THE OTHER BOYS OF SUMMER:
Screening & Discussion with Bob Kendrick, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President, and Pedro Sierra, Former Negro Leagues Player
Little Falls, NJ –Friday, January 24 –In honor of 2020’s 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center is hosting a special screening of the The Other Boys of Summer, a 42-minute documentary featuring never-before-seen interviews with former Negro Leagues players. The screening will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the film’s director, Lauren Meyer and Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Joining them is special guest Pedro Sierra, former pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns and the Detroit Stars, who is featured in the film. Refreshments will be served before the screening and are included in the ticket price. Further information and ticket purchase are available on the Museum’s website at https://yogiberramuseum.org/events/otherboys/.
The evening is part of the Museum’s year-long Negro Leagues centennial celebration, which kicked off with the opening in September of the current exhibition, DISCOVER GREATNESS: An Illustrated History of Negro Leagues Baseball. The traveling exhibit, on loan from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, showcases African American baseball from the 1800’s through the 1960’s. 90 photographs document the history of black players though the Independent Leagues, the formation of the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier in the Major Leagues and the subsequent decline of the Negro Leagues as more players moved to the Majors. To enhance the visitor experience, the Museum commissioned an augmented reality app that leverages artificial intelligence to bring the vintage black and white images in the show to vivid life. Together the photographs illuminate the complex history and struggles of African Americans in our national pastime, bringing to the fore both historical and contemporary issues of racial equity and social justice. The exhibition will be open to the public from through June of 2020.
In coordination with DISCOVER GREATNESS and the Negro Leagues anniversary year, the Museum has developed engaging and experiential education programming for visiting middle and high school students connecting the historical lessons of the Negro Leagues to the current national conversation about race. Since the exhibition’s opening in late September 2019, over 1,000 students have already participated in the program. In February the Museum will mark Black History Month by launching an extensive new online curriculum that addresses the issue of race through the historical lens of baseball.
“Yogi famously treated all people with respect,” says Eve Schaenen, the Museum’s Executive Director. “We view The Other Boys of Summer screening and the opportunity for important conversation that the film and the DISCOVER GREATNESS exhibition create as part of our mission to uphold his legacy of respect for others.”
The Other Boys of Summer screening and discussion was made possible through the generous support of the Borman Family Foundation. The DISCOVER GREATNESS exhibition and its attendant education programming were made possible in part by the generous support of the following: Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Montclair Foundation, The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum*, New Jersey Council for the Humanities**, The Provident Bank Foundation, The Albert Payson Terhune Foundation.
*The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a not for profit organization devoted to the preservation of Negro Leagues baseball history, has organized this traveling exhibition.
**Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the NEH or NJCH.
About The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center:
The Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center is a nonprofit sports education organization on the campus of Montclair State (NJ) University. The Museum’s mission is to preserve and promote the values of perseverance, respect, sportsmanship and excellence through inclusive, culturally diverse, sports-based educational exhibits and programs.
For additional information about the Museum, please visit www.yogiberramuseum.org or call 973.655.2378
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