May 1, 2023 • 16 mins
In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Of course this was cause for celebration across the Negro Leagues, however for many players it was a realization that they may never get their chance to play at the highest level due to imposed quotas, discrimination, and age.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball
on April fifteenth, nineteen forty seven, when he started at
first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The celebration of the
historic event had far reaching reactions through the Negro leagues.
For most of the Negro leagues, the molent was a
triumph and was fifty years in the making in baseball. However,
(00:32):
for many there was a realization that the odds of
making it to the major leagues were not attainable, that
there still were many barriers to cross, and then as
a player, you still had to face public opposition to
the segregation of the sport. Our episode begins with baseball
(00:53):
legend Hank And discussing his feelings on being ready to
play in the major leagues and the hope that it
would want day had it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We all felt like if we could be successful playing
in the Negro League, that we could probably play in
the major leagues. I think all of us basically felt
that way because usually the players that especially if you're
a young player and you was playing against players who
had played a little bit longer than you had, they
had been in and some of them had been in
(01:25):
the minor league. Some of them had the experience of
playing against great Negro league players, so we all felt
like if we could have a good year, good season,
that you had chance to play in the major leagues.
I always felt like that would hope. I always felt like,
if you just keep doing your job, that somewhere you
was going to touch somebody's mind and somebody's soul, and
(01:48):
somebody was going to be wise enough to realize the
only thing that you wanted to do was to have
a chance to play baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Here is Ron Barr interviewing all of Fame infielder Earnie Bay,
who discusses the hopes and dreams of Bernie's father and
the possibility of playing in the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Actually, the story goes that your dad had to bribe
you with nickels and dimes to get you to play.
Was that a true story?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
That is true?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Ron?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I really wanted to be international lawyer, and my dad said, well, son,
you got to play baseball because someday, you know, it
was going to be an opportunity for Blacks to play
in the major leagues. And he kind of had a
feeling of that. He's kind of a psychic young man,
and he started me playing and playing. Sure enough, nineteen
(02:38):
forty seven, when Jackie Robinson broke the barrier, he was
just so happy. I still remember his face. He was
just smiling, and I looked at him, I said, what
is going on? He said, well, you know, Jackie Robinson
is playing in the major leagues and now you have
a chance to play. And that was his fourth sight.
And sure enough I played with the Jackie Robinson All Stars.
(02:59):
Barnstam when I was with Kansas City, and Jackie show
me play, and five years later I was playing in
the Major League. So you know, with inspiration, dreams and
target goes, things can happen and everybody's right picture.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Neil Westbrook discusses how the players and fans became quick
fans of the Brooklyn.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Dodgers once baseball integrated with Jackie Robinson. What was the
general reaction among African American players baseball players about that integration,
the selection of Jackie and what lies ahead for black
ball players.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Well, to be fun with you when it first happened,
and I think everybody, maybe not everybody, but a great
number of people know that you know the things that
Jackie went through, and uh and how that you know
he'volved with branch Ricky and and uh and he had
(03:57):
that I don't know he kink was smart enough and
strong enough to take a chance on Jackie. But you
know what happened. I mean they went through a whole
lot and everybody was pulling by Jackie and people in
(04:19):
the South. I would say everybody became a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Saying Professor Leslie Heffey discussedes the impact of breaking the
color barrier on the Negro League players.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Now forty seven. You know, everybody recognizes that's when Jackie Robinson,
Larry Dobe right break down that color barrier and join.
But one has to realize that the Negro Leagues then
continue to exist till least nineteen sixty. Right, So there's death,
but the real heyday of the Negro Leagues, most people mark,
is truly ending by nineteen fifty things because of this
(04:55):
very question. So you've got the older generation that Josh
Gibson of the world, I mean, Satchel is lucky he
does get a chance to go into Major League Baseball,
but so many of them didn't and knew that it
was too late for them, that their time had passed.
That they were not going to the major league. Teams
were not looking for a thirty five year old player.
