Charlotte Knights to honor Jackie Robinson, Negro Leagues with weekend celebration
This weekend, the Charlotte Knights are turning Truist Field into a historic experience for fans that will feature new uniforms, a traveling museum, historians, filmmakers, and baseball.
The team will showcase the region’s rich tradition of baseball by honoring Jackie Robinson, the historic Negro Leagues, and the legendary Eddie ‘G.G.’ Burton.
As part of the Knights’ four-day homestand against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the celebration of Charlotte’s Negro Leagues history will begin on Saturday with the 76th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
All Knights players will wear jerseys with Robinson’s number — 42 — during the game, which begins at 6:05 p.m. MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day each year on April 15, the date Robinson integrated baseball.
The celebration continues on Sunday when the Knights will honor former Negro League player Wali Cathcart. The Rock Hill, South Carolina, native will be in attendance for the game. Cathcart, who played for the Joe Black National All-Stars, has been recognized at Truist Field each year since 2015.
Charlotte was once home to some of the most famous Negro League baseball teams in the Eastern United States, with names like the Black Hornets and Pepsi-Cola Giants. Charlotte’s tradition of Black baseball dates to the 1880s. Some teams were populated by student-athletes from what is now Johnson C. Smith University. To help contextualize these historic teams and players, the Knights are hosting a customized historical museum from Baltimore.
Sunday’s game will also serve as the annual tribute to the legendary Eddie ‘G.G.’ Burton. Burton, a former Negro Leagues player and long-time Charlotte resident, was integral in planning the Knights’ Jackie Robinson and Negro Leagues celebration since its inception in 2014. Burton passed away in 2018. Burton’s wife, Gaile, and son, Tony, will be honored during the pregame festivities.
The Knights will play this weekend as the Black Hornets, paying homage to a Charlotte-based Negro Leagues team from the 1910s-50s. The Knights are debuting a vintage white uniform with a dark blue cap that features a hornet’s nest as the logo.
Gates open at noon on Sunday. A pregame ceremony will begin at 12:30 pm before opening pitch at 1:05 p.m.
This story was originally published April 14, 2023 at 6:30 AM.
