The Chicago White Sox hosted the annual Double Duty Classic presented by McDonald's on June 29, 2011 - an event celebrating the history and tradition of Negro Leagues baseball in Chicago and promoting the next generation of inner-city baseball players.

To commemorate the Negro League East-West All-Star Games, which were played at Comiskey Park from 1933-60, elite inner-city high school baseball players from across the country participated in the Double Duty Classic All-Star game at U.S. Cellular Field. Players dressed in uniforms honoring the Negro Leagues' East-West All-Star Game.

The players selected to play in the Double Duty Classic game joined other invited guests for a forum that preceded the game and featured a roster of speakers and prominent members of the baseball community. Forum guests presented on the significance of the Negro Leagues and offered inspirational insight to the next generation of African American baseball players.

 2011 Double Duty Classic Photo Gallery »

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe was born on July 7, 1902 in Mobile, Ala. and played for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro Leagues. At the age of 41, Radcliffe earned MVP honors for his performance during the 1943 season with the American Giants. Nicknamed "Double Duty" because he would regularly pitch the first game of a doubleheader and catch the second game, Radcliffe was one of the most dynamic players in the Negro Leagues and all of baseball. Beginning in 2002, until the year of his death in Chicago in 2005, Radcliffe threw a ceremonial first pitch prior to a White Sox game.

 2010 Double Duty Classic Photo Gallery »
 2009 Double Duty Classic Photo Gallery »
 2008 Double Duty Classic Photo Gallery »