Hall of Fame Annual East/West Vintage Baseball Game and 10th Annual Auto Charity Showcase

MAIN PHOTO: America’s game of baseball hosted by the NLLHOF “A Family Day at the Ball Park”

There is something about baseball in late summer that feels timeless.

The crack of the bat. A well-worn glove. Families settling into their seats. Stories about players who could hit, run and pitch their way into folklore. Add a parking lot filled with polished American muscle, vintage automobiles and head-turning custom rides, and you have the makings of a Saturday that celebrates several generations of American culture at once.

That is the idea behind the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame Annual East/West Vintage Baseball Game and 10th Annual Auto Charity Showcase, coming to Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie on Saturday, August 29.

Hosted by the Negro League Legends Hall of Fame, Inc. (NLLHOF), the celebration brings baseball history out of the record books and back onto the diamond.

“We are looking forward to an exciting family day at the ballpark,” NLLHOF founder Dwayne Renal Sims said. “America’s game of baseball, a salute to the Negro Leagues, celebrating the ballplayers who played for the love of the game.”

Where Baseball Folklore Comes Alive

The East/West Vintage Baseball Game pays tribute to the legendary Negro League East-West All-Star Game, first played at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1933. That original showcase became one of Black baseball’s signature events, bringing together many of the finest players in the country. Fans even helped select the stars through newspaper balloting.

In Bowie, that spirit returns with players wearing throwback uniforms and an afternoon designed to make history feel less like a lecture and more like a living family scrapbook.

This year’s celebration also shines a spotlight on the women of the Negro Leagues—the players, managers and owners whose stories are too often left outside the traditional baseball narrative. Historians Phil Dixon and Will Clark are expected to help share those stories as part of the NLLHOF celebration.

For Sims, that broader story has become a life’s work.

His connection to Negro League history was strengthened by his late godfather, Frank Evans, who played for the Cleveland Buckeyes and Birmingham Black Barons. Sims recalled that Evans gave him contact information for more than 50 former players who had played for the sheer “love of the game.” What began as curiosity grew into a passion and eventually a mission.

“I did not know that my curiosity would become a hobby, then turned into a project,” Sims has said, describing a journey that led to his work as a historian, publisher, film producer and collector of overlooked stories from Black baseball.

His philosophy is simple but powerful: Negro League history belongs to everybody.

“The Colored Leagues are part of American baseball history,” Sims said. “This is inclusive of everything in America. That’s my trademark.”

Baseball Meets Horsepower

Before the first pitch, however, there will be plenty of horsepower competing for attention.

The 10th Annual NLLHOF Auto Charity Showcase opens at 10 a.m., bringing together antique, vintage, classic and import vehicles—from motorcycles and three-wheel roadsters to pickups, luxury cars and Detroit muscle.

Think gleaming chrome, deep exhaust notes, spotless interiors and proud owners swapping stories about horsepower while baseball fans compare favorite players.

The showcase is free and open to the public, with free parking. Vehicle owners can also enter the trophy competition for a $20 registration fee, and participation is open to all vehicles.

Then it is time to play ball.

Gates for the baseball celebration open at noon at Prince George’s Stadium, 4101 Crain Highway in Bowie. Admission is complimentary, although game tickets are required. A rain/heat advisory date of Saturday, September 12 has been established.

The combination of cars and baseball is not accidental. Earlier editions have used vintage automobiles to help recreate the atmosphere surrounding historic Negro League games, connecting the machines people drove with the ballplayers they once drove miles to see.

That makes August 29 more than another baseball game.

It is a summer family reunion with American history.

Come for the muscle cars. Bring the children for the baseball. Stay for the stories.

Because when the old uniforms come out, the engines start rumbling and the East and West once again take the field, the legends aren't simply being remembered.

They are being invited back to the ballpark.