MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson's powerful retelling of his experience with racism in the early days of his baseball career has gone viral.
The five-time World Series champion famously played with the Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and California Angels during his storied two-decade MLB career. The now-78-year-old appeared on Fox Sports' special regular-season telecast honoring the Negro Leagues June 20, the day after national holiday Juneteenth commemorated the end of U.S. slavery.
The broadcast at Birmingham, Alabama’s historic Rickwood Field featured a matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.
"Coming back here is not easy," Jackson said.
Jackson played for an A's minor league team in Birmingham before finding stardom in the majors beginning with the then-Kansas City A's in 1967.
"The racism that I played here, when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled — 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," he added.
Jackson recalled being refused service because of the color of his skin.
"People said to me today, I spoke and they said, 'You think you're a better person. You think you won when you played here and conquered.' I said, you know, I would never want to do it again," he said.
"I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say the n----- can't eat here. I would go to a hotel and they'd say the n----- can't stay here," he added.
In one instance, Charlie Finley, then-owner of the A's, initially refused to patronize a country club that rejected Jackson as a guest for a welcome-home dinner the team was attending.
"Finley marched the whole team out," Jackson said. "Finally, they let me in there."
Other times, the ballclub moved on entirely when businesses stuck with their decision to refuse Jackson.
"If I couldn't eat in a place, nobody would eat. We'd get food to travel. If I couldn't stay in a hotel, they'd drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay," he said.
As Jackson's comments make the online rounds, social media users are celebrating and supporting him.
"Reggie and so many others went thru Hell and came out of it a Hall of Famers. Absolutely amazing what they lived through," an X user said.
"Powerful to hear. We need to acknowledge what people went through back then. Hard to imagine enduring that because of the color of your skin and trying to play a fun game like baseball," another said.
"I know he’s a legend of the sport, but I did not realize that he had to endure so much, and was still around so long to be praised so highly, and now be able to tell his story. Amazing to hear," a third added.
