Reggie Jackson’s emotional, heartfelt answer about racism was a can’t-miss MLB moment

Alex Rodriguez thought he was throwing a soft ball question to Reggie Jackson on the Fox MLB Broadcast from Rickwood Field on Thursday, and he couldn’t have expected the emotional, thoughtful answer he got.

Rickwood Field, former home of the Birmingham Barons, is a monumentally important part of baseball history, specifically the Negro Leagues. Jackson played in the stadium in 1967, as as part of the AA affiliate for the Kansas City Athletics. A-Rod asked Jackson what it was like returning to a field that held so many memories of baseball’s past, likely expecting the legend to simply discuss his MLB victories and on-field performance. Instead Jackson gave a stunning, thoughtful answer — one that helped highlight how far we’ve come, and how far we have to go.

“Alex, when people ask me a question like that ... it’s like, coming back here is not easy. The racism 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. People said to me today, and said “You think you’re a better person?” they said “You won when you played here and conquered.” 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***** can’t eat here.” I would go to a hotel and they’d say “the n***** can’t stay here.” We went to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner and they pointed me out, “the n-word can’t come in here.” Finley marched the whole team out. Finally they let me in there, but he said “no, we’re going to eat at the diner and have hamburgers. We’ll go where we’re wanted.”

Jackson went on to explain how former manager Johnny McNamara supported him, and shared anecdotes about how various teammates supported him at a time society refused to. This all took place when Jackson played for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics from 1967-1975.

There’s been this tendency to see Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier as the moment where everything in baseball went from being segregated, to hunky-dory overnight. The truth is that the pain of integration lasted decades beyond Jackie stepping to the plate for the first time. Even with the rings, the bust in the Hall of Fame, the legendary status that is Reggie Jackson — he showed that the pain that endures from dealing with such profound racism early in his career.

We can celebrate baseball’s past without forgetting the dark times in the sport as well. Jackson encapsulated that perfectly.