- This is meant to be a love letter.

A love letter to our sons.

The very ones whose dreams we hold as our journeys unfold that no one told us would wrestle in our hearts.

(poignant music) It's hard to know where to start, but I wanna do my part to call attention to an unhonorable mention.

The decline of the very thing to which their dreams cling: baseball.

Where will their dreams fall?

Will they have a seat?

Can these odds be beat?

My concern is not whether they'll have a spot, but if they'll be denied a shot.

And this is not to point blame or bring shame.

It's to bring equity to the game we love and claim.

It's an effort to petition the tradition that limits the admission to Black competition.

Baseball.

This is also a love letter to you.

It's an exploration, a conversation, to pull back the cover and discover what's behind the decline.

(jet engine whining) Is it the travel ball expense?

Those many dollars that don't make sense?

Is it the lack of recruitment?

Does race play a hand?

Or is it the misperceptions or the cultural norms most don't quite understand?

Do we have a different set of standards?

Or is the game just not cool?

Do we like the tools?

Or are we written out by the unwritten rules?

I hope that this will be an education, that this will spark a transformation in the game we know and love.

This is "Black to the Bigs."

(intense music) (crowd cheers) - [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the playing of our national anthem.

- The thing that we love about baseball is its tradition.

- [Commentator] The run that won the game and the World Series for the Detroit Tigers.

- The thing that has hurt baseball is its tradition.

- [Commentator] And this made the Cincinnati Reds champions of the baseball world.

(crowd cheers) (fireworks exploding) (planes whooshing) (unnerving music) - [Sportscaster] The number of African American players in Major League Baseball is under 8%.

(unnerving music continues) - [Commenter] Gone are the days of Griffey, Gwynn, and Henderson.

- For the first time since 1950, there are no American-born Black players expected to play this year.

(mysterious synth music) - It was brought to light when we had zero in the World Series.

If we'd had one, there wouldn't have been any talk.

- Black American players have hovered around 7%.

As we start 2023, that number has dipped.

(jarring rumble) - The decline of Black players in Major League Baseball is incredibly disappointing.

- We have less participation by African Americans in Major League Baseball today than since the time of Jackie Robinson.

There's something wrong with that.

(dramatic music) - When I was in the game in the mid '70s, '80s, '90s, there were 20% Black players on the field.

- Our system in baseball is broken.

- We've made progress, but now we appear to be going backwards.

(dramatic piano music) - Baseball has always been a big part of African American culture.

It was the only professional sport that we got to have.

It was the first one.

- We can talk about it all day long.

What are we gonna do about it?

(upbeat funky music) ♪ Say who's gonna win ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Runners on first, second, third, you heard ♪ ♪ Steal home like Jackie, say the word ♪ ♪ Shadow ball, caught at the top of the wall ♪ ♪ Ken Griffey Jr., go to the mall ♪ ♪ So many others rode the trains and the buses ♪ ♪ To the jet planes now, so where are my brothers ♪ ♪ Ernie Banks to Mookie Betts ♪ ♪ Where's the future from the Little League best ♪ ♪ the diamond's missing that cultural mix ♪ ♪ African American baseball from 18% down to six ♪ ♪ Wondering where the Black players are in baseball ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Bigs, Bigs ♪ ♪ Let's get Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Let's get Black to the ♪ (soft piano music) - [AD] Slate six.

(slate claps) There.

- Why are you such a sleepy head?

My son has loved baseball since the time he could talk.

Miles and Daddy.

- Batter, batter, swing!

- [Dad] Good pitch!

- Knowing how deep rooted the dream is... (crowd cheering) (poignant music) Especially knowing all the time, the commitment; I can't help but wonder, given the numbers that we have currently, if there's gonna be room to fulfill that dream.

(soft piano music fades) (mellow bass music) - [Production Assistant] Harold Reynolds, take one, style six.

(slate claps) - [Interviewer] Great.

Appreciate it.

(crowd faintly cheers) - The subject of Blacks in baseball is always looked at as a negative connotation.

It has to be addressed.

But it's also a great story, and I think there's power in this story.

And you're gonna have to go through the hard time to understand the greatness.

Looking back on American history, it isn't beautiful.

(protesters chanting) Sometimes you gotta fight through it to see the beauty in it and go, "I understand where I'm at now."

- It wasn't just a national pastime for white people, it was for Black people as well.

(crowd faintly cheers) - What made me choose baseball?

The love of the game.

I think people look at it and go, you know, having a dad who played.

My dad didn't force me to to play baseball.

He didn't force me to do anything.

- [Commentator] Breaking ball, hammered down the line!

A J-Bomb!

(crowd cheering) Jordan Walker's first Big League homer!

(fireworks exploding) - I really got started in baseball because of my grandfather.

He really inspired me.

When I was three, I think two, three-years-old, he owned a team called the Black Yankees.

