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Dennis Biddle is a former Negro League player from Magnolia, Arkansas. He played two years with the Chicago American Giants in 1953. He then went on to play with the Chicago Cubs.
"1920 is when Rube Foster felt that hey we got so many great teams, so many great players. We're gonna start our own Major League and that's what it was," said Biddle. "I was recruited out of high school, but I didn't know anything about the Negro League. Grambling College (Grambling State University, Louisiana)...Eddie Robinson had offered me a scholarship to play football."
He now knows everything about the Negro Baseball League, as he works to preserve its rich history.
"Black men were playing in the Major Leagues in the late 1800s. Moses Fleetwood Walker, who was the first, and a lot of others that played in the league."
Black athletes played in the 19th Century until the Major League's first Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis segregated the game.
"He did not like to see Black and white men playing together. He is the one who said this is a white man's sport," said Biddle.
After Landis' death in 1944, things slowly began to change. In 1945, the Kansas City Monarchs recruited Jackie Robinson. And two short years later, he broke the color barrier in the Big Leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
"Jackie did not open the door, he cracked the door. It took nine years before every major league team had a Black ballplayer," he said.
The Milwaukee Bears became a part of the Negro League in 1923 and played here at historic Borchert Field. Players like Leroy "Satchel" Paige, Joshua Gibson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Dennis Biddle helped pave the way for today's game.
"This is where we were at right here at Martin Stadium, Memphis Tennesee. That was my first professional game," as he pointed to a photo on the wall.
In 1996, he and his good friend Sherwood Brewer, who played with Jackie Robinson, established "Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players, LLC."
"We found out we had no representation, our name and our likeness were being used. The New York Times reported $2.4 million made off the name Negro League...and in three years, and none of that money went to these old men who made history and had no representation," said Biddle.
His goal is to advocate for surviving players and their interests.
"I feel today that I supported them, and they supported me too. So I'm doing all I can for them. I did, thanks to Bud Selig, I did get most of them a pension from the Major Leagues and medical, and I'm thankful for that."
Along with his wife Patrice, Mr. Biddle's Foundation operates a museum and memorabilia store in Mayfair Mall. They also partner with schools to teach children the league's history.
"We are able to reach audiences that would not normally be interested in baseball, such as youth," said Patrice Biddle.
TMJ4's Andrea Williams asked Mr. Biddle..."What does baseball mean to you?" He replied, "The world [laughter]. Baseball to me is life."
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