They were exciting. They were proud. They were incredibly good. They were the Detroit Stars, the legendary Black baseball team that captivated the hearts and souls of Negro National League baseball fans in Detroit and beyond from 1919 to 1933. While White major league players, such as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were deemed the superstars of baseball in their playing days, there were numerous Black players of the era who were just as good — if not better — but never got the recognition or opportunity to showcase their talents to the world, simply because their skin was black. Yet, in Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburg, St. Louis and many other American cities, both large and small, Negro ballplayers treated fans to an electrifying brand of baseball, rarely seen.

To truly appreciate the Detroit Stars and the Negro Leagues, one must go back in history to 1860, the year that many baseball historians believe the first baseball game between two Black teams was played. The game: the Weeksville of New York versus the Colored Union Club. The Weeksville won 11-0. This historic game occurred about 14 years after historians believe the first ever baseball game was played.

Approximately five years after the Weeksville-Colored Union Club game, Black baseball teams such as the Monitor Club of Jamaica (New York), the Blue Sky Club of Camden (New Jersey), the Bachelors of Albany (New York), the Unique Club of Chicago and many others began to form. While Blacks frequently played other Black teams, there are accounts that white teams played Black teams, drawing interracial crowds of thousands without incidents of racial hatred.

However, as time progressed and the game became more organized, business oriented, financially rewarding…and racist, a so-called “gentleman’s agreement” was struck between White owners that would keep Black players from signing to play in major and minor league baseball systems. This unwritten agreement held up from around 1880 until 1947, although there were some rare instances where Blacks were able to usurp the system, especially when it benefited White owners financially.

For the most part, this policy and practice of exclusion didn’t keep Black players from playing the game that they were becoming very good at perfecting. Some Black entrepreneurs started all-Black pro teams and all-Black pro leagues. In 1885, it is believed that the first Black pro baseball team called the Cuban Giants formed. While called Cuban, the team, according to baseball aficionados, actually had Black players who were former waiters and porters in New York.

In 1887, the National Colored Base Ball League was created with a “very unique” window of time that allowed the Colored League to serve as a minor league system and actually play against some white National League teams. It wasn’t long before the window closed shut, after racist attitudes magnified, coupled with Black players showing superior baseball skills when playing against White players.

For the most part, Black teams and leagues created during this period of time didn’t stay around for long, often because of the financial burdens associated with the business side of the game which included team payrolls, rental of playing venues, uniforms and equipment, travel and lodging, and much more. Yet, Negro teams and leagues continued to rise and fall.

Deciding that he could make Negro League Baseball work effectively, Andrew “Rube” Foster had a vision. In the early part of 1920, he created a Constitution that officially formed the Negro National League (NNL) which consisted of eight teams: The Detroit Stars, Chicago American Giants, Dayton Marcos, Kansas City Monarchs, Indianapolis ABCs, Chicago Giants, Cuban Stars, and the St. Louis Giants. Foster served as the league’s president and treasurer.

Foster was a former pitcher who played many years for several Negro teams, such as the Fort Worth Yellow Jackets, Philadelphia Cuban Giants, Leland Giants in Chicago, and the Chicago American Giants. As his career waned, he became more business minded. He owned Chicago’s first professional Black baseball team called the Chicago American Giants. His extensive playing experience and relationships with Negro players allowed him to convince many of them to play for certain NNL teams, inclusive of the Detroit Stars.

Including the Stars in his new league was a no-brainer. After all, Detroit was a destination city with a growing Black population fueled by the robust automobile industry, thanks to Henry Ford and his Ford Motor Company. Foster appointed John T. “Tenny” Blount to promote the Detroit Stars. Some close to the team’s history said that Blount was the team’s business manager and possibly had some level of ownership. Nevertheless, Foster and Blount’s business relationship was often rocky.

Rocky or not, The Detroit Stars, which formed in 1919, was the city’s first Black professional sports franchise and was more than ready to join the newly formed NNL in 1920. The team’s home field was Mack Park, located on Detroit’s eastside.

Built in 1914, the stadium was said to hold between 5,500 and 6,000 people, comfortably. However, with creative arrangements, the stadium could pack in a few thousands more. Mack Park would serve as the Stars’ home field until a July, 1929 fire destroyed a large section of the stadium. The team moved to Dequindre Park, located at Dequindre and Modern on Detroit’s eastside. The team would later play at Hamtramck Stadium, a newly built facility in Hamtramck, Michigan that could accommodate both baseball and football games.