It was a little travel team.

It was a bunch of guys from all around the city.

He made a jersey for me, even though I wasn't legally a part of the team.

I was number 1 1/2.

And I'd be running around the bases, and ever since then, I knew I loved baseball.

(calming music) - Baseball to me will always mean family.

When I think of baseball, the first thing I think about is family.

The first baseball game I ever went to, my dad took my brothers, all of my brothers and myself to a Mets game on Father's Day.

And years later, when my dad passed... Damn.

Years later when my dad passed- Why am I getting emotional right now?

Years later when my dad passed, my brothers, we all went to a baseball game together, and it was Father's Day.

And I just remember that.

Yeah.

- [Commentator 1] Singleton back at the fence, jumps, he makes the catch!

- [Commentator 2] Yes!

- [Commentator 1] Yes!

- [Commentator 2] Wow!

- [Commentator 1] What a play by Chris Singleton!

- For me, as a kid, it was an early love.

About eight-years-old, entered into Little League, and I can remember my Little League opening day parade like it was yesterday.

It was the most special thing that I experienced up until that point in my life, and even when I look back, and I think about all the things that I have accomplished and that I've been a part of, still, that Little League opening day, being in the back of my coach's El Camino, Western Motors was the name of our team.

- And when I was 10-years-old, the Yankees and the Braves played in the World Series.

That was '57-'58.

- [Reporter] World Series time.

And their baseball heroes, the Milwaukee Braves, are matched the second consecutive year against the New York Yankees (archaic marching band music) for the baseball championship of the world.

- That's Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron.

Those were my guys.

And when I was 10-years-old, I said, "I wanna play a World Series."

That's how good God is.

- You know, I was a fan of the game immediately, because my father was a fan of the game.

He loved baseball.

He loved baseball because of Jackie Robinson.

(gentle music) - What inspired me to even drive myself to play the game was how much Jackie Robinson fought for us to be able to play the game.

(soft piano music) (ball knocks off bat) - There's no Martin Luther without Jackie Robinson.

The foundation of the African American community was surrounded on the Negro Leagues.

I mean, you look at all the things that happened from players out of the Negro Leagues that went on and integrated other sports, integrated businesses, civil right movements, you name it, that was how important baseball was as a foundation to the African American community.

(soft poignant music) - [Interviewer] Thank you.

- Yeah, when we talk about African Americans or Hispanic players playing a professional team sport in this country, all roads indeed lead back to the Negro Leagues.

- [Reporter] It's a sport that appeals to all ages, to all groups.

The sound of a ball meeting a bat is a familiar ring to millions of people round the world.

- The story of the Negro Leagues is one that emerged obviously out of American segregation.

(soft music continues) But it was driven by a principle.

"You won't let me play with you in the Major Leagues, okay, I'll create my own league."

(bat cracks) (crowd cheers) (soft dramatic synth music) - It's not just whites playing a game on a diamond anymore.

Suddenly, it was a new beginning.

(dramatic beat) - Integration is not something that has set us back.

It is the absence.

See, I make a distinction between desegregation and integration.

Integration implies that there's some equity, that there's some equality of opportunity.

Desegregation means you were forced to do something against your will.

So once you do it, you also have these nuances.

"Well, I'm gonna discriminate against you anyway, even though it's in a quote, unquote 'desegregated environment.'"

- So really, it wasn't a merger.

(chuckles) It's more of an acquisition.

So, these communities immediately lost an economic stronghold because of integration.

Now I'm not saying should it have never happened?

That'll probably be saved for another documentary (laughs) about that.

(mellow jazzy music) - The handwriting was on the wall.

If we integrated, and we were gonna admit the end of the Negro Leagues, it's also gonna mean that the Black community was going to suffer economically, because whenever a Negro League team came to town, it meant they brought in more business.

- And to a great extent, Black economy never recovered from losing the Negro Leagues.

(mellow jazzy music) (date panels patter) - It has become the modern American family pastime, traveling the country to compete in youth sports.

- All right, so here's a question for you.

Would you spend 10,000, 12,000, $15,000 or more on a teenager's summer sport?

- The days of sandlot baseball, and it pains me to say this, it's over.

(crunchy industrial music) - It doesn't make any sense how expensive baseball is.

You're traveling, you know, two, three times a summer, two three times a fall, two three times winter, spring.

(crunchy industrial music continues) (register clacking) (bell dings) (change clatters) - There used to be Little League teams.

African American Little League teams.

I played in a Little League team.

If you go to my hometown Oxford now, there's no Little League team.

(crunchy industrial music continues) (radio signal whines) (percussive upbeat music) (radio signal whines) (percussive upbeat music resumes) - I think there's a decline of Blacks in baseball because when people realized that they could profit off of youth baseball, then it pushed Black folks out.

