The storied history of a South Florida-born Black baseball team

On December 16, 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) officially designated the Negro Leagues as “Major League.” By doing this, MLB “ensures that future generations will remember the approximately 3400 players of the Negro Leagues during this period as Major League-caliber players.” MLB continued by stating, “the statistics and records of these players will become a part of MLB’s history.”

MLB and the Elias Sports Bureau (the primary source of statistics for ESPN, Comcast Sportsnet, Turner Sports, NFL Network, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football,Thursday Night Football, league and media websites, and dozens of broadcasters of MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS telecasts) have begun a review process to determine the full scope of this designation’s ramifications on statistics and records.

This means Miami’s first MLB team is not the Marlins. Instead, South Florida was the birthplace of another illustrious “Major League” team, founded as the Miami Giants in 1936.

The team will see among its alumni many names baseball fans would recognize today – Hank Aaron, all-time MLB home-run record holder till it was broken in 2007 by Barry Bonds, and Satchel Paige, the Hall of Fame pitcher. Also, the first female professional baseball player, Toni Stone, was on the team. All their history will now be incorporated into the story of MLB.

Unfortunately the owners, looking for a publicity stunt, decided to cash in on a faraway conflict. As Italian dictator Mussolini, in a prelude to World War II, invaded Ethiopia in 1935, the team was renamed to the Ethiopian Clowns.

The team owners appear to have borrowed from the headlines of local black newspapers, which often featured sympathetic headlines to the Ethiopian plight. The team’s Ethiopia reference was seen by some as the exploitation of black sympathy, which encouraged some Negro league owners to oppose adding the Clowns to their ranks.

Homestead Giants (playing in Pittsburg) co-owner C. Posey, for example, wrote in his weekly Courier column in 1942 that sportswriters would “always feel disgusted at Syd [the Clowns owner] for… capitalizing on the rape of Ethiopia when that country was in distress.” In the Afro-American, the longest- running black weekly newspaper in the US, E.B. Rea took a different view, calling the move to block the Clowns “as funny as the Clowns themselves.” “If so many were paying to see them joke and jest, how much more ardently would they turn out to see them play Negro American competition?”

The Clowns were known for their antics. The box scores featured King Tut, Abbadaba, Tarzan, Ulysses Grant Greene, Wahoo, Goose Tatum, Highpockets West, Peanuts Nyassas, and Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia.

At the same time, the Clowns were also known as a first-rate baseball team. Legendary pitcher Satchel Paige, playing on a visiting team in 1939, described the team as, “fast-fielding, hard-hitting” and “one of the greatest clubs [he] has ever played against.” Exactly what all baseball teams aspire to be remembered for.

The Clowns won the Negro American League championships in 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1954.

The Clowns name stayed with the team through its transition to the Indianapolis Clowns, where it signed a 17-year-old shortstop and cleanup hitter with the nickname “Porkchop,” because of his fondness for them.

“Porkchop”, aka, Hank Aaron, played three months for the Clowns before being purchased by the Boston Braves for $10,000, but it had an impact on him.

“Everything I learned [from the Clowns] got me ready for the big leagues,” Aaron said in an interview with mlb.com. “I honestly believe that I wouldn’t have gotten to the big leagues as quickly as I did if I hadn’t even played those few months with the Clowns.”

The team left the Negro American League in 1955 to pursue a full-time barnstorming schedule (like the Harlem Globetrotters). You can get a taste of their antics if you have seen the 1976 movie “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings”, starring James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, and Billy Dee Williams. The movie is loosely based on the barnstorming Clowns.

On August 16, 2020, the Florida Marlins honored the first South Florida Major League team by donning the Miami Giants uniform on the 100th anniversary of the Negro League’s founding. They played against the Braves, long time home to the “Hammerin’ Hank”, who outgrew his earlier Clown nickname.

The Marlins did not quite channel the “fast-fielding, hard-hitting” Clowns, by losing 4-0 to the Braves.

RIP Hank Aaron, one of baseball’s greatest, died at 86.

December 16, 2020December 3, 2020

You, too, can make a difference

What if one day you woke up and said to yourself:

I am going to do something good for others by forming a charity and
creating a fundraising event that raises money for sick children.
I am going to raise money by hosting a Whiffle Ball Tournament as the
flagship event.
I will coordinate food trucks, live entertainment, and a Home Run Derby.
People will love it!

Now imagine telling your altruistic and lofty plans to your significant other and family and friends …And that is where the story usually ends.

The naysayers will quickly rain on your parade by reminding you: (1) you have no experience starting a charity; (2) you do not have a team of organizers or volunteers to help you run this charity; (3) it will take dozens, if not hundreds of hours, to set up this charity; and (4) you have a full-time job with three young children.

But you are not Todd Rodman.

