One of the most insightful and talented documentary filmmakers producing works on the Black experience in America, Sam Pollard (Citizen Ashe, MLK/FBI), brings us The League, an in-depth journey through the first half of the 20th century as it was experienced by players in Negro League Baseball. Their experience, popularity, and groundbreaking influence on the sport pre-dated and may have directly led to the Civil Rights Movement. Executive-produced by Roots members Ahmir “Questlove" Thompson (Oscar-winning Summer of Soul) and Tariq Trotter (Descendant), the film details the many challenges and victories these players and team owners endured to pave the way for changing baseball, in both representation and style of play.
With deep ties to Chicago (our city had a couple high-profile teams in its midst), the Negro League was one of the cornerstones of the Black community wherever it was played. Phenomenal archival footage and interviews with many of the surviving players (or at least interviews with them when they were alive) are the anchor of this revelatory work that profiles legendary players like Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neil, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. It also gives us a look at the entrepreneurs who owned and managed the teams, including Cumberland Posey, Gus Greenlee, and Effa Manley, the activist owner of the Newark Eagles and the only woman admitted to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
The players were too good to be ignored by Major League Baseball, and while there was certainly resistance to integrating teams, white players were taking their cues from Black players in terms of stealing bases and new pitching techniques. And while integration was eventually applauded as a much-needed step in the right direction for baseball and sports in general, the impact it had on the league was devastating, as the best players were siphoned out of the Negro League teams and into their white counterparts, which eventually led to the league’s demise.
Based on the book by Bob and Byron Motley, The League tells a story that couldn’t have been made up, with adversity, triumph, success, and a small army of players left behind because the white teams didn’t want to be dominated by Black players, so they only hired one or two at a time, leaving dozens of talented players behind in a dying institution. The film gives many such players their due, in an effort to make certain their names are not forgotten.
The film will be available digitally on July 14.
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