A new grave marker for George "Cannonball" Jackson will be unveiled in Dubuque, Iowa. (Courtesy of Jeremy Krock)

Join SABR on August 25 in Dubuque for Cannonball Jackson grave marker dedication

A new grave marker for George "Cannonball" Jackson will be unveiled in Dubuque, Iowa. (Courtesy of Jeremy Krock)

AUGUST 20, 2024 — Join members of SABR’s Field of Dreams (Iowa) Chapter for a special dedication ceremony on Sunday, August 25, 2024, as the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project unveils a headstone on the previously unmarked grave of Negro Leagues pitcher George Jesse “Cannonball” Jackson.

The ceremony will take place from 1:00-1:30 p.m. CDT at Linwood Cemetery Chapel, 2736 Windsor Ave., Dubuque, lowa. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

Jackson was a professional baseball pitcher in the 1910s and early 1920s who played for a variety of Black teams barnstorming the upper Midwest. Jackson suffered an untimely death in Dubuque in December 1924. Unable to locate any family or friends of Jackson’s, local authorities buried Jackson in Linwood Cemetery in an unmarked grave in 1924.

Dr. Jeremy Krock, who founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project in 2004, will be on hand to speak and unveil a permanent and fitting headstone in recognition of Jackson’s life and times helping to integrate baseball.

To learn more about the project, visit NLBGMP.com. To make a donation and support future research, click here and earmark your donation for the “Negro Leagues Grave Marker Project.”



Originally published: August 20, 2024. Last Updated: August 20, 2024.