Martin Abramowitz sits in Brookline’s Caffe Nero wearing a “Jews in Baseball” hat. It’s a nod to his position as CEO and founder of the nonprofit Jewish Major Leaguers, which produces baseball cards featuring Jewish players. I ask about his Durham Bulls T-shirt. “It’s a long story,” he answers.

The tale he wants to tell is much more significant and has nothing to do with sports. Rather, it has to do with the worst industrial fire in New York history and one of the most important events in the history of the American labor movement. March 25 marks the 111th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant garment workers, mainly women, in just 18 minutes.