Speaker 1: Hey, what's up you all?
Speaker 2: This is Questlove, and in honor of Black History Month,
Speaker 2: on Fridays, we're gonna be releasing episodes of Historical Records,
Speaker 2: which is my podcast with the story pirates and it's
Speaker 2: an explosive fusion of hip hop and history, tailor made
Speaker 2: for music loving kids and families. Yeah, it's something the
Speaker 2: entire family can listen to and enjoy together. So in
Speaker 2: this episode, host Nemine learns about Josh Gibson, the greatest
Speaker 2: power hitter baseball has ever seen, and Broadway star Freggiel
Speaker 2: Philippe breaks it down in a brand new hip hop
Speaker 2: track featuring an interview between Bob Kendrick, president of the
Speaker 2: Negro League Baseball Museum, and a ten year old baseball
Speaker 2: enthusiast named Peyton. Get your kids, sit back and enjoy
Speaker 2: Historical Records, the show that proves that in order to
Speaker 2: make history, you have to make some noise.
Speaker 1: Keep taking records. I know it's out here somewhere, hey, listeners,
Speaker 1: Nimity here outside my secret underground layer looking for a
Speaker 1: time capsule that I buried over ten years ago. It
Speaker 1: has all kinds of special items from my childhood that
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to tell you about, Tana.
Speaker 3: Did you find it yet?
Speaker 1: How's it going over there? I agree? The ground is
Speaker 1: way too hard for these shovels. You have a jackhammer, Tina,
Speaker 1: you buried the lead. Let's get that thing up and
Speaker 1: run it. This is great. We're gonna find my time
Speaker 1: capsule in no time. This way, Tina, No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: not that way. Where are you going now.
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 1: Let me try. I appreciate the warning, but I'll be fine.
Speaker 1: You might be a little too small to run this
Speaker 1: jackhammer properly. I'll just hop on and then wh.
Speaker 4: Why am I going?
Speaker 3: Big way? Why am I going that way? Now? Where
Speaker 3: am i? God? Like?
Speaker 1: Well, that jackhammer clearly didn't work right, and we still
Speaker 1: haven't found my time capsule. What Tina? You have a
Speaker 1: bobcat digger, go get it. Why were we using shovels?
Speaker 3: In a jackhammer?
Speaker 1: We're gonna find this thing.
Speaker 5: No historical, you are now listening to historical.
Speaker 1: To make history, you got to have struggles to make history.
Speaker 1: You got to show pois cannot be quiet loud as
Speaker 1: a riot to make history. You gotta make some noise,
Speaker 1: incredible dig right here, Tina. I know I've said this before,
Speaker 1: but I don't said of this is this fuck? We
Speaker 1: hit the time capsule, now dig around it.
Speaker 3: I did it, but not my time.
Speaker 1: Capsule, and I dug it out. Fair point, Tina, you
Speaker 1: did play a critical role. Now, listeners, you may be wondering,
Speaker 1: what does Niminy have in this time capsule that is
Speaker 1: so important that it's delaying the start of this episode,
Speaker 1: an episode in which we are going to learn about
Speaker 1: the great baseball legend Josh Gibson. Excellent question, listeners, to
Speaker 1: answer it, Let's first drag my time capsule out of
Speaker 1: this hole. Among the many things I am excited to
Speaker 1: show you, first up is a red cape that I
Speaker 1: wore pretty much every day for nearly two years when
Speaker 1: I was a kid, and opening the look with the
Speaker 1: key I always keep around my neck. You see, I
Speaker 1: wanted to be a superhero, so my red cape was critical.
Speaker 1: Every good superhero needs a good red cap opening the latch. Wait,
Speaker 1: what it's green? My superhero cape is green? How is
Speaker 1: that possible? I was certain it was red. I agree, Tin,
Speaker 1: know that is so strange. Surely the next thing in
Speaker 1: my time caps sole will match my memory. After all,
Speaker 1: I have a fantastic memory. You don't know that I
Speaker 1: see it. The green looks fantastic. This cape is even
Speaker 1: cooler than I realized.
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 1: Tina? Right? Of course, we probably should get started with
Speaker 1: the episode listeners. We'll get back to going through my
Speaker 1: time caps a little little later. There's a lot in
Speaker 1: here you're gonna want to see. But right now we
Speaker 1: got to dive into today's historical figure, Josh Gibson. And
Speaker 1: in order to do that, we have to find our
Speaker 1: historian friend Gabe. WHOA that might be the biggest construction
Speaker 1: vehicle I have ever seen. It's a giant excavator. Who
Speaker 1: is driving that thing?
