This is Vanessa Ivy Rose, and we hope you're enjoying this fascinating series reclaimed,

the Forgotten League, from ESPN's partners at ABC. Today, we're bringing you the third installment

of our series. If you missed our first episodes, you can find them right here in the 30 for 30

feet, or click over to the reclaimed feed from the episode description to hear all the episodes in

the series right now. This episode contains offensive language that may not be suitable for all

listeners. If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm a big music fan.

You can find almost every genre on my playlist. For me, what makes so many artists music special

is the influence of jazz. Jazz is a genre of contradictions. It's flexible and structured,

elevated and gritty, cerebral, and you feel it in your body. There's an inherent back and forth

to it, because jazz is best when at least two people are playing. It's calling response.

The instruments are talking to each other.

The best artists didn't find their sound alone. They found it collaboratively

through jazz sessions with other musicians, where they could improvise and experiment with new styles.

Jazz is a team sport. That's kind of what I love about baseball too. A baseball team is like a jazz

ensemble. Every player has a role to play. Sometimes they even have an instrument. In baseball,

that instrument is a bat or a mid, and they're always moving in response to one another.

Hitters are almost like soloists. At certain points, all the focus on the field

zeroes in on them. Because whether or not the batter hits or misses,

the real action of the game begins when that baseball leaves the pitcher's hand.

And from there, the players set the game's tempo.

Black baseball players like my grandfather, Turkey Stearns, set the tempo fast.

Their style of play was quick, exciting to watch. It had to be because this was a traveling

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