NASHUA – Mayor Jim Donchess has announced that the City of Nashua and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire will erect a new plaque at Holman Stadium honoring African American baseball players Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe. Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella, and Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Don Newcombe were signed to play with the Nashua Dodgers in 1946, when Jackie Robinson was playing with the Dodgers AAA team in Montreal. Campanella and Newcombe would follow Robinson to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers – Campanella in 1948 and Newcombe in 1949.
The plaque will be unveiled on May 30 before a Nashua Silver Knights game. “We are very excited to have a place on the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire,” said Mayor Donchess. “Nashua is proud to be recognized as the home of the first major-league affiliated integrated baseball team in the United States. It is important that we honor these two players – Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe – in the place where they made history. And to announce the plans for this new plaque during Black History Month is a particular pleasure.”
The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire promotes awareness and appreciation of African American history and life in order to build more inclusive communities today. They work to visibly honor and share a truer, and more complete history of the state through exhibits, educational programs, curriculum development, guided walking tours, and by documenting and making visible many of the sites that testify to the state’s rich Black history.
