The city of Aurora will be hosting a meet-and-greet with former Negro League baseball player Dennis Biddle to kick-off Black History Month.
The event will showcase Biddle’s traveling Negro League Baseball Museum and offer memorabilia — such as autographed baseballs, posters, calendars and bats — to those who donate, according to a news release. Biddle will be presented with a proclamation by the city honoring his contributions to the game of baseball and his efforts to educate the country about the Negro Leagues.
The meet-and-greet is set to take place at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, on the third floor of the David L. Pierce Art and History Center at 20 E. Downer Place in downtown Aurora, the news release said. City officials are inviting members of the public to come meet Biddle, take photos with him and learn about the history behind the Negro Leagues.
Biddle, who was born in 1935, graduated from high school at the age of 17 to pursue his dream of playing professional baseball, city officials said in the news release.
He joined the Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues as a pitcher and finished his rookie season with a record of 15-3, according to the news release. That year, Biddle earned the nickname of “The Man Who Beat The Man Who Beat The Man” for beating Gerald “Lefty” McKinnis, who in his career beat the legendary Satchel Paige, the news release said.
Biddle pitched one more year in the Negro Leagues before being asked by the Chicago Cubs to try out, but on the first day of spring training, he broke his leg while sliding into third base, ending his baseball career, city officials said in the news release.
Today, he lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and travels the country speaking at schools, colleges and military bases about the history of the Negro Leagues, according to the news release.
The city of Aurora is hosting the meet-and-greet in partnership with Aurora Public Art; Ald. Will White, at-large; Ald. Edward J. Bugg, 9th Ward; and Community Advocacy Awareness Network Director Mary Fultz, according to the news release.