In 62, in Miami, we had that opportunity to understand what segregation was really all about,

because they didn't want us there, but we had to play. We were part of the Philly organization,

so we end up put our uniform on, playing the ballgames.

Well, I know that it is hard to ever say that someone who is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame

could possibly be underrated.

But if it is possible, the great Fergie Jenkins might be one of the most underrated

members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame that there is.

I'll never forget meeting him for the very first time.

And the thing that struck me when I first met Fergie was how tall he was.

You know, you watch on TV,

and everybody kind of seems a little bit larger than life.

But when I actually got to meet him,

you realized just how big a man he really is

and how incredibly dominant he was on the mound, particularly pitching in a less than friendly

confines of Wrigley Field as a member of the Chicago Cubs where he spent 10 of his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball.

And then as I've gotten to know Fergie over the years,

and we've had a chance to talk with him here on Black Diamonds,

the thing that we've learned is how deeply entrenched his roots are

as it relates to Black baseball history. having grown up in Chatham,

Ontario, and his father, who had been a boxer, but also a semi-pro professional baseball player

with a team called the Chatham-Colored All-Stars.

And that team is of tremendous historical significance, having won a championship there

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