Hochman: From Reggie Jackson and Cardinals’ Oliver Marmol, who hears racial slurs, lessons America can learn (2024)

The more I think about the game in Alabama, the more I think about the pregame.

Reggie Jackson’s words were bone-chilling.

Before Cardinals-Giants on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama — at the site of old Negro League games — the Hall of Fame slugger spoke on the Fox pregame show about racism he endured while a Birmingham minor-leaguer in 1967.

Here’s what made it stand out.

Regarding racism in America, anyone can make a strong, general statement to describe it. But hearing Jackson’s specific anecdotes of being called the N-word — and hearing the pain and fear in Reggie’s voice — was a visceral and overwhelming experience for the viewer.

And this, right here, was the point of Major League Baseball’s game at Rickwood Field. The whole event was both to honor those who played in the Negro Leagues — and educate baseball fans about all that happened in the past.

And these are vital lessons to be learned in the present. Consider that here, in 2024, some Cardinal fans have yelled racial slurs directly to Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.

“No doubt about it,” Marmol said Saturday. “More than you would think.”

Marmol was born in the United States and is of Dominican descent. In 2022, Marmol went 93-69 in his first year as manager. But last year, his Cardinals were 71-91. This year, St. Louis is 38-37. The losing has frustrated many.

Now, Marmol didn’t bring up this topic on his own. He only responded when I asked him about Jackson’s comments on racism spewed his direction in Alabama.

“I’ve been called that here — like, different words that I won’t repeat publicly, but not that far removed,” Marmol said from his office at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium. “To hear him recalling some of the things that he’s been through, I think, is really good for people to kind of understand it and shed light on it. Because sometimes, you’re a fan of the team and of the sport, and you get so into what’s going on, you forget you’re actually still yelling at people.”

To learn that some fans are saying these things to Marmol is disgusting and embarrassing. If only they could truly feel what it’s like to be on the other side of racism. Well, Jackson gave us a glimpse with his searing descriptions.

“Coming back here is not easy,” Jackson said on Fox from Birmingham. “The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled — fortunately, I had a manager and I had players on the team that helped me through it — but I wouldn’t wish it on anybody. …

“I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say, ‘The n—– can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel and they’d say, ‘the n—– can’t stay here.’ We went to (Athletics owner) Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner and they pointed me out with the N-word: ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out. … Finally, they let me in there and he said, ‘We’re going to go to the diner and eat hamburgers. We’ll go where we’re wanted.’”

“Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that if I couldn’t eat in a place, nobody would eat. We’d get food to travel. If I couldn’t stay in a hotel, they’d drive to a hotel to find a place where I could stay. If it had not been for Rollie Fingers, John McNamara, Dave Duncan, Joe and Sharon Rudi — I slept on their couch three, four nights a week for a month-and-a-half. Finally, they were threatened that they’d burn our apartment complex down unless I got out.”

Jackson said had it not been for his white teammates and friends, “I would have never made it — I was too physically violent, I was ready to physically fight. I’d have gotten killed here because I would’ve beat someone’s (butt) and you’d see me in a oak tree somewhere.”

It’s uncomfortable to read these words. It’s also imperative to read them. We can all grow as citizens and compassionate neighbors. We need lessons taught from history because, even in 2024, there’s the fear of repeating history.

Reggie Jackson did not deserve to experience what he did.

Oliver Marmol did not deserve to experience what he did.

And our neighbors don’t deserve to be treated as lesser or smaller.

As the late television host Fred Rogers once said: “I think that those who would try to make you feel less than who you are, I think that’s the greatest evil.”

Before opening the season as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop, and before moving up the order as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, rookie Masyn Winn had heard about what his teammate Alec Burleson could do when he steps to the plate.

“I didn’t get to play with him too much before this year and then a little bit at the end of last year,” Winn said. “But I mean, all I’ve heard throughout the minor league is that he rakes. He’s going to catch barrels. He’s going to do (his) job.”

While batting leadoff on Saturday with Burleson slotted a spot behind him against the Giants, Winn saw an example of what he had been told about the left-handed hitting outfielder. He saw it while standing on the base path on multiple occasions.

