Charity game featuring Jack White brings more awareness to Negro League ballpark

A little amateur baseball game was played at a Hamtramck ballpark on Thursday. But this was not your typical game of pickup baseball.

One of the players was Detroit musician and baseball fan Jack White. And the game was a charity event, meant to raise money and bring awareness to Hamtramck Stadium, the 89-year-old Negro League ballpark and former home of the Detroit Stars.

A preservation effort supported by White is currently underway to restore one of the last remaining Negro League ballparks in the country. The former White Stripes founder donated $10,000 to a successful crowdfunding campaign earlier this year that ultimately raised $115,000. Funds will be used to restore the field and eventually the stands.

On July 11, White and other members of the preservation effort played a charity game at the park. Hundreds of spectators came to watch White’s team, Warstic, defeated the Stars 17-5.

But the outcome was hardly the point, as the day was a celebration of the stadium’s history and potential. Former Negro League player Ron Teasley threw the first pitch and the daughters of Stars centerfielder “Turkey” Stearnes were in attendance. Also, check out some of the jubilant photos taken by The Detroit News.

“When the city’s coming back the way it is now, the infrastructure starts happening, the roads get paved, the parks get cleaned up, and then everything starts to fall in line after that,” White told the Detroit Free Press. “I think (Detroit has) learned the lesson after decades of scaring people from living in the city. It’s open season for people to invest, and not just in real estate to make a profit.”