Taking the field for the Detroit Stars’ inaugural game were players like Bill Holland, Edgar Wesley, Bruce Petway, Chick Harper, Bill Gatewood, Joe Hewitt, Pete Hill, Jimmie Lyons Andy Cooper, Mule Riggins, Frank Warfield, Pete Hill, and Webster McDonald. The team’s record in its first season was 35 wins, 22 loses, which was good for second place behind the Chicago American Giants. In the ensuing years, the team was always competitive; however, they never finished first in the NNL standings.

While there were many players that donned the Detroit Stars’ uniform from 1919 to 1933, the team’s most famous and greatest star was Norman “Turkey” Stearnes. He joined the Stars in 1923 and was called “Turkey” because he flapped his arms as he ran the bases. From 1923 to 1931, Stearnes was a superstar. He was a fleet-footed and sure-handed centerfielder who was an incredible power hitter.

“He had a funny stance, but could get around on you,” the legendary pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige once told a reporter. “He could hit the ball over the right field fence, the left field fence and the center field fence. If you didn’t pitch him in just the right spot, he would just hit the ball out the park just about every time. He was as good as anybody that ever played baseball.”

Stearnes’ nine seasons with the Stars is the longest tenure of any player in the franchise’s history. When he left the game, he held just about every team hitting record possible.

In 1931, the NNL folded, with the Detroit Stars meeting the same fate. However, a team called the Detroit Wolves, featuring Cool Papa Bell, played in 1932 in the newly formed, short-lived East-West League. In 1933, another edition of the Detroit Stars appeared when the NNL made a comeback; the league and the stars disappeared after a partial season of play. Another comeback of the Detroit Stars was in 1937 as a charter member of the Negro American League (NAL), a membership that lasted one season, although NAL struggled for a few more seasons. As Jackie Robinson was making his quantum leap over the color barrier to Major League Baseball in 1947, and with other African-Americans close behind, a drop-off in the Negro Leagues was evident.

There are scattered accounts that in the late 1950s, the Stars — under another name — tried to shine again. Owner Ted Rasberry, who also owned the Kansas City Monarch, wanted to field a more entertaining team based on the antics of Reece “Goose” Tatum, a famous member of the Harlem Globetrotters, who also played in the Negro Leagues. Rasberry’s new team left the field and baseball for good in the early 1960s.

While it has been over five decades since the Detroit Stars played baseball, this storied franchise will live forever in the folklore of Negro Leagues Baseball. Even though many of the major players never got a chance to play Major League Baseball, there is no doubt that they were some of the greatest baseball players that ever lived, pitched and hit on the playing grounds in such Negro League cities as Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburg, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Dayton and an array of others.

Now through May 10, parents have an opportunity to choose to enroll their children in a Detroit public school, regardless of where they live, under the an open enrollment period. The open enrollment period will be parents’ only window of opportunity to change their children’s boundary-driven school assignments.

Letters containing enrollment information and a School Selection Scan Sheet are being sent to all district parents. Parents are expected to fill out one school selection sheet for each child and submit it to each child’s current school where it will be sent for processing. District transportation will only be offered to children who select their neighborhood school.

DPS offerings include neighborhood schools showcased by Excellent Schools Detroit as among the very best in the city, new and remodeled school buildings, and college preparatory programs with curriculum focusing on science, medicine and performing arts. DPS offers multilingual education, P-S-L scholar-athlete programs and parent resource centers. Districtwide, DPS will create an individualized learning plan for each student and academic blueprints for every parent, and will provide Netbooks for home usage to all students in grades 8-12.

The full range of school options will be on display Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during DPS Open Doors Day. On this family-focused day, nearly every DPS school will offer tours, curriculum demonstrations, opportunities to speak one-on-one with staff, free refreshments, including lunch, as well as giveaways, while supplies last. Wrapping up the school assignments for current students early will ensure a smooth start to the 2013-2014 school year, including the placement of a qualified teacher in front of every child on the first day of class.

