“The Memphis Red Sox: A Negro Leagues History” examines the city’s symbolic meaning and value as a Negro leagues baseball city during Jim Crow. It locates the main intersections between Black professional baseball and the South in the four decades that spanned the modern Negro leagues era. The Memphis Red Sox, a Black-owned and operated organization, stood as a pillar of success. Baseball provides a way to examine the racial inequalities and issues that pervaded the city in those years. The team centered itself in their Black-owned stadium, which served as a forum for political assertion and an arena for real political struggle for Blacks in Memphis.
The book is the first subject of the new season of TN Writers | TN Stories, and will be discussed by its author, Keith B. Wood, Ph.D., in conversation with Skip Nipper, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM on Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Keith B. Wood, Ph.D., teaches at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Memphis, and his research revolves around the intersection of race and sport in Memphis. He also wrote “Memphis Hoops: Race, Basketball & the Bluff City,” examining the city through the lens of Memphis State University’s first star Black basketball player turned coach Larry Finch following the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the city in April, 1968, and “The Memphis Red Sox: A Negro Leagues History.”
Skip Nipper, moderator, is the author of “Baseball in Nashville” (2007, Arcadia Publishing) and a board member and past president of the Nashville Old Timers Baseball Association. Regarded for his expertise on the history of the city’s famed Sulphur Dell ballpark, he publishes his research at baseballinnashville.com, and broadcasts it on his Nashville Baseball History podcast channel. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research and a contributing writer to SABR’s Biography Project, Nipper was honored with the Achievement Award by the Metro Nashville Historical Commission during the 48th Annual Preservation Awards at the Nashville Public Library on May 6, 2024.
The TN Writers | TN Stories series. Readings and discussions take place in the Digital Learning Center at the Tennessee State Museum. All events include an opportunity to purchase books through the Museum store and get them signed by the author. If you show your Eventbrite ticket you will receive a 10% discount on your book purchase in the Museum Store.
Exhibit Highlight: Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore Flight Suit in “Tennessee Transforms”
Welcome back home to earth, Butch! Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore landed in Florida Tuesday, March 18, after spending nine months in space. Did you know that Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro and grew up in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee? In the U.S. Navy, he accumulated more than 6,800 flight hours and 663 carrier landings, leading to his selection as an astronaut by NASA in 2000. Wilmore used a T-38 flight helmet and blue suit blue for NASA proficiency training in a Northrup T-38 Talon aircraft from 2012 to 2014. In a memorable moment from 2019, Wilmore and his family visited the Tennessee State Museum, where the suit is now part of our permanent collection. Drop by and check it out in the “Tennessee Transforms” exhibition.
The Museum is free, open to the public Tuesdays – Saturdays, 10 am – 5 pm and Sundays, 1 pm – 5 pm, at 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208. The Museum’s website is: tnmuseum.org