As a part of St. Louis’ 9-4 win over San Francisco, Burleson went three-for-four with two home runs and five RBIs. The two-home run game was the first of Burleson’s career. The five RBIs set a career-high for the 25-year-old in his second full season as a major leaguer.

“It was awesome,” Burleson said of his two-homer game. “A lot of guys in the dugout thought that I kind of pimped the second one, but I thought he (center fielder Heliot Ramos) was going to catch it. I thought it was right to him (Ramos). Once I saw his (jersey) numbers, I thought I was going to be a double and then I obviously saw it land over the fence.”

Burleson’s two home runs accounted for two of the four the Cardinals (38-37) hit in a series-clinching win over the Giants that got St. Louis back above .500. It was a win during which the two youngsters, both taken by the Cardinals in the pandemic-shortened 2020 MLB draft, continued to have success at the top of manager Oliver Marmol’s batting order.

Across his previous 19 games including Saturday’s, Burleson has a .289 batting average, five doubles, seven home runs, and 12 RBIs. He’s started and batted second in Marmol’s lineup in 18 of 19 of those games.

“We’re benefiting a ton from him,” Marmol said of Burleson. “For a while now, he’s just taking, regardless of where you put him, a really professional at-bat. He grinds it out. He’s not afraid of hitting with two strikes. He’s taking his shots prior to two strikes. When he’s in hitter’s counts, he’s taking really good swings. … He’s done a really nice job in that two-hole.”

Since the start of June, Winn has started in 18 games and hit from the leadoff spot in 17 of those 18. The 22-year-old has a .286 average and is slugging .429 with 14 runs scored in that stretch. His latest showing from the leadoff spot included a three-for-five game with a double and an RBI on Saturday. The two runs he scored came on Burleson’s two homers.

The three-hit game raised Winn’s average to .300 and his on-base percentage to .344 while providing another example of how the two have been able to “feed off each other.”

“The confidence he has in me and the confidence I have in him, it’s very evident, for sure,” Winn said.

Despite being a part of the same draft that class also included 22-year-old outfielder Jordan Walker (21st overall) and 21-year-old Tink Hence, the latter being a former 63rd overall pick and the Cardinals’ top pitching prospect, Winn and Burleson did not become teammates in affiliated baseball until last August, when Winn reached the majors.

As a high school draft product out of Texas, Winn (54th overall) began his professional career in 2021 in Class Low-A Palm Beach and progressed up the Cardinals farm system with a stop in High-A later that year, a promotion to Class AA in 2022, and eventually a call-up from Class AAA to the majors last summer.

Meanwhile, Burleson (70th overall) jumped into Class High-A in 2021 to begin his professional career after playing for East Carolina University for three seasons. The left-handed hitting outfielder received promotions to Class AA and Class AAA before his first minor league season ended. He opened the 2022 season in Class AAA and reached the majors in September of that year, making him the first of the Cardinals’ 2020 draft class to get to the big leagues.

Now, as the two get regular at-bats from the top of the Cardinals order, they’ve found a way to build off each other’s at-bats.

“Just watching that guy hit in front of me, put good at-bats together, and then when he’s on base, if he hits a single, it’s more likely a double so he’s probably going to be in scoring position for me,” Burleson said of Winn. “But just feeding off him and being in the one-two hole, you want to get on in front of guys like (Paul Goldschmidt), (Nolan) Gorman, and (Nolan Arenado). It’s been a lot of fun hitting.”

And soak in the moments that are key to a win.

“I don’t know how many two home-run games he has. I don’t have one, so I love celebrating them whenever they happen,” Winn said of Burleson. “I didn’t know it was gone off the bat either. I was kind of rounding second base and didn’t know. I saw his (Ramos’) back turn and then the ball just landed up on the berm. So great vibes in (the dugout). I mean, today was a very good day.”

Giving the Cardinals the lead with a three-run home run in the fourth inning Saturday against the Giants was not enough for Alec Burleson.

The 25-year-old had to add to his day with a second blast during St. Louis’s 9-4 win over San Francisco at Busch Stadium.

