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MLB great Reggie Jackson said white folks were brutal

Reggie said whites called him nigger/YouTube

Reggie Jackson recalls racism. 

Blog King, Mass Appeal

BIRMINGHAM — Last Thursday night, Fox Sports paid homage to Willie Mays with “A Tribute to the Negro Leagues” during the San Francisco Giants – St Louis Cardinals game at Rickwood Field — a Negro Leagues ballpark in Birmingham, Alabama. In case you didn’t know, Rickwood is the oldest professional baseball park in the United States. Bill Greason, the first black pitcher for the Cardinals, shared his experiences with racism and segregation. Bill is 99 years old, but looks like he can still take the mound. Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who played in the minor leagues at Rickwood in the late ’60s, shared his experiences too. Mr. October said white folks made his life a living hell. “The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled… I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” Reggie recalled during a chinwag with the “MLB on FOX” television crew.

“I walked into restaurants, and they would point at me and say, ‘The nigger can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they would say, ‘The nigger can’t stay here.’ We went to [Kansas City Athletics owner] Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word: ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out.”

Dayuuummm!

Social media reaction was vicious.

One commenter wrote, “All the people who are triggered by Reggie’s comments fail to see why there are so few black American baseball players. Gary Sheffield spoke on this years ago.” Another chimed in with, “Reggie just gave us a real history lesson.” A third person added, “Sadly… instead of acknowledging the evil atrocities committed by their klancestors, white people get defensive and call us victims. Interesting how they never tell Jews to get over the Holocaust. Who were also paid reparations by the way.”

Reggie said he was so mad, he was ready to kick some ass.

But a few of his friends held him back.

“I was ready to physically fight,” Reggie vented.

“I would’ve got killed here because I would’ve beat someone’s ass and you would’ve saw me in an oak tree somewhere.”

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is located in Kansas City.

It’s an amazing facility.

Put it on your bucket list.

Is it time for America to give black people an apology?

Are reparations warranted?

Watch Reggie keep it 💯.

Share your thoughts.

This Post Has 34 Comments

  1. As a 35-year-old black man, I have always known I wouldn’t have made it in times from the past. I too, have too much pride to submit myself to the evil of others. Tremendous praise to Mr. October for exposing this raw reality to people uninterested in knowing the truth.

  2. Reggie went through hell for baseball. And the solidarity shown by his teammates was awesome.

  3. Mr October…what can I say? So very sad Reggie experienced such profound racism in his era.

  4. Reggie Jackson was a star. If he was subjected to this, imagine how much worse it could be for a “regular person”.

  5. “you would of seen me in an oak tree somewhere”
    That is some deep imagery…

  6. @Pistol Petey: Just because I didn’t experience this growing up doesn’t mean I have to forget what my ancestors went through before me. No matter the progress made, I’ll never forget. This is why my great grandparents fled Alabama with their kids in the early 50s. I’m here because it was safer

  7. That pain and hurt never goes away, this is a part of him that he can’t ever forget. Just as we are American Descendants of Slavery (the institution), Segregation and Jim Crow laws and policies are a part of us, that we are still victims of. Funny, how no one ever says that about the German Holocaust and their American Descendants or tells them they’re not victims. We will be victims until our government makes us whole.

  8. And yet he’ll still take the field at Yankee Stadium for Old Timer’s Day and stand shoulder to shoulder with racist MAGA chuds Goose Gossage and David Wells.

  9. I watched the interview and I could see how the commentator on the end was low-key freaking out. He probably had producers in his ear telling him to cut him off. I’m glad Reggie Jackson spoke his piece and I’m glad he told it like it was. I have similar stories from the early 2000’s and I’m an elder millennial.

  10. While I feel for what he went through when he was growing up. As a younger person, my take away is that his story is a sign of hope that things have changed and we have made huge progress. If you are dwelling on it like it happened today, then you are missing the lesson.

  11. My father served in the Army. He told me a similar story that when he was told that he could not be served his commanding officer told the waitress if you cannot serve him you cannot serve me l. The officer told his men stand up and they left.

  12. I give Reggie props for crediting his white teammates for standing up for him: McNamara, Rudi, and Duncan.

  13. Reggie Jackson pulled no punches, I know his words made Whites real uncomfortable. Good!

  14. Absolutely hate when a white person tell me to get over racism. That’s the worst thing you can say

  15. He’s still alive and the people he’s talking about are still alive and teaching their grandchildren and great grandchildren

  16. Mr. Reggie Jackson was speaking ‘His truth’ & ‘The truth’! Glad it made people squirm & feel uncomfortable.

  17. I did not have clue….I thought that racism in baseball was really heavy during the 40’s and 50’s. After Jackie Robinson broke the color line, I though white had gotten over it ,but Reggie’s experience was as recent as the 60’s and 70’s!! That was not that long ago folks…You can see it in his eyes and on his face that it is still messing with him…one reason why is that Jim Crow still exists in this country.

  18. I am 62 years old and lived real racism up to my discharge from the Air Force in 1988. That was real racism. Not what these people are crying about today.

  19. Here come the sensitive PALE people talking bullshyt suggesting that melanated people should “get over” this extinct “racism” problem. Meanwhile their entire existence benefits from PALE PRIVILEGE. (ie. They frequently get undeserved social, educational, & work benefits or opportunities). You can’t make this shyt up. Dr. Robin DiAngelo (sociologist) has examined this behavior in her book & her lectures.

  20. I believe the white people of today are experiencing the results of their past racism.

  21. The ugly TRUTH America is trying hide. And don’t get it twisted. A lot of bigoted scum want those days to return.

  22. SOOOOOO WHYYYYY IS RACISM STILL HERE …GIVE BLACK AMERICANS THEIR REPARATIONS NOWWWWWW UNTIL WHITE AMERICA MAKES THIS RIGHT ITS GOING TO DESTROY AMERICA POINT BLANK FACTSSSSSSS

  23. Just think of what Jackie Robinson went through and multiply it by 10. To perform like they did under those conditions . Those were some bad MO FO.

  24. Lets understand ONE thing: America, white Americans, never stop saying how blessed we blacks are to be here! The question is this: at what cost to the mental stability of black people? Whites tell us how bad it would have been in a so called primitive Africa. I see more Africans in Africa smiling than blacks in America. The argument would not take place in a great country. The fact that in 2024 the conversation continues says much about the fraud America has always been.

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