander, Phil S. Dixon, David Goldberg, and Gary Gillette.

Attendees enjoyed visits to the Wright Museum of African American History, a Meet & Greet Reception at Hamtramck Stadium, and a Detroit Tigers vs. San Diego Padres game at Comerica Park.

Presentations were given by Samantha Boelter, Tyrone Brooks, Nick Di Natale, Robert Fitzpatrick, John Graf, Clem Hamilton, Chris Hansen, Francis Harte, Jay Hurd, Sherman Jenkins, William H. Johnson, Thomas Kern, Mitch Lutzke, Michael Marsh and Michael Pifer, Alex Painter, and Claudia Caplan Wolff. Click here to view the full conference schedule.

Click here to view a photo gallery at Flickr.com, with photos by James Brunson III, Scott Carter, Al Davis, Phil S. Dixon, Leslie Heaphy, and Mitch Lutzke.

2023 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference


About the Conference

The Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference promotes activities to enhance scholarly, educational, and literary objectives. Since 1998, 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 Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project; and award scholarships to high school seniors in a nationwide essay contest and an annual art contest. The Negro Leagues Committee is one of SABR’s original committees, formed in 1971. It has continued to preserve and highlight the contributions of African-American players in baseball history.

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.

From Rube to Robinson: SABR’s Best Articles on Black Baseball

One of our newest publications from the SABR Digital Library brings together the best Negro League baseball scholarship that SABR has ever produced, pulled from its journals, Biography Project, and award-winning essays. The book includes a star-studded list of scholars and historians, from the late Jerry Malloy and Jules Tygiel, to award winners Larry Lester, Geri Strecker, and Jeremy Beer, and a host of other talented writers. The essays cover topics ranging over nearly a century, from 1866 and the earliest known Black baseball championship, to 1962 and the end of the Negro American League. 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: