Black Arts and Culture

Norfolk’s Own Sam Allen Is Honorary Coach For Hall of Fame East-West Baseball Classic

Norfolk’s Sam Allen, former Kansas City Monarchs player, served as a Celebrity Coach at the Hall of Fame East-West Baseball Classic. The Memorial Day event celebrated Negro Leagues legends and featured the unveiling of a Hank Aaron statue.

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COOPERSTOWN, NY

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Hall of Fame East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game honored the legendary players from the famed era of Black baseball. Among them was Norfolk, Va.’s own Sam Allen, who played for the Kansas City Monarchs.

Allen, who celebrated his 88th birthday in April, was accompanied by his daughter, Avanti Benson of Virginia Beach and grandson Donovon Benson of Norfolk. During the game, he served as Celebrity Coach for the West team. Serving for the East team as its Celebrity Coach was Pedro Ciara, who played for the Detroit Stars and the Indianapolis Stars.

The Hall of Fame event celebrated the glory of Black baseball with the Legends baseball game as it opened a new exhibit: The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball. The weekend also included a special unveiling of a Hank Aaron statue.

Aided by Major League Baseball, the All-Star game featured a dozen Hall of Famers as coaches and more than two dozen former big league players in the seven-inning legends game.

The East-West Classic rosters of former major league players included Chesapeake, Va. all-stars B.J. Upton and Justin Upton. Little League World Series hero Mo’ne Davis also play in the East-West Classic.

The fun-filled day in Cooperstown included pregame music and giveaways. The first 5,000 fans entering Doubleday Field received a free bag of Cracker Jack in honor of the Museum’s new “Cracker Jack at the Ballpark” exhibit.

The new “The Souls of the Game” exhibit covers stories of early Black baseball, the Negro Leagues era, integration of baseball to today’s shortage of African-American baseball players. Meaningful stories from Black baseball are also being added to other exhibits throughout the Museum.

Subtitled “Voices of Black Baseball,” the exhibit highlights first-person accounts by the many individuals whose experiences shaped them, their community, baseball and America at large.

The new Hank Aaron statue at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is a bronze representation of the famous Black Major Leaguer and is located on the first floor of the Museum.