♪ TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME ♪
>> WHEN YOU LOOK AT CHARLESTON YOU SEE THAT HE WAS THE GREATEST
OF THE NEGRO LEAGUE PLAYERS. THERE ARE SOME PLAYERS WHO ARE
KNOWN FOR BEING GREAT AT ONE THING BUT CHARLESTON WAS GREAT
TO EVERYTHING.
>> FROM AN EARLY AGE, OSCAR CHARLESTON SOUGHT ADVENTURE.
BORN IN 1896, HE LIED ABOUT HIS AGE WHEN HE WAS 15 AND
VOLUNTEERED TO FIGHT WITH THE U.S. MILITARY IN THE PHILIPPINES
WHERE HE FIRST PLAYED ORGANIZED BASEBALL WITH HIS MILITARY UNIT.
HE RETURNED TO INDIANAPOLIS THREE YEARS LATER AND JOINED THE
INDIANAPOLIS ABCs, AN ALL BLACK TOURING SCHOOL SPONSORED
BY THE AMERICAN BREWING COMPANY. >> THE INDIANAPOLIS ABCs WERE
THE CITY'S FIRST FULLY PROFESSIONAL BLACK BASEBALL
CLUB. IN 1914, THE ABCs HIRED A
MANAGER WHO TAKE THE TEAM TO A NEW LEVEL AND THAT NEW MANAGER
WAS C.I. HAYWORTH.
♪♪ >> THE SON OF A METHODIST
MINISTER, TAYLOR WAS A STRICT DISCIPLINARIAN WHO DEMANDED
GREAT RESPECT FROM CHARLESTON AND THE REST OF HIS TEAMMATES.
>> IT WASN'T A TEAM OF ROUGH AND TUMBLE BALL PLAYERS.
C.I. TAYLOR HIMSELF WAS COLLEGE EDUCATED, HAD DONE A STINT WITH
THE 10th CAVALRY AND WAS REGIMENTED AND DID NOT ALLOW HIS
PLAYERS TO DRINK, SMOKE, CUSS, GAMBLE, MISTREAT WOMEN.
THEY WERE PROPER GENTLEMEN AND WERE EXPECTED TO BEHAVE.
>> THEY CALLED HIM THE HOOSIER COMET.
CHARLESTON WAS A SUPERSTAR AMONG THE TEAM OF MANY STARS.
WITHIN TWO SEASONS HE LED THE TEAM IN BATTING, PITCHING,
FIELDING AND BASE STEALING. ON THE FIELD HE RARELY
STRUGGLED. BUT OFF THE FIELD THE TEAM OFTEN
FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO TRAVEL THROUGH MANY AREAS OF THE U.S.
WHERE JIM CROAT TO DO SO PREVENTED AFRICAN AMERICANS FROM
EATING IN LOCAL RESTAURANTS OR STAYING IN LOCAL HOTELS.
>> YOU MIGHT FIND PEOPLE WILLING TO TAKE IN THE PLAYERS OR MORE
OFTEN THAN NOT THEY WOULD BE BARN STORMING AND THEY WOULD
SLEEP IN THE CAR AND CATCH NAPS OR SLEEP ON THE TRAIN.
OR SACK OUT IN THE DUGOUT FOR A COUPLE HOURS BEFORE THEY TOOK
THE FIELD.
♪♪
>> BY 1920, THROUGH TAYLOR'S LEADERSHIP AND OSCAR
CHARLESTON'S ABILITY TO DRAW LARGE CROWDS, THE ABCs WORKED
WITH OTHER BLACK BARN STORMING TEAMS TO ORGANIZE A NEW
PROFESSIONAL CIRCUIT, THE NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE.
SEPARATE BUT ATHLETICALLY EQUAL TO THE ALL-WHITE MAJOR LEAGUE.
>> IN 1921 HE WAS THE HIGHEST PAID PLAYER IN BLACK BASEBALL.
HE WAS HITTING THE MOST HOME
RUNS. HE WAS HITTING AS MANY HOME RUNS
AS BABE RUTH WAS DOING IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.
HE WAS CHALKING UP STATS THAT WERE PHENOMENAL.
WOMEN WOULD ACTUALLY BRING PIES TO HIM.
>> INSPIRED BY HIS OLD COACH, OSCAR CHARLESTON BECAME A
MANAGER IN THE NEGRO LEAGUE FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES COACHING
AND PLAYING WITH OTHER STARS LIKE SATCHEL PAGE AND JOSH
GIBSON.
IN THE 1940s, CHARLESTON WORKED ALONGSIDE BROOKLYN
DODGERS TEAM OWNER BRANCH RICKY TO CREATE AN ALL BLACK LEAGUE
THAT WOULD SERVE TO FUNNEL PLAYERS INTO MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL AND HELP TO INTEGRATE THE NATION'S PASTIME.
IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, RICKY WOULD SIGNED JACKIE ROBINSON TO
PLAY FOR THE DODGERS, CHANGING BASEBALL AND SPORTS FOREVER.
TODAY BASEBALL STATISTICIANS RANK CHARLESTON AS THE FOURTH
GREATEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL HISTORY BEHIND ONLY BABE RUTH,
HONUS WAGNER AND WILLIE MAYES. >> MANAGERS WHO KNEW CHARLESTON,
HAD SEEN HIM PLAY, RECOGNIZED CHARLESTON AS A TALENT WHO IF
SOMEBODY COULD CROSS THE LINE, CHARLESTON CERTAINLY WOULD BE
IT. SO THERE'S THAT KIND OF RESPECT
HE HAD AND THAT PERCEPTION.