Hall of Game 2023 | Dwight Gooden, Dontrelle Willis, Dave Stewart, Al Downing, Derrick Blue, Greg Proops

Black Diamonds

SiriusXM

History, Baseball, Black History, Sports, Negro Leagues, Documentary, Equality, Society & Culture, Civil Rights

4.8 • 617 Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2023

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Join Bob Kendrick and comedian Greg Proops at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's 2023 "Hall of Game" ceremony, as they celebrate the induction of the The Black Aces - Five of the 15 Black pitchers in AL/NL history to win 20 games in a Major League season, and five men who carried the spirit and style of the Negro Leagues through their whole career. Hear Bob and Greg sit down with the legendary Al Downing (10:43) to talk about his 17-year career, from the 1961 Yankees and the chase for 61, to being a part of Henry Aaron's historic 715. Enjoy Dave Stewart's stories (24:02) of his friend and teammate, the great Mike Norris. Listen to story upon story about the late Vida Blue (42:52) from his son, Derrick. Laugh and learn with the always-hilarious, never-hittable Dontrelle Willis (59:40) as he remembers his career, and thanks his heroes. And experience the thrill of the career that was Dwight Gooden (1:11:05) with the Doc himself.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What does it mean to you when you walk through the Negro League's baseball museum?
0:12.0	Pride and emotion. If it's no them, there's no us.
0:26.1	The Negro Leagues baseball museum established its Hall of Game in 2014.
0:36.7	The Hall of Game honors former Major League grace, who we believe played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues.
0:38.7	So you played it with passion.
0:41.1	You played it with high skill.
0:44.3	And you also played it with a little flair.
0:47.4	Or as the kids would say, a little swag.
0:52.9	You had to have some of that if you were going to play in the Negro Leagues. Or as my late friend,
0:55.7	Hall of Famer, John Jordan Buck O'Neill would say,
0:59.7	you couldn't go to the concession stand
1:02.8	because you might miss something that you ain't never seen before.
1:07.7	That was Negro Leagues baseball.
1:10.0	Now, don't get it twisted. It doesn't mean that you weren't
1:13.1	going to see great fundamentally sound baseball. But when you add tremendous fundamental
1:20.0	with tremendous talent, you get something to talk about and you get entertainment at its finest.
1:31.1	And those who played the game in that spirit and signature style of the Negro Leagues,
1:35.9	but those are folks who we want to honor.
1:38.8	This year, we've dedicated the Hall of Game to members of the Black Aces.
1:45.2	The late great Mudcat Grant coined the term the Black Aces to recognize now 15 African-American pitchers to win 20 games or more in a Major League season.
1:57.1	Yes, there's only been 15 in the history of Major League Baseball.
2:02.1	Now, part of the reason was that the pitching position just simply did not transition from the Negro Leagues to the
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