Ohio village's effort to rename park for baseball Hall of Famer meets racist pushback

In the village of Alger, Ohio, mayor Von Summa's resolution to rename a local park for a native Negro Leagues star was rescinded Monday at a local Council Meeting after negative feedback from residents.

The Council meeting — which was broadcast on Facebook — offered insight into the feedback its members received from residents who did not like the idea of changing the name of "Alger Park" to "Ray Brown Memorial Park."

Brown, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006, was born approximately 13 miles south of the small town in Northwest Ohio.

A council member identified by WKTN as Rick Onions said the feedback he got "was all racially based, period. And it was very vocal, and it was very negative."

"From people in Alger?" another council member asked.

"Yes," Onions said.

"That's shameful," said another council member. "That wasn't the feedback I got."

"That's what the public is going to perceive: this is the most racial segregated village in Ohio," Onions said. "They have a Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame inductee from 2006 and they're not willing to change the park name to his name. That's what it's going to look like to everybody outside of here."

Four of the six council members, all of whom are white, voted to rescind the resolution. They also discussed how and where to display a plaque of Brown in the park using $110,000 in grant money, but did not reach a conclusion.

"Should we be more inclined to do what the people in Alger want, or more inclined to do what they need?" the mayor asked the council.

At the 1:38:00 mark, one of the council members who voted to rescind the name change ceded the floor by saying "I know, I'm racist."

An unidentified council member then chuckled.

Brown pitched the Homestead Grays to eight pennants in a nine-year span. According to the Hall of Fame, a 1938 article in the Pittsburgh Courier listed Brown as one of five Negro Leagues stars who would be certain major leaguers if allowed to play. He and the others — Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and Satchel Paige — have all been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

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Ohio village's effort to rename park for Hall of Famer meets 'racially based' pushback

By J.P. Hoornstra | Apr 10, 2025