WEBVTT - Bob Kendrick Unpacks why the Negro Leagues REALLY Ended, And Why It Still Hurts Today 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.760 Welcome back to all the Smoke dugout. 0:00:01.880 --> 0:00:05.680 Coming to you from the twenty twenty six All Star 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.119 MLB All Star Game in Philadelphia. We had a good 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.239 first sit down. I'm excited about this one because I 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.880 just love learning and hearing stories. Obviously, our next guest 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.759 is no shortage of these stories. Current president of the 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.720 Negro League Museum in Kansas City, one of the finest 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.560 museums in the country, and we have one of the 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.439 best storytellers here to tell us about it. Welcome to 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.400 the show, Bob Kendrick, appreciate your time, man Man Madis. 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.440 It is so good to see you both. Fee say 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:32.800 thank y'all so much for having me. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:33.880 On the show. Thank you for coming. 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:35.440 So you were just kind of breaking down to see 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.280 why and I the plans obviously, the museum is currently 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:41.840 in Kansas City, and you your hopes are to raise 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.240 a certain amount of money and build build a brand 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.120 new one, build a Brandon talk to us about that. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.120 You know, it's an incredible story for a little museum 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:50.960 that no one gave any chance of succeeding. 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:51.480 Matt. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.000 We started this project in a little, tiny, one room 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.600 office a fraction of this area that we're sitting in 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.760 and guys like the late great Buck O'Neill, the founder 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.000 of the Negro League Spacebar Museum, and other local Negro 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.000 leaguers there in Kansas City literally took turns paying the 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.800 monthly rent to keep their little office open and with 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.440 it our hopes and dreams of one day building a 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.399 facility that would pay rifle tribute to not only one 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.479 of the greatest chapters in baseball history, but what now, 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.920 thousands of people discovered one of the greatest. 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.440 Chapters in American history. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.760 Yeah, and that's the rich, compelling, inspirational story of the 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.559 Negro Leagues. And so we moved into our current home 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.800 in November of nineteen ninety seven. So we went from 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.280 a one room office to about ten thousand square feet 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.480 of exhibit space. So it's not an overwhelmingly large footprint. Oh, 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.120 but within that footprint is a lot of information and 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.880 it's beautifully curated. And of course, along that journey we 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:56.400 became recognized as America's National Negro League Baseball Museum, as 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.840 deemed and designated so about the United States Congress in 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.720 two thousand and six. But we've outgrown that home and 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.120 we need to grow and now it's the perfect time 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:09.600 for us to do so. So now we're embarking on 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.839 what I call the nation's first Negro league's campus as 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:18.000 the gateway into historic eighteenth and Vine, which in its heyday, 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.840 oh Man as recognized street cross section as there was 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:23.840 anywhere in the world. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:24.720 It was a. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:29.400 Cultural crossroads where jazz and baseball intersected. And so the 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.960 building that the Negro Leagues were established in was an 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:37.359 old YMCA called the Pasale Ymca. We've been steadily renovating 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.160 that historic landmark that is going to become the Buck 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.079 O'Neill Education and Research Center, and then we're going to 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.359 build a new thirty five plus thousand square foot museum 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.480 attached to that historic landmark. And we've also announced our 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:55.680 plans to work with a developer to create the Marriotte 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.679 Tribute Hotel that will be called the Pennant that will 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:00.120 be built into. 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:01.080 The new museum. 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.079 So it's going to be a dynamic, block long campus 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.440 dedicated to the history of the Negro Leagues and social 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:09.560 history as well. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:10.520 So you can see. 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.640 Why I'm so excited about having to raise about fifty 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:13.520 million dollars. 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:16.560 It's coming along. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.480 You know, We've got our full team now pretty much 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.680 a symbol, and it's just amount of now getting out 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:24.560 there knocking on doors, raising these funds. 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.240 We'll get there, you know, there's no question. For me. 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.280 There's always a sense of urgency. You want to do 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.200 it sooner then later. So if everything goes well, the 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.240 stars continue to align, we hope to break ground first 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.000 quarter of next year and then it'll take about eighteen 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.680 to twenty months to build this. So I'm looking forward 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.040 to having both of you in Kansas City for the 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:44.080 opening of this museum. 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:44.400 Yeah. