Queens Central Library exhibit tells the story of Negro League baseball
NEW YORK - A chapter in sports history often glossed over is being reopened at the Queens Central Library.
In a new exhibit, artifacts from photos to mitts are telling the story of Negro League baseball more than a century after its inception.
Programming includes an upcoming virtual presentation of Storied, a project by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City chronicling the history of the Negro Leagues in a collection of 22 true stories, recounted by the museum's president Bob Kendrick.
The library's collection of objects, on display through the end of August, sheds light on female players who joined the Negro Leagues, including Toni Stone, Connie Morgan and Mamie "Peanut" Johnson.
The exhibit also points to deep local roots. Jackie Robinson, who got his start in the Negro Leagues, is now buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
And just a few blocks away, a plaque marks the site of a lost baseball stadium. Woodhaven's Dexter Park once welcomed Negro League teams with some of the greatest players of all time. It was sold in the 1950s and torn down, now the parking lot of a supermarket.
Advocates want to prevent future erasure of the Negro Leagues' vital legacy.
"They made the game better. They made life better," baseball historian Philip Ross said. "Jackie opened up the world."
Doris Jones, Queens Public Library's assistant coordinator of adult services, organized the exhibit.
"There's still so much history yet to be uncovered," she said.
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