Negro League baseball memorial planned for Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A park celebrating the legacies of Pittsburgh’s greatest Negro League baseball players will soon come alive in the city.

Pittsburgh’s Station Square will be the site of the new Josh Gibson Heritage Park. The Josh Gibson Foundation held a groundbreaking on Wednesday.

Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Cumberland Posey will be immortalized with monuments in the park. The stars either played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords or the Homestead Grays. The memorial will include interactive features that highlight the importance of Negro League baseball in Pittsburgh history.

Sean Gibson, executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation and great-grandson of the legend, shared his feelings about the memorial.

“It’s not just exciting for Josh Gibson, it’s exciting for the other great Negro League baseball players, and also the city of Pittsburgh,” Gibson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Pittsburgh-based artist Dino Guarino stressed the importance of the memorial he helped design.

“My concept was to honor the Negro Leagues, to honor a part of baseball tradition, a big part of the fabric of America,” Guarino said.

The Forest City Commercial Group donated the land for the site. FedEx ground also helped by putting $500,000 toward the construction of the memorial.

The park is expected to open in spring 2018.