After he homered off Giants starter and former Cardinals pitcher Jordan Hicks two innings prior, Burleson sent a 1-0 knuckle curveball from reliever Sean Hjelle to center field for a two-run homer.

The two-run blast traveled 416 feet. It provided Burleson with the first multi-homer game of his career and helped him to a career-best five RBIs.

His two jolts were part of a four-home run day from Cardinals hitters.

The Cardinals (38-37) received a two-run home run from Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning after they trailed 3-0 to begin the ballgame and received an additional insurance run in the seventh with a solo home run from Brendan Donovan.

The four homers in front of an announced crowd of 41,815 tied the Cardinals for the most they’ve hit in a single game this year and helped the club get above .500 for the first time since June 17. St. Louis hitters combined for four homers May 17 against the Boston Red Sox.

Mikolas gets through six

After he allowed three runs in the first inning against San Francisco, Mikolas kept opposing hitters to one run on two hits and two walks through his final five innings of work. The right-hander’s ability to keep the bases clean in the final innings of his start included retiring the final 10 batters he faced before left-hander JoJo Romero replaced him at the start of the seventh inning.

The six innings of work extended Mikolas’s streak of starts with at least six innings to six consecutive starts.

The only trouble faced in his final five innings came in the third. The right-hander began his third inning of work by walking Patrick Bailed and inducing a double play on a ground out against Jorge Soler. But a walk to Matt Chapman was followed by a two-out double from Michael Conforto.

The damage was kept to one run after Michael Siani made a diving play in center field to end the inning.

Hicks’s first test vs. Cards

Back at Busch Stadium for the first time as a visitor, right-hander Jordan Hicks could not get to a fifth inning of work in his first opportunity to face his former team.

Hicks was removed from his start for the Giants after he allowed five runs in four innings. The righty allowed six hits including two homers, walked two batters, and hit another. Thirty-nine of his 88 pitches missed the strike zone.

Hicks, a 2015 Cardinals draft pick and a quick riser through St. Louis’s farm system, was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays at last summer’s trade deadline. The deal netted the Cardinals pitching prospects Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein, the latter of whom made his MLB debut on Thursday against San Francisco at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

From 2018 to 2023, Hicks pitched in 187 games for the Cardinals with eight coming as a starter in 2022. Hicks posted a 3.98 ERA and held a 1.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio during his time with St. Louis. He inked a four-year, $44-million deal with the Giants this past winter and has been utilized as a starter with his new club. Through 16 starts, Hicks has a 3.24 ERA through 80 2/3 innings.

Arenado, Siani exit early

Nolan Arenado returned to the Cardinals starting lineup after missing Thursday’s game but left at the start of the eighth inning due to left forearm discomfort. Arenado sat on Thursday after he came out of Wednesday’s road game in Miami after he was hit by 95 mph pitch on his left elbow in the eighth inning. Jose Fermin replaced the veteran at third base.

Center fielder Michael Siani exited Saturday’s game in the fourth inning with bruised ribs. Siani made a head-first diving play in center field on a sinker liner off the bat of Thairo Estrada to end the top of the third inning and appeared to be in discomfort after making the grab.

Siani was slow to get up after making the diving play and was met by Cardinals athletic trainer Adam Olsen as he walked off the field. Dylan Carlson replaced him in center field at the start of the fourth inning.

Milestone moments

Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter both moved up records books with productive at-bats early on Saturday.

Goldschmidt blasted a 421-foot home run to center field that gave him 350 homers for his career. Goldschmidt’s homer, which jumped off his bat at 106.5 mph, per Statcast, tied him for 99th all-time with former three-time World Series winner Chili Davis. With the home run, Goldschmidt trails former MVP Dick Allen (351) for 98th all-time.

With his single to right field in the second inning, Carpenter became the 19th player to reach 2,000 total bases as a Cardinal. The 38-year-old is the seventh left-handed batter to do so as a Cardinal.

Nick Raposo was seated and digging into a pregame meal an hour before Class AAA Memphis’s game on Friday when Redbirds manager Ben Johnson gave Raposo an update that “shocked” him.

