Decades before Jackie Robinson became the first Black man to play in the major leagues, the Foundry Giants鈥攁 team of Black players working in the Studebaker factory鈥檚 foundry鈥攚ere making a name for themselves as one of the strongest independent baseball teams in the Midwest.
The South Bend team played in Studebaker鈥檚 otherwise all-white industrial league in the 1920s and 1930s and saw about a half dozen of its players go on to play in the Negro Leagues.
Now, nearly a century after John 鈥淏ig Pitch鈥� Williams faced down his last batter and Dusty Riddle and Alonzo Poindexter cracked their last singles and doubles, the Giants are inspiring a new generation of ballplayers at Foundry Field.
Scheduled to open this summer, Foundry Field is a new public-access baseball field in Southeast Park and a collaborative community project led by the , the University of Notre Dame鈥檚 , the , and .