(soft dramatic piano music) - It's no mystery when we look at the challenges and the barriers to entry in the sport.

(soft dramatic music) - From travel ball and the socioeconomic disparities between various communities.

- The reality is that this is not ancient history, this is living history.

(soft dramatic music continues) - I think that's probably the biggest issue, is the financial aspect of it and the lack of facilities.

If you could drive through Southwest Atlanta, you're not gonna find too many great diamonds, right?

Whereas if you go out to where the money is, 30 minutes out, you're gonna see the best indoor facilities, you know, the best of everything.

And I think the biggest part of it is lack of investment.

Right?

(money counter whirring) (bell dings) - Anytime they say it ain't about the money, it's always about the money.

- You know, when I was coming up in Philly, I mean, this is ages ago.

It was either free or was like 25 to 50 bucks.

That was it.

- When I was a kid, you know, you'd play for free, or $20 or something like that.

- The game that I knew and love was once a blue collar sport.

Today it is a country club sport.

(club swooshes, whacks) - [Commentator] There's a drive, deep down the line!

Right field, buh-bye!

A grand slam!

(crowd roaring) J.P.

Crawford, back to back dynamic nights!

- You need a bat, you need a glove, you need a cleat, you need helmet, you need balls.

All of that's five, 600 bucks later, and a lot of parents don't have that.

(soft music) (bat crack echoes) - You know, they don't have the five and six pairs of shoes.

They don't have the batting gloves, the wristbands.

They don't have all that.

They have the bare minimum.

And they go out there and play.

- It doesn't take much to play football, it doesn't take much to play basketball.

All you need is a basketball and a hoop.

All you need is a football and a lawn.

- You now have to be able to hire your own personal pitching coach and hitting coach if you're going to compete, and for these limited opportunities in our sport.

We've got to do something about that.

- If I'd have went and asked my mother for some money to take a pitching lesson, she would've looked at me like I was crazy.

So I had chalk.

Chalked out a strike zone on the wall, start throwing that rubber ball every day.

Watched the Cubs.

If they win, I go out and imitate Lee Smith, and throw that big fastball and strike 'em out.

(crowd cheers) - [Commentator] So Puckett goes 0 for 3.

- When you were growing up and back in the day, you had coaches that volunteered everywhere, not just in the African American community, it was all over the United States where people volunteered, they did it for the love of the game.

They cared about the kids.

They wanted the best for them.

And now it's become a money maker.

Youth sports is a money maker.

- [Reporter] It's championship time tonight at the 9U level, the Gold 9U National All-State Select Championship.

It is the most outstanding players across the country who represent their state... - Travel ball's about money.

Let's not get that twisted.

(soft dramatic music) - You gotta get an opportunity now to get in that Perfect Game world to get the exposure that you need.

(soft dramatic music continues) - Perfect Game is one of the biggest real estate holding companies in the country, because of all the fields that they have been able to obtain and purchase for these tournaments.

And so, it's big business.

- We call it baseball, but it's still business.

This is business.

Unfortunate, but true.

- And that's where our system's broken.

And nobody gets hurt more than the African American player.

(upbeat Latin music) (vocalist singing in Spanish) (bat cracks) (crowd cheers) (airplane whooshes) - I mean, you look at, you know, Venezuela, Dominican, you know, Puerto Rico.

I mean, they've got places for these kids to develop.

We don't have that in the US.

(tense music) - Because they can get more volume of players for the same amount of money they can get one player in the draft.

- You know, you can come in there six-years-old, and play in those academies for 10 years, and that improves your baseball game dramatically.

- Those kids, when they graduate in Latin American countries from high school, they're only gonna make $3,000 a year.

So for them, it's survival.

And when it's survival, you work a little harder.

When it's survival, you do a little bit more.

- This is what they do every day.

And their way to come across, as we say, that water, to get over here to the land of the free, to play the game that they love.

Baseball really being their ticket out.

- Scouts are going over to the Dominican Republic and other places, and they're coming back with outstanding athletes, and I get that, but you can start playing baseball at 16-years-old, and sign a professional contract at 16-years-old, when any kid, whether he's Black or white, in America cannot sign a professional contract at 16-years-old, it kind of gives them a head start.

- That player in the draft does not guarantee that in three or four years down the road, that that player is gonna get to the Major Leagues.

When you have 50 players signed with that money divided by them, you can get two or three players into the Major Leagues.

- I had a mom tell me once, you know, "I trust God, 'cause God knows my son's soul."

Guess what?

That kid over in the Dominican, who doesn't have a roof over his family's head, God knows his soul too.

It's business.

(soft mysterious music) But then in addition to that, you reduced the roster spots on teams, so you could no longer have a team that could carry 50 players, you know, sitting there, developing.

Now those spots are more coveted.

