2024 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

Early registration is now open for SABR’s annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference, which will be held on June 6-9, 2024, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. All baseball fans are welcome to attend.

Full and single-day registration is available for a discounted rate before May 24, along with a new virtual registration option. All panels and presentations held at the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand Theater on Friday and Saturday will be available on the Zoom livestream.

Register now for the 2024 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference

In-person attendees will also have 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 will spotlight 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. Click here to learn more about the exhibit at BaseballHall.org.


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 2024 Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference in Cooperstown, New York. This scholarship will pay for registration, transportation and lodging (double occupancy) up to a total value of $1,250. Deadline to apply: April 5, 2024.

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. Click here to download an application or learn more.

Essay Contest

SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee is pleased to award $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors in its 16th annual Thomas R. Garrett Scholarship essay contest in 2024. Deadline to apply: April 15, 2024.

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. Click here to download an application or learn more.

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. For questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy (Lheaphy@kent.edu). Stay tuned for more details on the 2024 application form.

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?