Reggie Jackson was present at Rickwood Field Thursday night as Willie Mays and other black baseball players were honored, and the Hall of Famer revealed some harrowing stories of the racist abuse he faced as a player.
Jackson, best known for his time with the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees, spent one season with the Birmingham Athletics in the minors.
And the 78-year-old admitted it was difficult returning to his old Rickwood stadium, as he described the discrimination he used to face.
“Coming back here is not easy,” he said in the FOX Sports broadcast before the Cardinals-Giants game in Rickwood, the first time an MLB game has been played there.
‘The racism that I played here… Fortunately I had a coach and players on the team who helped me overcome it. But I don’t wish it on anyone.
Reggie Jackson shared heartbreaking stories of past racial abuse he suffered as a player
Rickwood Field is 114 years old and was formerly the home of the Birmingham Black Barons.
Jackson continued, “I walked into restaurants and they pointed at me and said, ‘Black man can’t eat here.'” I went to a hotel and they told me ‘the black man can’t stay here’.
The former right fielder added that the staff once banned him from A’s owner Charlie Finley’s country club during a team dinner.
On the other hand, Jackson credited his teammates, coaches and team executives for supporting him.
‘If I couldn’t eat there, no one would eat, we would get food to travel with. If I couldn’t stay at a hotel, they would drive to the next hotel and find a place I could stay.
He also shared how former A’s teammate Joe Rudi and his wife, Sharon, allowed him to sleep on their couch 3 or 4 nights a week for a short period.
However, he said that after about six weeks someone threatened to burn down the apartment complex unless he left.
Jackson is seen circa 1974 with the Oakland Athletics, with whom he spent 10 MLB seasons.
Willie Mays, one of the all-time baseball greats, passed away this week at the age of 93.
Players like Mays, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson played in the Negro Leagues, which existed because black players were previously not allowed in Major League Baseball.
But the stories of Jackson, who played until 1987, showed that racism prevailed even after the MLB became racially integrated.
Speaking about the legendary Mays, who died this week at the age of 93, Jackson said on Fox Sports: “We all wanted to be like Willie. When you played against him, you got caught up watching Willie. It was pure baseball, my favorite of all.” the times. I loved the boy, I wanted to be like Willie.
Mays, considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time, was the oldest living Hall of Famer before his death.