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This appeared in the Monday, August 8 issue of the Delaware County Daily Times.
By JOE SANTOLIQUITO
Special to the Delco Times
Baseball History
John Bossong, who lives in Folcroft but is originally from Darby, wants to give back to his Darby roots as the chief proponent for a historical marker for the Hilldale Giants, the 1925 Negro League World Series champions.
Bossong first found out about the Hilldale when he was doing a history paper of Darby while a student at West Chester University. Some years later, Bossong visited the Negro League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2000, when he noticed something.
"They were making a big deal out of the Kansas City Monarchs winning the first Negro League World Series and just that they made a big deal out of the Monarchs, and there was nothing here in this area about Hilldale," said Bossong, who works in King of Prussia as a systems analyst and is a 1981 Monsignor Bonner graduate.
Bossong has made a number of appeals to recognize the Hilldale team to the Wilmington Blue Rocks, Philadelphia Phillies and Darby mayor Paula Brown, who recently contacted Bossong saying that she was interested in doing something for the Hilldale team.
Here’s the thing: A historical marker runs $1,500 and it costs an estimated $500 to have the marker installed.
"These guys played where my mother used to shop at the old ACME on Cedar and MacDade Boulevard," said Bossong, who started a website to raise money for the marker at http://www.cafepress.com/hilldales. "I would have liked something for the 80th anniversary of their 1925 Negro League World Series this year, but we won’t get something done in time for that. I’d just like to see these guys get recognized. Champions walked that ground and no one knows about it."
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