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.360 For me, you know, when I was playing, we met 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.000 a long time ago, vib and every year that I 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.280 would go play the Royals, it was pretty much mandatory 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.720 for me, Yeah, that I had to go in take 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.000 a toward the museum. If you had any young players 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.720 that hadn't had the opportunity and the big leagues yet, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.960 you're gonna take them to a soulful spot yep, and 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:03.920 you're gonna take them over to the Negro League Museum 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.360 and allow them to go in there. And what started 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:12.560 off as something for myself and even younger players as 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:14.920 like a mandatory stop in that we had to do. 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.320 Once you get inside the Negro League Museum. You almost 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:23.120 get lost. You get lost, like seeing the stories, reading, 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.400 like looking at the displays, all the exhibits. It's a 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.680 beautiful place and it really tells us about our history 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:31.640 in the game. And you know, I'm a part of 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.280 the East West Classics CCNI. We have the East West 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.880 Classic that we play in Rickwood Field. We had the 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.720 Rickwood Game a couple of years ago in Birmingham as well, 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.960 and that was my first time having an opportunity to 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.800 seeing the Negro leaguers that are still around. Yes, you 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.600 know it's not a lot, but the ones who were here, 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.080 they were able to show up and you're able to 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.840 have those conversations with them and talking about their style 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.160 of play. How do you see that style of play 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.599 from the negro leagues translated into the today. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.560 Well, our game is starting to move toward that, slowly 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.120 but surely. See, but the negro leagues played it a 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.839 little differently. Yeah, Major League baseball in that era was 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.120 a base to base kind of game. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:15.200 So you know what I mean. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.080 You got on base, somebody moved you over to second, 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.000 and then see why the big hitters came up and 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.200 drove you in. That wrong with that, But in the 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.920 Negro leagues, the pace of the game was so much faster. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.280 So they gonna drop that bunt, they gonna get on, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.400 take that walk, they gonna steal second, they're gonna steal third, 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.240 and if you weren't too smartness, they were stilling home. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.760 And so the pace of the game was so fast. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.559 But that's why it drew both a black and white 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.640 fan base, because they were seeing a style of play 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.920 that was just polar opposite to Major League baseball. Buck 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.560 O'Neill was saying, you couldn't go to the concession stand 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.400 because you might miss something you ain't never seen before. 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.200 And it's really interesting because the Major League is kind 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.160 of frowned on that style. They would say, oh, well, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.640 they just show voting again, as Buck would say, number. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.559 One, if you got something to show, show it, show it. Yeah. 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.680 But then he would also say, it's only showboating when 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:08.560 you can't do it. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.679 I like that, But every time I talk to you, Bob, 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.400 it's so much joy that just exudes from me when 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.920 you're talking about it. And you know, there is a 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.440 tough history behind all of this, and I know we're 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:24.520 gonna have some real conversations today, but I'm curious being 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.480 at the Negro Museum on a daily basis, talking about 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.800 this on a daily basis, how do you balance out 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:35.160 the tough history that's associated with black players not being 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.880 allowed in the major leagues, but also just celebrating the 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:39.880 joy of the game and the great things that the 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:40.719 Negro leagues brought. 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:43.919 Chris, I'll never forget walking into what was then that 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.600 one room office in nineteen ninety three. When I got 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.880 involved with the museum as a volunteer and as a 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.600 baseball fan, I was just completely blown away by how 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.440 little I knew about the history of this game and 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.200 it's connected into the history of this country, and I 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.200 became engrossed in it. I wanted to learn as much 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:05.839 as I could. Didn't want to keep it to myself. 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.920 I wanted everyone else to feel the same way that 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.000 I felt about this. And then I started to meet 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.440 those players, and it was their spirits that grabbed hold 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.520 of you, because I think you both would agree with me. 