logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2022
31m 26s

Black Baseball Goes Pro

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
About this episode

Feb 13, 1920. For over thirty years, Black baseball players have been locked out of the major leagues. So on this day in Kansas City, Rube Foster, a former pitcher and now a team owner, is trying to make his own league just for Black players. He has gathered owners of other Black baseball teams, who currently play each other in one-off matchups or face independent teams in random games around the country. But Foster wants them to get organized, and soon, the Negro National League would be born. But up to this point, how did Black baseball survive after segregation became the unofficial policy of the major leagues? And how did Black players, owners, and managers join together to create something that no baseball fan could ignore?

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Today
José Cuervo Rebuilds a Tequila Empire
August 28, 1920. In the town of Tequila, fireworks burst overhead as people celebrate Mexico’s independence. Then… gunshots. Malachías Cuervo, heir to the famous tequila dynasty, has just reignited a bitter feud with his family’s rivals, the Sauzas. For decades, his brother José ... Show More
37m 6s
Aug 21
The True Winnie-the-Pooh
August 24, 1914. A train pulls up to the lumber town of White River, Ontario, carrying a regiment of Canadian troops on board. On the tracks where they disembark is a small black bear cub. An army veterinarian decides to buy the bear and name her Winnipeg—Winnie for short—after t ... Show More
29m 51s
Aug 18
Egypt’s Last Hieroglyph and the Fiery Archbishop of Alexandria
August 24, 394. On the walls of a fading Egyptian temple, a priest carves what will become the last known hieroglyph in history. At the same moment, in Alexandria, a fiery archbishop named Theophilus is rising to power. He mocks the ancient Egyptian gods, desecrates their temples ... Show More
33m 21s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2023
Trying to Reverse the Decline of Black Players in Major League Baseball
Baseball was once known for breaking racial barriers in the U.S. But now, Black representation in the major leagues is at its lowest level in decades. This year, MLB did something to try and change that, by staging the first annual HBCU Swingman Classic. It's an opportunity for p ... Show More
12m 51s
Sep 2016
How the Negro Leagues Worked
A decade before the U.S. officially segregated in 1896, baseball banned black players. A decade before the US integrated, baseball broke the color barrier. Between, the Negro Leagues produced some of the finest players to ever take the field. Learn more about your ad-choices at h ... Show More
54m 39s
Aug 2020
Do Black Lives Matter in Sports?
The NBA and Major League Baseball have restarted their seasons and NFL training camps are underway. As professional leagues and college teams navigate how to play safely during a pandemic, they are also confronting racial justice issues that plague American sports. Don talks to s ... Show More
24m 24s
Nov 2022
Jackie Robinson Tries Out for the Majors (History This Week Replay)
April 16, 1945. Jackie Robinson is ready. He’s won a tryout with the Boston Red Sox, and if he makes the team, he will become the first player to break baseball’s long-standing racial divide. Robinson puts his supreme athletic skills on full display… but never hears back from the ... Show More
29m 3s
Jul 2020
What Does The Marlins' Outbreak Mean For MLB?
More than a dozen members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, and several MLB games have now been canceled as a result. The Athletic’s Andy McCullough joins us to talk about what the team outbreak could mean for the Marlins' season and the fate of Major League ... Show More
14m 15s
Feb 2024
How college footballers led the fight against racism in 1969
It's 1969 at the University of Wyoming, where college football is treated like a second religion. But after racist treatment at an away game, 14 Black players decide to take a stand, and are hit with life-changing consequences. From our play cousins across the pond, our own B.A. ... Show More
32m 30s
May 2018
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson was the first black man in America to cross “the color line” and play baseball in the major leagues. But when he was in his early teens, Jackie joined a street gang and had numerous run-ins with the law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/a ... Show More
1h 6m
Oct 2023
Introducing 'Reclaimed: The Forgotten League'
For decades, Black baseball players were excluded from the major leagues and forced to create their own space: the Negro Leagues. In the new season of ABC Audio's award-winning podcast "Reclaimed," Vanessa Ivy Rose, granddaughter of Negro Leagues star Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, br ... Show More
3m 10s
Mar 2023
Why are there so few black football managers?
There is no end to the talent line of brilliant black players in English football – but why are so few of them going on to become managers or executives in the game? As new research from the Black Footballers Partnership claims the career ladder for black players is "missing rung ... Show More
38m 39s