Eddie Logan was a well known personality at the Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...

 racetrack, where he had been a shoeshine attendant since its opening day on December 25, 1934. He claimed to have been a Negro league

Negro league baseball

The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...

 baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 player for the Homestead Grays

Homestead Grays

The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.-Franchise...

 and the Kansas City Monarchs

Kansas City Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...

, though no evidence has yet been found to substantiate the claim.

Logan died early on the morning of January 31, 2009 at his home in Monrovia, California

Monrovia, California

Monrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,590 at the 2010 census, down from 36,929 at the 2000 census...

, aged 98, having suffered a stroke on January 3.

Santa Anita honored him with the Eddie Logan Stakes

Eddie Logan Stakes

The Eddie Logan Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-olds run at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California late in the year...

that ran first in 2006.

External links

• Eddie Logan: Footman of Santa Anita video at BloodHorse.com