Up next in 10
President of the Negro Baseball League Museum, Bob Kendrick, talks with the Sway In the Morning team about his new podcast on Sirius XM called 'Black Diamonds'. The podcast will showcase the history of the Negro Leagues, highlighting the players, people, and events that shaped them, as well as spotlighting the leagues’ achievements and innovations during a time of segregation and inequality.
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Bob Kendrick Talks New Podcast 'Black Diamonds' on Sirius XM | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
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0:03
jackie robinson changed baseball
0:05
he changed america he started the civil
0:08
rights movement
0:09
he ended 60 years of exclusion but
0:12
why jackie i'm bob kendrick
0:16
president of the negro leagues baseball
0:17
museum in kansas city
0:19
and this is black diamonds the stories
0:21
of negro leagues baseball
0:24
hey man that's the hottest podcast on
0:28
sirius xm right
0:30
now ladies and gentlemen come on man i
0:33
got to give it to this guy he was named
0:35
citizen of the year by the
0:37
omicron chapter of omega sci-fi
0:39
fraternity
0:40
in 2006 the greater kansas city black
0:43
chamber of commerce
0:44
awarded him the marilona diversity award
0:47
he was included
0:48
inducted into the missouri sports hall
0:50
of fame in 2014.
0:52
i like to call him a friend have to
0:53
because when i went out to d.c
0:55
we hung out and i walked away smarter
0:57
than i was when i entered dc
1:00
welcome him on the show man my good
1:02
friend the one and only bob kendrick is
1:03
here bob
1:04
hey what up hey what's up great man it's
1:09
so good dude just catch up again thank
1:11
you guys for having me
1:12
welcome bob come on man i you know i
1:16
always talk about i met some good
1:17
friends from that time i went out there
1:19
to dc and hung out with you i i
1:21
i actually met some people i stayed in
1:23
contact with
1:24
since then and we sat and had a
1:26
wonderful conversation
1:28
about the negro league um and his
1:31
prominence and
1:32
all the accolades and all the things is
1:34
important so now you gotta
1:36
now you got a podcast called black
1:38
diamonds it's about the history the
1:40
[ __ ] league baseball man get bob
1:42
kendrick around as applied
1:43
man i love it man amazing
1:47
it's amazing um tell me about the
1:49
podcast how did this happen
1:52
man i tell you the guys over at sirius
1:55
reached out to me they said well bob we
1:57
think you're a pretty good storyteller
1:58
we would love to work with you and
2:00
partner with the museum
2:01
on a podcast to tell some of these
2:04
really untold
2:05
stories as it relates to the negro
2:06
leagues basically similar to what you
2:08
and i did in dc well we just kind of
2:10
talked and told these stories and
2:13
and you know the last thing that i
2:15
thought about ever doing was
2:16
my own podcast now i'd interviewed on
2:18
virtually everybody else's podcast
2:20
but i never thought about actually
2:21
hosting one myself
2:23
and they made a compelling uh case for
2:26
why we should do this
2:28
and we're thrilled to be able to have
2:30
launched this podcast in april and
2:32
you know i am pleasantly surprised at
2:34
how well it is doing
2:36
and we're just having a good time sway
2:38
you know telling stories man and
2:40
talking to folks and trying to find ways
2:42
to
2:43
make a contemporary connection to this
2:45
history
2:46
and so people are responding quite well
2:48
to this how have you
2:50
in what ways have you made that
2:52
contemporary connection with this
2:54
history
2:54
where that's been effective well i i
2:57
honestly i think the stories themselves
3:00
because the negro leagues were just so
3:03
different than major
3:04
league baseball it was so far ahead of
3:07
major league baseball the way they
3:08
played the game their approach
3:10
mindset everything was just so different
3:13
so i think it speaks to
3:14
a modern audience because there was a
3:18
little bit of rebel
3:19
in these players they were activists
3:22
before we knew anything about sports
3:24
sports activism
3:26
and so i think this mindset that they
3:28
carried
3:29
you know you can't stop me from playing
3:32
this game
3:33
i'll show you and i think that speaks to
3:35
people
3:36
but folks just didn't know this story
3:39
and so now for me the contemporary
3:40
aspect of it really ties to
3:42
particularly when i speak with the young
3:44
athletes the young athletes who are
