By Ralph E. Moore, Jr.

South Baltimore City is getting a great deal of attention these days. The Black communities on the other side of the water– opposite the Inner Harbor area– are Cherry Hill, Westport and Port Covington (recently renamed Baltimore Peninsula) and they’ve been overlooked for too long. Now things are happening through the efforts of a couple of non-profit organizations, the Parks and People Foundation and the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership. Specifically, the hope and plan are to build The Baltimore Black Sox Memorial Park in Westport. That is where Negro Leagues teams once played in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Black Sox Memorial Park is just one stop on a planned historical trail offered in the Middle Branch redevelopment. Additionally, a statue garden is being developed that will feature larger than life sculptures of Black Sox players, as well as star figures from other Baltimore sports. 

South Baltimore will come to life as sports figures and history come to the area in a demonstrative way.  Sounds exciting, right?

Satchel Page (1906-1982) was an incredible Negro League pitcher who played for the Baltimore Black Sox starting in the spring of 1930. He played in Westport. The Black Sox had just won the 1929 American Negro League championship.

The Parks and People Foundation will communicate, coordinateand cooperate with Major League Baseball, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C. and the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City as it plans and develops the Baltimore Black Sox Memorial Park.  The aforementioned are all excellent tourist sites and I believe their advice should be well received.

The park will be built on an 11 mile stretch of land near the harbor.  Most of the residents of the area are African American and many have been low income historically.

The Inner Harbor area has been a darling locale of previous city administrations.  The Hyatt Hotel and Harborplace are its most notable development projects.  Harborplace, first opened on July 2, 1980, is now undergoing a controversial redevelopment after a steady decline and disinvestment over the last several years. With the redevelopment of the Middle Branch area, finally, the whole waterfront is receiving attention.

Rogers stated in a press release, “We see the Middle Branch being to Baltimore in the 21st century what the inner harbor was in the 20th century, but with a lot of very important lessons learned along the way, including lessons about justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, about environmental justice, about public space.” The statement made by Mr. Rogers creates that much more excitement for the opening of the Baltimore Black Sox Memorial Park. 

This columnist predicts the park will be a huge hit and a great attraction for baseball fans from all over America. Public input is currently being sought for the Black Sox Memorial Park, coming soon to Middle Branch. 

To have your say on the development of the space, please visit https://www.parksandpeople.org/parks/black-sox-memorial-park/ .