It’s been 75 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. But even with that historic moment, Black baseball players continued to battle racism on and off the field. On Saturday, June 18, the History Channel will debut a new documentary called After Jackie, which focuses on three Black baseball players who fought for racial equality. The film honors Bob Gibson, Curt Flood and Bill White who did everything they could to make the game more inclusive.
After Jackie does talk about Robinson throughout the documentary as he was an activist once he retired from baseball. But while Robinson is credited for breaking the color barrier in MLB, After Jackie mentions that Bud Folwer was the earliest known Black player to play organized professional baseball, which was in 1878. But after Fowler played it took six decades for baseball to see another black player. After Jackie goes into detail about Robinson’s time in MLB and why he was the one to break the color barrier instead of another player in the Negro Leagues.
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Once Robison left the game, Gibson, Flood and White were the leaders of the second wave of Black baseball players. All three played for the St. Louis Cardinals and helped the team win a World Series in 1964. Gibson broke the narrative of Black players can’t be pitchers by striking out 3,117 batters in his career, winning the NL Cy Young Award twice and pitching a no-hitter in 1971. Flood won two World Series with the Cardinals but he’s known for starting free agency for the league after he sued MLB for the reverse clause. Additionally, White was an eight-time All-Star who became the first Black full-time sportscaster in baseball as well as the first Black NL president.
Gibson, Flood, and White had success on the field but still had to deal with racism while playing and dealing with everyday life. After Jackie shows Gibson talking about how Cardinals manager Solly Hemus misused him at the start of his career because of his racial prejudice. Also, Flood had to deal with fans yelling racial slurs at him for asking for a raise.
After Jackie reveals how much Black baseball players have made an impact on the sports. It also shows that there is still work to be done as just 7.2% of all players as of Opening Day of 2022 are Black, according to a report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida. We know what Robinson did for MLB. But After Jackie reveals how the second wave of Black players paved the way for the Black players of today.