(05:15):
They're looking for that twenty seven year old player.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Catcher Don Woods discusses the difficulties for some of the
Negro league players.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
One of the things that I have sensed in all
my interviews with the players from the Negro leagues and
back at that particular time, there was no resentment or
anger about what they couldn't do in baseball. There was a,
I guess, a grasp of what they could do and
they wanted to do because of the passion they had
for the game. Am I correct an observation.
Speaker 7 (05:43):
That's pretty close to me and acrid with you. In
that statement, you made a lot of the players they
knew that they were at a certain point at level
in their career playing in Negro baseball, and a lot
of them had to break I have to move up
to the major league, and in some cases, depending upon
(06:04):
that era, they know it's going to be they're very
difficult at that time.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Professor Leslie Heffy points out the pride and support that
many of the older players took in paving the way
for the next generation in baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Some are going to be disappointed, for sure, but for
the most part, and this comes out of talking having
talked to a lot of the new early players and
listening to them really being at the same time is
disappointed for themselves, supportive and happy for those who are
going to get the chance, recognizing that this is what
they all were playing for, was the opportunity to play
(06:41):
at what was considered and recognized as the highest level
of place to play, right And so you could just
imagine the thought process that for them realizing that their
chance came too late, but others were going to get
this chance, and at the same time then realizing that
(07:01):
the way this is going to roll out, the question
of what's this going to mean for all of us,
the opportunity to play may disappear entirely, which is ultimately
what happened.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Picture Dennis Biddle remembers the impact of the older players
and their desire to continue to support their younger teammates.
Speaker 8 (07:21):
I knew I was being trained, being prepared for the
Major League by these old living legends. Most of them
had missed their calling because of it was too old
by the time opportunity came for them, so they they
in return to in the love for baseball. They started
(07:48):
coaching and training and managing the Negro League teams, and
they will looking for young talent prepare for the Major League.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Ron Barr discusses the break king of the color barrier
with outfielders Sam out.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
When Jackie Robinson was finally allowed to break the color
barrier and play in the major leagues, what did it
mean to the other black players.
Speaker 9 (08:11):
Well, that was hope.
Speaker 10 (08:13):
That was hope.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
They knew that they had hope, you know, because nineteen
forty seven you had five blacks that went.
Speaker 11 (08:21):
To the majors in forty seven.
Speaker 9 (08:23):
See, you had Jackie Robinson, you had Dan Bankhead that
was from Memphis was with the Dodgers, and dough We
went with Cleveland, and Hank Thompson and Willard Brown played
with the Saint Louis Browns in forty seven.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Pitcher Ernest Fan discusses the impact of the players who
opened the door for the next generation.
Speaker 11 (08:43):
The one thing that I want people understand that people
don't really think about why we walked out there. Nobody
has asked me that question, but this is the reason
I went on a lot of other Negro League baseball
player win we were trying to putting the to professional
baseball to make it better for our kids, so they
(09:06):
won't have to go through what we went through. That's
why he was not there.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Professor Leslie Heffey points out the importance of choosing Jackie
Robinson and the impact Negro League players could have on
the GA.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Jackie's a good example of that. I think that's exactly
what some of those players s thopt here. They had
this opportunity. They knew he you know, because he signs
at the end of forty five, so they know he's going,
you know, and so the idea that there's this opportunity
to teach him, to show him because he does represent
and they want Jackie, they want Larry, these early guys
(09:38):
in particularly who are going to cross over to be
the best representatives they can be of what black baseball
is all about, right, because that's going to give least
The belief was that that would certainly make it much
more likely that others are going to get a chance.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Right.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
They also wanted here's a chance for a much wider
audience to see just how good blackball players were. And
so you wanted to make sure that whoever was going
to be doing that is going to represent you. And
so the older generation certainly had that desire and responsibility
(10:15):
and saw themselves as yeah, we came before, and it's
only in more recent year that we've sort of looked
back and said, you know, Jackie Robinson didn't just spring
out of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Hall of Fame of Buck O'Neil discusses how important it
was that Jackie excelled in the major leagues.
Speaker 12 (10:32):
He was the right person because actually Jackie actually knew
what it meant. It just wasn't baseball. Jackie knew he
had an empire rank of people, yeah, blacks and this
country on his shoulder, and he missed up, and he
(10:57):
messed up. Well, didn't matter. Fit back at for a
right conferring a fifty million.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Although the barrier was broken, there was still many hurdles
to Negro league players entering the major leagues. Infield. Original
Howard points out how few black players that actually were
in Major League baseball.
