Save the date! SABR’s 25th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference will be held on Thursday, August 7 to Saturday, August 9, 2025, in Louisville, Kentucky.
All baseball fans are welcome to attend. Registration information will be available at SABR.org/malloy in early 2025.
This interdisciplinary conference welcomes proposals for oral and poster presentations from all research fields. Previous presenters have included college faculty, public school teachers, graduate students, and independent scholars. Please email your proposal as a Word attachment to Leslie Heaphy by March 3, 2025.
Presentations may focus on any topic related to the theme, or other Black baseball topics. Some possibilities include Louisville Black Caps, Louisville Unions, Louisville Black Colonels, Felton Snow, Sammy Hughes, barnstorming, future research, Malloy history, and much more. Proposals should include a 250-word abstract, plus a brief biographical note with contact information. For poster presentations, please indicate the number and size of posters you wish to display.
- 2024 highlights: Click here to watch video replays from our featured panels and presentations in 2024
Click here to view a photo gallery of the 2024 Malloy Conference at Flickr.com.
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. Deadline to apply: April 15, 2025.
Click here to learn more or to download the application forms
Art Contest
The 16th annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference Art Contest is open to all artists in 2025. 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.
The deadline to apply for the Art Contest is August 4, 2025. The deadline for the Youth Art Contest is September 15, 2025. Questions can be directed to Leslie Heaphy (Lheaphy@kent.edu).
Dick Clark Memorial Library Grants
SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee will award two $500 Dick Clark Memorial Library Grants for 2025. 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.
The deadline to apply is September 15, 2025. For questions, please contact Leslie Heaphy (Lheaphy@kent.edu).
