baseball 
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SOURCE: Public Books
2/24/2021
What Counts, These Days, In Baseball?
by David Henkin
A cultural historian considers recent baseball controversies in light of new books on the sport, and concludes that ideas of fair competition have much more to do with our social context than fans acknowledge.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
2/10/2021
Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame
Sportswriter Jemele Hill makes the case for Curt Flood as an advocate for the labor rights of ballplayers and especially the right of players of color to be paid for their skill, even at the cost of being blackballed from the game.
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SOURCE: Black Perspectives
2/8/2021
Henry Aaron and American Memory
by Robert Greene II
"The memories of Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron, two Americans reviled by many of their compatriots during their playing days but embraced by virtually everyone now, are but the sports phase of a nationwide problem—the problem of properly remembering a painful past."
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SOURCE: Boston Review
2/8/2021
“White Fragility” Gets Jackie Robinson's Story Wrong
by Peter Dreier
In an effort to define the Major League Color Line as an artifact of white prejudice, Robin DiAngelo obscures the fact that Jackie Robinson was part of a broad protest movement by Black activists and some white allies to demand and achieve integration of professional baseball.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
1/24/2021
Babe Ruth’s Record was a Mythical Monument of White Superiority. Hank Aaron Tore it Down
by Kevin B. Blackistone
Sports have long served as a projection screen for white angst over challenges to racial supremacy. Hank Aaron's 715th home run was one of a line of Black athletic challenges to white racism and was met with similar hostility.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
1/25/2021
What Hank Aaron Told Me
by Sandy Tolan
The author received a touching reply to a fan letter he wrote Hank Aaron in 1972. Writing a book about Aaron years later, he realized he didn't know the half of the burdens Aaron carried in pursuit of baseball immortality.
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SOURCE: ESPN
1/22/2021
Hank Aaron's Lasting Impact is Measured in More than Home Runs
by Howard Bryant
Hank Aaron biographer Howard Bryant shared common experiences with the baseball legend as a Black man in the sports industry. He writes about the legacy of the slugger who lived through the Jim Crow and civil rights eras and died at age 86 today.
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1/22/2021
Historians Pay Tribute to Hank Aaron
by HNN Staff
Hank Aaron, an all-time great of baseball and for many years its all-time leader in home runs, passed away at age 86 on January 22. Historians recall him as a player, an advocate for civil rights inside and outside the game, and a man who was uneasy being made into a symbol of progress against racism.
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SOURCE: YouTube
1/22/2021
Hank Aaron's 715th, Called by Vin Scully
The baseball Hall of Famer and one-time home run leader died at age 86 on January 22. Here, watch his record-breaking 715th home run, as announced by broadcasting legend Vin Scully.
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SOURCE: New York Times
12/16/2020
M.L.B. Will Add Negro Leagues to Official Records
Major League Baseball will include player statistics from the seven African American baseball leagues operating between 1920 and 1948 in the major league record books in recognition of the quality of play and the opportunity denied the best Black players in the game's segregated era.
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SOURCE: New York Times
12/13/2020
Cleveland’s Baseball Team Will Drop the Name "Indians"
“Oh no!” Trump tweeted. “What is going on? This is not good news, even for ‘Indians’. Cancel culture at work!”
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SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
10/26/2020
If only Richard Nixon had Listened to Jackie Robinson — The GOP Might be Doing Better than Trump Today
by Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick
Despite Jackie Robinson's intercession, Richard Nixon's moment of indecision in 1960 allowed Jack Kennedy to connect his campaign with the cause of Martin Luther King and civil rights.
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SOURCE: The Nation
10/20/2020
Baseball’s Race Problem
by Gene Seymour
Following comedian Chris Rock's observations, Gene Seymour argues that baseball is out of step with a multicultural America and ruled by traditions and unwritten rules that limit its appeal outside of White America.
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SOURCE: National Trust for Historic Preservation
10/5/2020
Hinchliffe Stadium’s Comeback is a Home Run
For Black Americans, the amphitheater-style stadium was home to and embodied the incredible spirit of Negro Leagues baseball. It will now be renovated so its story can be preserved.
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SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
9/8/2020
Remembering Roberto Clemente as a Black Man who Fought Against Racial Injustice
Roberto Clemente is often remembered as a pioneering Puerto Rican star in baseball, but as an Afro-Carribean player, he fought for Black civil rights as well.
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SOURCE: Washington Post
8/16/2020
Baseball is Honoring the Negro Leagues. It Needs to Explain why they Existed.
Major League Baseball's celebration of the centennial of the Negro Leagues whitewashes the role of major league owners in segregating baseball with an 1887 "Gentlemen's Agreement."
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SOURCE: Library of Congress
8/6/2020
Today in History: Cy Young's First Professional Game
Today marks the anniversary of baseball legend Cy Young's first professional game.
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SOURCE: Activist History Review
8/1/2020
Time to Cancel 2020 Baseball Season: A Lesson for Colleges and Universities
by Michael T. Barry Jr.
It is clear the MLB in-person COVID experiment has been a failure. Colleges and universities should take note of this failure and act accordingly.
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SOURCE: NPR
7/31/2020
MLB Commemorates The 100th Anniversary Of The Negro Leagues (audio)
Minnie Forbes, age 88, is the last surviving owner of a Negro League baseball team, and worries that the full story of the league and its teams and players may go untold.
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SOURCE: The Nation
6/22/2020
When the KKK Played Against an All-Black Baseball Team
by John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro
For the white-robed, playing a black team was a gift-wrapped photo op, a chance to show that the Klan was part of the local community—even the black citizens.
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