Speaker 13 (11:16):
Oh, I was related as a youngster and as a
lot of other people were.
Speaker 9 (11:23):
But then as time evolved.
Speaker 13 (11:25):
You know when your child, you see the child and
thinking of the child when you get over and you
try to think a little different seas a little differently,
and as I began to dialogue more with older people,
older ball paers. In particularly when the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson,
there were eight teams in the American League and eighteens
(11:46):
internationally were twenty five man rosters. If you put the
pencils that you got four hundred major league players now
were one Jackie Robinson sign. You take the one Jackie
Robinson and you divide four hundred and to him to
get the percentage of people that come in. So he
come up with a multi pushed zero in the point
two fires, to which the military seat side of black
(12:09):
baseball said, hey, this is a bunch of cracks.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So integration pitcher Ernest Fan points out that despite the
breaking of the color bart baseball was still segregation by
our quarter system that limited the amount of black players
on a team.
Speaker 11 (12:22):
I didn't really see the buck of segregation and hatred
and credit business until I got into professional baseball. Why
do you think that was because professional baseball didn't want
black in it. Now, I will quote as saying from
my last professional manager, he said, baseball is a white
(12:47):
man's sport. When we're trying to get black players out
of it, And I guess that's why they came up
with this quoter. Now, the two black players on the
field at a time and no more than three on
any team minor league or major league. And that's what
kept me out of the major league because the quarter system.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
He was infielder Reginald Howard and outfielder Sam Allen discussing
the major league quarter system.
Speaker 13 (13:16):
Okay, the quarter system was only four blacks communed team
that one time, at least twenty years.
Speaker 11 (13:22):
After Robinson win.
Speaker 9 (13:25):
Well the well, they had so many great black baseball players, see,
and that was that was the problem. And never you've
never seen so a lot of the great ballplayers never
got a chance to really play in in the majors
and get it going to organized ball because what happened, uh,
some of the players the team's major league teams had
(13:48):
minor league teams in the South. See and down south.
Speaker 13 (13:52):
You had a you had a quarter system that if you.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Played, if you had three blacks on the team, one
of them had to be a picture. So he didn't
play every day. See, you didn't have some more than
two plates at one time.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Hemmy Mason discusses the difficulty of being one of the
only black players on the team. Following Jackie breaking the
Coulorberry Well, let me.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
Tell you, when I went to Schenectady, Jackie had already
broke the colorbar area, but things wasn't just right at
that time. I have a friend, I'm not gonna call
his name, a white boy that was the only one
(14:38):
that would room with me while we were on the road.
As a matter of fact, I just come back from
visiting him. But he was the only one that would
room with me. And that's just the way it was.
That I had a roommate. When i'd go in at night,
maybe nine, ten, eleven o'clock, he would be in the
(15:00):
bed with his head all covered up. When I would
wake up in the morning, he would be up, took
his shower and going. That's the only time that I
saw him until I saw him at the ballpark.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We end this episode with the Hall of Fame my
Hank Aaron, and how he kept prospective and trying to
do the best job he could do in the face
of adversity.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The most important thing was the fact that in spite
of all of the things I had to go through,
I think I kind of kept things in perspective. You know,
I knew that I had a job to do and
if I had not been successful, then I would would
have fell in the hands of the people who wanted
me to fail. So I was not about to let
that happen. I kept things in perspective and I say, hey,
(15:41):
I got to continue to do as well as I
can do and to play this game the only way
that I know how. I think that we knew that
it was given the opportunity, that we had to take
advantage of it, you know, because there were only a
few of us, and we knew that if we failed
that it was going to fall upon the players that
was coming behind.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Us behind the barrier Voices from the Negro Leagues is
narrated by Bill Overton, produced by Taylor Haber. Executive producers
are Jason Wykelp, Darren Peck, and Ron Barr. Please check
out our next episode as well as the episodes in
(16:23):
this series. This series is distributed by Sports Byline USA
and the eight Side Network.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League baseball
on April fifteenth, nineteen forty seven, when he started at
first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The celebration of the
historic event had far reaching reactions through the Negro leagues.