3:46
playing this game today and then making
3:48
that connection to them
3:49
i'll give you a great example we had
3:52
members of what we call the black aces
3:53
and these are african-american pitchers
3:55
to win
3:55
20 games or more in a season in major
3:58
league baseball history
3:59
only 15 of them to ever do that well we
4:02
had three of them on one of our podcasts
4:04
and
4:04
and we talked to cece sabathia and to
4:07
david price
4:08
and the great dave steward and we talked
4:11
about
4:11
the great pictures of the negro leagues
4:13
who could have been 20 game winners had
4:15
they been given the opportunity
4:17
and gave basically a history lesson
4:19
about these legendary players
4:21
who i have no doubt they would have
4:24
dominated at the major league
4:25
level just like they dominated at the
4:27
negro league level
4:29
absolutely i totally agree with that man
4:32
when i think about the negro league i
4:33
think about
4:34
like even coming to talk with you you
4:36
know when i was doing my research i know
4:38
that you know they
4:39
they say it started around the 1920s
4:41
right
4:42
am i mistaken about 19. you're right
4:45
okay but prior to that you know baseball
4:48
had organized itself in the 1800s what
4:50
were happening
4:52
with these um black athletes then these
4:54
baseball players what were they doing
4:56
yeah we we have we have a long love
4:59
affair with this game we've been playing
5:00
this game for a long time
5:02
you know we've been playing this game as
5:04
you mentioned into the late 1800s
5:06
there's even evidence of us having
5:07
played at slaves
5:08
uh as enslaved people and so we've
5:11
always played a role in this game and so
5:14
but it was just so haphazard's way
5:16
you know guys were jumping from team to
5:17
team it was tough to get games
5:19
booking agents were taking all the money
5:21
and really it was through the urgency
5:24
of the black press that pushed for a
5:27
more
5:27
formalized structure and that's what
5:30
rube foster was able to give it in 1920
5:34
in a meeting that took place right
5:35
around the corner from where the museum
5:37
currently
5:37
operates literally a stone's throw from
5:40
my office
5:41
you know as we're we are having this
5:42
conversation today
5:44
and ruth foster gave it what it needed
5:47
and that was that organized presence
5:49
and after that man black baseball just
5:51
took off
5:53
wow man we got bob kendrick man give him
5:55
a round of applause when i say his name
5:57
give this man a round of applause black
5:59
diamonds
6:00
is the new podcast on siriusxm on all
6:03
our platforms
6:04
uh bills will you want to jump in there
6:06
i do mr
6:07
thank you for calling the show i wanted
6:09
to just know personally for you
6:11
what made you fall in love with baseball
6:13
um because
6:14
i grew up you know watching sports with
6:17
my dad and my brothers but it was always
6:19
you know football or basketball um but
6:22
but
6:22
they they just didn't have that love for
6:24
baseball i was wondering what attracted
6:26
baseball to you it started for me when i
6:30
was a kid i
6:31
i'm the youngest of six six boys and my
6:34
older brothers all
6:35
loved the game my father loved the game
6:37
i was introduced to the game
6:39
through him and through my brothers and
6:41
taught myself how to read a box score
6:43
out of the
6:44
atlanta journal constitution as kid
6:46
growing up in small town georgia
6:47
crawfordville georgia
6:49
about 80 miles east of atlanta and henry
6:52
aaron was my all-time favorite
6:54
baseball player my childhood idol as a
6:56
matter of fact
6:57
and so you know we played every sport
7:00
that was in season
7:01
but my town was too small to field a
7:03
high school baseball team
7:05
so i ended up playing small college
7:06
basketball which got me to the midwest
7:08
but i've been a baseball fan since i can
7:10
remember and so i chased the basketball
7:12
from crawfordville georgia
7:14
to the kansas city area and now make my
7:16
living in baseball
7:17
but albeit baseball history
7:21
but you know you you just wanted to
7:23
emulate your heroes
7:25
and henry aaron was my hero and you know
7:28
even as we share this conversation
7:30
today there's a piece of my heart that's
7:31
missing with his passing in january of
7:33
this year he meant that much to
7:35
me and the negro leagues museum family
7:37
as he did to the baseball world
7:40
and so but you know we prided ourselves
7:42
and just wanted to play everything and
