Almost a century ago, the Indianapolis ABCs played its final game in the Negro National League. This year, for two summer nights in August, they took the field once again. But this time, at Victory Field.
On Aug. 21 and 22, the 2026 Indianapolis Indians wore limited-edition ABCs jerseys created for their Negro Leagues Heritage Collection, a revival of the visual identities of the historic Indianapolis ABCs and the Indianapolis Clowns. The Indians partnered with GANGGANG, a creative advocacy agency based in Indianapolis, to host Negro Leagues Weekend. It was this very collaboration that made the nights’ intentions possible: amplifying local history and Black culture through baseball, right in the heart of the city.
With the ABCs logo on their chests and “NAP” displayed across their hats, players matched the rich red in the uniform to their cleats, socks, sleeves and batting gloves. The pop of color was not the only noticeable difference in the Vic. Mali Simone Bacon, the co-founder and creative director of GANGGANG, described the first night’s atmosphere.
“It just feels like there’s a different swagger tonight. Even with the players, it looks like they feel cooler or something,” said Bacon with a smile. “It’s so interesting to see the new designs out and the power of art and culture via design. Making people and places feel good, it’s real. That feels really evident and tangible tonight.
“Indianapolis is taking notice. People can see there’s baseball history that we either didn’t know, or we need to know more of, or that we just need to appreciate more,” Bacon continued. “It’s just a fantastic idea from a team to say, ‘Let’s partner with a cultural agency to bring our history to life.’”
The weekend intertwined the foundations of both organizations: sport and art. The celebration of one could not fully be realized without the other.
“They’re both things that can amplify, and they’re both the things that can be galvanizing and bring people together and say, ‘This is something important to notice,’” Bacon said.
Victory Field transformed into a site of cultural and historical celebration, uplifting the achievements of the Negro Leagues. Live music presented by the Chreece Hip Hop Festival and played by the band Native Sun welcomed visitors into the ballpark, actors of the Indianapolis Black Theater Company kept the stories of the past alive in their performance, leaders from the community (Oreo Jones, Blake Beemer, Milt Thompson) threw the nights’ first pitches and former Indianapolis ABCs player William "Bill" Owens’ family was honored with a jersey presentation.
“We’re going to tell the story [of the Negro Leagues], we’re going to do that together as Indianapolis organizations coming together to be proud of our city,” Bacon said. “Victory Field and the Indianapolis Indians is a cultural destination, just as much as it is a place for sports.”
Sampson Levingston gave Negro Leagues Weekend an extra boost, emceeing and initiating storytelling around the stadium during the games. Levingston is no stranger to the mic, known for hosting Walk & Talks around Indianapolis with Through2Eyes, sharing the city’s history with endless enthusiasm. Walking around the Vic including nearly 17,000 fans that weekend, Levingston felt like he had time traveled. But not to the past — the future.
“In order to travel to the past, there would have been nothing but little Black kids running around in Clowns jerseys,” Levingston explained. “I travel to the future, and everybody’s running around in Clowns jerseys. Even though we’re going back to the past a little bit, honoring the ABCs, honoring the Clowns, it does feel a little bit like we’re going to the future, as far as just promoting who we are as a city.”
Levingston felt excitement and pride seeing young kids sport the heritage collection and ask questions about the Negro Leagues. Bringing the Negro Leagues’ history to the surface inspired people to deepen their views beyond baseball.
“We’re all one,” Levingston said. “We’re all human, and baseball and sports show us that. Indianapolis has shown us that time and time again.”
The jerseys, swagger, futuristic feel and atmosphere of the weekend were heavily orchestrated through the efforts of Kyle Nagy and Jess Owens-Young, the co-designers behind the Negro Leagues Heritage Collection. Nagy has lived in Indianapolis his entire life, designing for as long as he can remember. Strolling around the concourse on Friday night and seeing his work in action on the field and worn by fans, Nagy was in awe.
“I’m very connected here locally with the culture [of Indianapolis], with apparel, with music, with art, with design. For me, this [night] is kind of like a melting pot of all of that,” Nagy said. “Walking around here, seeing not only the Indians and the Negro Leagues — stuff that we did — but like Chreece Hip Hop Festival, BUTTER [Fine Art Fair]… looking around, I’m seeing hats that I did, I’m seeing other merch that I’ve done… to have that trust from everybody means the world to me. I’m super grateful.”
The collaboration between the Indians and GANGGANG, and everyone involved, made it clear that the greatest impact of Negro Leagues Weekend was how it brought the people of Indianapolis together, meeting at the crossroads of sports, art, history and storytelling.
“Culture’s a beautiful thing,” said Alan Bacon, co-founder and president of GANGGANG. “It lends itself in ways that people can come together in interesting ways and find moments of appreciation and understanding. I think that’s one of the things that really is manifested through this relationship because we get to really dive into the essence of that synergy, and celebrate things like the history of our culture and Indianapolis, which is a shared culture [and] a shared history. That allows us to think a little bit more intensely about each other and our relationship with each other.”
The two nights proved the abundance and power of community that exists in Naptown. A community with remarkable history that demands to be seen and celebrated. A community that, if called upon, will proudly show up for each other.