CINCINNATI
Major League Baseball is fielding a star-filled lineup to spotlight the first regular-season Civil Rights Game.
Former President Bill Clinton, entertainer Bill Cosby, boxing's Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, basketball's Oscar Robertson, baseball's Hank Aaron and at least three other Hall of Famers are taking part. The weekend's events include Saturday night's game between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox.
The tribute to the civil rights movement also aims to boost baseball's efforts to increase interest among black youth and to highlight Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
"This is the biggest and the most magnificent one we have tried to date," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations.
The game returns to Cincinnati next season, and Solomon said organizers hope to keep adding to the events.