Todd Rodman is the president of Sports Chiropractic and Natural Health Solutions. Todd lives in Parkland with his wife Lorin, the “do-it-all” wife who writes a lifestyle and fashion blog, “Styled as a Mother” and his three children, Jack (11), Reese (9) and Austin (7).

The Rodmans are the family that wear elaborate costumes for Halloween, constantly post funny videos to social media, and hold impromptu driveway musicals for their neighbors’ enjoyment. They are Parkland’s version of the social media darlings, the Holderness Family.

In 2017, Todd, in conjunction with the Jason Taylor Foundation, organized the Inaugural “Whiffle Blast,” which took place at Pine Trails Park in Parkland.

Todd, a college baseball player, came up with the idea for a Wiffleball tournament while playing a pick-up game with his family. Now going on their fifth year, Whiffle Blast has raised over $125,000 for children battling cancer and other pediatric emergencies. Every penny donated goes toward charity.

Whiffle Blast, a Whiffleball round-robin tournament, may be the most fun charity event you will ever attend. It is super competitive, but all for a good cause. Last year, 30 teams battled it out to be crowned champion.

Hundreds cheered on the Home Run derby.

Who knew Wiffleball could be so intense?

Having no experience planning a fundraising event, all while running a successful business, the first year was challenging at times. Todd and Lorin cobbled together their plans on scraps of notebook paper.

They relied on grassroots efforts to promote the event and procure entertainment and raffle items.

They spent sleepless nights calling restaurants for gift certificates, coordinating food trucks, making DIY signs, and baking cookies to make sure the event was not a failure. Even their children contributed by getting their friends to work as volunteers.

Friends and family were so inspired by Todd’s desire to give back to his community, that they also chipped in and tapped their connections to make the event a success.

When I asked Todd why he started a charity he said, “Giving back to our community is so important to me because I understand what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence. I was inspired by the people before me who I look up to in the philanthropic community to pay it forward.”

Todd’s advice to anyone who wants to give back to their community: “Just do it. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it is a lot of work. And yes, it is the single most rewarding thing you can do with both your time and money. Your community will rally around you – they will not let you fail.”

Be inspired by Todd. Anyone can make a difference – it is never too late. Do not get caught up in negativity. Do not be afraid to take chances. Parkland / Coral Springs is a resilient community that rallies around each other. To quote the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.” Todd Rodman built “Whiffle Blast” – that is his community legacy. What will you build? What will be your community legacy?

To learn more about Whiffle Blast check out https://jasontaylorfoundation.com/events/ whiffle-blast/. Start practicing hitting curve balls now as Whiffle Blast is on January 23, 2021.

Philip Snyder, Esq. is a partner at Lyons and Snyder, a Plantation law firm specializing in personal injury.

September 25, 2020August 26, 2020

Youth sports persevere in spite of pandemic

There’s a reason why “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is one of the most easily recognized songs in America. As a tribute to our national pastime, the tune holds relevancy as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens sports across the country.

From leagues as large as the NFL, to as small as Parkland’s Little League, players and fans recognize the impact sports have on wellbeing, education, and morale. The quarantine we all struggled with has proved the importance of sports as parents tried to find ways to entertain children without organized team activities.

This fall, Parkland hopes to deliver to the community a sports season that incorporates a variety of social distancing practices.

Richard Walker, a Parkland city commissioner, is spearheading the plan to accommodate new guidelines throughout a variety of Parkland leagues.

“Kids need social interaction and the opportunity to listen and learn from their coaches. There’s an element of learning outside the classroom that is definitely valuable,” Walker said.

While he maintains the situation is “fluid,” Parkland plans for fall leagues to continue under Broward County guidelines. This includes socially distancing viewers around the field, as well as spreading individual games farther apart across fields.

Local baseball has continued successfully this summer during the pandemic, and Parkland parents proved they were willing to follow all necessary steps to allow their children to compete.

However, if schools choose to reopen classrooms this fall, it may become more of a challenge for sports to continue if cases rise, specifically with indoor contact activities like basketball and wrestling.

What’s so threatening about a potential shutdown isn’t just the loss of everyday structure, but also how young athletes may have to work even harder next year just to return to the level they competed at before their training time was interrupted.

Demi Snyder, a South Florida local and member of the Harvard women’s tennis team, recently received news that all fall sports at her institution would be canceled. The cancellation affects her preseason training while she awaits a decision for the 2021 spring season.

“Because we missed our last season due to the pandemic, I may only get two seasons with my team to represent my school. After putting so many hours into my sport, it’s hard to know I might not play my first tennis season until I am a junior. It’s tough because there’s no one to blame. It’s just the situation that we’ve been dealt.”

As the future of sports has been threatened indefinitely, it remains important to listen to the voices of our sports community, who all convey their determination and willingness to adapt during tough circumstances.

So long as our community is willing to listen and propose new solutions, athletes this fall can be given the opportunity to prove they are capable of tremendous endurance, beyond the physical feat of passing home base.

By Madison Smith