Gardner: Louisville Slugger Museum exhibit sheds light on forgotten African American team
From Hayes Gardner at the Louisville Courier-Journal on January 24, 2020, with mention of SABR member James Brunson III:
When the Louisville Slugger Museum acquired two old photographs believed to be of Negro League baseball players on the 1931 Louisville White Sox, it had no immediate plan for the images. But an initial look by museum curator Bailey Mazik led to questions: Why was a team called the “White Sox” wearing uniforms with the letters “L” and “U” on them?
Those questions led to archival research. And that research led to answers.
“I got chills,” Mazik said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I saw ‘Louisville Unions,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This could be them.’”
Mazik discovered the players in the photographs were actually members of the 1908 Louisville Unions, an African American team that competed 12 years before the founding of the Negro Leagues.
That discovery, and subsequent archival research, forms the newest exhibit that opens Jan. 24 at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, 800 W. Main St. in downtown Louisville.
Read the full article here: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/2020/01/24/louisville-slugger-museum-exhibit-sheds-light-forgotten-team/4524429002/
Originally published: January 24, 2020. Last Updated: January 24, 2020.