Reggie Jackson on Playing Baseball in Alabama in the 1960s

Last Thursday, June 20, MLB held a game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, billed as the oldest professional ballpark in the US, between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. The game was played to honor the recent passing of baseball great Willie Mays and the Negro League baseball that was once played at Rickwood. Reggie Jackson, along with other old baseball greats, spoke to the Fox Sports crew to honor Willie and the occasion. But Reggie, in his remarks, lingered on what a racist and cruelly segregated place Rickwood and Birmingham were when he played there in the 1960s and thanked his white teammates, and friends, who helped him through it. It's primary source history racists would prefer was glossed over and forgotten and an old but still flinty Jackson telling it like is. All respect for Mr. October.