Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson appeared at Thursday’s Fox Sports televised MLB game between San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, which took place at the historic Rickwood Field to honor the late, great Willie Mays, who died this week at the age of 93.
Being at the Birmingham, Alabama, ballpark, which was the home of the Birmingham Black Barons where Mays began his career, brought back some tough memories for him. Jackson shared those thoughts in a poignant and must-watch moment of television.
When asked by Alex Rodriguez about his emotional experience of returning to the field and being a trailblazer for other Black athletes, Jackson said frankly, “Coming back here is not easy. The racism that I played here when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled… Fortunately, I had a manager, and I had players on the team that helped me get through it, but I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
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The Kansas City Athletics alum went on to describe, in staggering detail, some of the instances of racism he experienced while playing professional baseball with his teammates.
“I would walk into restaurants, and people would point and say, ‘The [n-word] can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they would say, ‘The [n-word] can’t stay here,’” Jackson remembered. “We went to [A’s owner] Charley Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the n-word, ‘He can’t come in here.’” He went on to credit Finley with retorting, “We’re going to go to the diner and eat hamburgers. Or, go where we’re wanted.”
Jackson went on to credit the team’s manager, John McNamara, for standing up for him and refusing for the team to patronize anywhere Jackson wasn’t allowed, but Jackson still concluded, “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
Audiences had strong reactions to Reggie Jackson’s riveting and raw account.
“Shouts to the producer and the rest of the desk for staying out of Reggie’s way and just letting him talk,” wrote CBS analyst Gary Parrish. “I doubt they expected this answer. But it’s a great few minutes of television.”
The Atlantic‘s Jemele Hill added, “This is an important video to share, not just because the great Reggie Jackson is speaking, but because it’s a reminder that we have so many older Black folks walking around today who are psychologically scarred from the racial terrorism they experienced.”
Watch all of Jackson’s speech in the video above, starting at the 4:30 mark.
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