LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals will face the Cleveland Indians in the first-ever Civil Rights Game, Major League Baseball announced at its Winter Meetings Monday.
"This game is designed to commemorate the civil rights movement, one of the most critical and important eras of our social history," Commissioner Bud Selig said. "I am proud of the role Major League Baseball played in the movement, beginning with Jackie Robinson's entry into the big leagues on April 15, 1947."
The game is scheduled for March 31 in Memphis, home of the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate.
Memphis was chosen because the National Civil Rights Museum, built on the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, is in close proximity to the park.
Cleveland broke the color barrier in the American League by signing Larry Doby, also in 1947, while hiring Frank Robinson as the first African-American manager in 1975.
