2024 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference was held on June 6-9, 2024, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Panels and presentations were also livestreamed virtually from the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand Theater.

In-person attendees had an opportunity to view the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s new exhibit, The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball, which spotlights the decades-long history of Black baseball prior to the formation of the Negro Leagues, through the complexities of baseball’s re-integration, to the challenges that remain today, revealing the deep connections between baseball and Black America.

The conference was highlighted by a panel discussion on SABR’s Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee with James Brunson III, Phil S. Dixon, Kevin Johnson, Philip Lee, Adam Darowski, and Gary Gillette; and a panel on the Hall of Fame’s Souls of the Game exhibit featuring Tom Shieber, Mary Quinn, and Cassidy Lent.

Presentations were given by Dan Nathan, Karl Lindholm, Clem Hamilton, Keith Crook, Frank Harte, Paul Julion, Tim Hagerty, Ted Knorr, Clarence Gordon Jr., Alan Cohen, Jon Volkmer, Brian Sheehy, Alex Painter, Max Martinez Almenas, JB Martin IV, Mark Armour, Matt Jacob, Lisa Alexander, Missy Booker, Rich Puerzer, Steven Greenes, Gary Gillette, Larry McGill, and Robert Fitzpatrick. Click here to view the full schedule.

Click here to view a photo gallery at Flickr.com.

2024 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.

Yoseloff Scholarship

With generous funding from The Nanar and Anthony Yoseloff Foundation, Inc., SABR will award up to 4 scholarships to high school or college students to attend the 2025 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging (double occupancy) up to a total value of $1,250. Students must be currently enrolled in a high school, college undergraduate or graduate program, and be between 18 and 29 years of age at the time of the conference.

Stay tuned for more details on the 2025 application soon!

Essay Contest

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee is pleased to award $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors in its 17th annual Thomas R. Garrett Scholarship essay contest in 2025.

The contest is open to high school seniors and carrying a minimum GPA of 2.5 at the end of their junior year. Students have to write a 1,200-word essay answering a question related to one of the Negro League figures who are the namesakes of the scholarships.

Stay tuned for more details on the 2025 application soon!

Art Contest

The 14th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference Art Contest is open to all artists in 2024, with the theme of “Untold Stories of Black Baseball.” Art from the winners will be on display at an upcoming Jerry Malloy Conference. The winning entry in the professional and amateur categories will receive a $150 prize and a certificate from the conference. The youth winner will receive a set of art supplies. Photos of the art will also be included in an upcoming issue of Black Ball: A Negro Leagues Journal, published by McFarland & Co. Questions can be directed to Leslie Heaphy (Lheaphy@kent.edu).

Entry fee: $30 for every 3 images (professionals and amateurs). Deadline to submit: August 1, 2024. Click here to download an application form.

Youth Art Contest entry fee: $10 for every 3 images. Deadline to submit: September 13, 2024. Click here to download the Youth Art Contest application form.

Dick Clark Memorial Library Grants

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will award two $500 Dick Clark Memorial Library Grants for 2024. School and community libraries from across the country are invited to submit grant proposals centering on educating students and the community about black baseball and American history. Deadline to apply: September 16, 2024. Click here to download an application (PDF). For questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy (Lheaphy@kent.edu).

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.

Past Highlights

Click a link below for highlights from past Jerry Malloy Conferences:


Who was Jerry Malloy?