Negro League Veterans Ted Toles Jr. & Ron Teasley To Appear At Cleveland Indians Negro Leagues Turn Back The Clock /Hall Of Fame & Heritage Weekend

Online, August 5, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Negro League Veterans Ted Toles Jr. & Ron Teasley will make an appearance at the 2010 Cleveland Indians Negro Leagues Turn Back the Clock / Hall of Fame & Heritage Weekend on August 6 & 7.

A Media Meet & Greet Event will be held on Friday August 6 from 4:30pm-6:30 pm at Cleats Sports Bar Gateway located at 2123 East 2nd Street. This is an opportunity for local media to meet & interview the former players. The event is sponsored by The Josh Gibson Foundation.

On Saturday August 7, 2010 the players will be at Progressive Field on the lower level concourse near "Fan Services" signing autographs and meeting with the fans. The players will be available to meet & pose for photos from 6pm through the first pitch. A collection of memorabilia from the Josh Gibson Foundation will be on display. Sean Gibson, Great Grandson of Legendary Negro League slugger Josh Gibson will be at the display to answer questions and educate the fans on the Negro Leagues.

Both events are open to the public.

Ted Toles Jr was a left-handed pitcher, outfielder and switch-hitter who toured with the Cleveland Buckeyes and Pittsburgh Crawfords and two other clubs of the Negro Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke MLB's color line in 1947. Toles was noted for his fine fastball, deceptive off-speed pitches and prowess at the plate. The Cleveland Buckeyes team's story began at the end of 1941. They were the 11th Negro League team from Cleveland, Ohio, the only one to last more than two years and just the second to last more than one season.

Ron Teasley was the first African American baseball captain at Northwestern High School in Detroit Michigan. His batting average of .500 still stands at Wayne State University. Teasley's professional baseball career included playing for the Toledo Cubs, Toledo Crawfords, Motor City Giants, Detroit Black Sox and Detroit Wolves. He also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (Olean, N.Y. Oilers Team), New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues and the Carman Cardinals (Manitoba/Dakota League) where he made the All-Star Team in 1949 & 1950.

Negro League baseball was a direct result of baseball's color line. The first black versus black baseball game was held on September 28, 1860 at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. After the integration of the major leagues in 1947, as marked by the appearance of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers, interest in the Negro Leagues waned. The American Negro League played its last game in 1958.

The Josh Gibson Foundation is a private 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation which was established in 1994 in an effort to keep the memory of Josh Gibson and the entire Negro League alive. The Foundation partners with Duquesne University matching college students with elementary and middle school youth for tutoring.
For more information on the Josh Gibson Foundation visit www.joshgibson.org

Contact: Sports Celebrity Marketing S.C.M. Inc. 954-330-6362