Renee James Gilmore, Host & Executive Producer: Nothing symbolizes our culture more than the game of baseball. During segregation, African Americans were not prohibited to play on teams with whites and recruitment to major league baseball was not even a consideration. Hence the birth of the negro leagues. The Bradenton nine devils played from the 1930s until the 1950s. Recently, a historical marker was installed at LECOM.
Mayor Gene Brown, city of Bradenton:
“Well I think when you talk about the different opportunities the city has to celebrate the past and then move into the future, it is something we are going to be able to tell people, “hey, here is where we were, here is where we are now, and here’s where we are going. And “going” is the most important because we’re gonna have opportunities to celebrate and build on our past. A lot of times people talk about black and white and what’s the right time and the wrong time, I think the Nine Devils really started at a time when they needed to show that “hey, we are important, too.” Sports are an important part of history. With that sports history it shows that the next thing is what we are going to do for our community. Because it’s our community. It’s not one or the other. It’s how we make it better for today. That is what we are going to continue to do. We learn from what the good, bad, and the ugly when you look at history. And I think, we are always gonna build on the good and what things come out of it, and work as a team as a community in collaboration, and that’s something that, from the Boys Club Years [in Desoto], we’re gonna continue to work on how we as a community work together and make things better. It’s not about the Judge next to me [Judge Charles], or the mayor here, it’s about what we’re gonna do as a community to make things better.
Manatee community foundation and the Manatee Black Chamber of Commerce were among the many organizations that came together to install the marker. They wanted to memorialize the legacy of trailblazers who might otherwise be forgotten.
Judge Charles Williams:
Well for me, the message is someone that came to this area in the early 80s.And I didn’t know what the Bradenton Nine Devils were. I never heard of them. So for me, it took me a while to actually figure out, “hey you know what, there was a negro league baseball team here.” So for me it’s about knowledge, and understanding history. And so with this plaque and this ceremony, people will understand that they [the Bradenton Nine Devils] were here. There is nothing more American than baseball. There is nothing more patriotic than playing baseball and showing that even during those times, African-Americans wanted to participate and be a part of that tradition in this country. It is significant. So for me, for someone coming down here and has never heard of them, to all of a sudden be at a ceremony where now, everyone is going to be able to know about them, is quite an achievement.
Fun fact: Before becoming the first black player in MLB, Jackie Robinson played in the negro leagues and battled racism while serving in WWII. Some players in the negro leagues had stats better than Jackie Robinson’s, but MLB never called.
Judge Charles Williams: Well now I will just start with Jackie Robinson. I think even baseball people who are modern baseball writers and pundits understand the significance of Jackie Robinson. When I think of the Negro Leagues, I think of Jackie Robinson who got the opportunity to play baseball. But I also understand that many did not get that opportunity. I think it is important to note that they still continued to believe in the dream. They still continued to play baseball under some conditions that were not very good. But they had the dream of everybody growing up in America and that is to play ball. And so I think about people like that, I think about people who did not make it from the Negro Leagues, like Josh Gibson, who might have been more talented than Jackie Robinson, but unfortunately did not get selected to make his debut in major league baseball. So there’s a lot of things going on here, such as understanding that there were baseball players who had tremendous talent that just didn’t get the call. To honor people like the Bradenton Nine Devils is important. For their legacy too. I think it’s important. I appreciate the mayor and the city of Bradenton, and the pirates organization for recognizing how important it is to have little kids see what is possible. To understand they can play baseball at a high level, and that their history is not forgotten. I think that is very important for little kids coming into this park, being able to walk over to that plaque, read it and understand that people generations before them enjoyed this game.
Interview between Renee James Gimore and Carolyn Major Harper
Renee James Gilmore, Host & Executive Producer: Carolyn Major Harper’s father played first base for the Nine Devils. The Negro Leagues were comprised of organized teams, like the Nine Devils, but few players made a living playing baseball. Forget about going to MLB players the way they do today. So, thank you for joining us, Carolyn.
Carolyn Major Harper (daughter of a Bradenton Nine Devil’s player): Thank you for inviting me.
R: So your dad played in the Negro Leagues and played for the Nine Devils. Fortunately, you had the chance to have him home more so than normal so I guess that’s a good way of saying, if he did play for a Major League Baseball team he would’ve been gone all the time.
C: Yes. They traveled on Sundays. They traveled to places like Delray Beach, just all over Florida, and I remember they always would go to Valdosta Georgia. They’d get up early in the morning, drive to Valdosta, drive back at night, and get up early and go to work.
R: And they loved it. They did it for the love of the game.
C: They did. Also the baseball parks, I can’t remember the exact site, but when home games were played there, that was a big Sunday. They barbecued goat and whatever else they could barbecue, and it was just a big family affair when they played home games.
