Dink Mothell’s Legacy Finally Set in Stone
From Mark Schremmer at the Topeka Capital-Journal on June 18, with mention of SABR members Jeremy Krock, Larry Lester and Phil Dixon:
To Jocelyn Lyons, he was just “Uncle Dink.” To baseball historians, Carroll Ray “Dink” Mothell was one of the most versatile players in history.
About 40 family friends and baseball fans gathered Saturday morning at Topeka’s Mount Hope Cemetery to pay tribute and complete the resting place of the man and the athlete who was buried more than 30 years ago.
The Negro Leagues baseball great died April 24, 1980, and was buried without a marker of any kind. However, Jeremy Krock and the Society for American Baseball Research have made it their mission to honor former players who died in anonymity. In large part because of that effort, Mothell’s grave marker was the 22nd installed since the group started the effort in 2004.
For baseball fans, it was about honoring a legend. For Lyons and other family friends, it was “a blessing.”
<snip>
SABR hopes to install markers for Solomon White in Staten Island, N.Y., Pete Hill in Alsip, Ill., six players in the Chicago area and others within the next year or so.
Lester said it is important to do this even though it has been decades since they died and even longer since they played.
“It’s always the right time to do what is right,” he said.
Read the full article here: http://cjonline.com/news/2011-06-18/mothell-legacy-finally-set-stone
To learn more about the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project, visit its website at http://www.nlbgmp.com.
Originally published: June 18, 2011. Last Updated: June 18, 2011.