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During the season, the Patriots will be honoring the New York Black Yankees, a professional Negro Leagues baseball team based in New York City, Paterson, New Jersey, and Rochester, New York from 1932 to 1948.
This year, the Patriots will pay tribute to the New York Black Yankees at TD Bank Ballpark on Friday, August 30.
The Patriots have announced that the team will rebrand as the New York Black Yankees for this year’s tribute game at TD Bank Ballpark on Friday, August 30. Somerset’s players and coaches will be wearing jerseys and hats with logos specifically created to honor the Black Yankees and give the historic team their own identity and branding they never had since they played in hand-me-down Yankees uniforms during their existence.
Yankees legend Willie Randolph helped the team unveil the Black Yankees jersey and hat.
Despite playing in uniforms that resembled the Yankees, or used uniforms from the major league Yankees, the New York Black Yankees never had a true brand identity to call their own. The Patriots have unveiled logos and uniforms designed specifically to honor the Black Yankees’ heritage that is unique to the historic team.
The logos were designed to put the emphasis on the Negro League team versus the city of New York or the Yankees brand. The logo was designed for the team by Ryan Foose, an award-winning designer who focuses on sports branding for companies that include ESPN, MiLB, NCAA and more. Foose also designed the Zorros de Somerset logo for the Patriots’ Copa de la Diversión identity and the Jersey Diners rebrand.
Minor League Baseball has created a league-wide initiative called, “The Nine,” a Black-community focused outreach platform specifically designed to honor and celebrate the historic impact numerous Black baseball pioneers made on the sport, provide new opportunities for youth baseball and softball participation, further diversify the business of baseball and embrace millions of passionate fans throughout MiLB’s 120 communities nationwide.
Named for the number Jackie Robinson wore during his only season playing in MiLB with the Triple-A Montreal Royals in 1946, The Nine connects MiLB teams’ existing, Black-community focused development efforts with new national programming and future special events in a coordinated and centralized campaign.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in New Jersey. Robinson made history at Roosevelt Stadium, located in Jersey City, on April 18, 1946, when he played in the minor leagues for the Montreal Royals (Brooklyn Dodgers) against the Jersey City Giants in an International League game.
This event marked the first time that a Black baseball player had played in integrated baseball in more than six decades, thus breaking the color barrier. Robinson homered for the Royals in this historic game.
There were many ballparks in New Jersey that held Negro League baseball games. Specifically, Hinchliffe Stadium, located in Paterson. The stadium was the home of several teams, including the New York Black Yankees of the Negro Leagues 1933-1937 and 1939-1945. The facility was also used for professional football games as the home for the Paterson Giants and the Silk City Bears.
Negro League stars that played in MLB and Hinchliffe Stadium include Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Josh Gibson and Roy Campanella. Other notables included Martin Dihigo, Oscar Charleston and Ray Dandridge.
Hinchliffe Stadium is one of only three major original Negro League ballparks still standing today. Hinchliffe is the first National Historic Landmark that honors baseball.
Racial segregation settled into baseball in the late 19th century. Major and minor-league owners in 1887 adopted a "gentleman's agreement" - an unwritten rule that prohibited Blacks from playing organized baseball.
Denied the chance to play for no other reason than their skin color, Blacks formed their own traveling teams, and ultimately, the Negro Leagues, whose players during the 1920s through 1940s were as good as the best in MLB. Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby broke baseball's color barrier in 1947, integrating America's favorite pastime.
The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro League baseball team based in New York City; Paterson; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team became the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and joined the Negro National League in 1936, and remained in the league through 1948.
The New York Black Yankees were founded by the famous dancer and Hollywood actor, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, as well as financiers James “Soldier Boy” Semler and M.E. Goodson. They played at Hinchliffe Stadium in the 1930s-1940s, as well as Yankee Stadium.
Famous New York Black Yankees included Satchel Paige, “Fats” Jenkins, Bill Holland and George "Mule" Suttles (HOF 2006).
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Major League Baseball is currently working with historians to incorporate statistics of the Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 into MLB’s official historical record. MLB looks forward to further celebrating the achievements and legacies of Negro Leagues players and their meaning to our game.
MLB recently announced news for a game to honor the Negro Leagues in 2024 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. -- the former home of the Negro Leagues' Birmingham Black Barons, where Willie Mays once played -- will host the Cardinals and Giants for a special regular-season game on June 20, 2024. Scheduled around Juneteenth next year, it will include a tribute to the Negro Leagues and Mays, baseball's oldest living Hall of Famer and a Birmingham native, who played for the Black Barons in 1948 before his legendary career with the Giants.