Speaker 3: Incoming?
Speaker 4: Watch out? Everybody?
Speaker 3: Wait? Is that Gabe? Gabe? Is that jo? Hey nimany
Speaker 3: I can barely see you up there?
Speaker 4: Come on up, you can use the ladder.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yep, okay here come oho, we are really
Speaker 1: high up. Hey Gabe, there you are. What are you
Speaker 1: doing with this huge thing?
Speaker 4: I heard you needed some help digging, so I brought
Speaker 4: my personal digging machine to help.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 1: I actually found what I was looking for. And did
Speaker 1: you say that this commercial machine typically used to dig
Speaker 1: out massive minds? Is yours?
Speaker 4: That is correct? You see, being a historian and getting
Speaker 4: the history right often takes a little digging, sometimes literally.
Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4: Speaking of digging, should we dig into the life of
Speaker 4: the great Josh Gibson?
Speaker 1: Okay, but Gabe, before we go back in time, can
Speaker 1: I be honest?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 4: I actually prefer that you be honest, respectfully.
Speaker 1: I really don't like that the history simulator looks and
Speaker 1: feels sounds like a gooey alien pod. It's very uncomfortable
Speaker 1: to be it.
Speaker 4: I couldn't agree more, which is why I built my
Speaker 4: own history simulator.
Speaker 1: You did, no way, where is it?
Speaker 4: We're sitting in it. Welcome to the History Excavator nineteen twenty.
Speaker 3: I know, I love it.
Speaker 1: Very impressive, you said, History Excavator nineteen twenty. Why nineteen twenty?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's just where we're headed today. Hold on, niminy
Speaker 4: a Roaring twenties, here we come.
Speaker 3: It's so gay.
Speaker 1: This is about one hundred years.
Speaker 4: Ago, right nearly to the day, and it was a
Speaker 4: time of incredible change in the United States.
Speaker 1: Hey, look at those cool ladies with short bob haircuts
Speaker 1: and just below the knee lenked stresses.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 4: Yes, those ladies were known as flappers at the time.
Speaker 4: These dresses were considered by many to be scandalous for
Speaker 4: being too short.
Speaker 1: Too short, that looked like formal dresses to me. I
Speaker 1: guess we really have come a long way or a
Speaker 1: short way. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Whoom.
Speaker 1: Check out that guy wailing on the saxophone.
Speaker 4: Pretty amazing. Right in the nineteen twenties, there was an
Speaker 4: explosion of music exploration, including the birth of jazz.
Speaker 1: Oh and look at that group of men with those
Speaker 1: ridiculous pinstriped suits. They look away.
Speaker 3: Its niminy.
Speaker 4: Be careful, those men are very serious. In fact, they
Speaker 4: might be gangsters. Gate.
Speaker 1: You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Just
Speaker 1: because those guys look like cartoon mobsters doesn't mean they are.
Speaker 1: I bet they have a great sense of humor too.
Speaker 1: Watch this, hey, sir, your suit is hysterical. You look
Speaker 1: like a businessman doing an impression of a zebra.
Speaker 7: I you think I'm funny, You think my suitors are
Speaker 7: joke usink I'm a zebra business clown sent from the
Speaker 7: Zuda make your.
Speaker 1: Lab No, no, no, none of that. It's a very
Speaker 1: fetching outfit. And we have to go Gate hit it.
Speaker 4: Here we go down to the South.
Speaker 3: Who I was.
Speaker 1: Close, Gabe. Sorry for not trusting your instincts about who
Speaker 1: is and who is in a gangst. Anyway, thanks for
Speaker 1: getting us out of there. Speaking of getting out of there, Gabe, Oh,
Speaker 1: I see our black families packing their things and getting
Speaker 1: out of town.
Speaker 4: It was known as the Great Migration. Lots of black
Speaker 4: folks were moving from the rural south to cities in
Speaker 4: the north with the promise of safer communities, better jobs,
Speaker 4: more pay, and a brighter future.
Speaker 1: And once they got to the north, where would they work.
Speaker 4: Let's head to the north. Here we are in the North.
Speaker 4: Often black folks would work in steel factories like that one,
Speaker 4: in cities like this one Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: Look over their Gabe, a department store. Can we go in?
