Brothers All Are We - Springfield, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 04.784 W 072° 33.687
18T E 701708 N 4661506
A team of teenage baseball players, representing Springfield American Legion Post 21, took a stand against racism.
Waymark Code: WMCB87
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2011
Views: 1
In 1934, the American Legion Post 21 baseball team forfeited an opportunity to win a national championship when they unanimously voted to withdraw from the Eastern Sectional Baseball Tournament in Gastonia, N.C., because their black teammate, Ernest "Bunny" Taliaferro, would not be allowed to play. A stone marker to honor the team and their coaches has been placed in a small plaza near the baseball stadium in Forest Park, where they played their home games. The monument is inscribed with the names of the Post 21 players and is entitled, “Brothers All Are We.”
The marker is inscribed:
Brothers All Are We
August 23, 2003
In 1934 the Springfield American Legion
Post 21 baseball team, winner of the New England
Legion Championship traveled to Gastonia, North
Carolina to play in a tournament for the national
title. Upon arrival they were notified by tournament
officials that one of the members of the team,
Ernest "Bunny" Tagliaferro, would not be allowed
to play because he was black. Faced with the choice
of playing without their teammate or withdrawing
from the tournament, the players, without debate,
unanimously voted to withdraw and return to
Springfield. It was an act of loyalty and love for
their friend and brother which sent a message that
bigotry has no place in the game of baseball or in
the game of life; a message proclaimed by a band
of 16 year old kids a generation before the barrier
of racial prejudice of major league baseball was torn
down with the recruitment of another black
Jackie Robinson.
John Coffey --- Frances Luce
Louis Grondalski --- Elliot Malaguti
J. Joseph Kelly --- Paul O’Connell
Daniel M. Keyes, Jr. --- Raymond O'Shea
Anthony King --- Ernest Tagliaferro
Steve Kolgut --- Robert Triggs
Ted Laczek --- Manager Sidney Harris
Walter Lawler --- Coach Babe Steere
Kiaser Lombardi --- Assistant Manager John Gorey
Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)
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