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It's Dick Lair. When I'm not reporting

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or writing, I'm often following the Red Sox.

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And I wanted to tell you about another podcast from

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ABC Audio that you might like, called

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Reclaimed, The Forgotten League. There's

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a hidden story about America's most

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loved sport.

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The Forgotten League explores how baseball

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was shaped by segregation, and

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how the black athletes who were shut out of the major

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leagues created their own space to play.

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It traces the highs and lows

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of what's known as the Negro Leagues. And

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what it tells us about America today. I

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want to play you the trailer for this season of Reclaimed.

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If you find it interesting, click the link

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in our episode description

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and follow the show for the rest of the story.

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Here's the trailer. I've got a question

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for you. Who's the greatest baseball

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player of all time? Whether

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you're a baseball fan or not, you

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probably have someone in mind. Like

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Babe Ruth. His name, as you all

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know, is Babe Ruth. Hank

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Aaron. Baseball legend Hank Aaron.

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Shohei Ohtani. Superstar Shohei Ohtani.

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Four star. These are the greats of America's pastime. Right?

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But what if I told you that names

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have been purposely excluded

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from that list? Players kept out

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of our record books, out of our

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halls of fame, and out of

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our shared memory.

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In 1947, Jackie Robinson

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famously broke the color line. But

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before that, there was a whole other

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chapter of American baseball. A chapter

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that belongs to thousands of black

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players who competed in a segregated

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league. This is not in the pages of

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American history books. And so countless

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generations of us went through our own formal

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educations without knowing one of the most significant

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chapters, not in baseball history, but in American

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history.

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In this season of Reclaim, we're

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going to open that chapter and tell the

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stories of the Negro Leagues.

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I'm Vanessa Ivy Rose. I'm a baseball

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fan and I'm the

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granddaughter of one of the greatest batters

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you've never heard of, Norman

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Turkey

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Stearns. Turkey's first season

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with the Detroit Stars, by all accounts,

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was unbelievable. In

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an era defined by discrimination, my

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grandfather and other black baseball players

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found a way to play the game they loved, and

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they were incredible. Most

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of the time, niggly teams beat the

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niggly teams. I leave it

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at that. Mike drop,

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Mike drop. I've

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wanted to talk

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about these baseball legends for a long time.

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Not just to tell you about their triumphs, but

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also to tell you what they witnessed about this country

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while playing American sport in segregated

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towns and stadiums. It was

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not uncommon for these athletes

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to ride into a town, to luck

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at the ballpark, but yet not be able

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to get a meal from the same fans which has cheer-tipped.

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Today, descendants of these athletes,

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like me, and baseball's institutions,

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like MLB,

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are reckoning with this history. What

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would justice look like after so many

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decades of exclusion? Who

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are you to tell us that we are now major leaguers?

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We always consider our relatives

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as major leaguers.

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So

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I asked who you thought the greatest baseball

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player of all time was. But

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the truth is, you can't really answer

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the question, because you don't know all the

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greats. Yet.

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From ABC Audio, Reclaim,

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the Forgotten League, premieres on

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October 2nd, wherever you get your podcasts.