- [Larry] All right, Larry Krueger here from the Pig in a Pickle Krueg Show.

- A bit of a revolution taking place with the shrinking of Major League Baseball.

The way a minor league team works costs us so much money to have as many teams as we do.

If everybody has one less team, 27 to 30 less players, you know, you've got more revenue to spread around.

(ominous music) (crowd cheers) - Every player, no matter where they're drafted, who they are, when they come up, they have to be ready to go.

And we don't have the ability to say, "Hey, we're gonna give this guy three years to develop."

No, he need to be a really good baseball player today.

- So where do we develop?

If we can't develop in travel ball, if we can't develop within our communities, because our communities don't necessarily carry all the best talent.

So then where, you know, where are you supposed to gain the knowledge and information to compete at the next level?

- You don't learn baseball over a weekend at a tournament.

You learn baseball over a season.

And then you start the next season where you left off and it's another learning experience.

- If this same system would've been in place when Hank Aaron and Willie Mays came along, we'd have missed the best players in the game.

(soft music) - When we talk about the decline of Black players in baseball, we forget to also mention that one of the other factors is the way that the game is played.

Let's talk about the culture of the game.

(tense music) (keyboard clacks) - "Play the game the right way."

- That's a tough, I mean, that's a tough subject, you know?

Playing the game the right way.

Because, what is the right way now?

(chuckles) - It's the only game where there's a right way to play the game, the white way.

the way it was played 100 years ago, when only whites were allowed to play.

(bat cracks) (crowd cheers) - It's a weird notion that if you celebrate too much, the next time you get up to bat, they'll throw a baseball at your head.

And that's to keep you in line.

- [Commentator] And the Royals tied it.

(crowd boos) - [Commentator] Baseball's supposed to be fun, and why can't we just go ahead and play baseball?

- You could have a white player that comes into the dugout after he makes an out or strikes out, throws his stuff, goes on a rant, kicks the cooler, does all of these things- - [Commentator] After the inning, Tommy Kahnle very angry, obviously at himself.

- And he's looked at as a guy who really cares.

Now you flip that coin, and the narrative that we would see oftentimes if it was a Black player- - Who might do the exact same thing, and yet they are labeled as uncoachable, belligerent.

If he is not careful, that will come back and bite him.

(soft dramatic string music) - Because it's true, like, everyone's just looking to tear you down at any chance possible.

(soft dramatic music fades) - You know, we got all these doggone unwritten rules in baseball.

I don't know what these unwritten rules are.

I just know that they didn't apply in the Negro Leagues.

So if you didn't want me to flip my bat, then get me out.

- [Commentator] Oh, Junior putting on a show now!

- It took people like Ken Griffey Jr., who was just respectable as any other baseball player, respected the game, held the game in high honor, played the game in high honor just like anyone else, but also brought, you know, a little style, a little flavor to it.

I do think it took people like him to kind of relax some of those standards.

(throbbing electronic music) (digital beep) (keyboard clacking) - We got to get the cool back in baseball again.

See, the Negro Leagues had that cool factor.

They had what kids call that "swag, " that flair.

The way they played the game.

(loose jazz bass music) - Baseball was the sport.

You could see, you know, older Black men talking about baseball and players, and Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

- [Commentator] Willie Mays gave this crowd of 52,751 an unforgettable sight.

- It was just cool.

- Baseball was so loved by jazz musicians.

♪ I'm a Brooklyn fan from this side of the river ♪ ♪ Every time the Dodgers play, I holler and I shiver ♪ - Louis Armstrong owned a team, Bojangles owned a team.

Ella Fitzgerald grew up loving baseball.

- There was a level of pride that you sensed.

Even though we were still a minority, there was still this level of pride in playing the sport that seemed to kind to have shifted over time more towards basketball and law enforcement.

(intriguing electronic music) - Football, basketball, they're fast-paced sports.

In basketball, you make a shot, miss a shot, the other team's already on defense.

Like, offense and defense switch really rapidly.

- [Commentator] With a full head of steam... - [Commentator 2] Throws it down!

- When I was playing in the Negro League I thought the game was a lot more exciting, and I have a tough time going out to ball games and watching them.

But every once in a while, a player like Mookie Betts would come along and make the game very exciting - You had Ozzie Smith doing back flips.

- [Commentator] Here we go.

(crowd cheering) - I'm going to a game to watch that.

You had Ricky Henderson stealing base after base, drawing headlights on his toes.

So that he could see where he was going on the base path.

Having fun with the game.

- And if you're a young kid, looking at your TV and seeing people you wanna look up to, it's rare that you would see a Black baseball player anywhere on TV that you're like, "Hey, I wanna be like him one day."

- We could be like the NBA we could be like the, you know, NFL players too.

We got swag.

- [Commentator] (laughs) That's right, enjoy it.

