BALTIMORE — A new waterfront park along the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River in Baltimore's Westport neighborhood will feature statues honoring the Baltimore Black Sox, the Negro League baseball team that called the area home for more than a decade.
The park is part of a larger redevelopment effort in a neighborhood that has long sat as an empty field. Brad Rogers, executive director of the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, described the scope of the project.
"With 11 miles of parks and trails and community development projects wrapping all the way around 11 miles of shoreline, and it's going to be one of the crown jewels of the Baltimore park system," Rogers said.
New waterfront park to honor Baltimore Black Sox in Westport neighborhood
Rogers said the project is also an opportunity to recognize history that has gone unacknowledged.
"So many incredible players played right here in Westport, but we as a city have not lifted up that proud local history. And so now is the time for us to celebrate the proud local sports tradition of Baltimore," Rogers said.
The artist for the statues is still being selected, with a few finalists under consideration. The community will have a role in choosing which players are honored. Frank Lance, CEO of Parks and People, shared who he would nominate.
"If I could pick 3 players, and I can, so I would do Satchel Paige, I would do Leon Day, and I would do Pete Hill. Those are 3 that I would lift up," Lance said.
Community members will also have a say. Nominations open July 1 and run through the end of September.
"So starting July 1st and then going through the end of September people can actually nominate those individuals that they think should be memorialized," Lance said.
Lance said the project carries significance beyond baseball.
"This has been an area that was disenfranchised. It was cut off. It was really not funded well and so by doing this work here we get to repair this neighborhood. We get to rebuild this neighborhood. We get to, as we say, reimagine the Middle Branch," Lance said.
The park is open to all residents, not just those living in the new homes being built nearby. The statues are expected to be in place by 2028.
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