Former Negro Leaguer Ernest Fann, 77, poses with 8-year-old Romello Ivy at the kickoff of the Jackie Robinson Day celebration at the Negro Southern League Museum in Birmingham, where it s more like Jackie Robinson week. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr. / Alabama NewsCenter)
By Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Alabama Newscenter
One day just wasn’t enough to celebrate the man who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Saturday, officials at the Negro Southern League Museum began several days of celebrating the legacy of former MLB great Jackie Robinson with a drive-by Honk For History.
Patrons were invited to honk their car horns as they drove by the museum on 16
Jackie Robinson broke baseball s color barrier but these Black players still faced racism
Updated 3:02 PM ET, Thu April 15, 2021
Ernest Fann played in the Negro Leagues with the Raleigh Tigers in the 1950s and spent time in the minor leagues for affiliates of St. Louis and Kansas City. (CNN)Ernest Fann never imagined his baseball career would be tainted by racism more than a decade after Jackie Robinson s debut. Somebody told me baseball was a White man s game, he says about a teammate who approached him while he sat on the bench. It was the early 1960s and Fann was playing for the Burlington Bees, a minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics in Burlington, Iowa.
Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
For The Birmingham Times
Marilyn Robinson remembers her school days when her dad was more famous to others than to her. But all of her teachers knew the former Negro League baseball player.
âOne day my dad was coming to school,â Robinson said, recalling her father Stanley Jonesâs visit to Bessemerâs Dunbar Elementary School. âHe was coming to see my teacher and she got so excited to be able to see somebody famous.â
Years later, Robinson raised the eyebrow of a professor at Lawson State Community College.
âI said my dad went to Wenonah High School,â she recalled. âHe said, âWho’s your dad?â I told him my dad is Stanley Lee Jones and he played with the Birmingham Black Barons. He was so excited. He remembered my dad. He went and told other professors, ‘Hey, I’ve got Stanley Jones’ daughter in my class. ”
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The Birmingham Negro Southern League Museum will celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Negro Leagues on Sunday, January 17 beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be streamed virtually to follow health and safety guidelines. This celebration will pay tribute to the players of the Negro Leagues and shine a light on the impact the league had in many Black communities across the country, especially in Birmingham.
The event will feature special guests including former Birmingham Black Barons players James “Jake” Sanders, Robert Vickers, Reggie Howard, former Raleigh Tigers pitcher, Ernest “Big Dog” Fann, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, and many more.
Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
For The Birmingham TimesÂ
 James âJakeâ Sandersâs voice was hoarse but that didnât stop him from expressing his joy that Major League Baseball now views the Negro Leagues as major league.
âThatâs the greatest thing that could have ever happened for the Negro League ballplayer because we have been left out of everything,â said the 86-year-old former outfielder whose Negro League career in the 1950s included stints with the Kansas City Monarchs, Raleigh Tigers, Birmingham Black Barons, New Orleans Bears and Detroit Stars. âThatâs the best thing that could have ever happened.â
Major League Baseball announced in mid-December that it is reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league.