Raposo, a 26-year-old former undrafted free agent and an NCAA Division III product, got word from his Triple-A manager that he was getting his first call-up to the majors.

“It was a lot of shock. It was a lot of hugs. … It was a special moment that I won’t forget,” Raposo said Saturday while standing in front of his locker inside the Cardinals clubhouse at Busch Stadium.

The call to the majors came as rookie catcher Ivan Herrera was placed on the 10-day injured list for back tightness — a retroactive move to June 19 — and as starting catcher Willson Contreas (left forearm) continues to rehab with Memphis.

While in the majors, Raposo will back up rookie Pedro Pages just as he did in Memphis to begin the minor league season before Contreras’s injury opened a door for Pages to get regular playing time in the majors.

“It was locked up,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Herrera’s back injury. “Not enough progress for him to be able to serve as a backup if anything happened to Pages (Saturday). That’d probably be the case for several days and we couldn’t take that risk. … It’s also not fair to just rush Willson back here because we have a need.”

Contreras caught seven innings and took four at-bats Friday with Memphis. He is scheduled to start at catcher Saturday for Memphis, followed by a start Sunday as the Class AAA club’s designated hitter. Marmol said having Contreras catch back-to-back games would be an important step in Contreras’s rehab process.

There is no set date for when Contreras, who has been sidelined with a fractured left arm since May 8, may be activated. How the veteran catcher responds to the increased workload over this weekend will factor into the decision.

During his first full season in Triple-A, Raposo has appeared in 47 games and batted .187 with a .564 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Defensively, he has a .992 fielding percentage and has thrown out seven of 43 base stealers against him.

A native of Rhode Island and product of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, Raposo is a career .242 hitter and has a .709 OPS in 620 minor league games since signing as an undrafted free agent with the Cardinals in 2021.

Raposo’s inclusion on the Cardinals’ 26-man roster makes him the only player on an active big-league roster born in Rhode Island. He would be the seventh Cardinals player to debut this year and the first Cardinal born in Rhode Island to appear in an MLB game since Phile Paine in 1958 against the Giants at Sportsman’s Park.

“It’s been a journey I’d say,” Raposo said. “I just try to show up and be the same guy every day and just control what I can and whatever is asked of me, do it. Just be a good teammate.”

Raposo spent the last two spring trainings as a non-roster invitee in Cardinals camp. He appeared in three Grapefruit League games in 2023 and 12 this past spring. Those springs have been filled with catching bullpens, getting familiar with big-league arms and demonstrating what he could do behind the plate if a call came his way.

“He’s always where he needs to be when he needs to be there. Super prepared,” Marmol said of Raposo. “I’ve enjoyed my limited time with him, so it’s cool to see him come into the office when we got here and welcome him as a big leaguer.”

Matz faces setback

Left-hander Steven Matz will not throw for the next two weeks after experiencing a setback in his rehab progression from a lower back injury, Marmol said. Matz, who went on the IL in early May, experienced lingering soreness the day after he threw three perfect innings in a rehab start June 16 for Class AA Springfield.

Matz’s pause in throwing will require him to go through another “full” progression to get back on the mound and likely will keep the lefty out for four to six weeks.

The Cardinals have used righty Andre Pallante to fill the fifth starter’s role through the last five turns in the rotation and is set to retain that role after Matz’s setback.

“He’s out there competing and, up to this point, he’s given us our best chance of being in the ballgame and will remain in that spot,” Marmol said of Pallante, who has posted a 4.76 ERA and totaled 22 2/3 innings since moving into the rotation.

Arenado, Siani exit early

Nolan Arenado was removed in the eighth inning of the Cardinals’ 9-4 win Saturday over the Giants. Arenado was said to be dealing with left forearm discomfort after he started at third base and batted fifth.

Michael Siani exited at the start of the fourth with bruised ribs after he made a diving catch in center field to end the top of the third. X-rays on Siani’s ribs came back negative, Marmol said.

