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Yard Goats to honor Negro League players with celebration during July 15 game

Officials say it will be a day to recognize the history, culture, education, and long overdue awareness of challenges and triumphs experienced by so many.

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HARTFORD, Conn. — The legacy of many great Negro League baseball players is still being remembered in 2021.

In Connecticut specifically, the Harford Yard Goats announced Wednesday that they will host a Negro Leagues Day Celebration on Thursday, July 15.

The celebration will be held during the evening home game against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and is in partnership with the Josh Gibson Foundation.

Officials for the Double-A affiliate wrote in a release that Josh Gibson is considered one of the greatest home run hitters, and most feared sluggers of any era.

He played in the Negro Leagues, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico leagues, but never in the Major Leagues.

Credit: AP

In this Wednesday, April 29, 2020, photo, baseball artist Graig Kreindler poses for a photograph in the lobby of his Brooklyn residence in New York with an unfinished painting of Hall of Famer Josh Gibson showing off his swing. The painting is based on a 1939-40 photograph from Gibson's days with the Cangrejeros (Crabbers) de Santurce, part of the Puerto Rico semi-professional league. That photograph was later used for for Gibson's 1950-51 Toleteros baseball card, now a pricey collectible. During the first half of the 20th century, many African-American players participated in winter ball games in Latin America, earning extra money and escaping racism in the United States. Some 230 of Kreindler's paintings are part of an exhibit celebrating the centennial fo the Negro National League at the National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. The museum was forced to temporarily shut down due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, but is aiming to reopen in June. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

In 1971, Gibson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the second ever Negro League player to receive this honor.

Credit: AP

FILE - This June 29, 2006, file photo, shows a bronze statue of Pittsburgh native Josh Gibson in Legacy Square when it was unveiled at PNC Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Gibson, who played for two Negro League baseball teams in Pittsburgh and is considered one of the sport's greatest home run hitters, is featured in an opera about his life called "The Summer King." It has its world premiere April 29, 2017, in Pittsburgh. The statue has since been removed from the park. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Tiffany Young, Executive Director of the Hartford Yard Goats Foundation said in a statement, the celebration will mark a day of celebration through music, dance, art, and baseball for all to enjoy."

"Negro Leagues Day’ is Hartford and Connecticut’s day to recognize the history, culture, education, and long overdue awareness of challenges and triumphs experienced by so many, including the legends like Josh Gibson, Hartford’s own, Johnny ‘Schoolboy Taylor’ and the first woman to play professional baseball full-time, Toni Stone,” Young added.

Gibson's great grandson, Sean will be in attendance on July 15 and will take photos and give autographs.

Credit: AP

In this photo made on Friday, March 17, 2017, Sean Gibson, the Executive Director of the Josh Gibson Foundation, holds a replica Pittsburgh Crawfords jersey as he poses next to a poster at the Pittsburgh Opera House in Pittsburgh for the upcoming opera about his great grandfather, baseball player Josh Gibson. Gibson played for two Negro League baseball teams in Pittsburgh, one of them the Crawford's. Gibson is considered one of the sport's greatest home run hitters and is featured in an opera about his life called "The Summer King." It has its world premiere April 29, 2017 at the Pittsburgh Opera. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Live music, a step show, drumming and vendor tables will also be part of the event, officials said.

The first 1,000 fans will receive a commemorative Negro League lanyard.

To read more about the Josh Gibson Foundation, click here.

For tickets, call 860-246-GOAT (4628), go to the Click It or Ticket Box Office at Dunkin’ Donuts Park, or click here.

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