LOS ANGELES – Glen Creason is a map specialist in the history department at the Los Angeles Central Library, and he can show the exact location of where there was once a ballpark created for Negro League players in the 1920’s.

“Built just for Black players to play Black baseball in the winter,” Creason explained. 

The stadium, White Sox Ball Park which is now long gone, was built at 38th and Compton for the L.A. White Sox, a team comprised of Negro League players who played for extra money in the winter. Legends like Satchel Paige even visited to play. 

“These teams were so good, the White Sox were so good, the L.A. papers would cover them, but there was a bias, and I’m sure there’s hundreds of families in L.A. whose grandfathers played in these leagues,” said Creason. 

Jerry Hairston Jr. is living proof of that. Today, he’s a Dodgers analyst at Spectrum Sportsnet LA, after spending 16 seasons in the majors.

His grandfather, Sam Hairston played in the Negro Leagues, when Black players couldn’t play in Major League Baseball. 

“They sacrificed so much to give us an opportunity to play this great game so I would not be here, a lot of us would not be here if it wasn’t for those guys,” Hairston said. 

He’s a third-generation professional player and is proud to be a part of the Negro League’s heritage.  

“I’d like to think I played hard. I got the most out of my talent and ability, [it] was really a tribute to my grandfather,” Hairston added.

"He was a better player than I was but he didn’t get the opportunity that I had, so every time I took the field, I played hard because of him.”

But Creason knows there are many people who don’t know the history of the Negro League, especially its Los Angeles connection

“It takes digging. It’s not something that’s been passed on. It should be,” Creason said. 

As a baseball lover and historian, he’s happy to do his part in sharing information about the players who stepped up to the plate so that all players could eventually do so on the big stage.