Reggie Jackson Delivers Harrowing Monologue on the Racism He Suffered in Alabama
Baseball legend Reggie Jackson on Thursday evening returned to the historic Alabama park that helped launch his Hall of Fame career. He sat down with Fox’s broadcast crew and delivered a powerful monologue about the ugly racism and bigotry he endured there in 1960s.
During the MLB’s Negro League tribute game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, Jackson bluntly recounted his time playing for the Birmingham A’s before he was called up to the majors in 1967. At the time, Jackson noted, he was one of the few Black players on a team that played in the Deep South as it emerged from Jim Crow.
“Coming back here is not easy,” Jackson said before the game. “The racism 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.”