Speaker 1: I want to buy one of those flapper dresses.
Speaker 4: It's not just any department store. It's Gimbals, which is
Speaker 4: where Josh Gibson worked.
Speaker 1: Cool head through the revolving doors and check it out.
Speaker 1: Oh mah, there are a headspinning amount of flapper dress options.
Speaker 1: Too many options actually, and suddenly I have no interest
Speaker 1: in shopping. Hey, did you say Josh Gibson works here?
Speaker 1: I thought he was a baseball player.
Speaker 4: He was, but when his family first moved to the North,
Speaker 4: he wanted to be an electrician. I know it sounds weird,
Speaker 4: but electricity was still considered a fairly new technology, so
Speaker 4: it was a great trade to get into. And he
Speaker 4: started as an elevator operator at Gimbals Gabe.
Speaker 1: Sorry to interrupt, but who's that teenager over by the
Speaker 1: old timey elevator.
Speaker 4: That's actually Josh Gibson. He takes people up and down
Speaker 4: to different floors in the store.
Speaker 1: Oh, of course, an elevator operator.
Speaker 3: Got it.
Speaker 1: But how does he transition from this to baseball?
Speaker 4: Well, this department store doesn't just have an irresponsible amount
Speaker 4: of flapper dress options. They also have an amateur baseball team.
Speaker 4: They do, Yeah, they do, and it's called the gimbal Ac.
Speaker 4: And that's how Josh Gibson started playing baseball.
Speaker 1: He was only sixteen though.
Speaker 4: That's true, but he took to the sport like a
Speaker 4: fish to water. Josh knew how to keep his eye
Speaker 4: on the ball and slam crack knock it out of
Speaker 4: the park. He was a home run king and in
Speaker 4: no time at all, other local teams were eyeing this
Speaker 4: young prospect.
Speaker 1: So did he quit his job to play baseball, not yet.
Speaker 1: He kept his job at the department store while playing baseball.
Speaker 4: He had to keep that job to make ends meet.
Speaker 4: You see, at the time, there was a different league
Speaker 4: for black players. It was known as the Negro League,
Speaker 4: and Josh played for a less official Negro League team,
Speaker 4: kind of like the minor leagues today.
Speaker 1: And did he eventually go pro?
Speaker 4: You bet. His name and his fame grew and he
Speaker 4: eventually was able to go professional. But it was almost
Speaker 4: by accident.
Speaker 1: That sounds like an interest a story.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 4: Hold tight. We're headed to the game where it all happened, Gabe.
Speaker 1: We might be at the wrong baseball game. I don't
Speaker 1: see Josh Gibson anywhere on the field.
Speaker 4: That's because he was in the stands.
Speaker 1: The stands, so he wasn't playing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's nineteen thirty and Josh is still playing in
Speaker 4: the less official leagues, but he was at this major
Speaker 4: league game as a fan.
Speaker 1: I see him up there in the stands.
Speaker 4: Josh and everyone else at the stadium was watching the
Speaker 4: Homestead Grays, the best Pittsburgh team in the Negro League.
Speaker 1: Gabe, there are some seats open break behind Josh. Let's
Speaker 1: watch the game from.
Speaker 4: There perfect, Hey, where'd you get all that food.
Speaker 1: At the concession stand, Gabe Warehouse. Don't worry. I got
Speaker 1: you a hot dog, some peanuts, some nacho's, a cotton candy.
Speaker 3: And a large drink.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1: Here are our seats.
Speaker 4: This is a lot of food.
Speaker 1: Okay. The batter is up and I can barely hear
Speaker 1: the announcer over your chomping. And here comes the bitch
Speaker 1: swing in a miss.
Speaker 8: But oh, something's wrong with buck Ewing, the catcher for
Speaker 8: the Grayes.
Speaker 4: He seems to have cut the pitch in the wrong
Speaker 4: way and injured his hand.
Speaker 8: And I'm pretty sure he's about to start screaming.
Speaker 3: Ouch my hand.
Speaker 1: I'm hurt, and I can no longer play baseball today.
Speaker 8: Wuch Well, buckewing inside a game is day. He is
Speaker 8: done playing baseball bart today and possibly tomorrow, in the
Speaker 8: next day, and probably the day after that, if I'm
Speaker 8: being honest the way he said out, who knows when
Speaker 8: Buckle play next?
Speaker 3: Mmmm?
