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Monday, Feb. 20, 2006
THREE TO REPRESENT EASTERN IN VINTAGE BASEBALL GAME
Game celebrating Black History Month to air live on ESPN Classic Sunday
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Three former Eastern Connecticut State University baseball players have been selected to compete for the Bristol Barnstormers in a vintage baseball game to be aired live by ESPN Classic in conjunction with Black History Month this Sunday, Feb. 26 from Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jeff Johnson of Vernon, John Kubachka of Glastonbury, and Joe Riley of East Hartford are among 20 roster players on the team, which was selected following tryouts this past fall. The team will be coached by former major leaguer Jim Bouton, who spent ten years in the major leagues with four teams and who went on to author the controversial best-selling book Ball Four about the 1969 Seattle Pilots expansion team.
The nine-inning exhibition game will get underway at 4 p.m. ET and is part of a weekend in which ESPN is celebrating Black History Month. The vintage game production is entitled ESPN Classic Vintage Live: Negro League Baseball and features the Bristol Barnstormers and the Birmingham Black Barons. The Black Barons became a charter franchise in the Negro South League in 1920, and remained in existence for more than 30 years.
The Bristol Barnstormers are comprised of former college players from the greater Hartford area and in Massachusetts. The Barnstormers, who have been practicing in recent months in local indoor facilities, will fly to Birmingham Friday morning and will scrimmage Friday night prior to the banquet and will practice Saturday afternoon. All of their expenses are being absorbed by ESPN.
The uniforms of the players, coaches and umpires, all equipment and playing rules will reflect the era of the 1940s. The pitchers will bat for themselves.
In the game, Johnson is expected to play first base and Kubachka third base. Riley is a right-handed pitcher.
Johnson was a four-year starter at first base at Eastern between 1985 and 1988 and still holds program career records for fielding chances (1,362) and putouts (1.257). He ranks in a tie for 21st all-time with 177 hits and is tied for eighth with 23 home runs. He had a career batting average of .326. After leaving Eastern, he signed a free agent contract with the Atlanta Braves and played one season with their rookie league affiliate.
Kubachka was a first baseman at Eastern who lettered between 2000 and 2002 after transferring from Wake Forest University. He was named to the NCAA Division III All-America teams in both 2000 and 2002, also earning Little East Conference Player-of-the-Year honors in each of those seasons. As a senior, he had 14 home runs, 69 RBI and 146 total bases and was named ECAC Player-of-the-Year and as the Most Outstanding Player of the national tournament in leading the Warriors to the fourth national championship.
Riley compiled a 5-2 record with a 4.33 ERA in 52.0 innings during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, helping Eastern to New England regional championships both years and national tournament finishes of third and second. He began his career at the University of Connecticut.
As part of the festivities, the Alabama Negro League Association (ANLA) will sponsor its annual gala fundraiser this Friday night. The event will showcase a silent auction that will include baseball memorabilia, with the proceeds benefiting the ANLA’s efforts to establish the Negro League Museum Foundation. Special guests scheduled to be involved in the weekend festivities are Hall of Famer Willie Mays, as well as country singer and former Negro League player Charlie Pride, rapper Master P and Teddy Gentry from the musical group Alabama. Mays, one of the few surviving former Black Barons players, will serve as a special game host. Former Boston Red Sox first baseman George Scott will serve as manager of the Black Barons.
Former major leaguer Billy Sample and play-by-play announcer Eric Collins will call the game.
A banquet is also scheduled for Friday night, with a parade throughout the neighborhood surrounding Rickwood Field scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
Rickwood Field is recognized as the oldest baseball park in America. The Black Barons played games every other week at the field, while the white Barons team played on the alternating week. The Black Barons were at various times associated with the Negro Southern League, Negro National League and Negro American League. The team's heyday came in the 1940s when, as members of the Negro American League, the Black Barons fielded exceptionally strong teams featuring such stars as Piper Davis, Lester Lockett, Artie Wilson and Ed Steele. In 1943, 1944 and 1947, they won league titles.
