Reggie Jackson, asked during a tribute to Negro League Baseball about returning to Rickwood Field in Alabama, where he played Double-A baseball:

Coming back here is not easy. The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled.… I wouldn't wish it on anybody…. I would never want to do it again. I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say “the n— can’t eat here”. I would go to a hotel and they said “the n— can't stay here.” We went to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner and they pointed me out with the N word. “He can't come in here.” Finley marched the whole team out.… He said we're going to go to the diner and eat hamburgers, we’ll go where we're wanted. Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that if I couldn't eat in the place, nobody would eat, we’d get food to travel. If I couldn't stay in a hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay.

This is not the answer Fox Sports expected, but was definitely the one that was needed. A reminder that he’s talking about 1967. It’s not that long ago, practically within my lifetime.

Also, great examples on how to be an ally. You stand together. Either everyone is in, or no one’s in.

Be sure to scroll back to the beginning to hear Reggie call Willie Mays “a Baryshnikov on the baseball field.”