7:44
back then we played what we call
7:46
hardball and so they really called it
7:48
baseball they played
7:49
got a hardball game going on at the park
7:51
today and
7:53
the local town teams would come in and
7:55
play the little town team
7:56
and everybody would go out and watch the
7:58
game and you just wanted to emulate that
8:00
you want to be a part of that
8:02
and so the game grew on me and so even
8:04
though i didn't get a chance to play it
8:06
in an organized capacity
8:07
i've always been a baseball fan
8:10
car ball huh all right tracy you're
8:13
playing hard
8:17
i won't be tempted to make any
8:19
inappropriate jokes with my man bob here
8:24
bob i'm wondering what was that first
8:28
um note in history when you're doing
8:31
your your
8:31
research on baseball history what was
8:34
that first story you came across that
8:36
made you say
8:36
oh my gosh i never knew about this and
8:39
blew your mind
8:40
you know it was the entire history it
8:42
really was
8:43
because here i am now i considered
8:46
myself
8:47
to be a baseball fan and then i quickly
8:50
as i got introduced to the negro leagues
8:52
baseball museum believe it or not
8:54
y'all as a volunteer way back in 1993
8:59
and i quickly realized i didn't know a
9:01
doggone thing about this game because
9:03
there was this entire chapter of
9:05
baseball at americana
9:07
that i had no idea about and
9:11
i literally became engrossed in it i
9:13
wanted to learn as much as i could
9:16
and i didn't want to keep it to myself i
9:18
wanted
9:19
everybody to feel the same way i felt
9:22
about it
9:23
and then you started to meet the players
9:26
you started to meet these amazing
9:28
athletes who their spirits
9:32
i think endeared me even more i fell
9:34
even deeper in love with the story after
9:36
meeting them because none of them to
9:39
a player that i ever met not one of them
9:42
ever harbored any bitterness or
9:44
expressed any ill will
9:46
toward anyone who may have attempted to
9:48
have perpetrated something against them
9:50
as they were playing or trying to play
9:52
baseball in this country
9:54
and i think every one of us would have
9:56
said had they been bitter
9:58
that they had every right to be bitter
10:00
but not one of them ever harbored any
10:02
bitterness you know why
10:04
because you could not convince them that
10:07
they weren't playing the best baseball
10:09
that was being played in this country
10:10
now the world thought the best baseball
10:12
was being played in the major leagues
10:13
they never believed that
10:14
they knew how good they were they knew
10:17
how good their
10:18
league was and you know what the major
10:20
leaguers knew how good they were so they
10:22
were very self-assured about their
10:24
ability to play this game
10:25
now did they like the things that
10:27
happened to them as they travel the
10:29
highways and byways of this country
10:30
of course not but they would never allow
10:33
that to harden their hearts
10:35
with hate and i think that's why so many
10:37
of them live such
10:38
long fulfilled lives because as my
10:41
friend the late great buck o'neill would
10:42
tell you
10:43
hate eats you up on the inside man
10:47
hate takes you out of here you it takes
10:50
a lot of energy to hate another human
10:52
being
10:53
particularly you don't even know and so
10:55
they just never would succumb to that
10:57
and and i i just found that spirit to be
11:00
even more
11:01
endearing and like i said i fell even
11:03
deeper in love with the story
11:04
but really every aspect of this story
11:06
was like oh man i didn't know that
11:08
you know i knew the name satchel paige
11:10
and cool papa belle and josh gibson
11:12
because those are transcending names
11:14
most baseball fans have at least heard
11:17
those names
11:18
even if you don't know just how great
11:21
they really were you probably heard
11:22
those names
11:23
somewhere in conversation but guys i had
11:26
no idea about the
11:28
breath the scope the magnitude
11:31
that this history represented both on
11:34
and off the field
11:35
so i think virtually every aspect of
11:38
this story
11:39
left me with that oh i didn't know that
11:41
and i think i see that every day when
11:43
people walk through the negro league's
11:45
baseball museum
11:46
it is an awakening it is an eye-opening
11:49
experience for virtually
11:50
every one of our visitors who come to
11:52
see us i want
11:53
okay so i'm sorry go ahead heather
11:56
um mr kendricks i have a question
