Dennis Biddle
Retired social worker and former Negro League Baseball player Dennis "Bose" Biddle was born on June 24, 1935, in Magnolia, Arkansas.
Biddle's career in baseball began in 1953 when he was seventeen years old. He was playing in the state championship in Arkansas for the National Farmers' Association. A scout and booking agent for the Negro League Chicago American Giants saw him pitch a no-hitter in the championship and asked him if he would like to try out with the Chicago American Giants. Biddle played for the Chicago American Giants in 1953 and 1954. Because he was only seventeen years old when he played, Biddle was entered into the Congressional Record as the youngest person to play in the Negro baseball leagues. In 1955, the Chicago Cubs were interested in purchasing his contract from the Chicago American Giants. Unfortunately, on the first day of spring training, Biddle jammed his leg and broke his ankle in two places while sliding into third base. The injury never fully healed and Biddle’s baseball career ended.
At the age of twenty-two, Biddle went back to school in 1958. He received his B.A. degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin. Biddle worked for the next twenty-four years with the State of Wisconsin as a social worker in the corrections system. After retiring from the corrections system, he began working for a social service agency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, called Career Youth Development (C.Y.D.). In this capacity, he continues to work with underprivileged youth and juvenile offenders.
In 1996, Biddle founded the organization, Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players LLC to support the surviving members of the Negro League baseball teams and defend their economic interests.
Biddle was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 18, 2008.
A2008.134
Male

11/18/2008
Biddle
Magnolia High School
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Yes

Any
Dennis
Magnolia
BID01
Youth, Teens, Adults, Seniors
Yes - $1,000 - $5,000
Spring
Honorarium Specifics: $3000
Availability Specifics: Days, evenings, some weekends.
Preferred Audience: Youth, teens, adults, seniors
Arkansas
Las Vegas, Nevada
People Are Dying Now That's Never Died Before.

Wisconsin
6/24/1935
Milwaukee
USA
Okra
Social worker and baseball player Dennis Biddle (1935 - ) played for the Negro League Chicago American Giants in 1953 and 1954. After injuring his ankle in 1955, Biddle became a social worker in the Wisconsin corrections system. In 1996, Biddle founded the organization Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players to support the surviving members of the Negro League baseball teams.
Chicago American Giants
State of Wisconsin
Career Youth Development
Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players
Blue
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128259">Tape: 1 Slating of Dennis Biddle's interview</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128260">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle lists his favorites</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128261">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle describes his mother's family background</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128262">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle talks about his maternal great-grandfather</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128263">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle talks about his mother</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128264">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle describes his father's family background</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128265">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle talks about his father</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128266">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle recalls how his parents met</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128267">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle lists his siblings</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128268">Tape: 1 Dennis Biddle describes his earliest childhood memory</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128269">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood in Magnolia, Arkansas</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128270">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle talks about growing up in Magnolia, Arkansas in the 1940s and 1950s</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128271">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle relates his sports experiences at Columbia High School in Magnolia, Arkansas</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128272">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle talks about college and professional recruitment opportunities while he was a high school student</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128273">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle talks about his mentors at Columbia High School in Magnolia, Arkansas</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128274">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle details his decision to try out for the Negro American League in 1953</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128275">Tape: 2 Dennis Biddle describes his journey to Chicago, Illinois in 1953 to try out for the Chicago American Giants</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128276">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle describes his first night in Chicago, Illinois in 1953</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128277">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle talks about his mentor, McKinley Washington</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128278">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle talks about his Chicago American Giants teammates and coaches</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128279">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle describes the origin of the Negro National League</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128280">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle talks about the relationship between Negro baseball leagues and the major leagues</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128281">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle talks about contracts for Negro league players</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128282">Tape: 3 Dennis Biddle recalls a pivotal game against the Memphis Red Sox</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128283">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle talks about Gread "Lefty" McKinnis</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128284">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle talks about playing for the Chicago American Giants in the 1950s</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128285">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle explains the salaries of Negro league baseball players</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128286">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle describes the end of his baseball career in 1954</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128287">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle talks about his first jobs in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin after the end of his baseball career</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128288">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle talks about attending the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a part-time student</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128289">Tape: 4 Dennis Biddle explains the renewed interest in Negro league baseball in the 1990s</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128290">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle talks about the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128291">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle describes the funding for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128292">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle details the fight for benefits for former Negro league baseball players</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128293">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle describes his work with the Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players Foundation</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128294">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle talks about attempts to discount his history in the Negro Baseball League</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128295">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle explains the ongoing battle for players' benefits</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128296">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle talks about the operations and politics of the Yesterday's Negro League Baseball Players foundation</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128297">Tape: 5 Dennis Biddle reflects upon the history of the Negro Baseball League</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128298">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle details the history of the Milwaukee Bears</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128299">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle remembers Satchel Paige's years as a pitcher in the Negro leagues</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128300">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle describes his hopes and concerns for the African American community</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128301">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle reflects upon his legacy</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128302">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle talks about his nine children and his four marriages</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128303">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle talks about how he would like to be remembered</a>
<a href="https://da.thehistorymakers.org/story/128304">Tape: 6 Dennis Biddle narrates his photographs</a>
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