As we gear up for the first Steelhead Sunday at T-Mobile Park this weekend, we look back at "A Salute to the Negro Leagues," a conversation between four leaders in baseball to discuss the profound economic, cultural, and personal impacts of Negro League baseball on Black communities. The consensus was clear: the leagues were an unparalleled source of pride, and their dissolution came at a great cost.

The discussion began by noting the leagues' groundbreaking origins in 1920. According to Baseball Beyond Borders Founder Bookie Gates, the Negro National League was formed from the determination of baseball legend Andrew “Rube” Foster, who was insistent that Black teams should be owned by Black men. 

This determination created a self-sustaining infrastructure that offered true economic mobility. Gates explained that in the thriving ecosystem of the league, everything revolved around ticket sales, concessionaires, buses, and more, most of which were Black owned.