11:58
because you mentioned
12:00
um traveling in this country but you
12:03
know
12:03
being blessed enough to travel you know
12:05
abroad and travel
12:07
to other places i see that a lot of
12:11
the hispanic community if you will
12:13
latina community
12:14
um baseball is huge if you go to dr
12:18
you go to different place i mean there
12:19
are baseball fields everywhere
12:21
right here here here in the states
12:24
um i see a few i don't see a lot of
12:27
young
12:28
black boys playing baseball culturally
12:30
do you think
12:31
um something happened with us um in
12:34
terms of
12:35
baseball um versus you know um the
12:38
hispanic community
12:39
why you see you so much more on this
12:41
hispanic side than young black
12:43
kids playing baseball just for me and
12:45
maybe i'm thinking small-minded but
12:46
that's
12:47
not okay no no no you're you're
12:49
absolutely right you know there there
12:51
became a detachment
12:53
with this game and the the black
12:55
community at some point in time
12:58
whereas we still see that baseball
13:01
is held in high regard in those
13:04
spanish-speaking countries
13:05
and really the coincidence here is that
13:08
when negro league players who were
13:10
really
13:11
the first americans to play in many
13:14
spanish-speaking countries
13:16
when we went there and we were revered
13:20
we were staying in the finest hotels
13:22
eating in the finest restaurant that
13:23
those countries had to offer
13:25
and we taught that brand of baseball
13:28
that you still see that
13:30
spanish-speaking athlete bring with them
13:32
to the major leagues today they bring a
13:34
little flavor
13:35
to the game because they still play the
13:37
game the way that
13:38
we introduced it to them
13:41
when we came there now they were playing
13:43
great baseball all the time but they
13:45
played with a flare and when the negro
13:46
league players went to those places that
13:48
you mentioned the dominican republic
13:50
cuba puerto rico
13:52
[Music]
13:53
yeah all those places we were absolutely
13:56
adored
13:57
and emulated one of my favorite stories
14:00
was told to me by roberto clemente jr
14:03
whose father the great roberto clemente
14:06
one of the greatest baseball players of
14:07
all time
14:08
his idol was the great monty irvin
14:12
monty irvin was a superstar player in
14:15
the negro leagues for the newark
14:17
eagles but when monty went down to
14:19
puerto rico
14:20
a young roberto clemente fell in love
14:23
with
14:23
monty irvin and that he said his
14:26
monte irvin his dad would carry
14:30
monty irvin's uniform to the ballpark
14:33
because if you took the player's uniform
14:34
to the ballpark
14:35
the player would let you in the game for
14:36
free and that it was monty
14:38
irvin that gave his father his first
14:41
real baseball glove
14:43
and that is what inspired a young
14:46
roberto clemente to want to play this
14:48
game
14:48
because he wanted to emulate his
14:50
childhood idol
14:52
who was monty irvin and after roberto
14:56
dies
14:56
tragically in that plane accident on a
14:59
goodwill mission to nicaragua
15:02
as fate would have it i think you only
15:03
get these stories sway in baseball
15:05
uh as fate would have it roberto
15:08
clemente
15:09
and monty irvine would both be inducted
15:11
into the national baseball hall of fame
15:14
in the same class and it's just a
15:16
beautiful story
15:18
roberto clemente was a beautiful man who
15:20
died trying to help others
15:22
but his childhood idol a negro league
15:24
star and monty irving
15:26
there it is only bob kendrick could give
15:29
you that heather like you you have the
15:31
best
15:31
podcast voice ever right now yeah
15:36
i agree i'm loving you bob hey hey bob
15:39
kendrick you can find him on a new
15:42
new podcast called black diamonds on
15:44
siriusxm bob has done so much
15:47
uh for the for the [ __ ] league
15:49
baseball museum
15:51
i've been there it's amazing i want to
15:53
open the phone lines
15:54
folks on the line i want to talk to you
15:56
bob so give us a call you have any
15:58
questions about this 888-742-3345 we'll
16:01
come right back
16:02
yeah man got bob kendrick here
16:07
man actually got a basketball
16:09
scholarship but he knows more about
16:10
baseball scene
16:11
[Applause]
16:12
[Laughter]
16:16
he can't ask him nothing about
16:17
basketball he got a basketball
16:19
scholarship
16:20
ain't that crazy something wow but
16:23
you've done a lot for the [ __ ] league
16:24
