Last night, Major League Baseball legend Reggie Jackson was asked in a Fox Sports show about how he felt about returning to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., for a Negro League tribute game. The 78-year-old, who started his MLB career in Birmingham in 1967, did not hold back. He told interviewer Alex Rodriguez about his experience of racial slurs and being denied entry to restaurants and hotels, in a city where the Ku Klux Klan was committing attacks of racial hatred. Here's the story from NBC, including the full video.
Willie Mays died yesterday at 93. Our sports editor has curated this Storyboard of tributes to an American icon. "His extraordinary statistical accomplishments speak for themselves, but the grace, joy, energy and intellect with which he played the game allowed him to separate himself from other great players of his, or any, era," writes Lincoln Mitchell for @TheConversationUS.
Baseball's all-time leaders lists have changed overnight with the integration of the Negro Leagues into Major League Baseball statistics. Josh Gibson is now officially one of the greatest players of all time, beating Ty Cobb for career batting average and Babe Ruth for slugging percentage and OPS. His great grandson, Sean Gibson, now hopes that the MVP award will be renamed in his honor. The trophy was previously named after Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball's first commissioner, who played a key role in keeping baseball segregated. “How ironic would it be for Josh Gibson to replace the man who denied more than 2,300 men the opportunity to play baseball in the major leagues,’’ Sean Gibson told USA Today.
It's warm up time in this newest installment in the Brinkley Yearbook series. Will Alexandra make the cut and help the historically boys baseball team defend their 9-year championship title?
OK, if you're just tuning in, this thread is part of a 3-years-and-counting #baseball simulation project replaying the 1947 season fully integrated with #NegroLeagues stars of the era. (As opposed to a handful of Black players.)
By the way, if you've never heard of Red Barrett (I hadn't either, before I started #1947League), you may be interested to learn that he is the author of what may well be the single most badass start in MLB history. Curious? Details here:
NY gets a quality start from Morris, outhits Pirates 10-5, but can't connect the dots in any inning until the 9th, when a two-out rally delivered too little, too late. Willard Brown's 3 doubles go to waste.
R.T. Walker gets the W for Pittsburgh; Kiner homers.
Big #1947League matchup today: Wilmer Fields (10-7, 2.92, .267, 11 HR, 20 2B and his Pirates take on Satchel Paige (9-7, 4.07) and the New York Yankees in the third and deciding game of their series. Let's head out to Yankee Stadium now...
Wilmer Fields played for a lot of great Homestead Grays teams ... but he didn't play for the squad that many #baseball historians now argue was the greatest of all time. Bar none. And let's have no grumbling from the also-rans. (Talking to you, '27 Yankees.)