FORSYTH - A half-century ago, Ernie Westfield was playing third base for a baseball team in Knoxville, Tenn.

When the team's pitcher failed to show up for a game, Westfield was asked to fill in.

"I could throw really hard," said Westfield, 67, a cheerful man with an unending storehouse of baseball stories. "I threw a no-hitter that day."

After the game, a man walked out of the stands, dazzling Westfield by his appearance.

"I had never seen a black man dressed so nicely and with such a shiny new car," Westfield said.

Buck O'Neil, who would later become the first black coach in Major League Baseball, was working as a scout for the Chicago Cubs. O'Neil, who was passing through Knoxville, offered Westfield a contract to join the Cubs organization as a minor leaguer.

But O'Neil wanted the contract signed before he left town, and Westfield was only 17 - too young to sign. Westfield's mother was working out of town, but his aunt came through for him.

Westfield, who went on to play two seasons in the minors and several more in the Negro Leagues, will be at the Hickory Point Mall this weekend, as part of a collectibles show. Westfield, a Champaign resident, is selling Negro Leagues replica caps, T-shirts and framed copies of his poems.

He enjoys talking about the leagues that produced Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and many more greats.

"I think the biggest contribution we made was that during the worst of times, we were entertainment to the black community," he said. "And we turned out players to make it to the major leagues, good players and good men."

When Westfield was a young minor leaguer, a severe ankle injury led to him losing his pitching effectiveness. But when the Birmingham Black Barons, Mays' former team, came to Knoxville, Westfield showed them he had recovered. After he shut the Barons out in an exhibition game, they signed him up.

Westfield started the last Negro Leagues All-Star Game, at Comiskey Park in 1960. Robinson threw out the first ball that day.

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.