baseball museum you you helped to
16:27
do fundraising you've helped turn around
16:29
millions of dollars to help
16:31
keep this vitility and financial
16:33
stability you've created
16:35
amazing programming that goes along with
16:38
it
16:38
you created amazing events including the
16:41
been behind the legacy awards i know you
16:43
mentioned buck o'neil but he's one of
16:45
the people that was honored with that
16:46
you've done so much and then just a
16:48
purveyor of truth in our
16:50
history in a way we were just talking
16:52
about how you know certain states are
16:53
banning certain
16:55
you know uh race theory being taught in
16:57
school because of some of the events
16:59
that have happened
17:00
uh that's race related and people trying
17:02
to erase history and that's been the
17:04
problem i think in our country a lot
17:06
with our people with especially
17:07
afric descendants of africa is that our
17:10
stories are never being told
17:12
incomplete now they've never been told
17:14
completely and they're never being told
17:16
by us
17:17
and so you have a really interesting
17:19
lane
17:20
on how you could give american history
17:22
when you're giving the backdrop of what
17:24
was going on at that time
17:25
a lot of folks wouldn't have known that
17:27
these negro league players were
17:28
activists
17:29
especially in those times you know could
17:32
you imagine what you
17:33
what would you receive if you spent if
17:35
you stood up and talked about equality
17:37
and you talked about discrimination
17:39
you know bob kendrick can you talk about
17:41
the activism and which way did activism
17:43
manifest itself back then for these
17:45
[ __ ]
17:46
and and sway you know the interesting
17:48
thing about it was they were being
17:49
activists and they didn't even know they
17:51
were activists
17:52
because they were so defiant in their
17:54
stance
17:55
because this story is based on
17:58
one small simple principle you won't let
18:02
me play with you in the
18:03
major leagues okay i'll create my own
18:06
league
18:07
and that's an activist stance in its own
18:10
right
18:11
yeah so you refuse to accept the notion
18:14
that you're
18:15
unfit to do anything so i'll show you
18:18
again you won't let me play with you i
18:20
create my own
18:22
and and the interesting juxtaposition
18:24
here guys is
18:26
here's this league born out of
18:27
segregation that would ultimately become
18:30
the driving force for social change in
18:32
this country
18:33
and that prevailing spirit that they had
18:37
of the mindset that you cannot stop me
18:39
from playing this game i'm good at this
18:41
game
18:42
i want everybody to see how good i am at
18:44
this game
18:45
and you are not going to stop me there's
18:48
something very
18:49
american about that spirit and so while
18:53
it was a
18:54
while it was america that was trying to
18:55
prevent them
18:57
from sharing in the joys of her
18:59
so-called national pastime
19:01
it was the american spirit that allowed
19:04
them to persevere and prevail
19:06
and it was that determination and that
19:08
pride and that passion and that
19:10
courage that drove them to play this
19:14
game
19:14
against all odds when quite frankly
19:17
y'all it had been easy for them to just
19:19
shut it down
19:20
say forget this the hell with this is
19:22
too tough you know and
19:24
they refused to succumb to that notion
19:27
and keep in mind
19:28
they were riding into towns filling up
19:31
ballparks
19:33
and yet may not be able to get a meal
19:35
from the same fans who had just cheered
19:36
them
19:37
or not have a place to stay so they
19:41
slept
19:41
on the bus and would eat their peanut
19:43
butter and crackers
19:44
until they could get to a place that
19:47
would offer them basic services but
19:49
again
19:49
their position their mindset was okay
19:53
if i've got to sleep on the bus and if
19:56
i've got to eat my peanut butter and
19:57
crackers
19:58
i'm going to keep playing ball yeah you
20:01
cannot stop me from playing this game
20:04
and i think that is what drove them that
20:07
is what helped elevate
20:09
this league to a level in which people
20:11
are not you know
20:13
i think it's one of the greatest stories
20:14
in the annals of american history
20:16
and you touched upon it and most people
20:18
don't even know the story i don't even
20:19
know what negro leagues existed
20:21
yeah yeah well we're gonna make sure
20:23
they know now bob kendrick is here okay
20:25