- Our flavor is something that people like but then our flavor is something that people kinda shy away from.

(upbeat drumming music) (crowd cheering) (klaxon blasting) - And I hope, as the game continues to grow, and we add more players of different shades of color to this game, that we don't try to stifle that personality, and let it shine.

- [Commentator] The Marlins' first grand slam of the year!

- [Commentator] Oh.

(crowd cheering) - Our coaches, our administrators forget that African Americans need that sense of community.

That's our culture, that's how we live.

We need to be united and feel together.

That there's someone else who understands us, and we can talk each to other in the way we like to communicate without feeling like we're being watched, or being interviewed, or being evaluated.

- And we, our culture, we rely on individuality.

We're good at it.

(laughs) There's something special about it.

It's magic.

- [Jazz] Well, I'm just adding a little bit of flavor.

- What are the misperceptions of young Black athletes?

Why are we so misperceived?

- The misperceptions of Black players is one of the hardest things to look past and to seek understanding on.

(crunchy industrial music) - When I walk into a room full of athletes, there are certain extra layers that I may not be thinking about that I may not understand that African American athletes have to think about.

Which is, "How am I being viewed based on how I look, how I talk, how I act, that is normative for my culture, but may not be normative for the majority?"

And that adds an extra layer of stress.

- Most of it is just like, "Why is it like this?

Why do we have to act a certain way?

Why do they view you as somebody you're not?"

(bat cracks) (soft music) - The toughest thing, and one of the lessons that I remember talking to my scouts about a long time ago is, don't stereotype and make wrong decisions based on cultural things that you don't understand.

- As a player, you're already walking into that locker room, probably the only one.

But now I gotta get out on the field and hold myself back too, because someone might perceive me as something other than what I am?

As showboaty?

When if I play fun, then I'm gonna be even better at what I'm doing?

- And if you step outside of those kinds of standards that they've set, then maybe it makes it a little bit more challenging for you to be able to grow your career, because you don't really wanna ruffle any feathers.

- [Commentator] Go ahead, run at first, as Betts launches a fly ball to left center field.

It is gone!

(crowd cheers) - This game is so hard.

It's built off failure.

So, you know, you don't want to have this big, loud personality, and doing all these things, and being viewed this certain way, and you're playing a game that you're really supposed to fail at all the time.

And then that just gives them more ammo to talk about you.

- At least get a chance to know somebody before you make an opinion of that person.

(calming music) - An African American kid is still judged by his hair.

- You know, my deep, dark secret is, you know, I'm a child of the '60s and '70s.

I had long hair when I was in college.

- Back in the day when I was playing, it was a big deal to have an Afro, and I was proud of that.

(funky music) - In baseball, they want us to conform, and in society, we have to conform to get along.

- As an example, there was a scout that was going on a home visit, and the kid wore, a Black kid wore khakis and his Jordans.

And he went back into the war room, the scouting room, and complained about how the kid couldn't even dress up for his visit.

We all know in our community that if you pulled out your Jordans (laughs), and you put on some khakis, you were dressed up.

- Here's a story real quick.

I was doing WNBC, Radio 50,000 Watts, in New York City.

We went to do a remote over in Wanaque, New Jersey, a place called Manny's which was a notable sports bar at the time.

We drive up and they got a big marquee, and it has, you know, "Welcome to Dave Sims of WNBC Sports Night."

So I turned around, a guy stops and asks us, and he introduced himself.

It gave away, I said, "Hey Manny, how are ya?

Thanks for having us over."

Then I look up at the marquee they got my name spelled with two Ms.

Phil Simms uses two Ms, he says, "Geez, we thought you were white."

- Is that uh, is one M, is that the Black spelling?

(Dave laughing) Is that... I mean, I don't... You're the only Sims that I know who's Black, so is it just a one M, is that... Did the other M drop in the ocean on the way over?

- On the trip, yeah.

Right.

- You know, I mean... (laughs) My goodness.

- I get kicked out of one game my entire life, and it's the game the national crosschecker Hall of Fame player is at.

But it's the backstory that's so important here.

Now, I get kicked outta the game in the first inning.

I beat out a ground ball, turn up, "Come on, Bob, you know I beat that out.

"No, Harold.

I got ya."

So it's third out of the inning, I take my helmet, I'm throwing it to my coach, and I'm going out to shortstop, and I hear this, "You're outta here!"

Turn around like, "What are you doing?"

I'm throwing my helmet to Gary, he's jogging by.

And he goes, "No, Harold, we got a new rule this year.

If you throw equipment, we gotta eject you.

And you're the best player in the league, and if I don't enforce it with you, nobody will follow."

So, innocent to him, but it ended up being a big implication.

Six years later, playing in my first Major League All-Star game.

- [Commentator] Well, was gonna pick him up, except for a great catch by Harold Reynolds!

