Former Negro League player Ron Teasley honored at Hamtramck Stadium baseball game

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (FOX 2) - On the federal holiday observing Juneteenth, former Negro League player Ron Teasley is honored.

Teasley, 95, was born in Detroit, and played for the New York Cubans.

Top African American high school baseball players from Detroit and Chicago honored him during the Negro League Tribute Game at Hamtramck Stadium. The ballfield was the home of Negro League team the Detroit Stars.

"This is quite an honor. I just feel so grateful to be a recipient of such awards," Teasley said.

Historic Hamtramck Stadium is one of only a handful of former Negro League ballparks still standing. 

The stadium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a campaign to raise funds to restore the stadium got underway. A $2.6 million dollar rehabilitation of the grandstand was completed this month.

"This is the end result of 12 years of work on my part and a whole lot of people city of Hamtramck, the county, Wayne County which without their management of the project would not be here," said Gary Gillette, the founder and chair of The Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium. "We'll also be able to do many more community events. We had a cricket match out here last week, we had some soccer, softball, we’re going to have a lot more community events."

The community is happy to see what is happening at the stadium.

"This is just tremendous to me. It’s just an honor and a privilege to being back the area, in the neighborhood," said spectator Marcus Cobb.

It's a day Teasley didn't think would come.

"I thought that after the Negro League stop playing here, I thought the park we fall apart," he said.