For most of the Negro leagues, the molent was a
triumph and was fifty years in the making in baseball. However,
(00:32):
for many there was a realization that the odds of
making it to the major leagues were not attainable, that
there still were many barriers to cross, and then as
a player, you still had to face public opposition to
the segregation of the sport. Our episode begins with baseball
(00:53):
legend Hank And discussing his feelings on being ready to
play in the major leagues and the hope that it
would want day had it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We all felt like if we could be successful playing
in the Negro League, that we could probably play in
the major leagues. I think all of us basically felt
that way because usually the players that especially if you're
a young player and you was playing against players who
had played a little bit longer than you had, they
had been in and some of them had been in
(01:25):
the minor league. Some of them had the experience of
playing against great Negro league players, so we all felt
like if we could have a good year, good season,
that you had chance to play in the major leagues.
I always felt like that would hope. I always felt like,
if you just keep doing your job, that somewhere you
was going to touch somebody's mind and somebody's soul, and
(01:48):
somebody was going to be wise enough to realize the
only thing that you wanted to do was to have
a chance to play baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Here is Ron Barr interviewing all of Fame infielder Earnie Bay,
who discusses the hopes and dreams of Bernie's father and
the possibility of playing in the major leagues.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Actually, the story goes that your dad had to bribe
you with nickels and dimes to get you to play.
Was that a true story?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
That is true?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Ron?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I really wanted to be international lawyer, and my dad said, well, son,
you got to play baseball because someday, you know, it
was going to be an opportunity for Blacks to play
in the major leagues. And he kind of had a
feeling of that. He's kind of a psychic young man,
and he started me playing and playing. Sure enough, nineteen
(02:38):
forty seven, when Jackie Robinson broke the barrier, he was
just so happy. I still remember his face. He was
just smiling, and I looked at him, I said, what
is going on? He said, well, you know, Jackie Robinson
is playing in the major leagues and now you have
a chance to play. And that was his fourth sight.
And sure enough I played with the Jackie Robinson All Stars.
(02:59):
Barnstam when I was with Kansas City, and Jackie show
me play, and five years later I was playing in
the Major League. So you know, with inspiration, dreams and
target goes, things can happen and everybody's right picture.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Neil Westbrook discusses how the players and fans became quick
fans of the Brooklyn.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Dodgers once baseball integrated with Jackie Robinson. What was the
general reaction among African American players baseball players about that integration,
the selection of Jackie and what lies ahead for black
ball players.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Well, to be fun with you when it first happened,
and I think everybody, maybe not everybody, but a great
number of people know that you know the things that
Jackie went through, and uh and how that you know
he'volved with branch Ricky and and uh and he had
(03:57):
that I don't know he kink was smart enough and
strong enough to take a chance on Jackie. But you
know what happened. I mean they went through a whole
lot and everybody was pulling by Jackie and people in
(04:19):
the South. I would say everybody became a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Saying Professor Leslie Heffey discussedes the impact of breaking the
color barrier on the Negro League players.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
Now forty seven. You know, everybody recognizes that's when Jackie Robinson,
Larry Dobe right break down that color barrier and join.
But one has to realize that the Negro Leagues then
continue to exist till least nineteen sixty. Right, So there's death,
but the real heyday of the Negro Leagues, most people mark,
is truly ending by nineteen fifty things because of this
(04:55):
very question. So you've got the older generation that Josh
Gibson of the world, I mean, Satchel is lucky he
does get a chance to go into Major League Baseball,
but so many of them didn't and knew that it
was too late for them, that their time had passed.
That they were not going to the major league. Teams
were not looking for a thirty five year old player.
(05:15):
They're looking for that twenty seven year old player.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Catcher Don Woods discusses the difficulties for some of the
Negro league players.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
One of the things that I have sensed in all
my interviews with the players from the Negro leagues and
back at that particular time, there was no resentment or
anger about what they couldn't do in baseball. There was a,
I guess, a grasp of what they could do and
they wanted to do because of the passion they had
for the game. Am I correct an observation.
