I believe that the Negro Leeds built a bridge to the Major Leagues for a guy like me and Amos and all these guys can cross over and get into the Major League Baseball.

So I'll be forever grateful to what they did in my life.

I remember reflecting on something that my dear friend, the great Dave Winfield,

had told me during the time that I was going out to San Diego for his annual salute to the Negro Leagues that he put together, a 10-year run of doing those salute to the Negro Leagues.

And one of the things that he was most proudest of was sharing the fact that having had many conversations with former Negro

League vets, and they had said to him that you were good enough, you could have played with us.

And I don't know if that was what triggered, what would become the epiphany for me to create an event called the Hall of Game.

But I know that it had something to do with it because the Hall of Game, which was established by the Negro League Baseball Museum in 2014.

It celebrates former Major League Grace who we believe played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues.

So you played it with passion, you played it with high skill, but you also played it with a little flair.

Or as the young folks would say, you played it with a little swag.

And we launched that event in 2014 with four baseball legends being inducted into our hall of game.

I guess you could say not only in tribute to what they had contributed to the game,

but also the fact that they were good enough, they could have played in the Negro leagues.

And let me tell you all, that is a tremendous compliment.

And that is what we were hoping people would gain from this annual induction,

even though it was sidetracked for a few years because of COVID. But I go back to the 2014 class of inductees, Lou Brock, Joe Morgan, Dave Winfield, and the late great Roberto Clemente, who was represented by his son, Roberto Clemente, Jr.

And then look at 2015.

Ozzie Smith, Ricky Henderson, Fergie Jenkins, and my dear friend, the late great, Louis Tiant.

2016, Tim Raines, Andre Dawson. friend, the late great Louis Tiant. 2016.

Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, Chacha, Orlando Cepeda, and of course, Tony O.

Tony Oliva.

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