Heading to the Hall; Group of 17 Involved in Black Baseball to Be Enshrined

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Byline: Charlie Vascellaro, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - A group of 12 former Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues players and five executives represent all but one spot in the largest induction class in the National Baseball Hall of Fame's history. None of the 17 are living, but today still will be a day of great recognition for blacks in baseball.

While 1970s and 1980s closer Bruce Sutter was voted in by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, the other inductees were elected from a pool of 39 nominees chosen by the Negro Leagues Researchers/Authors group, a body of 12 researchers and historians selected by the Hall of Fame's board of directors after Major League Baseball presented the Hall with a $250,000 grant to conduct a comprehensive study on the history of blacks in baseball from 1860 to 1960.

Among the committee members was Robert Peterson, author of the quintessential volume on Negro Leagues history, the 1970 work "Only the Ball Was White." Peterson cast his ballot two days before his death on Feb. 11 at the age of 80.

Several players and one executive who toiled for teams representing the District or Baltimore will be inducted today in Cooperstown.

One of those players is powerful left-handed slugging infielder Jud "Boojum" Wilson, nicknamed by Satchel Paige …