In late 2020, Major League Baseball decided to incorporate all of the playing records of the teams and players of the Negro Leagues into their official record-books. This appeared to be a belated acknowledgement of what was blatant racism and segrationism at the heart of the game in the first half of the twentieth century.

 

Howard Bryant, author and ESPN journalist, joins us today to tell the history of the Negro Leagues, and warns us an acknowledgement of the harsh reality of the America and the society that birthed the Negro Leagues can’t be told in bare facts and figures.

We were all watching closely last night as Harry and Meghan met Oprah, but what the hell could we possibly have to say about such things? Quite a bit, actually. And Ken doffs his cap to the BBC Synth department of the 1960s, and the wonders they performed for our benefit.

 

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