09/10/07 — Baseball exhibit will open Sept. 18

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Baseball exhibit will open Sept. 18

By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on September 10, 2007 1:45 PM

Local professional baseball players Hubert "Daddy" Wooten and Carl Long will speak next month about what it was like to play with the Negro League in the 1950s and '60s.

The Oct. 6 event at the Wayne County Museum will complement the museum's new Baseball Exhibit, which begins Sept. 18. The exhibit will highlight Wayne County's famous baseball players as well as seven balls signed by Major League players like Willie Mays and Greg Maddux.

The program Oct. 6 begins at 7 p.m., and following the program, Wooten and Long will visit with those attending and autograph baseballs, too.

Long, a Kinston native, played with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1952 and '53. He played with Willie Mays and against Henry Aaron and Charlie Pride. He was the first black baseball player in the Carolina League, and in 2003, was inducted into the Negro League Hall of Fame.

Wooten, a Goldsboro native, played from 1965 through '68 with the Indianapolis Clowns and managed the team the last two years of that time.

For information about the program, call the museum at 734-5023.