We want to honor Sam Lacy by presenting articles about the Negro Leagues. Lacy was born in Washington on 23 October 1903, and was a graduate of Howard University. To state that Mr. Lacy had a long and successful career in journalism, his long career spanned parts of nine decades until his passing in 2003, understates his impact on society during the years that he was a scribe. The nation was evolving and Lacy’s articles played a part in that evolution.
Lacy has this to say in an article in the Baltimore Afro-American on 17 October 1978.
In Waseca, Minnesota, Twins owner Calvin Griffith told a local Lions Club gathering that the reason he moved his baseball team from Washington to Bloomington in 1961, was that there are too many blacks in the DC area. Earlier, a Griffith relative reportedly told the late Lyman Bostok (who later became baseball’s highest paid player that he should be thankful that he (and other blacks) had been permitted to play in the majors.
Interested? We suggest the excellent book by Beyond the Shadow of the Senators by Brad Snyder.
Lyman Bostock was killed by Leonard Smith in 1978, when the latter might have suspected Bostock of having an affair with his estranged wife. Smith was later found guilty by reason of insanity.
Did you know? Lyman Bostock Sr. played in the Negro Leagues.
