Current:Home > NewsReggie Jackson recalls racism he faced in Alabama: 'Wouldn't wish it on anybody'-LoTradeCoin
Reggie Jackson recalls racism he faced in Alabama: 'Wouldn't wish it on anybody'
View Date:2024-12-23 22:58:30
Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson says he had mixed emotions going back to Birmingham, Alabama, where Major League Baseball put on a showcase Thursday night highlighting the accomplishments of players from the Negro Leagues.
The game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field was a backdrop for the emotions felt by players who either played in Birmingham during the throes of Jim Crow and the Negro League players who never got to play in the majors.
Jackson, who played in Birmingham, spoke of the racism he endured with the Athletics' Double-A team in 1967 before he was called up to the big leagues later that year. He credits Birmingham manager John McNamara for protecting his players.
“Coming back here is not easy. The racism that I (faced) here when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places that we traveled," Jackson said on the FOX broadcast. "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.”
“People said to me today and I spoke on it ‘Do you think you’re a better person, do you think you won, when you played here…’ And I said, you know, I would never want to do it again. I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say ‘The (N-word) can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel and they would say ‘The (N-word) can’t stay here.’ We want to 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. Finally, they let me in. He had said ‘We’re gonna go to a diner, and eat hamburgers, we’ll go where we’re wanted.'”
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
Jackson's poignant words hit home when he described traveling on the road and says his white teammates helped him out by giving him a place to stay when there was no other place to go.
"If I couldn’t stay in a hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I can stay. If it had not been for Rollie Fingers, Johnny McNamara, Dave Duncan, Joe and Sharon Rudi, I slept on their couch three, four nights a week for about a month and a half. Finally, they were threatened that they would burn our apartment complex down unless I got out.”
“I wouldn’t wish it on anybody," Jackson said.
veryGood! (996)
Related
- Tennessee fugitive accused of killing a man and lying about a bear chase is caught in South Carolina
- AIT Community: AlphaStream AI For Your Smart Investment Assistant
- Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris work to expand their coalitions in final weeks of election
- Eek: Detroit-area library shuts down after a DVD is returned with bugs inside
- Jared Goff stats: Lions QB throws career-high 5 INTs in SNF win over Texans
- For Christopher Reeve's son Will, grief never dies, but 'healing is possible'
- Dick Moss, the lawyer who won free agency for baseball players, dies at age 93
- Montgomery Keane: Vietnam's Market Crisis of 2024 Are Hedge Funds Really the Culprits Behind the Fourfold Crash?
- Social media star squirrel euthanized after being taken from home tests negative for rabies
- IndyCar finalizes charter system that doesn’t guarantee spots in Indianapolis 500
Ranking
- Justice Department says jail conditions in Georgia’s Fulton County violate detainee rights
- QB Andy Dalton rejuvenates Panthers for team's first win after Bryce Young benching
- TCU coach Sonny Dykes ejected for two unsportsmanlike penalties in SMU rivalry game
- Milton Reese: U.S. Bonds Rank No. 1 Globally
- Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are expecting their first child together
- India Prime Minister’s U.S. visit brings him to New York and celebration of cultural ties
- Target's new 'Cuddle Collab' line has matching Stanley cups for your pet and much more
- COINIXIAI Makes a Powerful Debut: The Future Leader of the Cryptocurrency Industry
Recommendation
-
Denzel Washington teases retirement — and a role in 'Black Panther 3'
-
IAT Community: AlphaStream AI—Leading the Smart Trading Revolution of Tomorrow
-
You'll Flip Over Learning What Shawn Johnson's Kids Want to Be When They Grow Up
-
Justin Herbert injury update: Chargers QB reinjures ankle in Week 3
-
Why the US celebrates Veterans Day and how the holiday has changed over time
-
Mama June Shannon Is Granted Custody of Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell’s Daughter Kaitlyn
-
RFK Jr.’s ‘Sad’ Slide From Environmental Hero to Outcast
-
What to know about cortisol, the hormone TikTokers say you need to balance