Negro Baseball Leagues

Published February 21, 2024 at 11:15 AM MST

This time on The Children's Hour we learn about our Black American history, this time exploring the Negro Baseball Leagues. These were professional teams made up of Black and other non-white players, and the only way Black athletes could play professional baseball while the Major Leagues remained segregated. Our guest is Byron Motley, author of Negro Baseball Leagues - A Memoir which chronicles the story of these leagues.

Byron's own father was an umpire for the Negro Baseball Leagues. His father's love of the game was passed along to Byron, who only understood as an adult what challenges his dad had to overcome to be included in the world of baseball.

Many legends of baseball come from the NBL, including Jackie Robinson, the first Black player to integrate the Major Leagues. We learn about the oldest player to ever rookie for Major League Baseball at the age of 42, Satchel Paige, along with NBL players Larry Doby, and Josh Gibson.

We've also got a poem from E. Ethelbert Miller's book "If God Invented Baseball" and we hear some classic comedy by Abbot & Costello.

This episode is mixed with great music, and comes with a Learn-Along Guide that meets and cites National education standards. Find it at https://ChildrensHour.org/Negro-Baseball-Leagues

Negro Baseball Leagues was written and produced by Executive Producer, Katie Stone, with help from Senior Producer, Christina Stella, and producer Eli Henley. Chad Scheer was our engineer at Outpost. Lorraine Archibald authors our Learning Guides, and Alexander Jacobson writes our Transcripts.