Remembering Negro League ballplayers, and more

Remembering Negro League ballplayers

Many of the athletes who played in baseball’s Negro Leagues in the first half of the 20th century languished in poverty and died in obscurity. But Jeremy Krock, an anesthesiologist in Peoria, Ill., has been trying to set things right. In 2004, Krock launched the Negro Leagues Grave Marker Project, which tracks down unmarked graves of Negro Leagues players and managers and raises money for headstones. Last week, a headstone was laid for William “Big Bill” Gatewood, who pitched the first documented no-hitter in the Negro National League, in 1921. “These were great ballplayers who don’t deserve to be forgotten,” said Krock.

Cat receives prosthetic limbs for back legs

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Oscar, a 2-year-old cat whose back legs were cut off by a combine harvester, can walk again, after being given prosthetic limbs in a first-of-its-kind operation. Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon in Surrey, England, attached the prosthetic pegs, which were bioengineered by a team at University College London to mimic the way deer antler bone grows through the skin. Experts say the technology holds promise for humans, too. “Knowledge about the way that Oscar’s been treated can be carried over to human treatment going forward,” said owner Mike Nolan, “so that’s good for everyone.”

Teenagers turn in lost purse with $7,700 to police

Eight teenagers in Lindsborg, Kan., recently came across a purse on the side of a road and found it contained $7,700 in cash. They immediately turned it over to local police, who traced the purse to an area woman who had collected the money for a memorial to her late husband. After the incident was publicized, donations for a reward poured in, and each kid was given $150, along with letters of praise from people across the state. “A lot of them thanked us for being such good people and doing the right thing,” said Patrick Spellman. “They didn’t expect it from a bunch of teenagers.”