black diamond's the name of the podcast
20:27
bob that's what i want to do
20:29
cause you got so many callers i believe
20:31
it uh
20:32
that and you're such an eloquent speaker
20:34
man
20:35
i wish you read me bad time stories as a
20:38
kid
20:39
[Laughter]
20:41
i'll be a lot less stressed as an adult
20:43
if you can
20:44
citizens you ask your question bob if
20:46
you can't give as
20:47
uh precise of the answer as possible but
20:50
as opposed to yeah
20:52
okay but instead of him giving you long
20:53
you know the the compounded answers
20:56
he'll give you you know a pr
20:59
a prefix of the answer and then you
21:01
could go to the
21:03
podcast to hear the rest black diamonds
21:05
that's what i'm trying to say i'm trying
21:06
to drive them to the podcast
21:08
all right please subscribe subscribe
21:10
subscribe
21:11
we're having a good time telling these
21:12
stories black diamonds on siriusxm corey
21:15
you got the first question you've been
21:16
waiting the longest he's from kansas
21:17
city go for it corey
21:19
hey cora hey there hey mr bob kendrick
21:22
this is corey smith from kc how are you
21:24
my man
21:25
cory i'm good man what's up homie hey
21:29
just i'm so happy that sway got to know
21:31
you sway i'm happy for you that you got
21:33
to know him
21:34
thank you this guy's a gem the museum is
21:36
one of the hidden gems in the whole
21:37
country
21:38
um so i appreciate you guys promoting
21:40
him and i'm not sure if bob's ever told
21:42
the story of how buck o'neil got the
21:44
name
21:45
nancy but it's one of my favorite ones
21:47
and i'm sorry to put you on the spot bob
21:49
but can you please tell the story
21:53
and we we we tell that story
21:56
in one of the most recent episodes of
21:58
black diamonds is too long to tell here
22:00
but the cliff note version
22:02
is buck kept his man satchel paige out
22:05
of trouble
22:06
satchel satchel was he liked fast cars
22:10
and some may say fast women
22:12
and satchel had gotten himself into a
22:14
little bit of heat and buck was his wing
22:16
man
22:16
and he kept his good friend satchel out
22:18
of trouble it's an amazing
22:20
classic story that no one can tell
22:22
better than buck o'neill
22:24
and we actually have buck tell the story
22:27
and i'm trying to remember now it was
22:29
one of the most recent episodes
22:30
that we do this and and you can hear the
22:33
story oh we were talking about satchel
22:34
and
22:35
his story is the show on satchel and
22:37
barnstorming
22:38
and in that show buck talks about you
22:41
know satchel
22:42
having two women meet at the same place
22:45
at the same time
22:46
and buck got into trouble and god named
22:49
nancy as a result of
22:50
it is a must hear story so please check
22:53
out
22:54
the barnstorming episode of black
22:56
diamonds where we talk about some of
22:58
satchel's antics
22:59
uh and you can hear that story in buck's
23:02
voice
23:03
oh that's awesome hey corey thanks for
23:05
your call man you're a citizen cory
23:06
super citizen this way in the morning
23:09
hey hey
23:10
i think just real briefly can you talk
23:12
about buck
23:13
and satchel paige because there are
23:15
folks who are hearing these names that
23:16
don't know who they are
23:18
wow oh man buckle neal was the founder
23:21
of the negro league's baseball museum
23:22
and a
23:23
legendary negro leaguer in his own right
23:26
he was one of my best friends my mentor
23:28
my confidante
23:30
outstanding player for the kansas city
23:31
monarchs would go on to
23:34
break barriers himself sway in major
23:36
league baseball becoming the first black
23:37
coach
23:38
in major league baseball history with
23:40
the chicago cubs in 1962
23:42
but really became the voice of the negro
23:44
leagues
23:45
when he was introduced to america and
23:47
ken burns's amazing documentary on the
23:49
history of baseball
23:50
where america literally fell in love
23:52
with this man he was 82 years old
23:54
this very charming gentle man who was
23:56
telling these stories to baseball fans
23:58
they never heard before
23:59
and y'all he did it with a twinkle in
24:01
his eye and a smile that lit up the
24:02
screen in america fell in love with buck
24:05
satchel of course in many respects was
24:07
the negro leagues
24:08
satchel paige in my estimation is the
24:10
greatest pitcher of all time
24:11
i don't think we will ever ever ever
24:14
see another leroy satchel page and when
24:17
your nickname becomes so iconic that
24:20
everybody thinks it's your name