R: What do you remember of your father and his love for the game? Did he ever talk of aspirations about the kind of, “what if”? And certainly he was around during the time Jackie Robinson was recruited. I imagine that must have been a lot of talk in your household.
C: He loved the game, but he never talked about playing in the major leagues. What he did was, he’d come from work in the evening, all the kids would come, and he’d say, “Come on here, let’s play ball”. They would play stickball in the streets. That’s how a lot of them learned to play baseball. They used a broomstick, they didn’t have a baseball bat. They didn’t have bases. They just drew a mark in the street. And they played all evening until dark. And he enjoyed that. Watching those kids watch him playing and watching them play. It was a good time, and that was called mentoring, I think.
R: Mentoring would be right up your ally since you became a teacher, your daughter is a teacher, was teacher of the year here in Sarasota County. Tell us about the mentoring part. What you think you were able to draw from watching those games, seeing the team sports at work while you were a child.
C: Well I remember, you know, you got a chance to play with your friends, meet with your friends, because you didn’t see them during the week. Those same children, the boys and girls, might’ve lived across town, “overtown” is what we called it. But we got a chance to be with them and talk to them and find out what they’ve been doing. And then we got a chance to talk to the parents. You know the parents would say “don’t run”, “sit down”, you know. Back then, somebody could tell you what to do and that’s what you did.
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R: What outcomes do you want to see from the marker being installed? You were there!
C: That was so great that they put the marker there. I was so surprised because I didn’t realize it was coming then. It’s nice that they are recognizing these men. I told one of the people, Greg, I think, I told him that there are some other families in Sarasota who would probably come and love to see the marker and see the team being recognized. That would make them feel really good. I was really proud when I went there a couple years ago to know that they were honoring the Bradenton Nine Devils. A lot of these people don’t remember them.The young people don’t know them.
R: So why should they know them?
C: Because it’s a part of our local history. They need to know that if some of these men had the opportunity to go play major league, they would have made it. They had their own teams. That’s what they did and they loved it.
R: When you talk about history, how do you take the threads of the legacy of the Nine Devils, Judge Williams, as an example, and some others talked about the tenacity of these players and how they did everything they had to do for family, they went to work, they loved the game; what does that matter in terms of bringing it forward?
C: It helps the kids understand that you can do what you want to do and still do what you need to do. And that’s what the men were doing. And sometimes the women were there, the children were there. When they traveled out of town, just the men went. But then they came home and talked about the game and what they did. It was nice to know who won, who lost, and what they did. It made me realize that I can’t play baseball, but I can do something else to make somebody else feel better or to help somebody else. Because that’s what they were doing.
R: What do you want people to know about the players that your father played with? Your father played in the 1950s. What would you want people to know about what was happening with him and the team at that point in time?
C: I want them to know that a lot of friendship, a lot of teamwork went into that team. During the week they had to practice, so they went to work and they came back during the evening and practiced. They just had that togetherness. That was a good way to have teamwork. We do still have teamwork now but that started a long time ago. And some of them were still friends, most of them passed away, I think there’s one still left. But they always got together. And they didn’t forget each other. And it’s been so long. Edward Stevens, who was one of the owners, he had a business in Manatee county, and they would all gather there, and there was Mr. Dish, he was also one of the owners, I would remember my mother taking us to their house and introducing us to them, because they were one of the owners of the team, and sometimes they would travel with them. Because everybody didn’t have money to put into the team. And I think out of all that they made about $6. They brought home $6. They enjoyed doing it. That led me to believe that you can do what you like to do. You might not get the financial results that you want, but, back then, $6 was a lot of money.
R: Last question for you. You went to Booker High School. At the time Booker was segregated; only Black kids were there. How did you all learn about great things African Americans and people of color period were doing at Booker compared to — when I say “at Booker”, we didn’t have access to the things that other students had. But how did you learn about history and that there is a world beyond what you were seeing in history books that were so limited at the time?
C: It was way beyond. We had Black history week one week out of the year. That Friday we had some kind of program in the auditorium for everybody to witness and participate in. That is the only history that we kind of got. But if you had a teacher that was into black history, that teacher was willing to go above and beyond and talk about things that we had never heard about. We didn’t know very many people like Langston Hughes, and some of the others. We didn’t know all the things that we should have known because it was not available. Emma E. Booker was a part of my mother’s biological family. We found that out much later. She’s from St. Petersburg, and she came to Sarasota to start a grammar school at 14 years old. She didn’t even have a high school education.
R: These are the kinds of remarkable things that I want you to come back and talk about. That is why I wanted to put “Major” in your name too because you have such a rich history tied to this area. Thank you, and congratulations on the recognition of your father and all the other Nine Devils that played here.
Watch full segment here