Speaker 4: Niminy. This cotton candy is amazing, Gabe.
Speaker 1: Please, I'm trying to watch the game and buck Ewing
Speaker 1: is out.
Speaker 8: Making eggs even worse than Grays have no backup catcher
Speaker 8: what are they going to do.
Speaker 1: No backup catcher. Well, you can't play baseball without a catcher.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows that. Wait, the coach for the Grays is
Speaker 1: walking toward us.
Speaker 4: That's because there's an eighteen year old sitting in the
Speaker 4: stands right in front of us that has the reputation
Speaker 4: of being one of the best hitters.
Speaker 1: In Pittsburg, Josh Gibson.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 4: The coach is asking him to play.
Speaker 1: And Josh is saying yes.
Speaker 8: I actually can't believe what I'm saying. The Grays seemed
Speaker 8: to have plucked some kid out of the stands and
Speaker 8: now he's going to play getter and this kid even
Speaker 8: play Gabe.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this is how Josh Gibson got his
Speaker 1: big break.
Speaker 4: Fortune favors the prepared Nimini.
Speaker 1: Oh, of course it does. Why do you think I
Speaker 1: bought so many snacks? So did he play well in
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 4: Josh had such an incredible game that afterwards the Grays
Speaker 4: took him on as a full time member of the team.
Speaker 8: Josh Gibson is up the bat, and.
Speaker 4: He traveled the country playing baseball.
Speaker 8: And here's the bitch he can actually going coming.
Speaker 6: God, Josh Gipson absolutely fashion Harry Cleveland to that balls
Speaker 6: heads it out of town.
Speaker 1: Oh game, What an incredible start to a career. What
Speaker 1: were Josh's career stats like?
Speaker 4: Well, unfortunately Josh played in a time when black athletes
Speaker 4: didn't have all of their games recorded, like the professional
Speaker 4: white teams of the day.
Speaker 1: What so they don't know how many home runs he hits.
Speaker 4: They have a decent idea. It's believed that he hit
Speaker 4: over eight hundred home runs, and two hundred and twenty
Speaker 4: four of those were against the top Negro league teams.
Speaker 4: That's incredible, truly. But so much of Josh Gibson's story
Speaker 4: as tall tales and legends. You remember that ball that
Speaker 4: he smashed in Cleveland? Yeah, well some say it landed
Speaker 4: in Cincinnati the next day.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: And when history is a little hazy, some of the
Speaker 4: stories burn brighter than others. Like the legend of what
Speaker 4: happened in Yankee Stadium?
Speaker 1: What happened in Yankee Stadium?
Speaker 4: Let's go watch Welcome to nineteen thirty four left field,
Speaker 4: Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 1: Oh, look, Josh is up at the plate.
Speaker 4: Then we're right on time.
Speaker 1: There goes the pitch and Josh tick food, big cut. Oh,
Speaker 1: he got a hold of that.
Speaker 3: He's the black that thing.
Speaker 1: The ball is flying to a left field that's going
Speaker 1: over in the third deck next to the left field
Speaker 1: pull Pennant a hole right in the stadium.
Speaker 3: Good left Christ just the.
Speaker 1: Great Josh Gibson has done it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: He is responsible for the only fair ball ever to
Speaker 1: be head fully out.
Speaker 4: Of Yankee stady O Memony. I had no idea you
Speaker 4: were such a fantastic baseball announcer.
Speaker 1: I'm a fast learner, I'll say, you know, Gabe, it's
Speaker 1: awesome that there are all these amazing stories about Josh Gibson,
Speaker 1: but it's frustrating that his stats weren't tracked the same
Speaker 1: way white players stats were.
Speaker 4: It's frustrating, all right, But even without stats, he lives
Speaker 4: on forever in baseball history. That's how good he was.
Speaker 1: That's a neat way to think about it.
Speaker 4: Some people call Josh Gibson the black Babe Ruth. Others
Speaker 4: called Babe Ruth the white Josh Gibson. I love that
Speaker 4: he ended his career as the second highest paid player
Speaker 4: in the Negro League and was eventually inducted into the
Speaker 4: Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: And I suppose today we are making a historical record
Speaker 1: of Josh, so one hundred years later he is still
Speaker 1: being honored. His song won't include tons of statistics, obviously,
Speaker 1: but it will be an earth shattering hip hop tune
Speaker 1: that will never.
Speaker 3: Leave you a head.
