Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jacksonopened up about racism and threats he experienced during his early playing career in the South in powerful, live TV remarks on Thursday.
Jackson, who played for the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees during his iconic career, described several instances where people referred to him using the N-word as he played in Alabama during the 1960s.
“I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and said, ‘The n****r can’t eat here,’” Jackson told a Fox Sports panel about playing for the minor league Birmingham A’s in 1967.
The Hall of Famer cited other times where he faced racial slurs, adding to the intensity of his painful memories as he recalled trying to attend a “welcome home dinner” at then-Athletics owner Charlie Finley’s country club.
“They pointed me out … [and said,] ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out,” Jackson said. “Finally, they let me in there. He said, ‘We’re going to go to the diner and eat hamburgers. We’ll go where we’re wanted.’”
The Hall of Famer returned to Rickwood Field in Birmingham for a game that honored the Negro Leagues less than one month after Major League Baseballincorporated the leagues’ statistics into its records.
Jackson was one of a few Black players on the Birmingham squad when he played at Rickwood, the oldest existing ballpark in the U.S. and once home to the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons.
“Coming back here is not easy,” Jackson told former Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who asked how “emotional” he is about his return to Birmingham.
The Hall of Famer pointed to a number of white people part of the 1967 team — including his former manager Johnny McNamara as well as players like Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi — who had his back as he faced discrimination in the city.
Jackson recalled crashing on his teammate’s couch before people threatened to burn down an apartment complex unless he “got out” of it.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. At the same time, had it not been for my white friends … I would have never made it,” Jackson said.
