Rich Eisen on the Importance of Reggie Jackson's Retelling of the Racism He Faced as a Minor Leaguer

last night's Major League Baseball let's put it this way special special night was outstanding celebration it was a celebration it was a remembrance it was quite the night in Birmingham Alabama in the newly refurbished rickwood field right the stadium there where the Birmingham black Barons played for many years in the in the Negro League and that's where Willie Mays got his start professional baseball and the Giants got him from there and the rest is history and on this night where the Cardinals and Giants are playing together you all know Satchel pagee was there as well Cardinals and Giants two days after Willie Mays passing away and beautiful night for baseball and um Fox crushed it they did our friends at Fox Sports just put on an incredible broadcast Soup To Nuts start to finish and so many players showed up past players NE Negro League players who are alive and well enough to attend um and Hall of Fame players and the set for Fox is filled with Hall of Fame players filled with them and they had Barry Bonds sitting next to keng griffy Jr and bonds being asked by Jeter how you would be able to face satchel pige and Bond's basically saying that he would Homer off him saying gone gone gone is the only word that he said was like who would perform better and bond was just like me gone he was also like cuz if I don't believe it then how can I make it happen right Bon's obviously also the godson of Willie Mays and so he's speaking eloquently and and emotionally and and fox did sit down interviews and had pieces and then they're open remembering the Negro League's voice bu Academy Award nominee and show friend if I don't he doesn't mind me saying Jeffrey Wright who crushed it incredible and then Reggie Jackson stepped on the C and what was a remembrance and a celebration turned into a reminder and a history lesson and a time that a lot of folks in our day and age are memory H holding and the fact is that it was a reminder of why there was a Negro League in the first place and how things didn't go suddenly all peaches and cream and blue skies after the color barrier Came Crashing Down with Jackie Robinson and how even in this place which was the site of a celebration and a remembrance and a memorial is a reminder of a time that was positively awful and is a part of our nation's history that needs to be discussed because we don't need that to be prologue in any way shape or form and A-Rod asked him like you know if it wasn't for folks like you folks like us might not have played baseball and his answer is like well you know that wasn't such an honor at the time yeah fresh reminder in parts of our country where this conversation is way too uncomfortable for certain states to even allow it to have a conversation starter in schools to be very honest on the subject matter here and there may be some radio stations across our country that are listening to this right now and wondering why are we talking about this cuz Reggie talked about it and this is part of our Sports history as well as our country's history and it is ugly but it doesn't mean that our future is ugly it doesn't mean that you can't take this information in and under understand about how horrible it was and how horrible in certain parts it still may be and do your part to make it better and understand the history of our country and how difficult it may be to hear it is important to hear and I thought that was incredible great television if you will for the lack of a better phrase for the folks there and to let him speak and not interrupt him let him talk and get that off his chest and bring it to the four on a night where the set he was speaking from had the word tribute on it yes it's a tribute to the Negro Leagues but a reminder in this story as to why the Negro Leagues existed and how this was the spot that sent Willie Ma on and Satchel Page on and Babe Ruth once played at and yes that is an important history and a very warm Hearth to surround ourselves around and terms of a he Geographic memory about our country and our Sports World but that's another part to it that occurred just let me think about the math right here 17 years after Willie May was sent on from Birmingham up to New York City Reggie's not even 80 years old so it wasn't like this was a hundred years ago no when this happened you know this is very very recent 60 years ago how did this hit you when he spoke last night well TJ you know for me as I told you guys yesterday and I've told you you know through many conversations I got to sit at the foot of one of the great storytellers of all time in my opinion my grandfather and as we'd sit in the summertime and I'd read box scores to him out of the Aluna mirror he would tell me these stories of Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson and the Negro Leagues and so for me I I heard this as a little kid and I could never understand it never made sense to me as a kid cuz you know my best friend who lived down the block he was a white kid and I and so it was hard for me to understand how there was a point in time where he and I wouldn't be allowed to play together because it it didn't make sense you know so it listening to Reggie say this it just brought back those memories of my grandpa and his friends like just old school black men who love the Giants because Jackie Robinson was the first player that they LED or the Dodgers I'm sorry he was the first player that was l in so I I got to hear these stories and it was just kind of brought that back you know sitting on the on the front porch on the summer you know a summer evening and listening to these men kind of like we talked about yesterday being historians of the game being historians of of baseball and and telling me this is how the world used to be this is how baseball used to be so you know and Chris once asked me about five years ago I came in and we were doing this game and he was like who whose career would you rather have Mike Trout or Willie Ma and I said Mike Trout Chris was like why and I was like well think about this 1954 Willie May is the MVP goes four for five in the game it'sit two home runs probably makes two of the greatest catches you'll ever see and then after the game he can't eat with his teammates he can't stay in the same Hotel the guy who never got off the bench can go into these hotels and these restaurants and get served but Willie couldn't I was like I wouldn't want that and Reggie kind of personified he'd explained to you why and that's why I guess Jackie Robinson was first right because they said he wasn't the best player but he was the best equipped to handle the type of things that were going to come at him and I just wanted to bring that up here to also in in this day and age it's okay to hear this it's important to hear this it's it's it's okay to hear this that we shouldn't memory hole this and talk about you know going back in time about how great things were well not for everybody and it's okay to have that conversation it really is it's important to hear that on this night again baseball was integrated for players not front offices you read up about what happened to the owners of Negro League teams okay so it's okay to have this conversation and recall it and make sure that that past doesn't become prologue and I thought Reggie just was I texted him just another heroic moment for for Reggie to just come out there go hell hold on a second yeah you know there was a role to play for a lot of us who have played in this stadium in this city you know but uh playing that role was no picnic and I wouldn't wish it on anybody and when he said that if you know I I if left to his own devices without help of friends that he himself would have been left you could have found him in an oak tree man I literally sat there and I chill in silence in silence for quite some time and I just wanted to bring that to our audience here today yesterday was powerful that was an amazing game it was an amazing game you the stadium looks incredible you know and Mak me want to go visit it to be honest with you something and I'm sure that that is part of and parcel of what a lot of folks there who put their heart and soul into this um night uh want you to to do to visit that and learn about the history learn about what happen there and learn about it and use it for good moving forward that's what they would like you to do and then of course you know remember those who who played there and what happened but even in this stadium that got a facelift Reggie's like pulling back the whole thing and going nuh-uh catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku channel 12: to 3 Eastern for free

Channel: The Rich Eisen Show

Views: 161,709

Keywords: Rich Eisen, Rich Eisen Show, sports, NFL, football, college football, CFP, NBA, basketball, MLB, baseball, pop culture, Roku, NFL Network, Chris Brockman, TJ Jefferson, Del Tufo, Super Bowl, sports talk, talk show, Football, CFB, College Football, Baseball, NFL Draft, Reggie Jackson, Yankees, Oakland A’s, Angels, Orioles, minor league baseball, negro leagues, racism, Birmingham, FOX Sports, MLB on Fox, Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige

Id: t7gKP8vUwB0

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2024