Tradition-rich Laurel Black Cats make first NBC World Series appearance

At 27, Steve Tait is the old man in center field for the Laurel (Miss.) Black Cats.

But on Saturdays this summer, he has been all kid, hustling from his job as a service adviser at McMullan Motors in Hattiesburg to get to ballgames 30 minutes away.

“It’s 10 hours a day, six days a week,” said Tait, whose team made its first appearance in the National Baseball Congress World Series on Friday night, a 17-1 loss to the Liberal Bee Jays at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. “But those Saturdays, I leave work, get dressed in my car and stretch along the way just to be able to get on the field.”

Sheer joy accompanied Tate’s words as he and his teammates prepared for their first exposure to the NBC limelight. The Black Cats brought not only a first-timer’s enthusiasm to Wichita, but a rich baseball heritage that dates back to the 1930s.

Laurel, located in the southeastern part of Mississippi, was established as an Independent Negro League franchise in 1932. Its all-time roster includes Satchel Paige, who went on to pitch in the major leagues and played with Bismarck, N.D., in the first NBC World Series in 1935.

Another Black Cat, Ted Nicholson, was a first-round pick and third overall selection of the Chicago White Sox in the 1969 Major League Baseball draft. Other prominent players who passed through Laurel during the Negro Leagues’ heyday included Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. After baseball integration, the Black Cats continued to play through 2006.

“We have a very rich history,” said Jody Babineaux, who re-established the Black Cats in 2010 and serves as its owner and manager. “The Black Cats were one of the top teams in our area for years before they stopped playing baseball.

“I saw this as an opportunity to turn it into a college summer program, and reached out to a lot of college players who couldn’t afford to go away to other summer leagues and play.”

Babineaux, who served as a baseball assistant at Jones County (Miss.) Junior College from 2004-08, has successfully guided the Black Cats into a new era. With several players from Mississippi’s Pine Belt region, Laurel won its first Magnolia State Tournament title on July 10.

“It’s really from the heart what we do,” said Babineaux, who served two tours of military duty in Iraq and teaches special needs students in Laurel. “We play our games on the weekends because these guys have to work during the week, and we look at it as a way of giving back to the community.

“We know we might be a little undermanned in this tournament, but we’re happy and blessed to be here.”

The Black Cats’ current roster includes veterans like Tait, who is in his fourth season with the team, to high school players Russell Coleman and Dexter Jordan. Infielder Marcus Hardy played at Jones County, which won the NJCAA Division II World Series in June.

“We’re aware of our team’s history,” said Tait, who played in junior college before an automobile accident temporarily halted his career. “Some of the older gentlemen who played for the Black Cats or have a history with them have come out and talked to us, and told us how much we’re progressing the game.

“We’ve had that much more support from them these last two weeks. Now, coming here and having that type of history, it doesn’t matter how long we’re here. They’re going to know us when we’re done.”

Liberal Bee Jays 17, Laurel (Miss.) Black Cats 1, 5 innings – Cale O’Donnell and Brady Cox drove in four runs apiece and Liberal used a 12-run third inning to help spoil Laurel’s NBC World Series debut.

O’Donnell hit a three-run homer off Laurel starter Taylor Page in the first. But the Bee Jays did major damage two innings later, scoring 11 runs with two outs. Cox hit a three-run triple, while Liberal also drew seven walks and benefited from three Black Cat errors.

Wichita Sluggers 11, Salina Blue Jays 10, 10 innings – Andale product Harrison Denk scored the winning run with two outs in the 10th after Salina second baseman Brandon Amendolare threw wildly to first on Hunter Lamunyon’s chopper.

The opening game of the NBC World Series featured 10 errors, including seven by the Blue Jays that led to eight unearned runs. Each team scored six runs in the seventh and combined for 25 hits in the game. Denk started the 10th with a single off Sloan Baker, went to second on a balk and reached third on Zach Baxley’s flyout.

This story was originally published July 29, 2016 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Tradition-rich Laurel Black Cats make first NBC World Series appearance."