A former Negro Leagues participant, Beckum began a Little League in one among Milwaukee’s most deprived areas
Till he was virtually 90 years outdated, James Beckum cared for the baseball diamonds the place his Little Leaguers performed with fastidiousness and pleasure. He lower the outfield grass. He picked up litter. He drove the bottom paths in his little orange tractor, smoothing the grime. His pastor, Johnny White Jr., stated, “Once I would name his home searching for him, and his spouse would reply the cellphone, I’d say, ‘Is Brother Beckum there?’ And she or he’d say, ‘No, he’s down on the park, taking part in within the grime.’ ”
Beckum was a founding father of the Beckum-Stapleton Little League on the North Facet of Milwaukee, one of many metropolis’s and the area’s most deprived neighborhoods. Based in 1964, Beckum-Stapleton is believed to be one of many oldest Little League exterior of the South that’s traditionally Black. And just about proper up till his demise, on Nov. 11 at age 95, Beckum was its steward and guiding gentle.
Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Firm, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Movies
What’s Information
Prime tales chosen by WSJ editors