Honorary Negro league exhibition game for Black and brown players returns to Sacramento

For the second year in a row, Todd Sullivan has organized an honorary Negro league exhibition baseball game featuring some of the best prospects in the Northern California region.

The event is put on by Perfect Pitching Game Solution, Sullivan’s organization, in partnership with Sierra Medical Foundation, Sacramento State, the Negro League Baseball Museum and Yesterday’s Negro League Baseball Players Foundation.

Sullivan said he has always had two objectives for hosting the games: to provide exposure for Black and brown athletes and to raise funds to distribute proceeds to the Negro League Baseball Museum.

The game will be played from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Sacramento State’s John Smith Field.

“My effort mainly is to, you know, give support to the Negro League Baseball Museum and Yesterday’s Negro League Baseball Players Foundation, and that’s where all the money goes to,” Sullivan said. “And by doing that, also being able to get local Black and brown athletes a chance to expose themselves as well as to honor the people that came before them.”

Players in the exhibition game will represent Negro league teams of the past, the Newark Eagles and Nashville Stars.

The Eagles were around from 1936 to 1948. The team won a Negro World Series in 1946. The organization was officially disbanded in 1950, shortly after the integration of Major League Baseball following the debut of Jackie Robinson.

The Stars were a semi-pro Negro league team in the 1950s.

All of the players in Saturday’s exhibition game are high school juniors and seniors who will have an opportunity to compete against each other while baseball scouts in attendance evaluate their talent.

There are players from the following Sacramento-area high schools: Franklin, Florin, Jesuit, McClatchy, Pleasant Grove, Christian Brothers, Laguna Creek, Will C. Wood, Inderkum, Granite Bay, Center and Kennedy.

The game also includes players from high schools throughout the Northern California region: Del Oro, Davis, Pittsburg, Oakland Tech, Bishop O’Dowd, San Leandro, Berkeley, Alhambra, Castro Valley, Moreau Catholic, John Swett and Hercules.

“We also have collegiate scouts and Major League Baseball scouts out there to scout the kids, hopefully getting scholarships or being able to get some sort of recognition to advance their baseball career,” Sullivan said.

In this game, the Eagles will be coached by former MLB pitcher Fernando Arroyo, along with others. Arroyo played in the majors from 1975 to 1986, suiting up for the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics.

The Stars will be coached by baseball scout and former A’s second baseman Mack Neal “Shooty” Babitt.

Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, will be a special guest, along with former Negro League player Dennis Biddle, who played for the Chicago American Giants in 1953.

There will also be a youth clinic for younger baseball players ages 14 and under. They will received instruction from former pro players. The clinic is $10 per child.

Registration is at 10 a.m. The youth baseball camp is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Admission for the exhibition baseball game is donation-based starting at a $10 minimum.