The Atlanta Braves present Heritage Weekend 2014
By Braves Give
On May 2- 4 the 2nd annual Atlanta Braves Heritage Weekend celebrated Atlanta’s strong and rich history in the Civil Rights Movement and honored baseball’s role in affecting social change.
On Friday, May 2, the Annual Delta Champions for Justice Luncheon was held to recognize outstanding individuals who have made a lifelong commitment to overcoming industry obstacles and inspiring future generations. The 2014 Hank Aaron Champion for Justice Award recipients included retired NBA All Star Joe Barry Carroll, Olympic track and field gold medalists Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Edwin Moses, and civil rights legend and recipient of the Medal of Freedom, Reverend C.T. Vivian. This event benefited the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. More than 400 people came out to Turner Field to hear our honorees discuss the role of athletes in challenging discrimination and societal barriers. To culminate the luncheon, our very own Hank Aaron presented each of the honorees with the 2014 Hank Aaron Champion for Justice Award.
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Later that evening, the honorees came back to the Ted for a special reception and pre-game ceremony. The award recipients were driven around the warning track in convertibles before the game allowing fans to show their support and admiration for these individuals and for the work they have done to affect social change.
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On Saturday morning, we welcomed 200 youth ages 8–12 to the ballpark for the Heritage Weekend Youth Baseball Clinic led by Braves alumni, Johnny Estrada, Kevin Millwood, Jeff Treadway, Alejandro Pena and Titans Sports Academy. The children rotated to various stations including pitching in the bullpen, pop flies and ground balls in the outfield and hitting in the Braves batting cages. All participants were invited to return to Turner Field that evening to enjoy the Braves game.
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Later that evening we hosted a Negro League Celebration honoring 18 Negro League players during special reception and pre-game ceremony in an effort to recognize all they’ve done for the game of baseball. These players represented the different Negro League teams from around the country including the Atlanta Black Crackers, Kansas City Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons, Louisville Clippers, Raleigh Tigers, Indianapolis Clowns and the New York Black Yankees. We were excited to have Mr. Red Moore in attendance. He is the only living member of the Atlanta Black Crackers and at the age of 97, Mr. Moore gets around great and still looks good! The Braves and Giants players wore Atlanta Black Crackers and San Francisco Sea Lions uniforms to honor the Negro Leagues for the Heritage Game. Be sure to look for the Braves jerseys later this month online at braves.com/auctions. To round out the weekend, we capped off the night with an old school Kool and the Gang concert!
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Overall, Heritage Weekend was a huge success in celebrating Atlanta’s roots and historical importance in the integration of Major League Baseball. For more information on the Atlanta Braves Heritage Weekend please visit Braves.com/heritage and read the Heritage Weekend article featured on MLB.com at http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140502&content_id=74073896&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb.
