The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball

Located in tiny, charming Cooperstown, New York, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum showcases the game's greatest teams and players, most of whom played Major League Baseball. Whether you have been to the museum multiple times, or it is your first time, you could spend hours finding, admiring, and studying things you haven't seen. The place is full of interesting artifacts, from Babe Ruth's bats to a complete collection of World Series rings. Still, like all museums, it is a work in progress.In May 2024, the museum opened an important new exhibit: The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball. It was designed and curated by a talented team, led by senior curator Tom Shieber, and by consultants Gerald Early, Leslie Heaphy, Larry Lester, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Rob Ruck, with input from an impressive twenty-five-member advisory committee. The exhibit documents Black baseball's many contributions to the game, from its nineteenth-century beginnings, during segregation, the beginning of reintegration, and how it has shaped Major League Baseball since the late 1940s.Director of exhibits and design Mary Quinn wanted to stitch the fabric of the Negro leagues into Major League Baseball. The exhibit's backgrounds are inspired by images from generations of the Gee's Bend Quilter Collective made by local women in Gee's Bend, Alabama. The detail in the planning shows how Black baseball is woven into the fabric of American history.1 Part of the exhibit's design included redoing the floor, which is different from the rest of the museum. The exhibit's design shows the detail and care that Quinn and others put into it. It illustrates the precision and respect that went into planning and executing The Souls of the Game.Walking up to the museum's second floor, you see amazing photographs of players, of baseball in the late 1800s, and descriptions of baseball at different historical moments. As you continue walking through the museum, you see the exhibit The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball, which on the outside has videos and pictures of Black baseball. Once inside the exhibition space, you start at the beginning of Black baseball with an animated video of men who led the way in the nineteenth century and later when the Negro leagues began. The exhibit showcases the most famous teams and ballplayers from the Negro leagues and explains the history of Black baseball. As you move further into the exhibit, there is another animated video. It explains some of the bigger names in the league. There are descriptions of Newark Eagles owner Effa Manley, sportswriter Wendall Smith, and great ballplayers such as Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, and many others. These videos showcase some of the major names besides the players who played and worked hard for the Negro leagues to be successful and for Major League Baseball's reintegration.Next you see the start of the reintegration of Major League Baseball when Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 and his first game with the Dodgers in 1947. This reintegration shows how Negro league baseball helped pave the way for Robinson, Doby, Irvin, and many other players. Being able to look at game-day memorabilia, movies featuring Black baseball, and what was happening in America at the time shows how the game and society were changing. The exhibit then transitions into the 1960s and how some Black ballplayers became global stars. The exhibit explains that integration became such a hit that other sports started to integrate as well. At the same time, the exhibit creates some necessary cultural context. It notes what was going on in the rest of America, which is crucial for people to understand because segregation was still legal and some organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, had issues with Black ballplayers playing Major League Baseball.As you continue to move through the exhibit, you come across the final animated video. This time you are in the 1990s, and Ken Griffey Jr. is on screen and tells the story of how Jackie Robinson's number was worn on Jackie Robinson Day. In 1997, Griffey Jr. asked the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, if he could wear the number 42 to honor Robinson and all that he did for Black baseball players. That year, players were given the option to wear number 42 to honor Robinson. It wasn't until 2007 when all players were required to wear number 42 on April 15. Griffey explains how if Robinson didn't do what he did, he might not have been given a chance to play in the Majors. After the video, you look at baseball in the present and see what Black ballplayers have done. I talked to people in the exhibit, and they thought this exhibit gives Black ballplayers from the Negro leagues and Major Leagues the credit they deserve for all their hard work. It helped them better understand how the Negro leagues and Jackie Robinson broke the color line and changed baseball and the country.While the exhibit's interior has Negro league memorabilia and some excellent signage, the exhibit's exterior is just as informative. There are three video screens where you can “Hear from the Souls of the Game.” There are eight different themes, and thirty people—including players, coaches, and executives—talk about their experiences facing racism, their heroes and icons, and much more. Seeing these videos gives more in-depth knowledge of what integration has done for Black ballplayers and the game. The Baseball Hall of Fame has done a good, thoughtful job of showing the importance of the Negro leagues, but also the men and women who spearheaded the leagues and Major League Baseball's reintegration.