Tom Archdeacon: Sinclair baseball celebrating Negro League history

It was like Christmas morning and they were excited kids hunting for their gifts beneath the decorated tree.

One by one Monday afternoon, the Sinclair baseball players went up to the collection of three dozen Negro League baseball jerseys laid out around the small stage just beyond the athletic offices on campus and picked the one they would wear for today’s 4:30p.m. game against the University of Northwestern Ohio JV at the University of Dayton’s Time Warner Stadium.

“I like the gray look, it’s classic, a real throwback,” freshman outfielder Andre Christopher said as he picked up a Newark Eagles jersey, the kind once worn by Larry Doby.

Holding the jersey up to his chest, he grinned as he envisioned the look he’d have: “I can throw my swag on with this one.”

A couple minutes later, Reed Norris, a 6-foot-4 pitcher from Westerville, would step over the replica of shirts once worn by the Indianapolis Clowns and the St. Paul Colored Gophers and, with no prior knowledge guiding his choice, pick the blue jersey with the white collar that said “Marcos” across the front.

“I like this look,” he said.

Told it was jersey of the locally-cherished Dayton Marcos, one of the eight teams in the Negro National League, he beamed: “I had a good feeling about this one.”

Alex Anders, a sophomore pitcher from Beavercreek, chose a Kansas City Monarchs jersey with No. 5 on the back.

“I don’t know who wore number 5,” he said. “I’m gonna have to do some research because I want to get the history of my player. I want to try to represent him as best I can and act like he did. … I’m sure he was probably a legend.”

And wouldn’t Anders be surprised when he learned that Jackie Robinson wore No. 5 when he played for the Monarchs in 1945.

The Sinclair Community College baseball team – now 37-5 and ranked No. 3 in the nation in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II poll – isn’t just making history this season, it’s learning it and celebrating it.

Today – as a “Tribute to the Negro Leagues” – the Tartan Pride players and coaches will wear the historical throwbacks that are part of the private collection of Sinclair administrator Michael Carter and – in the case of three XXL shirts — the property of Michael’s brother Darnell, a well-known Springfield attorney and historian.

Although a few Major League teams have on rare occasions worn Negro League jerseys connected to their city — the Kansas City Royals wore Monarch shirts, the Phillies wore Philadelphia Stars tops — Carter told the Sinclair players this was a first for a college team in the nation.

“I really appreciate what you’re going to do here,” he said. “This is something that’s really cool.”

Establishing a tradition

Carter — who was a high school basketball coach at Springfield South and Trotwood Madison before coming to Sinclair where he is now a senior advisor to the president and the chief diversity officer — first became interested in the Negro Leagues when he was growing up on Lexington Avenue in Springfield’s East End.

A neighbor who was a postman had once played in the Negro Leagues.

Years ago, Darnell began a tradition that continues to this day. Each year — at Christmas or on his brother’s birthday — he gives Michael a different Negro League jersey.

Over the years the brothers have further embraced that history with trips to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, as well as Cooperstown and even a journey to Benton Harbor, Mich. to rediscover the fabled House of David team.

They took part in a Negro League seminar at Sinclair a few years back and Michael has also put his jerseys on display at the school.

But today will be different.

Thanks to a plan he worked out with Sinclair coach Steve Dintaman, history will really come to life.

And in the process Dintaman is showing once again that he not only is a superb young coach — in his nine seasons he has amassed a 340-119 record and over 80 of his players have gone on to play baseball at four-year schools — but that he sees the world beyond the outfield fence.

“He makes sure we’re not just good baseball players, but that we represent ourselves as adults, take care of our business and realize there’s a bigger world out there,” said Anders, who has been offered a scholarship to Wright State next season.

“The public might see us as good athletes – as just jocks – but he wants us to know there’s more to life than just baseball. Baseball is just a game and one day it will be over. He wants us to have a good life outside the game. To do that he wants us to appreciate everything that goes into it.”

Dintaman does that in a variety of ways. The team – like the Sinclair basketball team – regularly serves meals at the annual community Thanksgiving dinner at the Dayton Convention Center and it takes part in the Martin Luther King March each January.

“I want our guys to embrace the community, to be part of the community,” he said. “Sinclair is a very diverse college and not just in matters of race, but economic background, all kinds of things. I want to give these guys a chance to be a part of that and understand there are all kinds of different people and thoughts that make up our world.

“And when it comes to baseball, I’d say 99 percent of them watched the movie 42 about Jackie Robinson. They understand the importance of what he did and how it plays out today with people from all different parts of the world coming to play the game.”

Knowing Dintaman’s mindset, Carter said he approached the coach with “a wild idea.”

He hoped the players would wear the jerseys in his collection for an actual game.

“His first question was, ‘You’re really gonna let us wear the jerseys?’ Carter said with a laugh.

“I said, ‘Hey, they’re in the back of my closet. What better use for them than to acknowledge an important part of history.”

‘Creating that unity’

Norris said the team was excited when it heard the plan:

“When Coach originally told us, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! This will be the coolest thing ever. We’ll be taking part in something that’s larger than just a baseball game.’”

Norris – whose father is black and mother is white – said his appreciation for the event comes in part from lessons his dad taught him:

“My dad was raised in the 1960s and he gave me a lot of the lessons to understand what happened back then. He tried to keep our heritage around and that’s been important.

“I grew up in the suburbs and for a lot of African-American kids from there, you kind of get disengaged with what really happened. So I appreciate learning about the people who fought for the rights I enjoy. And wearing these jerseys, that’s part of that.”

Anders, who is white, agreed: “The past couple years with all the things going on in our country, the unity of races has been hard sometimes. But things like this are a big step in creating that unity. I’m excited to wear my jersey. I think it will be awesome. I think everybody feels like that.”

Christopher, a black player from Woodward High School in Cincinnati, certainly does.

Since he was 13, he’s been part of the Major League Baseball RBI initiative that promoted the game to inner city youth. This summer his team played in the RBI World Series.

“We don’t have a lot of black players actually playing the game,” he said. “And now to see my school care about me and my heritage is really something special.

“It’s going to be cool to put on these uniforms.”

Well, maybe not Carter warned:

“Fellas one thing you should know. These jerseys are authentic. That means a lot of them are wool.”

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