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.560 Had they've been bitter about the things that transpired in 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.280 their lives as they were trying to play baseball in 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.280 this country, every one of us would have said, you 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.560 had every right to be bitter. But to a player 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.360 that I've ever met, not one of them harbored any 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.000 bitterness or spoke any ill will toward anyone who may 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.520 have attempted to perpetrate something against them. And I found 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:40.960 that to be an incredibly endearing spirit, particularly in such 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.000 a cynical world in which we live today. And to 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.040 be honest, y'all, it took me a minute to figure out, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.360 Wait a minute, now, how could you not be bitter? Well, 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.480 they were never going to be bitter about baseball because 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:56.360 you couldn't convince them that they weren't playing the best 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:59.400 baseball that was being played. See, everybody thought the best 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.440 baseball played in the major leagues. See, but they knew 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.520 how good their league was. They knew how good they were, 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.120 and quite frankly, the major leaguers knew how good they 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:12.840 were because they played countless exhibition games against one another, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.120 and the record books bear out that the Negro League 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.440 teams or the Black All Star teams won the majority 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.200 of those head they had matchups. So they weren't going 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:23.520 to be bitter about baseball? 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:23.960 Now? 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:25.800 Did they like the things that were happening to them 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.240 as they traveled the highways and byways of this country. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.120 You guys were both athletes, professional athletes. You know how 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.160 this is. You ride into a towel. They could fill 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.520 up the ballpark, but then yet not be able to 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.360 get a meal from the same fans who had just 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.679 cheered them, or not have a place to stay, so 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.199 they would sleep on the bus, eat their peanut butter 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.880 and crackers until they could get to a place that 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.800 might offer them basic services. But what I share with 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:53.640 my guests when they come to visit the Negro League 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.840 Baseball Museum, what you have to admire here is they 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.440 never allowed that set of social circumstances to kill their 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.679 love of the game. Their spirits were such that if 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.200 I've got to sleep on the bus, and if I've 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.640 got to eat my peanut butter and crackers, I'm gonna 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.440 keep playing ball. And really that's the spirit that you 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.640 feel when you walk through this museum. It is not 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.720 a woe is Mine kind of story. These athletes never 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:23.920 cried about the social injustice. 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.240 They went out and did something about it. You won't 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:26.600 let me. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:30.240 Play with you, I'll create my own. And there's something 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:34.000 very American about that spirit. So America was trying to 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.000 prevent them from sharing in the joys of its national pastime. 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.120 The American spirit is what allowed them to persevere and prevail. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.199 So we treat the story for exactly what it is, 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.960 a celebration. Granted, it is the celebration of the power 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.720 of the human spirit to persevere and prevail. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:51.559 I love it. I love it. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.439 Let's let's dig into you know, the pioneer, your mentor 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:01.200 O'Neill a little bit, his influence on you that you 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.600 know have given him a lot of credit for their 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.600 careers as well, because he was, you know, a player 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.680 and also ended up became becoming a scout for the Cubs. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:10.240 Tell us about your experiences with Buck. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.640 I cannot believe they paid me to hang out with 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.679 What a blessing it has been for me And people 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.680 think I said and just, but in our iss true. 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.680 I talked to Bunk almost every single day. It would 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.480 almost be possible impossible not to think about Buck and 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:29.280 I talked to Bunk almost every single day. Now he 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:34.200 didn't already talk back to me, but outside of my family, 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.400 he has had as much influence on my life as anyone. 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.880 He was one of the finest human beings to ever 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.800 walk the face of this earth, who just happened to 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.360 be a great baseball player, but it was those humanly 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:52.640 qualities that he possessed that endeared him to so many people. 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.920 And I'm there to witness this Chris everywhere we went. 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.280 If he didn't know you, he wanted to know you. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.240 The man I never met a stranger in his life. Yeah, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.920 And we would walk through airports and he'd go over 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.040 introduce himself. My name is Buck O'Neil, what's yours, And 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.040 then they would engage into a conversation. And by the 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.839 time we're leaving to go to our respective gates, they 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.240 were sharing and embrace as if they'd known each other 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:23.920 all their lives. And I'm witnessing this everywhere we went, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:29.000 and I tell people he had a certain intanis that 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.040 would be on par with what we see with the 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.480 Mother Teresa, A Gandhi, a doctor Martin Luther King Junior. 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:39.480 The ability to see. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:44.360 The good in everybody, sometimes even when they weren't good. