Tigers & Indians become Stars & Buckeyes

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The Tigers and Indians turned back the clock and wore the uniforms of the Detroit Stars and Cleveland Buckeyes, respectively, on Saturday, August 6th. Five players were honored before the game: Harold "Bebop" Gordon, Gene Johnson, Melvin Duncan, Marvin Jones and Cecil Kaiser. Some of their pictures can be found at here, at detnews.com or go to http://forums.detnews.com/photogalle...rtsgallery.cfm and click on "Indians 4, Tigers 2" from that date. Thumbnail shows Craig Monroe, Dmitri Young and Nook Logan sitting in the dugout.

The family of late great Star Norman "Turkey" Stearnes was shown attending the game.

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It's awesome to see them honoring Negro League teams and players. The general public knows so little about the Negro Leagues, and hopefully this will garner some national interest for them, at least in Detroit.

[2Chance]

This is a picture of a display on the concourse of Comerica Park which shows a uniform and team photo of the 1921 Detroit Stars.

The legend says:
THE DETROIT STARS 1921 UNIFORM
The Detroit Stars existed for thirteen seasons, before collapsing during the Depression in 1931. Subsequent attempts to organize other Negro professional teams in Detroit failed. Two rival circuits, the Negro National and Negro American Leagues, existed until major league desegregation after World War II took their best players. Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Ernie Banks got their start with the Negro Leagues. National League Negro exhibition games were not allowed at Navin Field, although they played at Briggs Stadium in the 1940s and 1950s. Today, one game a season pays tribute to the Negro Leagues.

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Ceremonial first pitches were thrown out by Harold "Bebop" Gordon, shown wearing the uniform of the Cleveland Buckeyes....

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....and by Donald Taybon, who played for the Toronto Stars.

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The Tigers players got together with the old-timers before the game for a team photo. Sorry I can't tell you who the old-timers are; the traffic on the way was murder.

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I believe that this is Melvin Duncan, but am not 100% sure.

[green_eyes_55]

I am searching for any recent information re: Melvin Duncan He was a right handed pitcher that pitched in the Negro League form 1949-1955.
He played for the Clevenland Buckeyes as well as Colorada Springs Class A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
I have a seen a picture of him being honored at the Detroit Tigers and Clevenlad Indians game in Aug/2005.
Any recent info re: his where abouts now would greatly be appreciated!!!
Thankyou in advance