Speaker 4: Shall we head back then?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 1: Thanks Gabe, I got a run.
Speaker 4: Good luck, Niminy, swing for the fences, I always do.
Speaker 1: Okay, listener as we're back, and I am walking to
Speaker 1: the studio like Josh wat from the dugout to the play, excited,
Speaker 1: confident and ready to make history. Oh that was quick.
Speaker 1: Here we are at the studio.
Speaker 3: Oh hy t know?
Speaker 1: Are the musicians ready? Great time to turn this piece
Speaker 1: of history into music featuring the incredible actor, rapper and
Speaker 1: singer Fergie l Philippe.
Speaker 5: Okay, here's a mention that Josh.
Speaker 4: Gibson and no one's running off the map.
Speaker 1: It's a long wall the.
Speaker 4: Date one field, someone's going going.
Speaker 6: And smash slam, Another one gone, bashpam, another one gone
Speaker 6: the cracker of the bat, and another one gone.
Speaker 4: A tip of the cap because.
Speaker 1: Another one gone.
Speaker 4: Wait two twenties ten and six foot.
Speaker 6: One got a bait at the plate for a big
Speaker 6: home run Bob pops off the stick elect The shot
Speaker 6: of a gun is the man is the lecture.
Speaker 4: It is Josh Gibbson.
Speaker 6: He's so dynamic, his hits titanic, his swings like magic.
Speaker 6: See him coming from the dugout of the team might panic.
Speaker 6: The crowd is ecstatic. The end of so tragic. First
Speaker 6: we go back to where it all began. Born to
Speaker 6: Georgia in the twenties, the great, my great Joan took
Speaker 6: his family north into Pittsburgh, then, where Josh trained to
Speaker 6: be an electrician. And that's where he might have stayed
Speaker 6: fixing electronics.
Speaker 1: All his days.
Speaker 4: But he got a job at a place.
Speaker 6: Where the squad and Josh the field, the people were
Speaker 6: on wants to sharecroppers, but now he snare pop ups.
Speaker 6: He operated elevators, now he studied hitting. Hated that could
Speaker 6: be no imitator, because I mean, as an innovator.
Speaker 4: Ain't nobody great. He's the baseball terminator.
Speaker 6: Flash slam, another one gone, bash bam, another one gone.
Speaker 6: The craft good the bat and another one gone a
Speaker 6: tip bud the capta is another one gone, another one gone,
Speaker 6: another one gone, another one gone.
Speaker 4: Here, another one gone.
Speaker 6: It's seventeen years, he had eight hundred home runs three
Speaker 6: sixty average lifetime. That ain't o hum canning on picking
Speaker 6: off the base pathball fun in the Negro League, but
Speaker 6: the same league with no one black. Babe Ruth was
Speaker 6: off the description, but many claimed the babe with the
Speaker 6: white Josh Gibson. So if you have some wisdom, you
Speaker 6: see he's in position to make the majors. But it's
Speaker 6: pig man skin his race. Biggats believe it dictates their
Speaker 6: sale of tickets. They want him to stay in his place.
Speaker 6: Gibson handles the mistakes with grace, always maintaining the smile
Speaker 6: upon his.
Speaker 4: Face, keeps setting records, keeps.
Speaker 6: Getting hits, falls into love, has a few kids place
Speaker 6: around the world, from seed to seed. Still they never
Speaker 6: let the man in the MLB smash slam. Another one gone,
Speaker 6: bash bam, another one gone the craft good the bat,
Speaker 6: and another one gone.
Speaker 1: A tip budd the cat because another.
Speaker 6: One gone, another one gone, another one gone, who another
Speaker 6: one gone.
Speaker 4: Yeah, another one gone.
Speaker 6: When Josh Gibson was thirty two, he started getting head X,
Speaker 6: got some X raised, then some bad news the next day.
Speaker 6: Kept playing for his hometown team, the Homestead Grace, but
Speaker 6: four years later, Josh Gibbson sadly passed away. There wasn't
Speaker 6: t because of this, he'd be forgotten. But his game
Speaker 6: still ILSs. It's hard, and the Moni grace will say
Speaker 6: his name, top twenty player from back then to this year.
Speaker 6: Even though another one's gone, He's still here, Yeah, still here,
Speaker 6: still here, still here, even though another one's gone. He
Speaker 6: here smash slam, another one gone, bash bam, another one's gone.
Speaker 4: The crack gout him and another one gone.