Speaker 7 (05:43):
That's pretty close to me and acrid with you. In
that statement, you made a lot of the players they
knew that they were at a certain point at level
in their career playing in Negro baseball, and a lot
of them had to break I have to move up
to the major league, and in some cases, depending upon
(06:04):
that era, they know it's going to be they're very
difficult at that time.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Professor Leslie Heffy points out the pride and support that
many of the older players took in paving the way
for the next generation in baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
Some are going to be disappointed, for sure, but for
the most part, and this comes out of talking having
talked to a lot of the new early players and
listening to them really being at the same time is
disappointed for themselves, supportive and happy for those who are
going to get the chance, recognizing that this is what
they all were playing for, was the opportunity to play
(06:41):
at what was considered and recognized as the highest level
of place to play, right And so you could just
imagine the thought process that for them realizing that their
chance came too late, but others were going to get
this chance, and at the same time then realizing that
(07:01):
the way this is going to roll out, the question
of what's this going to mean for all of us,
the opportunity to play may disappear entirely, which is ultimately
what happened.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Picture Dennis Biddle remembers the impact of the older players
and their desire to continue to support their younger teammates.
Speaker 8 (07:21):
I knew I was being trained, being prepared for the
Major League by these old living legends. Most of them
had missed their calling because of it was too old
by the time opportunity came for them, so they they
in return to in the love for baseball. They started
(07:48):
coaching and training and managing the Negro League teams, and
they will looking for young talent prepare for the Major League.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Ron Barr discusses the break king of the color barrier
with outfielders Sam out.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
When Jackie Robinson was finally allowed to break the color
barrier and play in the major leagues, what did it
mean to the other black players.
Speaker 9 (08:11):
Well, that was hope.
Speaker 10 (08:13):
That was hope.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
They knew that they had hope, you know, because nineteen
forty seven you had five blacks that went.
Speaker 11 (08:21):
To the majors in forty seven.
Speaker 9 (08:23):
See, you had Jackie Robinson, you had Dan Bankhead that
was from Memphis was with the Dodgers, and dough We
went with Cleveland, and Hank Thompson and Willard Brown played
with the Saint Louis Browns in forty seven.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Pitcher Ernest Fan discusses the impact of the players who
opened the door for the next generation.
Speaker 11 (08:43):
The one thing that I want people understand that people
don't really think about why we walked out there. Nobody
has asked me that question, but this is the reason
I went on a lot of other Negro League baseball
player win we were trying to putting the to professional
baseball to make it better for our kids, so they
(09:06):
won't have to go through what we went through. That's
why he was not there.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Professor Leslie Heffey points out the importance of choosing Jackie
Robinson and the impact Negro League players could have on
the GA.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Jackie's a good example of that. I think that's exactly
what some of those players s thopt here. They had
this opportunity. They knew he you know, because he signs
at the end of forty five, so they know he's going,
you know, and so the idea that there's this opportunity
to teach him, to show him because he does represent
and they want Jackie, they want Larry, these early guys
(09:38):
in particularly who are going to cross over to be
the best representatives they can be of what black baseball
is all about, right, because that's going to give least
The belief was that that would certainly make it much
more likely that others are going to get a chance.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Right.
Speaker 6 (09:55):
They also wanted here's a chance for a much wider
audience to see just how good blackball players were. And
so you wanted to make sure that whoever was going
to be doing that is going to represent you. And
so the older generation certainly had that desire and responsibility
(10:15):
and saw themselves as yeah, we came before, and it's
only in more recent year that we've sort of looked
back and said, you know, Jackie Robinson didn't just spring
out of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Hall of Fame of Buck O'Neil discusses how important it
was that Jackie excelled in the major leagues.
Speaker 12 (10:32):
He was the right person because actually Jackie actually knew
what it meant. It just wasn't baseball. Jackie knew he
had an empire rank of people, yeah, blacks and this
country on his shoulder, and he missed up, and he
(10:57):
messed up. Well, didn't matter. Fit back at for a
right conferring a fifty million.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Although the barrier was broken, there was still many hurdles
to Negro league players entering the major leagues. Infield. Original
Howard points out how few black players that actually were
in Major League baseball.
