What's up 30 for 30 listeners? It's Vanessa IV Rose and today we're bringing you episode 5 of our series

Reclaimed The Forgotten League. If you've enjoyed it, I hope you'll tell a friend about it and follow the reclaimed podcast for more

incredible stories like this one. If you've missed any of these episodes you'll

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reclaimed with a link in our episode description to hear the series in full.

Today I'm thinking of a lot of things.

This is Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

It's July. one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

It's July 25, 1966, and he's thinking out loud on a stage.

The stage is in front of a red brick building with white trim.

To his right, there's an American flag.

And in front of him, a sea of suits, sunglasses, and the occasional bouffant. The crowd is here to celebrate

Ted and for good reason. After more than two decades with the Boston Red Sox, he's being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of

Fay.

Dedicated the baseball man of all generations, and I'm privileged to join.

Ted is known as the splendid splinter because he's a lean 6-3 and because he hit the ball so hard you

could imagine the bats splintering. Ted's career stats speak for themselves, a 344 batting average in 2021 walks.

He won six batting titles and was the last player in the major leagues to hit 400 in a season.

But I would argue that his greatest contribution to baseball isn't his career numbers.

It's what he says near the end of his speech.

I hope that someday the names of the

Central Page and Josh Gibson in some way can be added as a symbol of the great Negro players that are not here only because they were not given a chance.

...