Speaker 6: A tip budd the cat because another one's gone, another
Speaker 6: one gone, another one gone, another one gone, even though
Speaker 6: another was gone.
Speaker 9: Skilled here.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a few words for the
Speaker 1: grown ups. Whoa that someone was amazing. Also, there was
Speaker 1: a part of that tune that reminded me of another
Speaker 1: object in my time capsule.
Speaker 3: Listeners, follow me to.
Speaker 1: The giant fall in my backyard. Ah here we are, Tina,
Speaker 1: do me a favor and dive into my time capsule
Speaker 1: and grab that thing that looks like an old recording. Listeners,
Speaker 1: The last thing I wanted to show you is a
Speaker 1: recording of a speech I gave at my high school graduation.
Speaker 1: Now I'm pretty sure the speech was about history. But
Speaker 1: given that I thought my superhero cape was green, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm way off data. How are we looking fantastic, Tina,
Speaker 1: Let's play a little bit of it and see what
Speaker 1: eighteen year old me has to say. I imagine I
Speaker 1: speak for all of us today when I say that
Speaker 1: these last four years have been a blur. Lots of
Speaker 1: late nights, lots of early mornings, and plenty of looking
Speaker 1: for my glasses, only to find that they were on
Speaker 1: my head the whole time. The truth is so much
Speaker 1: happened so quickly, it is sometimes hard to parse through
Speaker 1: our memories of what happened and what actually happened. As
Speaker 1: the poet An Michael says it, quote, history and memory
Speaker 1: share events. That is, they share time and space. Every
Speaker 1: moment is two moments end.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 1: Well, I dare say that in these four years of
Speaker 1: high school, we created memories and history, and now we
Speaker 1: carry them both proudly as we head off into the world. Ugh.
Speaker 1: I barely remembered saying any of that. Thank you, Tina.
Speaker 1: I guess it was a pretty good speech. Honestly, there
Speaker 1: was a lot more to it than I remembered. A
Speaker 1: lot like Josh Gibson's story when I think about it,
Speaker 1: he was probably a better baseball player than we even realized.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's always more to the story than we can
Speaker 1: remember or even write down. Well, I could think about
Speaker 1: that for a long time. Yes, Tina, what is it?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I'm late as usual. Okay, listeners, let's raise
Speaker 1: to the room inside my secret underground bunker where I
Speaker 1: take all my most important video calls, boot up the computer,
Speaker 1: the internets, and here we go. Hi, Bob and Peyton,
Speaker 1: can you introduce yourselfs.
Speaker 9: Hi, my name is Bob Kendrick. I'm president of the
Speaker 9: Negrodics Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, the world's only
Speaker 9: museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of
Speaker 9: African American baseball and its profound impact on the social
Speaker 9: advancement of America.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 7: I'm Peyton and I'm ten years old. I just love
Speaker 7: baseball all year round.
Speaker 1: Peyton, what were you hoping to ask Bob about Josh Gibson?
Speaker 7: So, mister Kendrick, I'm wondering why did it take so
Speaker 7: long for the Legro League players to get recognized as
Speaker 7: some of the greatest players of all time?
Speaker 9: That is a great question. They toiled, I'd like to
Speaker 9: say in anonymity for so long, and I say that
Speaker 9: because there were a lot of people who saw them play,
Speaker 9: they just happened to be black. Later on, as we
Speaker 9: get into the forties, before Jackie Robinson brace to color,
Speaker 9: there there were a lot of white fans who saw
Speaker 9: them play too. But there are a lot of people
Speaker 9: who still hold to the belief that if it didn't
Speaker 9: happen in the major leagues, then it must not have happened.
Speaker 9: And so we've been working so hard over the last
Speaker 9: thirty years to make sure that people know who these
Speaker 9: ballplayers were and how good they were, and what they
Speaker 9: contributed to the game, but just as important, what they
Speaker 9: contributed to this country.
Speaker 7: Is it true Josh Gibson hit eight hundred home runs
Speaker 7: in the Negro leagues?
Speaker 9: Honestly, Peyton, he probably hit more than that, And again,
Speaker 9: this was against all levels of competition, including the major leaguers.
Speaker 9: I personally believe that Josh Gibson was the greatest hitter
Speaker 9: this game has ever seen.
Speaker 7: I would like to see more minorities play baseball because
Speaker 7: I'm kind of one of the only African American black
Speaker 7: kids on my team.
