I knew that we were going to win and be successful,

and I was going to be able to change the perception of black coaches and black players

by being in that environment.

Because once that thing got going, Bob, it wasn't going to stop.

One of the things that I oftentimes talk about with my visitors here at the Negro League's Baseball Museum are the great minds that were behind the game of baseball.

And y'all, I can understand why it's so easy to fall in love with the romantic nature

of these very courageous athletes who overcame tremendous social adversity to play the game that they love, that we do

sometimes forget about those great baseball minds that help guide those athletes in this game.

I often talk about the wizardry of the great Rube Foster, who, in my own opinion,

is the greatest baseball mind this sport has ever seen, and very few folks know anything about

the legendary Andrew Rube Foster. C.I. Taylor, Buck O'Neill, Vic Harris.

The list goes on and on and on of men who were tremendous leaders of men, great managers in this game.

And unfortunately and sadly to some respect, when baseball was integrated, those great black

baseball minds did not get an opportunity to transition into Major League Baseball. And when I think about

how important historically black colleges and universities were as, I guess you could say,

a feeder system to the Negro Leagues. And this has been eye-opening for a lot of folks. And of course, if you've been a listener to Black Diamonds,

you've heard me talk about the fact that, again,

over 40% of the athletes who played in the Negro Leaks

had some level of college education,

where less than 5% of those who played in the major leagues

at that same time during segregation in this country

had any college education for the simple reason that the major leagues just did not want you to go to

...