As the nation is set to mark Juneteenth on Wednesday, TODAY’s Craig Melvin visits historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, where the MLB will hold the first regular season game played at the oldest ballpark in the country to honor the Negro Leagues. Craig also meets with 99-year old Bill Greason, the first Black pitcher in St.
MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson's powerful retelling of his experience with racism in the early days of his baseball career has gone viral. The five-time World Series champion famously played with the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and California Angels during his storied two-decade MLB career.
' I said, you know, I would never want to do it again,' he said. 'I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say the n----- can't eat here. I would go to a hotel and they'd say the n----- can't stay here,' he added. In one instance, Charlie Finley, then-owner of the A's, initially refused to patronize a country club that rejected Jackson as a guest for a welcome-home dinner the team was attending.
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