BRIDGEPORT — The White Sox will host a high-school baseball game honoring the legacy of Negro League play in Chicago at Guaranteed Rate Field Thursday.
Called the Double Duty Classic, the game celebrates the Negro League and its players as well as the next generation of "inner-city" ballplayers, the White Sox said in a press release.
The 10th annual event is named after Chicago American Giants player Ted Radcliffe, who went by "Double Duty" for pitching the first game of a double header and catching the second.
High school players from inner-city neighborhoods throughout the Midwest will make up the two teams, which will be dressed in classic East-West all-star uniforms to honor Negro League players that played at Old Comiskey Park and elsewhere.
"Each year, we have seen young men participate in the event, learn and grow from the experience here — not only on the field, but in their careers away from the field and at home," Christine O'Reilly, White Sox vice president of community relations, said in a statement. "It is so important to us that we continue to share the incredible legacy of the Negro Leagues with the next generation, so that we never take for granted the sacrifice and dedication of those men who played in order to give others a chance to play."
The game will begin at noon Thursday. It was originally scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. but the White Sox announced the starting change Thursday morning, with inclement weather possible later Thursday afternoon.
Admission to the game will be free, and parking in Lot B will also be free.
There will be pregame entertainment starting at 11:30 a.m., the Sox said. A special forum on the legacy of the Negro Leagues and African Americans in baseball will be held prior to the game, though it won't be open to the public.
