And they would end up playing games, maybe doubleheaders or whatever, without sleep or little sleep that they had on the buses. So one person would go to the back door window, whatever, and get food for all the players. "The players, traveling, they had nowhere to stay because of the discrimination, so they slept in the buses. Michigan Radio As interest in the Negro Leagues has grown, Forbes has been recognized by more organizations for her part in baseball history. And that's how I ended up with the Detroit Stars in 1956."Īlthough fans black and white would come out to see their games, Negro Leagues players suffered great indignities when they left the ballparks. "He said, 'How would you like to own a team in the Negro League?'" Forbes said. But the Negro American League wouldn’t allow him to own two teams. In 1956, Rasberry bought the historic Kansas City Monarchs franchise. The Negro National League collapsed quickly. The Negro Leagues struggled as more players followed him. That was several years after Jackie Robinson joined the Major Leagues. "He didn't get involved with the Negro League until 1953, I believe, when he purchased the Detroit Stars." Most of that was for the Grand Rapids Black Sox," Forbes said. Later on, I start booking games and games selling tickets when they played. We had one of those old typewriters, so I used that to do applications. "By the time I was 18, I was fully involved as a secretary. The Black Sox were an African-American minor league team. "In 1946, he purchased his own team, which was known as the Grand Rapids Black Sox," Forbes said. Her family moved to Grand Rapids in 1945 to live with her uncle, Ted Rasberry. Michigan Radio reporter Bryce Huffman and I recently visited Forbes at her home on a quiet street on Grand Rapids' east side.įorbes was born in Mississippi in 1932. She was also one of just a handful of female owners. She owned the Detroit Stars from 1956 to 1958. Minnie Forbes is the last surviving owner of a Negro Leagues baseball team.
Grand Rapids isn't a big-league baseball town, but a living part of baseball history calls it home.
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