The Kenosha Kingfish and American Family Insurance are excited to announce Negro League Tribute Nights each Friday home game during the Kenosha Kingfish Season.
The first Tribute night is scheduled for June 4th and will feature a tribute to Hammering Hank Aaron. Each of the Tribute nights will include a Negro League Card Set giveaways and the Kingfish players wearing authentic Negro League “Milwaukee Bears” uniforms.
Team President Steve Malliet hopes to honor the contributions made by these great baseball players. “We are so excited to be hosting Negro League Tribute Nights at Historic Simmons Field this summer. We wanted to pay tribute to some of the greatest ballplayers in the history of the game that include Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, and George Turkey Hill just to name a few. Thank you to our partners at American Family Insurance for making these tribute nights possible.”
The Kingfish will host 3 other tribute nights throughout the season including June 4th, June 11th, July 16th, and July 30th. The final Tribute Night on July 30th will feature a silent auction for the Milwaukee Bear Uniform Tops worn by the Kingfish. The uniforms are custom made and donated by Ebbets Field Flannels. All proceeds from the auction will be given to the Negro League Museum of Kanas City, MO as well as the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha, WI.
Ebbets Field Flannels founder and CEO, Jerry Cohen, said in a statement, “So many important milestones are happening right now relative to Black baseball history. MLB has recently made the historical decision to consider many Negro Leagues statistics “major league,” and we thought this would be the appropriate time to announce that Ebbets Field Flannels is joining the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum as its Authentic Black Diamond Collection licensee. EFF has been producing historically accurate Negro Leagues apparel since 1988 and bringing this history to the public has been a major mission of ours for over 30 years. The Authentic Black Diamond designation is the NLBM’s designation for “on field” level historical accuracy. We look forward to working with the Museum through 2021 and into the future to bring you jerseys, jackets, and ballcaps that honor the heritage of the players, entrepreneurs, and fans of this priceless chapter of American sports history.”
The Kingfish Open their first weekend series at Historic Simmons Field with games this Friday and Saturday against the Traverse City Pit Spitters. Both games are scheduled for 6:05 PM starts with gates opening at 5:05 PM.
