Whirty: Former Negro Leaguer Dave Malarcher finally gets due at Louisiana Sports Hall
From SABR member Ryan Whirty at The Advocate on June 15, 2016:
Soon after the National Baseball Hall of Fame announced that Satchel Paige would in 1971 become the first Negro League player to enter the hallowed halls of Cooperstown, Convent native David Malarcher reacted with jubilation.
Malarcher, who had toiled as a much-admired player and manager when the national pastime was divided by segregation, viewed Paige’s admission to the National Hall of Fame as a landmark development and milestone in the decades-long effort to, at long last, earn the Negro Leagues, its players, managers, owners, journalists and fans the respect that had eluded them for so long.
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Paradoxically, though, while dozens of Negro Leaguers have since been inducted into Cooperstown and popular knowledge and awareness of blackball’s existence and legacy has skyrocketed, Malarcher remains, in the minds of many observers and historians, one of the most under-appreciated and overlooked figures in Negro Leagues history.
Read the full article here: http://theadvocate.com/sports/latestsports/16119242-77/former-negro-leaguer-david-malarcher-finally-gets-due-with-la-sports-hall-induction
Originally published: June 16, 2016. Last Updated: June 16, 2016.