Black Players Quotes

When Ozzie Virgil became the first Dominican player in the majors, his nationality was barely noticed. What the press and fans talked about was his skin color. He was the first black player on the Detroit Tigers, and a great deal of attention was paid to him as someone who crossed the color line.

LaDainian Tomlinson, Hines Ward, Marion Barber, and a host of other black stars help the NFL shine brightly week after week.

When I played, I received racial abuse but I was just one of a few black players and we weren't backed up by the authorities.

I would love to see as many of the black players as possible in today's Major League Baseball make every effort to go to the Negro Leagues Museum and get a first-hand view of how it all started.

As I look out there and see the culture of baseball, a lot of blacks and Latins, it's given me a lot of joy to know that Jackie started that. If Jackie hadn't come in '47, me and Ron Santo wouldn't have played in Double-A and all those years in the big leagues.

[The World Series] introduced me for the first time to a team with a lot of black players. Detroit had about three of them: I think it was Willie Horton, Gates Brown, and Earl Wilson - might have been one or two more in '68.

Everyone said that the NBA could not possibly make it because it had too many black players.

I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.

What I found fascinating was just how quickly the best of the young Negro League players were drafted into the major leagues once Branch Rickey broke the color line by hiring Jackie Robinson. It was clear that all of the major league owners already knew the talents of the black ballplayers that they had refused to let into their league.

If I look at my era, you looked at the black players who were playing then and there weren't many - Clyde Best... Certainly as each generation has gone, there have been role models for young black players to aspire to.

I grew up playing for Manhasset High on Long Island on a team with six black guys.

When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.

There weren't many black players when I was growing up, and I remember playing and looking up to the ones that were playing.

I dreamed of being an NHLer the first day I played. Sometimes the other kids would say there are not many black players in the N.H.L. So I really followed as many black players as I could.