For enrollment information, call (313) 240-4DPS or go to detroitk12. org/enroll

8:14 PM EDT
5/2/2011 by Roz Edward

Since its inception, the NAACP's Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner in Detroit has been known as the largest sit-down dinner in the world. The illustrious list of notable keynote speakers have ranged from such notable officials, including President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. On Sunday, April 29 the democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, stood at the podium and delivered the historic organization's keynote address at the 2013 Fight for Fight for  Freedom Fund Dinner.

Pelosi a 26-yaar veteran of the U.S. Congress  spoke solemnly about the challenges the nation faces.

"We didn't invite Nancy Pelosi because she is a democrat," said the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP Detroit branch, the largest and most active branch in the nation. "We invited her because when we call on her [for assistance] she will push open the gates, and if she can't push them open, she will climb over the gate, and if that doesn't work she will parachute in." 

Pelosi a 26-yaar veteran of the U.S. Congress spoke solemnly about the challenges the nation faces.

Following a nod and acknowledgement to Alabama congresswoman Terri Sewell, the first black woman to be elected to congress from that state, for introducing a house bill  to honor the “Four Little Girls” killed in an Alabama church bombing in 1963.

Pelosi went on to inspire the 10,000 plus Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner audience members with one of her favorite Dr. King quotes, "Freedom must never be defaulted, it must forever be exalted!"

The popular politician, a 26-year veteran of congress, then outlined her plan for making change in America.  "To achieve economic sustainability, we have to build confidence.  ... We have to do this to enable everyone in America to achieve prosperity. We  must address disparities in quality and in income," said Pelosi.

Congresswoman Pelosi may best be known for spearheading passage of the historic health insurance reform legislation in the House of Representatives, which established a Patient's Bill of Rights and will provide insurance for more Americans while lowering health care costs over the long term. 

Pelosi also encouraged all Americans to recognize the dignity and worth of every human being, emphasizing the importance of creating a society at peace with itself.

Other dinner highlights included prestigious awards to; 108 year-old Emma Didlake who received the James Weldon Johnson Lifetime Achievement; Dr. Michael Eric Dyson who received the Ida B. Wells - Freedom Fund & Justice; the Honorable JoAnn Nichols Watson received the Mary Church Terrell Freedom and Justice Award and the Michigan Chronicle's own Bankole Thompson who received the Great Expectations Award.  

Against the backdrop of the most successful NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund dinner in history a small group of BANCO protestors marched in outside of Cobo Hall calling for the resignation of all Detroit Branch board members. –roz edward

Detroit’s own Grammywinning artist Dwele and Marsha Ambrosius, the internationally renowned British R&B singer and founder of the famed group Floetry, will perform at a major benefit concert on Saturday, April 27, 8 p.m., at the Max M. Fisher Music Hall in support of the Really Living Foundation, a venture created in 2002 to help chronically and terminally ill individuals.

Conya Doss, a neo-soul singer, will also perform creating a trifecta musical experience. The Really Living Foundation, started by Detroit native John Cook, a philanthropist and an entrepreneur who was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) two decades ago, today stands in the gap for financially distressed individuals who are undergoing kidney illness.

Cook said based on his personal experience of being on dialysis for 20 years, he wanted to give back to the community in a meaningful way where those who are suffering the same fate he did long ago can find some sort of relief. “They told me I had five hours to get to the hospital for a kidney transplant. I had to stop what I was doing and just go. It was kind of a shock,” Cook said in an earlier interview with the News- Herald.

That ordeal would transform his life and later lead to the creation of a foundation that now is offering help to the chronically ill with several types of services, including transportation, prescription and financial assistance. “With regard to the transportation, if requested in a timely manner, we will provide or arrange for patient transport to medical treatments including dialysis or chemotherapy,” the foundation stated. “For prescription assistance, if there is a medication that is a necessity for a patient’s treatment and is not covered by insurance, we will assist the patient in obtaining that particular prescription.

If it’s just a matter of a person being unable to pay his/her co-pay, we will pay that portion, so that they can continue to receive their medication without interruption.” The foundation said monetary help is given to patients who are able to demonstrate that they have a financial hardship which is a direct result of their medical condition. “There is no expense that is automatically precluded, these requests are decided on a case by case basis,” the foundation noted.

Saturday night’s concert, the foundation’s third annual benefit, will boost the work that is being done to alleviate the suffering of those with kidney disease. Tickets are available at the Max Fisher box office or by visiting www.dso. org.