by JALYN SMOOT, MLBbro.com
Major League Baseball made history on Thursday night when the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals competed in the league’s first game at Rickwood Field. Built in 1910, Rickwood Field is the oldest existing professional ballpark and once served as home to the Negro League’s Birmingham Black Barons.
Before the start of Thursday’s contest, Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson recounted the racism he experienced during his time in Birmingham, Ala., and admitted that it was difficult to return to the historic ballpark. In 1967, before he advanced to the majors, Jackson was one of the few Black players on the Birmingham A’s Double-A Southern League team. The team played at Rickwood Field until 1963.
Asked during a pregame interview by former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez, now a baseball broadcaster for Fox Sports, what the emotions were like to return to Rickwood Field, the 1973 AL MVP spoke about how challenging it was to travel to where his baseball career began.
“Coming back here is not easy—the racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled,” Jackson said. “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.”
Despite being well-received on the Black Barons, Jackson was often forbidden from restaurants and hotels where his white teammates were welcomed. “I’d walk into restaurants, and they would point at me and say, ‘The n—– can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they say, ‘The n—– can’t stay here.’ We went to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N word.”
Jackson’s retelling of his experiences highlighted America’s dark, segregated, and not-so-distant past. Born just two years before the integration of the U.S. military in 1948 and nearly 20 years before President Lyndon B. Johnson legally ended segregation with the Civil Rights Act, Jackson, now 78, lived through one of the nation’s cruelest periods. Despite his talent, the baseball legend was constantly antagonized and rebuked during his time in the minors.
Jackson spoke about his AA manager, Johnny McNamara, who managed him in Birmingham and came up to manage the major league A’s in 1969, reuniting with Jackson for the end of 1969 and the 1970 season: “Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that if I couldn’t eat in the place, nobody could eat,” Jackson said. “We’d get food to travel. If I couldn’t stay in the hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay.”
In addition to McNamara, Jackson named Rollie Fingers, Dave Duncan, and Joe Rudi, along with his wife, Sharon, as figures who defended him and helped him navigate such trying times. “I would have never made it. I was too physically violent; I was ready to physically fight someone. I’d have gotten killed here because I’d have beat someone’s a–, and you’d have [seen] me in an oak tree somewhere.”
Thankfully, Jackson was able to suppress his anger and avoid any fatal racist encounters. After his days in Birmingham, the talented outfielder carved out a legendary career in the majors.
America is not without its flaws and still has a long way to go.
“People asked me today and said, ‘Do you think you’re a better person? Do you think you won when you played here and conquered?’ I said, ‘You know, I would never want to do it again.’”