AUSTIN, Texas — For the second year in a row, the Round Rock Express will transform into the Austin Black Senators to pay homage to the Minor Negro League baseball team that was based in Austin from the 1920s through the 1940s, team officials announced Tuesday.
Round Rock players and coaches will don Black Senators uniforms and caps on Saturday, April 23, to honor one of Central Texas’ first professional sports teams, as well as the club’s star shortstop Willie Wells, a native Austinite who was credited with inventing the batting helmet and teaching Jackie Robinson how to master the double play.
KVUE's Jake Garcia profiled the accomplishments of Wells in the summer of 2020, which has now led to his high school alma mater naming its baseball field after Wells.
Last week, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved the renaming of the Anderson High School baseball field as the "Willie Wells Field." Anderson High School plans to hold an official ceremony for the renaming on Saturday, Feb. 5. KVUE's Jake García will speak at the event, alongside the president of the Negro League Baseball Museum, Bob Kendrick.
The Express' tribute to the Black Senators this season will be a part of a Minor League initiative called "The Nine." Minor League Baseball (MiLB) described "The Nine" as "a new, Black-community focused outreach platform specifically designed to honor and celebrate the historic impact numerous Black baseball pioneers made on the sport, provide new opportunities for youth baseball and softball participation, further diversify the business of baseball, and embrace millions of passionate fans throughout MiLB’s 120 communities nationwide."
"The Nine" is named for the number Robinson wore during his only season in MiLB with the Triple-A Montreal Royals in 1946.
“The Nine will shine bright spotlights on these successful initiatives and transform them into national campaigns reaching more fans and communities, further showcasing our teams’ commitment to representing, honoring, and welcoming all fans to MiLB’s unique brand of fun,” said Kurt Hunzeker, MLB’s vice president of Minor League Business Operations. “The Nine is just the latest example of MiLB teams being true community champions.”
In addition to player and team-related content, "The Nine" will focus heavily on creating new opportunities for youth participation among young Black boys and girls, particularly in communities where youth baseball and softball programming is either nonexistent or difficult to access, minor league officials said.
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