October 3rd, 1974-May 14th, 1977
A half-hour syndicated PBS series sports nostalgia show hosted by Curt Gowdy. Guest athletes view film clips of famous sporting events and reminisce.
Negro League Baseball- A look at black baseball in America.
Host: Curt Gowdy.
In this program, hosted by Curt Gowdy and Dick Enberg, the history of the Negro baseball leagues is discussed. The guests are some of the greatest players to come out of those leagues, including Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Don Newcombe, Willie Forster, Ted Page, Chet Brewer, and Quincy Trouppe. Highlights include: the history of the Negro League dating back to the Civil War era; Adrain "Cap" Anson's refusal to let his team play against competition beginning in 1887 if there were any black players on the field and how other teams followed his lead; Andrew "Rube" Forster's formation of an all-black players league in response to the segregation enforced by other teams; the sub-par conditions that the Negro League teams had to overcome including inferior living, playing, and equipment conditions; the types of crowds that would show up for the games and whether or not the stadiums would sell-out; the differences in the style of that game that was played in the Negro Leagues as compared to that of the Major Leagues; how the Negro League season sometimes went on for as long as two hundred games, with Negro League teams often playing two games a day in different cities; the opinion of the guests that the fastest man to ever play the game was James "Cool Papa" Bell, who was able to run from first base to home plate on a bunt and once stole one-hundred-and-seventy bases in a season; an example of the gloves the players used day in and day out; and what it was like playing against the Major Leaguers when both of their seasons were over. Also, expressed how if felt being banned from Major League Baseball.
Reminiscences from the panel related to great Black Ballplayers in their time, including, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Buck Leonard, Martin Dihigo, Dave Malarcher, others.