24:21
you know you must be pretty dog going
24:23
good yeah and when i say leroy page
24:25
nobody really knows who the heck i'm
24:26
talking about
24:27
you say satchel page you heard that name
24:29
before
24:30
he was believed to be 42 when he gets to
24:33
the major leagues in 1948
24:35
and he was still winning but honestly he
24:37
was likely 10 years
24:39
older than what he claimed to be no one
24:42
really knew how old
24:43
satchel was it still remains to this day
24:46
an age-old mystery regarding what
24:50
satchel's age was
24:51
but whether he was 42 or 52 he was
24:54
straight up
24:55
dealing at the major league level and it
24:57
just leads you to wonder
24:59
what would have happened had the doors
25:00
open sooner yeah
25:02
with the cy young award now be the
25:04
satchel page award
25:06
yeah you know these other honors that
25:08
are bestowed on major leaguers could
25:10
have very easily been named for negro
25:12
league players
25:14
okay bob listen uh i want to take a
25:16
couple more calls but we this is obvious
25:18
something we can sit and talk about
25:20
you coming thanksgiving dinner
25:24
for real come on man bye you see what
25:27
i'm saying
25:28
hey uh we got tone on the line from
25:29
jersey quick question or
25:31
a comment tom go for it hey what's up
25:35
um long time listener uh
25:38
uh heather v jersey strong
25:43
all right um i just wanted to speak on
25:45
my uncle which is uh
25:47
sydney black doll he played in the negro
25:49
league i'm not sure the year
25:52
but he uh pits he tells me stories about
25:55
him pitching against uh hank aaron i
25:57
think willie mays or whatever
25:59
but uh yeah he definitely was in the
26:01
negro league he played in norfolk
26:04
north carolina league well team and uh
26:07
he ended up
26:07
going into the military so that's what
26:10
curbed him from getting to the next
26:12
level
26:14
and you know we saw we saw that happen
26:16
quite a bit where guys careers were
26:18
actually derailed by military service
26:21
and that's a later episode where we'll
26:23
talk about black baseball and the
26:24
military
26:25
because you think about this there were
26:27
so many players
26:29
uh black baseball players who fought in
26:31
various
26:32
conflicts in this country and we've been
26:34
able to trace this way all the way back
26:35
to the spanish-american war
26:38
and so in these various conflicts we've
26:41
been represented as black folks
26:43
but even more even also as black
26:45
baseball players
26:47
and here they were fighting for a
26:48
country that wasn't fighting for them
26:50
and i recall once asking my friend buck
26:53
o'neil who served in world war
26:54
ii in the navy i asked him i said buck
26:58
what propelled you guys to want to fight
27:01
and his answer was so poignant succinct
27:04
but extremely poignant
27:06
because we were american and there was
27:08
this constant quest to prove
27:11
that you were american and so the
27:13
patriotism of black folks can never be
27:16
questioned
27:17
because again we were fighting for a
27:19
country at a time when this country
27:21
wasn't fighting for us
27:23
and so they laid it all on the line and
27:26
as positive and upbeat and individual as
27:29
buckle neal was
27:30
perhaps the most positive person i've
27:32
ever met he was the consummate glass
27:34
half full where others would see it half
27:36
empty he always saw it half full
27:39
but the only time that i ever heard him
27:40
a bit sullen was when he talked about
27:42
his war experiences because they came
27:44
home
27:45
and the pows were treated better than
27:48
they were
27:49
they were relocated the pows were
27:51
sitting in the front of the bus
27:53
and they're relegated to the back of the
27:55
bus having fought
27:56
for this country in their quest to prove
28:00
that they were american and as we know
28:03
there's nothing that speaks to that more
28:05
than service today
28:07
you know where now and rightfully so
28:09
people are revered for their service
28:12
it wasn't a way for these black these
28:13
black soldiers and so
28:15
that is a story too that we will bring
28:17
out in a future episode of black
28:19
diamonds
28:20
as we look at black baseball and the
28:22
military
28:23
black diamonds tone thank you tong you
28:25
you're a citizen uh yeah
28:26
in the morning it was um black and all
28:28
right i've read up on your
28:30
on your uncle yes sir yes yes indeed
28:34
black gnaw hp that's how that's how
28:37
b-l-a-c-k-n-a-l-l
28:38