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.480 Buck saw the good in them. And of course he 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.119 is the guy who really told us about the heroes 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.280 of the Negro Leagues. His appearance in the Ken Burns 0:11:54.440 --> 0:12:00.280 epic documentary on the history of baseball captivated America was 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.560 eighty two years old when he premiered on the Ken 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.480 Burns documentary, and he literally stole the show. You had 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:12.760 this very charming gentle man who was telling these wonderful 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.600 baseball stories to baseball fans and they had not heard 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.200 them before, and he was doing it with a twinkle 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.640 in his eye and a smile that lit up the screen. 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.480 And America fell in love with Buck. As I mentioned, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.720 he was eighty two years old at that time. The 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.600 Good Lord blessed them to live another twelve years where 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:35.080 he was literally gallivanting across this country preaching the gospel 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.160 of the Negro Leagues and the virtues of his museum 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.240 to any and everybody who would listen. And I guess 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:42.920 you could say I was hanging from the hem of 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.120 his garment. And now I get to preach the gospel 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.360 of the Negro Leagues and the virtues of Bucks Museum to. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.400 Any and everybody who listened. So his influence was tremendous. 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.520 He was just a baseball lifer, yes, and loved the 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.920 game so much that you know, he was a scout. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.319 So you're talking about you know, Lou Brock, You're talking 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.200 about Lee Smith, Joe Carter. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.719 Is there something to. 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:08.920 It or is it needed to have black scouts that 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.960 are going into black communities to scout and draft players. 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.000 I think you have to have it now. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.240 I couldmend Major League Baseball the Players Association for what 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.199 they've done, the programs that they've implemented over the recent years, 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:26.400 and they're starting to pay dividends. But if Buck was 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.880 with us, he tell you his role as a scout. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.720 The other scouts didn't want to come into those areas, 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:33.800 so he could go get this talent. 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:34.640 Yeah. 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:36.840 Now he could go get this talent and brought a 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.560 lot of great talent into the major leagues. Some of 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.280 it was talent that others probably would have bypassed. Yeah, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.520 and so I think you need more African American scouts. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.760 What I am excited about is that these programs that 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.559 have been implemented by Baseball and the Players Association are 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.360 starting to give opportunities for kids to play this game, 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.400 but not only play the game, be seen playing these games, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.480 and this being evidenced by the number of African American 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.839 kids who are being drafted over recent years, which gives 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.120 me great hope that we will see the pendulum shift 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.120 the other way. You know, I say this, and I 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.559 say it with no disrespect to anyone. No one played 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.600 this game better than we did. Now they may have 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:23.320 played it just as well, but no one played the 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.920 game of baseball better than we did. We could play 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.000 this game. We have a proud legacy in this game, 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.760 and even at the Negro League's Baseball Museum, we have 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:37.240 a tremendous interest in making sure that urban kids have 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.520 an opportunity to play this game, to dream about the 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.480 possibilities that come along with this great sport. And we 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:48.480 do think that by embracing the history of the Negro Leagues, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.640 it gives them a sense of self. They get a 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:54.520 chance to see people who look like them who played 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.360 this game as well as anyone ever played this game. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.440 Obviously a heavy conversation that since we touched in this 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.440 space of baseball was obviously the decline of the black 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.520 player and the black star. I grew up seeing people 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.400 who look like me, and that's why I played baseball 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.520 for so long until I got too tall and stead 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.040 of playing other space. But we've talked to a few 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:16.840 of our guests from the past. We want you to 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:18.960 take a couple look at a couple of these clips 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.640 and then we'll discuss after you see them. 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:23.520 Okay, let's just go back to the beginning. 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.240 When you talk about Japan, you talk about Dominic and 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:29.960 you talk about Puerto Rico, You could talk about any 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.800 country you have to pay a posting fee to even 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.600 entertain talking to you that players. When Jackie Robinson broke 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.040 the color barrier, where was the posting fee? So now 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.840 there's no more Negro league. So now let's start going 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.040 back to tech man. That's making me think was that 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:48.880 done on purpose? 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:49.840 See? 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.600 Now what we have to go back to? You See, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:54.920 so that's the problem with this whole thing. If we 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.440 had something to go back to, then it wouldn't be 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.760 so stressful trying to get into something. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:05.400 So you hear Gary speak on the options your thoughts. 