When Barry met Minnie

So this story has mostly been lost for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good one:

Monday evening, President Barack Obama honored the historic contributions and achievements made by the Negro League. Meeting in the Blue Room of the White House, the President welcomed former baseball players, scholars, foundation representatives, and historians.

Around a dozen former players from the long-defunct but still culturally significant league were invited to attend the gathering. Mamie Johnson, a pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns, joined Toni Stone and Connie Morgan as the only women to play for the Negro Leagues during the mid-1950s. Also invited was Larry Lester, one of the founders of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

Other notables were expected to be in attendance, such as Birmingham Black Barons outfielder Carl Long, who played alongside future Major League Baseball greats such as Willie Mays, Curt Flood, and others. Cuban native Minnie “Cuban Comet” Minoso was another invitee, a player who made history in 1951 after being traded from the MLB’s Cleveland Indians to the Chicago White Sox thus becoming that team’s first player of color.

Saturday, Larry Lester shook hands with my friend Mark Armour. Sunday, I shook hands with Mark Armour. Monday, Barack Obama shook hands with Larry Lester. I’m pretty sure this is very important.

Seriously, this is big news for nerds like me, as I suspect Larry Lester is the first man who’s ever been invited to the White House largely because of his work as a baseball researcher. Perhaps the last, too. But a guy can dream a little, can’t he?