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SmallerMUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State University is bringing former baseball players and experts on the sport to campus Nov. 21 to discuss how the game overcame its racial divisions.
"Untold Stories: Baseball the Multicultural Experience" will allow former major league and Negro League players as well as staff members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., to analyze baseball's history of handling diversity issues.
The program is part of the Ball State Provost's Lecture Series.
"This is an excellent opportunity for the university community to think about racial and ethnic issues that baseball encountered," said Michael Stevenson, director of Ball State's Diversity Policy Institute. "Most people know about Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, but there are many stories about minorities in baseball, including Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and Hideo Nomo, currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Latinos, African-Americans and Asian athletes have played a role in making baseball one of the first great melting pots in professional sports," he said. "Our speakers will discuss what they and their counterparts encountered as baseball broke down the racial barriers."
Participants include Buck O'Neil, former Negro League player; Kerry Yo Nakagawa, project director, Nisei Baseball Research Project; and Anderson resident Carl Erskine, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1948-57. Erskine, a retired bank executive, was a teammate of Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African-American player.
The program will be directed by Tim Wiles, research director, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Sessions include:
* A convocation for students at Burris Laboratory School from 9 to 10 a.m.
* A panel discussion in Burris television studio, which will be made available free of charge on the Athena Vision Network to state K-12 schools. The session is from 11 a.m. to noon and will allow students from participating schools to ask questions via a two-way interaction system.
* An open forum at 8 p.m. in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Cardinal Hall. It is free and open to the public.
The event is an outgrowth of a Ball State educational broadcast earlier this year from the hall of fame. The electronic field trip allowed thousands of K-12 students across the country to learn about pro baseball's multiculturalism.
Schools interested in receiving the panel discussion broadcast should contact Mark Kornmann at mkornmann@bsu.eduor (765) 285-8106.
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Stevenson at mstevens@bsu.edu or (765) 747-6065.)
"Untold Stories: Baseball the Multicultural Experience" will allow former major league and Negro League players as well as staff members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., to analyze baseball's history of handling diversity issues.
The program is part of the Ball State Provost's Lecture Series.
"This is an excellent opportunity for the university community to think about racial and ethnic issues that baseball encountered," said Michael Stevenson, director of Ball State's Diversity Policy Institute. "Most people know about Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, but there are many stories about minorities in baseball, including Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and Hideo Nomo, currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"Latinos, African-Americans and Asian athletes have played a role in making baseball one of the first great melting pots in professional sports," he said. "Our speakers will discuss what they and their counterparts encountered as baseball broke down the racial barriers."
Participants include Buck O'Neil, former Negro League player; Kerry Yo Nakagawa, project director, Nisei Baseball Research Project; and Anderson resident Carl Erskine, a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1948-57. Erskine, a retired bank executive, was a teammate of Jackie Robinson, baseball's first African-American player.
The program will be directed by Tim Wiles, research director, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Sessions include:
* A convocation for students at Burris Laboratory School from 9 to 10 a.m.
* A panel discussion in Burris television studio, which will be made available free of charge on the Athena Vision Network to state K-12 schools. The session is from 11 a.m. to noon and will allow students from participating schools to ask questions via a two-way interaction system.
* An open forum at 8 p.m. in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Cardinal Hall. It is free and open to the public.
The event is an outgrowth of a Ball State educational broadcast earlier this year from the hall of fame. The electronic field trip allowed thousands of K-12 students across the country to learn about pro baseball's multiculturalism.
Schools interested in receiving the panel discussion broadcast should contact Mark Kornmann at mkornmann@bsu.eduor (765) 285-8106.
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Stevenson at mstevens@bsu.edu or (765) 747-6065.)
