Some of the greatest players ever were kept out of Major League Baseball for nearly 70 years - due to the collusion of the racist team owners. We visit with Bill Greason, 100, the oldest surviving Negro Leagues player, and baseball historian Larry Lester, to make the case for long-overdue reparations by MLB. We crunch some numbers and calculate the tab to right this historic wrong. It's time to play ball!
SHOW NOTES
Guests: Bill Greason and Larry Lester
Bill Greason, 100, is one of two surviving players from the Negro Leagues. He was a star pitcher for the Birmingham Black Barons and mentor to the great Willie Mays, before becoming the first Black pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1954. He was also one of the first Black U.S. Marines. Rev. Greason has served as a pastor at a Birmingham, AL church for over 50 years.
Larry Lester is the leading Negro Leagues historian. His epic research spanned over 40 years and filled 25 file cabinets in his home. Lester played a pivotal role in the integration of Negro Leagues statistics into the Major League Baseball records in 2024. He also co-founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO.
More on Bill Greason:
- Bill Greason’s biography
- Bill Greason Takes Another Trip Around the Bases at 100 by Joseph King
More on Larry Lester:
- Larry’s website
- Larry’s all-time greatest baseball player: "Bullet" Joe Rogan
- With Deliberate Speed by Larry Lester (article about 1950s baseball integration)
More on baseball integration and reparations:
- Wendell Smith's Vision Helped Clear Jackie Robinson's Path to Majors by Isabelle Minasian
- The Rippling Manifesto by Ernest DiStefano
- View From Third Base (Willie Mays 1960 All-Star Game) by Gary Rhoades
Visit: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (Kansas City, MO)
HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE:
[13:45] Bill Greason describes his navigating the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham
[17:02] Greason compares the quality of play in Black and white baseball
[18:21] Greason on his mentoring the great Willie Mays
[19:57] Greason speaks on the prospect of reparations to Negro Leagues players
[24:22] Larry Lester on the role of the Black press in integrating baseball
[25:38] Lester on his role in helping to integrate the baseball record books
[30:34] Lester compares the quality of play in Black and white baseball
[35:10] Lester on Negro Leagues innovations
[43:38] Adam calculates the $800 million owed by MLB to Negro Leaguers
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