- They say to Bobby, "Hey, you ever see Harold play before he got to the big leagues?"

And then he says, "I saw him get kicked out of a game and I wrote down "bad attitude."

He didn't have time to get to know me.

He just quickly judged me and moved on.

His word carried so much weight, I dropped to the sixth round.

Not the sixth pick.

I went from possibly the second pick in the country to the sixth round.

So I had carried that stigma for a while until I got a chance to play every day, and people got to see me play every day in pro ball.

But I didn't get drafted in the top of the draft because of that one perception.

Now how many Black players are in our league?

One.

Now I'm not saying it's just because I'm Black, but those are the things that a lot of Black kids go through, where the perception is way heavier on us than it is on a lot of other players.

- It's horrible to say, but you know, a kid was killed 'cause he had a hoodie on.

It was a misperception of just this over his head meant "I perceived it to be a threat."

So that's how far the misperception can go.

- And so what happens sometimes is the African American athlete will sometimes want to code switch to be something that they're not.

- "Because I'm gonna judge you based on the way you wear your hair, based on the way you dress, based on where you come from, based on who your family is."

All these are discriminating factors that should have no place in Major League Baseball.

- Baseball doesn't seem like a game that is trying to progress as much as the other sports.

So baseball still feels old.

And if it feels old, then it feels white.

And that's why Black youth don't gravitate towards it.

(crunchy industrial music) - I'm just a kid, and I got called into the Cincinnati Reds office, and they told me I was hanging with the Black players too much.

- [Reporter] Reds owner Marge Schott made a racist, derogatory comment toward African American players.

- In this world, there still are people, there were people when I was playing, and there's still people to this day, we're never really gonna get away from, whether it's racism or bias, it just exists.

- I've sat in many ballparks.

And when scouts start talking about players, I've heard comments you wouldn't believe about a Black player.

- We got a long way to go, like as a whole, right?

When it comes to race, just in general, you know?

And I think being a really diverse team mixed with a lot of races, and going out and playing in these really rural areas against these really rural teams, they'd let you know really quickly that they didn't view progress the same way you were at the time.

(soft reflective music) - I know I was the 10th.

- And I was number six in the history of baseball.

I had a supervisor, the head supervisor come in to locker room.

He shook everybody's hand but mine.

You know how that made me feel?

He did it on purpose.

He walked right by me.

They know who every umpire is, it wasn't a surprise to him.

And even after it was over and I told the guys, did they see that, they were like in amazement, like, "Oh, no, he probably just didn't see you."

You don't miss this.

Too many freckles.

(gentle music) Two World Series later, two All-Stars games, many playoffs.

I'm very proud of my career.

- We're on more display in the world, so we're taking more heat from media, people, and it becomes overwhelming to the point where I've had stretches where I wasn't even emotional, because I didn't even wanna deal with the backlash.

And during points in my career, I would just kind of try to stone-face it, and really trying to downplay it.

But then I started to realize that I was taking away from me as a human being, taking away from my performance, taking away from everything.

- It's a huge problem because these athletes don't have those opportunities to relate to people that look and sound like them.

- But we need to make sure that that is not the case.

That they are being judged as unbiasedly as they possibly can when they come in and start to look at these kids who are from urban communities, and in places where they don't necessarily get all of the attention that they should be getting.

(soft vocal music) - The perception extends also to, I mean we talk about the Black players, I think also us as Black broadcasters.

We get asked questions other people don't get asked.

- Oh, Lord.

- And part of that is kind of a responsibility, I feel like, being one of the few that, you know, you gotta talk about these things, and why there aren't many in the position I'm in, and why there aren't many Black athletes playing baseball.

I think those are important things to talk about.

But by the same token, you know, they're not asking our white colleagues those questions.

- Not even close.

- No.

- Are you kidding me?

- Perceptions that Al Campanis dropped on people back in the '70s still linger.

Whether it's, "I don't know if this guy's intelligent enough.

What's he look like?

He's got tools, but he can't think it through."

- I truly believe that they may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager or perhaps a general manager.

- When Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, then the mayor of New York who the airport is named for now, he and others were pushing Major League Baseball to rethink their hiring practices and open up the door for Black ball players to play in the Major Leagues.

MacPhail writes what is known as the MacPhail Memorandum.

MacPhail outlines why integration is such a terrible idea.

"If we sign Black players, or if we sign Negro League players, we will put the Negro Leagues out of business."

Boy, he is absolutely right.

But then he would say something totally asinine to the effect that, "Well, you know they lack the faculties to play in our league."

Now, again, I don't know when you had to be a Rhodes Scholar to play baseball.

But that was the prevailing mindset that governed this for so long.

Because as I like to share, one of the most interesting facts about the Negro Leagues is that over 40% of its athletes had some level of college education, where less than 5% of the Major Leagues at the same time had any college education, because the Major Leagues didn't want you to go to college.

