MSR sports columnist Charles Hallman reports from Chicago’s historic Wrigley Field, where Prairie View A&M and Alabama A&M made history as the first HBCU teams to play baseball at the iconic ballpark during the Chicago HBCU Baseball Classic.
Jackie Robinson
Posted inAnother View
What would Jackie see?
Jackie Robinson Day 2026 raises the question of what Robinson would see in MLB today, as Black players hover around 7 percent of rosters and the Minnesota Twins lead with five Black players on their team.
Posted inAnother View
UCLA’s first Black coach underappreciated
UCLA’s forgotten legacy: Kenny Washington, the first Black head coach in school’s women’s basketball history
Posted inSports
1946 Zumbrota saw integrated baseball before Robinson
Gready McKinnis, a Negro Leagues star, was the first Black player in the Minnesota State Baseball Tournament in 1947, and his stats are now officially recognized by Major League Baseball.
Posted inSports
The rise and tragic fall of ‘Pistol’ Peete
The St. Louis Cardinals signed their first Black players in 1954, with Charlie Peete being the second, but his life was tragically cut short in a plane crash in 1956.
Posted inSports
Black representation in MLB remains stubbornly low
MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson Day every April 15th, but only 6.2% of this year’s rosters on opening day were Black, with the Twins having three Blacks or 11.5% of its 2024 roster.
Posted inSports, Twins/MLB
Blacks still losing ground in Major League Baseball
This year’s Jackie Robinson Day (April 15), annually celebrated with each MLB player, coach and manager wearing Robinson’s number 42, was snowed out locally. However, the fact is, baseball doesn’t look that much different now than when Robinson played over seven decades ago, and that remains a concern. Nine days before his death in October […]
Posted inSports
Blacks scarce at annual Jackie Robinson Day game
Does anyone really care anymore? This year’s annual Jackie Robinson Day (April 15) held by Major League Baseball (MLB) has come and gone. Unfortunately, as I sat last Saturday in a virtually all-White press box watching a game where players of both teams wore Robinson’s No. 42 on the 70th anniversary of his breaking baseball’s […]
Posted inSports
Youth in North Mpls celebrate baseball and Jackie RobinsonÂ
On the first day of the annual three-day Major League Baseball All-Star break, six 10-and-under baseball teams honored the late Jackie Robinson, and all players wore his number 42 at North Commons Park in North Minneapolis Monday evening. The number is permanently retired except for one day each season when every MLB player wears the legendary […]