Speaker 13 (11:16):
Oh, I was related as a youngster and as a
lot of other people were.
Speaker 9 (11:23):
But then as time evolved.
Speaker 13 (11:25):
You know when your child, you see the child and
thinking of the child when you get over and you
try to think a little different seas a little differently,
and as I began to dialogue more with older people,
older ball paers. In particularly when the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson,
there were eight teams in the American League and eighteens
(11:46):
internationally were twenty five man rosters. If you put the
pencils that you got four hundred major league players now
were one Jackie Robinson sign. You take the one Jackie
Robinson and you divide four hundred and to him to
get the percentage of people that come in. So he
come up with a multi pushed zero in the point
two fires, to which the military seat side of black
(12:09):
baseball said, hey, this is a bunch of cracks.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So integration pitcher Ernest Fan points out that despite the
breaking of the color bart baseball was still segregation by
our quarter system that limited the amount of black players
on a team.
Speaker 11 (12:22):
I didn't really see the buck of segregation and hatred
and credit business until I got into professional baseball. Why
do you think that was because professional baseball didn't want
black in it. Now, I will quote as saying from
my last professional manager, he said, baseball is a white
(12:47):
man's sport. When we're trying to get black players out
of it, And I guess that's why they came up
with this quoter. Now, the two black players on the
field at a time and no more than three on
any team minor league or major league. And that's what
kept me out of the major league because the quarter system.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
He was infielder Reginald Howard and outfielder Sam Allen discussing
the major league quarter system.
Speaker 13 (13:16):
Okay, the quarter system was only four blacks communed team
that one time, at least twenty years.
Speaker 11 (13:22):
After Robinson win.
Speaker 9 (13:25):
Well the well, they had so many great black baseball players, see,
and that was that was the problem. And never you've
never seen so a lot of the great ballplayers never
got a chance to really play in in the majors
and get it going to organized ball because what happened, uh,
some of the players the team's major league teams had
(13:48):
minor league teams in the South. See and down south.
Speaker 13 (13:52):
You had a you had a quarter system that if you.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Played, if you had three blacks on the team, one
of them had to be a picture. So he didn't
play every day. See, you didn't have some more than
two plates at one time.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Hemmy Mason discusses the difficulty of being one of the
only black players on the team. Following Jackie breaking the
Coulorberry Well, let me.
Speaker 10 (14:16):
Tell you, when I went to Schenectady, Jackie had already
broke the colorbar area, but things wasn't just right at
that time. I have a friend, I'm not gonna call
his name, a white boy that was the only one
(14:38):
that would room with me while we were on the road.
As a matter of fact, I just come back from
visiting him. But he was the only one that would
room with me. And that's just the way it was.
That I had a roommate. When i'd go in at night,
maybe nine, ten, eleven o'clock, he would be in the
(15:00):
bed with his head all covered up. When I would
wake up in the morning, he would be up, took
his shower and going. That's the only time that I
saw him until I saw him at the ballpark.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We end this episode with the Hall of Fame my
Hank Aaron, and how he kept prospective and trying to
do the best job he could do in the face
of adversity.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
The most important thing was the fact that in spite
of all of the things I had to go through,
I think I kind of kept things in perspective. You know,
I knew that I had a job to do and
if I had not been successful, then I would would
have fell in the hands of the people who wanted
me to fail. So I was not about to let
that happen. I kept things in perspective and I say, hey,
(15:41):
I got to continue to do as well as I
can do and to play this game the only way
that I know how. I think that we knew that
it was given the opportunity, that we had to take
advantage of it, you know, because there were only a
few of us, and we knew that if we failed
that it was going to fall upon the players that
was coming behind.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Us behind the barrier Voices from the Negro Leagues is
narrated by Bill Overton, produced by Taylor Haber. Executive producers
are Jason Wykelp, Darren Peck, and Ron Barr. Please check
out our next episode as well as the episodes in
(16:23):
this series. This series is distributed by Sports Byline USA
and the eight Side Network.
Host
Bill Overton
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