Speaker 9: We understand that there are just not a lot of
Speaker 9: black kids playing our game anymore. And the interesting thing
Speaker 9: about that, Peyton is baseball used to be our sport,
Speaker 9: which is why we had a Negro League. You had
Speaker 9: a league that was filled with black players and of
Speaker 9: course some brown players because you had Hispanic. But after
Speaker 9: baseball integrates and now Jackie Robinson and other black and
Speaker 9: brown stars leave the Negro League to go into Major
Speaker 9: League Baseball, that is what ultimately put the Negro leagues
Speaker 9: out of business. And then over time there became kind
Speaker 9: of this separation, so to speak, from the African American
Speaker 9: community and the game of baseball. It became very expensive
Speaker 9: to play our sport. All the equipment is expensive, the
Speaker 9: league fees are expensive. Now you'll be playing all these
Speaker 9: travel teams and all of this kind of stuff where
Speaker 9: a lot of kids, particularly those kids who are in
Speaker 9: the urban court, they can't afford to play anymore. And
Speaker 9: so we're working hard with Major League Baseball to do
Speaker 9: everything we can to make sure that urban kids understand
Speaker 9: their place in this game. And so when you walk
Speaker 9: through the Negro League's Baseball museum, what did you see?
Speaker 9: You see people who look just like you, who played
Speaker 9: this game, and they played it as well as anyone
Speaker 9: ever played this game. It's important that you see yourself
Speaker 9: in this game.
Speaker 7: Thank you, mister Kendrick for sharing all those great stories
Speaker 7: with me.
Speaker 9: Payton was my pleasure and I've enjoyed hanging out with
Speaker 9: you today.
Speaker 1: Wow. Thank you both for this great conversation. Listeners, thanks
Speaker 1: for joining in today and witnessing the greatness of Josh
Speaker 1: Gibson with me. Thanks so much to today's guests Bob Kendrick,
Speaker 1: Fergie Philippe, and Pigton. Remember, parents and teachers. You can
Speaker 1: download a free activity related to today's episode by visiting
Speaker 1: story pirates dot com slash Historical Records. We'll be back
Speaker 1: next week with another episode, another song, and another he route.
Speaker 1: But for now, there are a few huge holes in
Speaker 1: the backyard of my top secret bunker that I need
Speaker 1: to go fill in. Until next time, Remember to make history,
Speaker 1: you gotta make some noise.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 8: Historical Records is produced in partnership with story Pirate Studios.
Speaker 8: Questlove's two one five Entertainment, John Glickman and iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 8: Executive produced by Emir Questlove, Thompson, John Glickman, Lee Overtree
Speaker 8: and Benjamin Salka executive produced for iHeart Podcasts by Noel Brown.
Speaker 8: Producers for Story Pirate Studios are Isabella Riccio, Sam Bear,
Speaker 8: Eric Gerson, Andrew Miller, Lee Overtree, Peter McNerney and niminy Ware.
Speaker 8: Producers for two one five are John G. Britney, Benjamin
Speaker 8: and Sarah Zolman. Hosted by niminy Ware. Our head writer
Speaker 8: is Duke Doyle. Our historians are Gabe Pacheco and Lee Polus.
Speaker 8: Music supervision for two one five by Stroe Elliott. Scoring
Speaker 8: and music supervision for Story Pirate Studios by Eric Gerson.
Speaker 8: Sound design and mixing by Sam Bear at the Relic
Speaker 8: Room in New York City.
Speaker 4: Song mastering by Josh Hahn.
Speaker 8: Theme song by Dan Foster and Eric Gerson and produced
Speaker 8: by Eric Erson. Production coordination by Isabelle Riccio, Production management
Speaker 8: by Maggie Lee. The line producer for Story Pired Studios
Speaker 8: is Glennis Brault. Pr for Story Pired Studios is provided
Speaker 8: by Naomi Shaw. Episode artwork by Camilla Franklin. This episode
Speaker 8: was written by Duke Doyle. The song Josh Gibson was
Speaker 8: written by Dan Foster and produced by Eric Erson. Vocal
Speaker 8: direction by Jack Mitchell special gut Spergie l Philippe, Bob
Speaker 8: Kendrick and kid interviewer Peyton. This episode features performances by
Speaker 8: Nick Canalis, Peter McNerney, Lee Overtree and Gabe Pachuco. Special
Speaker 8: thanks to alex Vespasad