thank you tony you're a citizen tom sway
28:40
in the morning
28:41
uh man he's bob you're you're
28:45
awesome um
28:48
and i love the name of the podcast so
28:50
it's amazing black diamonds
28:52
um can you real quick talk about
28:56
babe ruth and
28:59
you know some of these famous white
29:01
baseball players
29:02
and how did they receive the negro
29:06
league players and
29:08
was what was all of them you know and
29:10
what because the country was in a in
29:12
terms of race relations was in a very
29:14
divided place back then and it still is
29:16
as you see
29:17
but but how how were those players you
29:20
know reception to the [ __ ] league
29:22
players somebody like babe
29:24
that's a great question it really is
29:27
because
29:28
it speaks to what i wholeheartedly
29:30
believe
29:31
great athletes sway appreciate
29:34
other great athletes and babe ruth
29:37
absolutely had great affinity for those
29:40
black ball players
29:42
so much so that it might have cost him
29:44
an opportunity
29:45
to manage the new york yankees he was
29:47
too close to him you know he had barn
29:49
storm with him
29:50
he spoke up about them and i think that
29:53
rubbed the yankees organization a little
29:54
wrong back in the day and it may have
29:56
caused ruth
29:57
an opportunity to be the manager of the
30:00
yankees
30:01
and the other superstar major leaguers
30:03
it's always been my belief
30:05
that the superstar major leaguer was
30:06
never concerned about integration
30:08
it was that average major leaguer that
30:11
was concerned about integration
30:12
because if you allow this influx of both
30:15
black and afro-latino talent in
30:18
i might lose my job and so
30:21
they were in a kind of trying to
30:25
it was self-preservation mode for these
30:27
players yeah so when jackie robinson
30:29
came up he took somebody's job
30:31
and so that that guy now is looking over
30:34
his shoulder wondering oh hell am i next
30:36
and so but the superstar the ted
30:38
williams of the world ted williams what
30:40
word about
30:41
integration because ted williams could
30:42
play and so he had
30:44
great admiration and it was ted williams
30:47
who used his
30:48
own induction speech into the national
30:51
baseball hall of fame
30:52
who used that platform to advocate
30:55
for other negro leaguers to be inducted
30:58
he said that he hoped one day the likes
31:01
of
31:01
satchel page and josh gibson would be
31:04
inducted into the national baseball hall
31:06
of fame
31:06
as symbols of those great black stars
31:09
who weren't there because they'd never
31:10
been given an opportunity that was 1966
31:14
five years later satchel page becomes
31:17
the first from the negro leagues to be
31:18
inducted
31:19
into the national baseball hall of fame
31:21
it does not happen if ted williams
31:24
doesn't use that platform to advocate
31:26
but it also speaks to the respect that
31:28
ted had he had competed with and against
31:30
them
31:30
he knew that they could play and then
31:32
the other side bar to that was that ted
31:34
williams was of mexican descent
31:37
and a lot of people did not know that i
31:38
didn't know that he also was sensitive
31:41
to the plight that these black athletes
31:44
had to endure in this country
31:46
but he used that platform very boldly to
31:48
make that statement and five years later
31:51
satchel is inducted love it man listen
31:54
these stories you can hear all day in
31:57
fact you can follow mr bob kendrick
31:59
at nlb m
32:03
press p-r-e-z so
32:07
rich in philly juan in louisiana
32:10
he wanted to thank you for the tour you
32:11
gave him of the museum mill in denver
32:14
eddie in white plains
32:18
demi and charlotte randy in chicago hit
32:20
him up directly on his instagram that's
32:22
nlb
32:24
national nlb m press p-r-e-z
32:28
and then also go to siriusxm and hear
32:31
the black diamonds podcast
32:32
bob kendrick can't wait to see you again
32:35
hey this way man looking forward to it
32:37
got to get you out here to kc
32:38
come on what we talked about during the
32:40
live broadcast the morning show
32:42
broadcast let's do it
32:43
okay we've got to do it okay cover
32:45
stopped us but now we're back
32:47
we're going to make that happen brother
32:49
i appreciate you congratulations on all
32:51
the success bob kendrick ladies and
32:52
gentlemen bye
32:53
all right my man bob take care bob thank
32:56
you hi guys my glove thank you
32:58
thank you man
33:12
[Music]
33:13
you
#Arts & Entertainment