Date of publication: July 4, 2006
Source: New Pittsburgh Courier
Author: Tim Stevens
Dear Editor: If Josh Gibson—a Negro League player who has been credited with hitting nearly 800 homeruns when he played for the infamous Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the 1930s and 1940s—were alive today, he might be absolutely thrilled to see the July 11 celebration of Major League Baseball called "the All-Star Game" used as a symbolic, but truly meaningful opportunity, to hit "a home run for justice!" The league's special events director, Morgan Littlefield, says he wants the league to celebrate the historic contributions of Negro League players during their visit to Pittsburgh. I am certain that part of that desire is based on the need for the league to somewhat make up for past wrongs with regard to race and baseball in America.
It would be most appropriate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, as the home team for a city known for its commitment to breakthroughs in justice in labor relations, to use this internationally-televised sporting event as an opportunity to correct a present wrong by creating a bridge between baseball and economic justice throughout the world! The Pittsburgh Pirates can be the major league team which actively requests the league to join with the nearly 160 universities and colleges across the nation which include a "code of conduct" for labor conditions in all of their contracts with companies which produce merchandise sporting their names. The Pittsburgh Pirates have a most wonderful opportunity to provide those who presently labor in sweatshops throughout the world, providing many of us with our favorite team's T-shirts and sweatshirts, with a new life of economic security.
As one who grew up in Pittsburgh's Hill District celebrating the heroics of the 1960 World Series and the heartwarming moments of the "We Are Family" World Series victory of 1979, I now wish to have a new reason to cheer for our home team when they take the lead in becoming a champion for justice for those who presently labor in severe poverty and under some of the most atrocious working conditions on the planet!
Tim Stevens
(Mr. Stevens is chairman of B-PEP, the Black Political Empowerment Project and former 10 yr. president, NAACP Pittsburgh Branch)