But the prevailing belief was that we weren't smart enough to play in the Major Leagues.

- They may not have some of the necessities.

I don't say all of 'em, but they certainly are short.

How many quarterbacks do you have?

How many pitchers do you have that are Black?

- What I learned when I was coming in the game is that, "They had all the other parts, athletic, fearless, leaders," but they never gave Black pitchers the opportunity to say or they never said we could think.

They always felt that we were athletic, but it was easier to put us in the outfield so we don't have to do a lot of thinking, just run baseballs down.

(soft dramatic music) - Our son is a pitcher, and that's not popular.

You don't see very many of 'em.

I think last I counted, there were 14 total in the Majors.

(soft dramatic music) Mike, take two.

(slate claps) - When you looked at an Al Downing, and then you looked at a Bob Gibson, and you looked at all these African American pitchers that were dominant, were tremendous pitchers.

- Most of the pitchers are leaders.

Catchers are leaders, shortstops are leaders.

But I would say pitching is the most sought-after position.

- When you talk about pitching and the intellectual aspects of it, again, we don't get the benefit of the doubt, because we come into it as being solely labeled as being athletes, doers, not thinkers.

- There is a compulsion, as they say, to, "Move them off the dirt.

To put them in the outfield where they can run down fly balls.

That's where they need to be."

- [Commentator] We'll have a good, healthy swing.

Runner goes, and Thompson is gone on strikes.

- I might be rare.

I don't think they had much of a choice.

When I was coming through high school, I was a catcher, a thinking position.

And they said, "This kid may be able to think, because he's behind the plate already.

Let's see what he does."

And I was lucky I got that opportunity, fortunate that it happened.

But even in that period of time, they always felt that we were athletic, but it was easier to put us in the outfield, so we don't have to do a lot of thinking, just run baseballs down.

- And if we keep pretending that race doesn't play a role in that, then we're not going to make progress.

(soft dramatic piano music) (soft ethereal music) - I just read a study the last study that was done on the diversity of psychologists in this country, 83% of licensed psychologists are white.

3% of psychologists are African American.

And as you can imagine, in the world of performance psychology, you're taking a very small subset of psychologists in professional sport.

- So of the 3% of Black psychologists that are out there, the majority are women.

So about 65% are women, so there are far fewer African American men psychologists.

Even fewer sports psychologists, they actually have exposure, experience, history and background training in sporting performance.

- We train everything.

We train the body, you know, we train, we do all these things, we take our batting practice, we do our bullpens, but we don't invest in the mental skills side of it.

- Being a game of failure, I think makes the mental game of baseball that much more challenging.

You really have to be able to, not just have confidence in yourself but have to be able to have the mental fortitude to weather inevitable slumps.

You know, slumping is a part of baseball.

And your ability to navigate that is really what separates you from, you know, being great or not being able to make it.

Because every great player in baseball had to go through down periods where nothing worked.

(pensive music) - That's where mentoring comes in, that's where great educational coaching comes in.

(crunchy industrial music) - Our Black kids don't have the support, because we don't have Black coaches everywhere.

- And the older Black player to take care of the younger player is being lost.

I mean, I was real lucky.

I had like my dad, I had Al Attles once I started playing.

Hank Aaron promised my mom that he would take care of me as if I was his son.

Make me go to church, make me stay outta the streets, make me eat right, act right, live right.

(bat cracks) (crowd cheers) - Mentorship is very important, especially in this sport, to have an older person that has been through that, that has been down that road, to be able to pull you and say, "Hey, this is how you handle that situation, or this how you don't handle and this is what to expect."

(soft piano music) - What is the responsibility that we have in helping to develop the pipeline of our players?

It's on us.

- It takes a village to raise a child.

- Selfishness is the reason why the village is gone.

Drugs is the reason why the village is gone.

Violence is the reason why the village is gone.

The family structure declining is why the village is gone.

Grandmothers not being what grandmothers used to be.

Grandmothers used to be old ladies.

Grandmothers are 42 now.

(laughs) Grandma's like, "I'm not watching no babies, I'm going to Cancun this weekend."

The village is gone, grandma's on a party boat.

- We're inspiring, we're motivating, we're encouraging, we're mentors.

We are paying it back because somebody did the same for us.

- The mentorship that's very much needed is really what everyone needs, but particularly these kids that may not have the same playing field that the others have.

(keyboard clacks) - One thing I really love about what MLB is doing, they have several programs to try and get more young Black athletes in the game of baseball.

- The MLB and USA Baseball hosting a baseball camp in Tempe focusing on diversifying baseball.

- We bring out the top 80 high school African American players.

- I think for Major League Baseball to improve the number of African Americans coming into the sport, Major League Baseball has to go into the Black community.

