When I showed up to Montreal,

fans that start packing in after watching me run the bases.

They used to put signs up, you know, pictures of scared of me when I got on base.

Running was a big part of sports for me.

Many of you are aware that a few years ago,

we created an event here at the Nick Rowling Spaceball Museum

called the Hall of Game.

And the Hall of Game annually honors former

Major League greats who played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues. So you played it

with passion, you played it with great skill, but you also played it with a little flair or swag, as the kids would say,

because you had to have that if you were going to play in the Negro Leagues.

You see, the Negro League style of play, quite frankly, was polar opposite

to what we were seeing in the major leagues at that time that the Negro leagues operated in this country.

It was bold, brash, daring.

They'd bunt their way on.

They'd steal second.

They'd steal third.

And man, if you weren't too smart, they were stealing home.

And it was that style of play that drew both black and white fans

who during an era of segregation were sitting side by side watching what many would say

the best baseball being played in this country without question the most entertaining brand

of baseball that was being played in this country.

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