Welch to sign 5,000th baseball on Jackie Robinson Day
April 7, 2022 - Noted baseball aficionado and St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch will sign the 5,000th autographed baseball in the Little Cooperstown exhibit at the St. Petersburg Museum of History on April 15. The ceremony coincides with Jackie Robinson Day, which honors the first African American to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. This year marks the 75th anniversary of Robinson making his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Welch is no stranger to making history himself, as St. Petersburg’s 54th mayor became the first African American to lead the city in its 129-year history. The Little Cooperstown exhibit, which takes its name from the location of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, features the world’s largest collection of autographed baseballs. The program begins at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 15, at 335 2nd Ave. NE in St. Petersburg.