NASHVILLE, Tenn. — will show off his managerial prowess next spring in an event designed to bring attention to the history and legacy of Black baseball players.
Smith, a 15-time All-Star and 13-time Gold Glove Award winner, spent 15 seasons of his 19-year career with the Cardinals as he distinguished himself as one of the best defensive shortstops in the history of Major League Baseball.
On Memorial Day weekend, he’ll helm a team of Black MLB alumni in an event that includes , former Cardinals pitcher Edwin Jackson and ºüÀêÊÓƵ native and former NL MVP Ryan Howard in a game honoring the memory of the Negro Leagues.
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On Tuesday at the MLB winter meetings at The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that it will host the Hall of Fame East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York.
Hall of Fame outfielder and former AL MVP Ken Griffey Jr. has also been announced as one of the managers/coaches for the game along with Smith.
will headline the group of players taking part in the game.
Players confirmed as participants include Chicago White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield, Tim Beckham, Ian Desmond, Prince Fielder, Curtis Granderson, Tony Gwynn Jr., LaTroy Hawkins, Adam Jones, Russell Martin and David Price among others along with Fowler and Howard.
The East-West Classic will take place about one month before the Cardinals play the San Francisco Giants in a the former home of the Birmingham Black Barons. Giants legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays is also a Birmingham native.
Sabathia, who finished his 19-year career in 2019 by throwing out his shoulder, said he plans to start a physical rehabilitation program in order to pitch in the game.
Sabathia sustained what he described as a torn labrum and rotator cuff as well as a ripped capsule and bicep tendon that required a “full shoulder reconstruction" at the end of his major league career.
Asked by the Post-Dispatch what sort of impact he hopes events like the East-West Classic and the game at Rickwood, Sabathia said, “I just hope it continues to build fans, having a chance to go into Birmingham, into that community and bring big league baseball and bring some of these personalities."
“Hopefully, there’s a kid out there that is watching the game and sees a player and is like, ‘I want to be like that.’ That was me with . I got a chance to see Dave Stewart when I was 9 years old. He walked into my Boys & Girls Club and changed my life," Sabathia said.
“Just being able to be visible in these communities, especially in Birmingham (is important). Birmingham could almost be the birthplace of Black baseball. You could almost put the Negro Leagues Museum there. It’s super-important for us to be able to tell those stories and be visible in that community.â€
Stewart, a three-time World Series champion and former World Series MVP, won 20 games or more in a season four times during a 16-year career in the majors.
In the same way Sabathia recalled the impact of his interaction with Stewart, the 66-year-old Stewart vividly recalled interactions he had during his formative years with Mays and as though they were yesterday.
“I remember Willie Mays, as a 5-year-old waiting on bat day for him to sign my bat, he asked me, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ I said I want to be a baseball player.â€
Mays' words stuck with Stewart, particularly a question he posed to the 5-year-old Stewart. He asked Stewart if he knew what it takes to be a baseball player.
“He says, ‘To be a Major League Baseball player, you’ve got to love the game,†Stewart recalled. “I remember that."
Stewart recounted an encounter with Jackson he and two of his cousins had as children who used to get to the ballpark early in Oakland before the games. Once, Jackson even escorted them home safely from the ballpark. He drove alongside them even though they wouldn’t accept a ride from a “stranger.â€
Years later, after they’d lost touch, Stewart was with the Dodgers when they played the Yankees in the World Series, and he brought his son to meet Jackson and have his picture taken with him prior to a game.
"I remember Reggie Jackson, the day he drove his car behind us going to my house, that day I saw him at the baseball field for the first time in years," Stewart said. “I remember those things.
"(Meeting) Roy Campanella, when I became a Dodger for the first time, (meeting) Don Newcomb when I became a Dodger for the first time, talking to those guys and talking about what the Dodger uniform stands for, how to be a professional and the things that Jackie (Robinson) went through to get them into the game and what my duty is to make sure that other Black players, Black pitchers get an opportunity.â€
Stewart, who is also a former agent and general manager, sits on advisory committee along with Hall of Famers, revered former players and executives.
The East-West Classic will take place the same weekend the Baseball Hall of Fame opens its new exhibit titled “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball."
“There’s a lot that’s not known about baseball, Black baseball and where the game has actually come from, in all different regions,†Stewart said. “I know when we say Black baseball, you think Afro-American baseball, but we also speak about the Latinos that have played the game.
"It’s a deep process that I think that we’ve been able to get at more than just the surface of to understand the game, how the game has evolved and where we are today.â€