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:10.680 He's right, no, No, there's absolutely something to what he 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.040 is saying. Because when we had the Negro leagues, what 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.800 do you have And when you see these other countries, 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:21.280 whether it is Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.000 they all have their own professional baseball leagues. So yes, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.560 there are opportunities for those kids to leave and come 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:29.680 over here and play, but they have a league that 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:30.480 they can play in. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:31.160 Yeah. 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.000 See, when we had the negro leagues, you had that 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.479 same kind of system in place, and because of segregation, 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.440 it didn't matter how much money Satchel Page made a 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.800 buck O'Neill or Josh Gibson or cool Papa belt Man. 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.880 They lived in the same neighborhood I lived in. They 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:52.680 worshiped in the same churches that I worshiped in, They 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.120 ate in the same restaurants, They got the haircut in 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.360 the same barbershop. So not only did I idolize them 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.880 for their great athletic ability, I idolized them because I 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:06.560 watched their behavior as men, uh huh, and they wanted 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.840 so kids wanted to emulate them. They wanted to be 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:12.880 the next Satchel Page, the next cool popa Bell. Now 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.600 the proliferation of the other sports have certainly had its 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.760 impact because there are so many opportunities now for a 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.919 kid to make a living in a professional sport, and 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.440 so we started to lose some of those great athletes 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.800 to those other sports. But I do think the fact 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.679 that you had your own league, and even in Japan, 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.399 same thing. Even though we're getting some kids who are 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.920 coming over from Japan. And what's the other common thread 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.000 to those countries that I just mentioned. All of them 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:45.959 were impacted by Negro League's baseball. Yeah, Necro League players 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.719 were oftentimes the first Americans to play in many Spanish 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.440 speaking countries, and fellas, when we went there, we were 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.800 treated like heroes. So now you're going to stay in 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.760 the finest hotels, eat in the fire and its restaurants 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.159 that those countries had to offer, come back home and 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.560 be treated like a second class citizen. So, as a result, 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.399 a lot of Negro League players would call those Spanish 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.720 speaking countries home for one simple reason. In those countries, 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.240 they weren't black baseball players, they were just baseball players. 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:18.400 But of course in. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.280 This country, the Afro Latino athlete couldn't play in the 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.960 major leagues either, so they found sanctuary playing in the 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.320 Negro leagues. The Negro Leagues would take the American brand 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.359 of baseball into Canada, and of course it would be 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.080 the Negro Leagues that would be the first to go 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.919 over to play in Japan. We go to Japan in 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.479 nineteen twenty seven, seven years before Babe Ruth, and as 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.840 all Americans go to Japan, the Negro leagues were there 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.679 a team called the Philadelphia Royal Giants who would go 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.600 to Japan play a twenty four game exhibition series. They 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.720 go twenty three zero to one on the tour. The 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.800 tour was so successful that seven years later Babe Ruth 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.000 and his all the Maria Mercans would get invited over. 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.840 And I always preface that with my visitors because, as 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:07.959 you both know, when we look at our game today 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:12.719 from a global perspective, there are so many ethnicities that 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:15.880 make up a major league roster on any given day. 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:18.399 Well, at the heart of it were the negro leagues. 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.080 They helped make the game the global game that it 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.560 is today. They were just never given credit for it. 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.600 Quite frankly, the negro leagues didn't care what color you were. 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:29.760 All they kid was can you play? That's it and 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.399 if you can play, you can play. And so the 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:38.240 loss of the negro leagues had a detrimental impact on 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.680 what we now see in that decline, But it also 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:47.600 had a detrimental impact on black economy. Black economy suffered 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.840 when we lost the negro leagues. I tell people this 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:57.359 story is a fascinatingly complicated story. So Jackie's breaking of 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.400 the color barrier was good for the soul of our country. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.879 It moved us in ways socially we never dreamt possible. 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.960 Not only did he spawn integration in baseball, but he 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:15.560 spawned integration in a much broader capacity. All of a sudden, 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.520 those smaller black owned businesses that had been flourishing because 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.480 of the success, primarily of black baseball. Wherever you had 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:26.960 successful black baseball, you typically had thriving Black economies. All 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.159 of a sudden, those smaller black owned businesses could no 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.080 longer compete with those mainstream businesses after they gave access 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.800 to us. Yeah, and they died right alongside the necro leagues. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.080