No, I haven’t gone crazy and forgotten which teams are playing tonight. While the Cubs and Pirates are still the official teams on the scoreboard, they’ll be sporting uniforms that will pay tribute to a pair of Negro League squads.
The Pirates will be donning the duds of the Homestead Grays, who shared Forbes Field with the Pirates for many years between 1929 and 1950. Opposing the home team Friday night will be the Leland Giants, a team that went on to play through 1952 as the Chicago American Giants. For the record, I am a fan of homages like this and think MLB should hold them more often or promote them with even a tenth of the gusto they aford the holiday gear.