![]() Umpire Bob Motley in the air, in a still from ‘The League.’ (Byron Motley, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures) Meshing the recollections of numerous players and Negro League umpire Bob Motley (who died in 2017), a wealth of splendid vintage footage and interviews with young Black historians, it’s a solid double in the gap that fans of the game will enjoy even more than devotees of American social history. ![]() In most tellings, Negro League stars like Buck O’Neill, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige are tragic figures: They were robbed of the opportunity to compete against Joe DiMaggio, et al, and to join the firmament of household names on the sports pages, in the record books and at Cooperstown.Ī parallel history of baseball from a Black point of view, Sam Pollard’s fleet-footed, feature-length The League offers a perspective that acknowledges segregation and racism - yet is closer to a house party than a lament. Everybody knows that baseball - the dominant sport in America for two-thirds of the 20th century - excluded Black players from its major leagues for decades, from the turn of the century until Jackie Robinson broke through in 1947.
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