Baseball trailblazer Toni Stone takes center stage at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre
Ryan Burrow
Former San Francisco Giants baseball players Mike Felder, left, and Jeffrey Leonard, right, pose for photos as Maria Bartlow, second from left, and her daugher, Monica Franks, both family members of former San Francisco Sea Lions baseball player Toni Stone, are presented a jersey by Randy Wells during a ceremony honoring Juneteenth on African American Heritage Day before a baseball game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies in San Francisco, Saturday, June 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Toni Stone blazed her own path into Black history and baseball history, becoming the first Black woman to play professional baseball.
Rejected by the all-female professional league because she was Black, Stone took her talents to the Negro League, where she dealt with not just racism, but sexism involved in the sport.
She managed to talk her way onto rosters, but proved what she could do on the field.
‘Toni Stone’ runs at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre January 28th-February 26th. It’s directed by Ron OJ Parson, who the Chicago Tribune dubbed the 2022 “Chicagoan of the Year for Theater.”
