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Sunday, Feb. 26, 2006
EASTERN ALUMNI PLAY PART IN HISTORIC BASEBALL GAME
Johnson, Kubachka, Riley help celebrate Black History Month on ESPN Classic
Three East
ern Connecticut State University baseball alumni were part of ESPN Classic’s historic 1940s re-creation of old-time baseball Sunday at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
Former Eastern players Jeff Johnson of Vernon, John Kubachka of Glastonbury and Joe Riley of East Hartford were members of the all-white Bristol Barnstormers barnstorming team in a nine-inning exhibition game against the all-black Birmingham Black Barons of Negro League fame. The event, which included a parade and a pre-game tribute to the Negro League legends, was entitled ESPN Classic Vintage Live: Negro League Baseball and televised live by ESPN Classic as part of its tribute to Black History Month.
AT LEFT: Jeff Johnson
Players, manager and umpires’ uniforms and equipment – including thick-handled bats and webless gloves -- mirrored those of the 1940s. Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who grew up in nearby Fairfield, Alabama and was both a bat boy and player for the Black Barons, mingled with players from both teams prior to the game before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch. Country singer Charlie Pride, a former player in the negro leagues, sang the national anthem before joining Mays to throw out a first pitch.
Bristol was managed by former New York Yankee pitcher and current author Jim Bouton while Birmingham was managed by former Red Sox first baseman George Scott. Former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Bob Veale served as a Black Baron coach.
AT RIGHT: Joe Riley
The Black Barons broke a tie by scoring the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a throwing error in a 9-8 win in a game which began got underway at 3:20 p.m. local time and lasted just under four hours.
Johnson (first base) and Kubachka (third base) each played the first six-and-a-half innings of the game while Riley was inserted as the team’s fourth pitcher of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kubachka batted cleanup, Johnson sixth.
Johnson doubled twice in four at-bats and drove in two runs and in the field was involved in a 1-3-2 double play to end the second inning. At the plate, he had a leadoff double off the fence in right field in a four-run Bristol second inning and added an opposite-field RBI double in the fifth to give Bristol a 5-3 lead. In four at-bats, Kubachka had one hit – a first-inning single – and also flew out to deep right in the second inning. Riley was unable to preserve a 7-5 Bristol lead when he was charged with three unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning. He allowed only one hit and one ball out of the infield but walked three and threw two wild pitches. Bristol also commited two throwing errors in the inning.
AT LEFT: John Kubachka
Rickwood Field, located on the corners of 2nd Ave.West and 12th Street West in residential Birmingham, was built in 1910 and is recognized by the National Park Service as the oldest baseball park in use today. In addition to Mays, other Hall of Famers to play there were Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsy and Honus Wagner, along with Pie Traynor, Burleigh Grimes, Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers. Negro League greats who played at Rickwood include Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron.
