Above: Bill Stewart, a 103-year-old former Negro Baseball League player, was welcomed in Birmingham recently at the Negro Southern League Museum. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

One hundred fifty baseball players were set to take a picture last Saturday at Birmingham’s Negro Southern League Museum but one special guest had not yet arrived.

“It was like 20 minutes,” recalled Cam Perron, one of the event organizers. “I just kept saying, ‘Five more minutes.’”

The picture was eventually taken and the special guest – 103-year-old Bill Stewart – proved to be worth the wait. Other former players who had been waiting treated him like a celebrity.

“He gets out of the car in his wheelchair and everyone’s high-fiving him and he’s high-fiving everyone and saying hi to everyone,” Perron said. “It was just a really cool moment.”

Stewart, who turned 103 on Sunday, is the oldest former pro baseball player. He played 1930-48 for the Algiers Giants, the New Orleans Crescent Stars, the Lincoln Giants, the Ferriday All-Stars and the New Orleans Black Pelicans of the Negro Southern League. He also played for the Portland Rose Buds, the Memphis Red Sox and the Gretna Greystones.

Stewart was invited to Saturday’s reception during a recent visit by Perron to Stewart’s home in New Orleans.

“His grandson was like, ‘Bill, do you want to come up?’” Perron said. “He was like, ‘Yeah. Might as well.’ He didn’t say much but he seemed excited.”

That grandson, Andrew McIntyre, remembers a more enthusiastic response of “(heck) yes” when McIntyre’s mother asked Stewart about visiting the new Birmingham museum.

Cassie Ferguson of AT&T greets Bill Stewart. Ferguson attended the dinner at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame to present AT&T’s African-American calendar that honored the Birmingham Black Barons. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Bill Stewart was honored with other former Negro Baseball League players. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Claudia Thompson gets a photo of Bill Stewart. Thompson’s husband, Johnny Thompson, played with the Biloxi Dragons. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Negro League researcher Dan Creed, left, visits with Bill Stewart. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Eric Fancher, an assistant to Birmingham Mayor William Bell, greets Bill Stewart. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Layton Revel, left, talks with Bill Stewart’s grandson, Andrew McIntyre. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Cam Perron, one of the event organizers, left, talks with Bill Stewart. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Rosemary Montgomery takes a photo of Bill Stewart. She attended Saturday’s events with her father, Arthur Montgomery Jr., of the Lindale Dragons. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Eric Speer of Talladega College, left, shakes hands with Bill Stewart. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

Stewart was the center of attention at the Negro Southern League Museum and later at a dinner at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Former players, their families and others kept strolling over to shake his hand, pose for a picture or to seek an autograph.

Dan Creed, senior researcher at the Negro Southern League Museum, said Stewart’s presence was good for other players as well. Some, he said, might have questioned that they needed to be there.

“But they see him coming in here and he’s 103, see the other gentleman (Roosevelt Jackson of Georgia) who’s 98, and they think, ‘If they can do it, maybe I need to be coming back,’” Creed said. “He’s an encouragement to all the other guys.”

Ballplayers toured the museum that is just beyond the right field fence of Regions Field. They saw several exhibits but didn’t see one for Stewart, at least not yet. Dr. Layton Revel, who brought his collection to town, said exhibits are frequently changing.

“If you come and visit the museum, it’ll probably be different every time you come,” he said. “I’ve got a picture of Bill when he played with the New Orleans Black Pelicans. He autographed a ball for the museum; he’s on that Wall of Balls. He played in the Negro Southern League, he’ll be highlighted in that.”

Chef Clayton Sherrod, the local organizer, said Saturday’s events were planned after a number of former Negro League players missed prior events for them at the museum.

“We got some to come in who had not seen it before,” he said, “but also ones who live here so they had another chance to come in to see the museum.”