Not just as the "brand," but with personality, with African Americans who are in the sport, have been in the sport, are part of the sport, and really educate Black communities about the opportunities in professional baseball.

- We have so many guys that have a zest for the game, and you see it here with our young guys, and you get us together, I mean, it's an amazing thing.

- Sometimes all you need is just that opportunity, and we're developing a pipeline with events like the Breakthrough Series, Dream Series, Hank Aaron Invitational, RBI, the youth academies.

So this pool is becoming bigger, bigger, bigger.

- We also really have to make a extended effort to get in the inner cities, see guys in their turf.

You go back to when Darrell Strawberry came outta Crenshaw in the Compton area of Los Angeles.

- In order for us to have fairness, you have to have fairness not just on the player field, but at the coach level, the general manager level, the ownership level.

(soft music) - Am I happy with where we're at yet?

No!

We got a lot more to do.

But our eyes are open to understanding how do we attack this problem of getting more Black kids into baseball.

And I think we're starting to do that.

- In our environment, I see an incline.

Kids are playing baseball.

They're playing at the high school level, they're playing at the college level, the professional level.

We certainly need to get more players playing in the Major Leagues to help that number.

(soft string music) - So the Draft League is opening doors, the Appalachian League is opening doors.

- I do believe that we are on the right path.

Probably a path that is not going to be blazed as quickly as we want it to.

And so we just have to be able to stay the course.

- The game's never gonna change if you guys stop playing.

You know?

And we want to implement more Blacks in baseball, well, it comes from the youth.

(bat cracks) - Nice hit, baby!

- Way to go, 7!

- [Parent] Run, run, run!

- You guys have to keep playing.

(crowd yelling encouragement) - So just use your dreams as stepping stones, you know?

Use that to carve out your space in this world, and just give your best every day.

- You are in control of your attitude.

You are in control of your commitment.

You are in control of your effort.

And everything else, you learn how to deal with it.

That's life.

- If I was asked by a young person, your son for example, I would say work hard, show your ability, be a great team mate.

- Hone your skills.

Fall in love with baseball.

If you don't fall in love with the game, it's just a boring game from the outside.

It looks boring but there's a lot of idiosyncrasies in the game that are similar, you know, to life.

- I think the best advice that I can give for young Black players, don't put too much pressure on yourself.

Because I see all these people, you know, putting radar guns on 12-year-olds and things like that.

They don't need that.

They don't need the pressure.

- Don't water yourself down to the point where it's gonna take away from who you are as an individual.

- Have to do a little more to stand out more and just follow your dreams.

- There are gonna be a lot of times you gotta bite your tongue.

You'd better have a smile on your face all the time.

Be happy-go-lucky, big smile.

They'd better hear, "Oh, he's great in the locker room.

He's good for the team."

- Adversity comes to make you who you need to be to do what you need to do.

- I'd encourage people to... Young Blacks in baseball not to think that "I failed if I don't get to play in college."

Or "I failed if I don't make it to the pros.

But realize that "I will always be able to think back to when I was 12 and, you know, bases were loaded, and I got the game-winning hit," you know?

I get emotional because I think back to to those things.

(soft piano music) - Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do anything.

It's gonna be hard.

You're gonna have to sacrifice.

And on the way up, you may have to drop some people off, or drop some things off.

- We gotta dream, and we gotta dream big.

(mellow jazz bass music) - My prayer is that he sees his dream.

Time will tell.

(mellow jazz band music) (mellow jazz music fades out) (upbeat hip hop music fades in) ♪ Say who's gonna win ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ Runners on first, second, third, you heard ♪ ♪ Steal home like Jackie, say the word ♪ ♪ Shadow ball, caught at the top of the wall ♪ ♪ Ken Griffey Jr., go to the mall ♪ ♪ So many others rode the trains and the buses ♪ ♪ To the jet planes now, so where are my brothers ♪ ♪ Ernie Banks to Mookie Betts ♪ ♪ Where's the future from the Little League best ♪ ♪ The diamond's missing that cultural mix ♪ ♪ African American baseball from 18% down to six ♪ ♪ Wondering where the Black players are in baseball ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Bigs, Bigs ♪ ♪ Let's get Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Black to the Bigs ♪ ♪ Let's get Black to the ♪ ♪ From Ruth to Satchel ♪ ♪ Josh to Cool Papa ♪ ♪ Hank to Willie Mays, ♪ ♪ McCovey, can't stop it ♪ ♪ Gibson, Stargell, Gooden, Doc proper ♪ ♪ Too many Black baseball legacies got ya ♪ ♪ Let's honor the past but build for the future ♪ ♪ Baseball's a game where it needs every culture ♪ ♪ Let's get it back, y'all know what it is ♪ ♪ Let the legacy ♪ - That's... That's baseball.

- Yes.

- Baseball, good.

- That's baseball bat.