The San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals met Thursday at Rickwood Field, the sport’s oldest ballpark, to honor the history of the Negro Leagues.
However, beforehand, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who’d played there as a minor leaguer, shared the heart wrenching memories that flooded back in his return.
“Coming back here is not easy,” Jackson said on the Fox pre-game show. “The racism when I played here — I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
Perhaps the most enlightening topic Jackson touched on was the idea that he “won” by thriving in the face of bigotry. Most who overcome horrible situations say they wouldn’t change a thing.
Still, after highlighting the slurs, violence and hatred he encountered in Birmingham and while traveling, Jackson said that he’d “never want to do it again.”
Jackson played the 1967 season with the then Kansas City Athletics Double-A affiliate in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights movement. Only four years earlier, the town was the site of two horrific events that gained national attention.
In May 1963, an organized group dubbed the “Children’s Crusade,” including more than 1,000 Black children, marched against segregation peacefully. Instead, police used fire hoses and K-9s to quell the resistance.