Honored: Two inducted into Negro League Hall of Fame at Miller Park Sunday



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A big weekend for baseball fans, as six former players and managers are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In Milwaukee, a similar ceremony, as the Milwaukee Brewers helped induct two former players into the Negro League Hall of Fame: Ted Toles Jr. and Nathan "Sonny" Weston.

The Sunday afternoon ceremony on July 27th brought a modest end to a memorable weekend.

"Beautiful day, as they say in Milwaukee," Nathan "Sonny" Weston said Sunday at Miller Park.

Ted Toles Jr. and Nathan "Sonny" Weston have been inducted into the "Yesterday's Negro League Hall of Fame."

Toles, the older of the two, pitched with the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1946. He later played for the Cleveland Buckeyes and the Indians Minor League clubs.

At 88, his allegiance remains with Cleveland.

"Sonny" Weston played for the Chicago Weston Giants in 1951, and was invited to try out for the White Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers -- a team that featured Roy Campanella, Duke Snide and Jackie Robinson.

"Just wanted to be a ballplayer. Ball in my hand day and night. And my two greatest thrills was meeting Jackie Robinson. That was one, and he talked to all the ballplayers," Weston said.

Both men were treated to the Brewer's Saturday game against the Mets -- getting some well-deserved attention from a national audience.

With the majority of the former Negro League players in their late 80s and 90s, there is a driving need to tell this part of America's baseball story.

"Go another step -- to encourage other people to read about us, to come and see what's going on," Weston said.

On this Hall of Fame weekend, two more stories have been added to the story of America's past-time.

This is the ninth year the Milwaukee Brewers have hosted the Negro League tribute at Miller Park.