Extra bases

• Center fielder Tommy Edman rejoined the Cardinals at Busch Stadium after he spent the last week rehabbing his right wrist at the club’s spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida. He will continue his rehab work upon his return. The next step in Edman’s rehab was not provided Saturday.
• Righty Kyle Gibson is expected to start Tuesday. Gibson was scratched from his start Wednesday in Miami because of back tightness.
• Outfielder Lars Nootbaar (oblique strain) began hitting off a tee and with soft toss. He said he’s responded well to hitting and running and will continue his hitting progression. There is no set date for when he could begin a rehab assignment.
• Righty Giovanny Gallegos is expected to be used in lower-leverage spots in his return from the injured list. Gallegos, who had been on the IL since May 6 with a shoulder impingement, allowed 12 runs in nine innings before he was sidelined by the injury.
• The imaging on Riley O’Brien’s right forearm returned without issues, Marmol said. O’Brien had been slated to pitch in a rehab outing June 18 with Double-A Springfield but had that pushed back. The Cardinals are awaiting additional feedback before determining the next step for O’Brien.

Righty Nick Robertson is scheduled to pitch Sunday with Memphis. Robertson (elbow) has made two relief appearances since beginning his rehab assignment June 18.

As Cardinals prospect Gordon Graceffo’s innings have built up during his first three months of the Class AAA season with Memphis, so too has the fastball velocity that helped him climb the Cardinals system in his breakout 2022 season.

It’s taken some adjusting to get there.

“It’s just a factor of me feeling better. My mechanics feeling better. My arm feeling better,” Graceffo told the Post-Dispatch during a recent interview in Memphis, Tennessee. “I tried some things in the offseason and during spring training that I ended up switching up once I got here and I’m just kind of getting used to those things. Since I’ve gotten used to those things, I’ve been feeling better velo-wise.”

The 24-year-old righty, who flashed upwards of 99 mph during his breakout 2022 and in his injury-limited year in Triple-A in 2023, has averaged 92.4 mph on his fastball through 14 starts this year and has posted a 3.84 ERA in 75 innings. He averaged 94.1 mph with the fastball last year, a year which was limited to 86 innings for Memphis because of shoulder inflammation.

In his most recent start on Wednesday, Graceffo’s fastball sat at 93 mph and touched 96 mph in the fifth and final inning of his scoreless performance. Three of the four strikeouts he notched in the outing came on swinging strikes on fastballs clocked at or above 94 mph.

The outing was Graceffo’s fourth this year where he’s thrown 10 or more fastballs at or above 94 mph, per Statcast. Three of those four outings have come since May 21.

“It feels really good,” Graceffo said at the end of May when asked about the flashes of velocity in his recent starts. “I think if my velo is there like that, it makes all my other stuff better, and I think it puts you in a really good spot.”

Graceffo pointed to a shift in mechanics and his time adjusting to them as a reason for the buildup of his fastball.

During his first two starts of the season, Graceffo began his windup with his left foot set on the pitching rubber and pointed toward home plate. The 24-year-old had his right foot planted on the rubber and pointed toward third base as if to establish the spot where he’d push off from on his delivery. He utilized a shorter step back with his left leg at the start of his windup and kept his right foot planted where he set it.

In years past, Graceffo would have both feet planted on the rubber and pointed toward home plate when he’d step on the pitching rubber. He utilized a more emphatic step-back motion with his left leg at the start of his windup that was followed by a toe-tap of the pitching rubber with his right foot before planting his right foot back on the pitching rubber and pushing off for his delivery.

He switched back to his previous delivery in his third start of the year and stuck to it since.

“Going back to what I’ve originally done with the step back, I’ve felt really good,” said Graceffo, who has a 3.12 ERA and an 8-3 record in 12 starts after switching back to his previous windup. “Once I started doing that, and once I got the rhythm with it back and kind of the speed and the rhythm of it, it’s felt really good.”

After he began the year with a 4.93 ERA and a .271 batting average allowed in his first seven starts, Graceffo has posted a 2.90 ERA and kept hitters to a .224 average in his previous seven. His success in his last seven starts includes a 4-0 record over four starts in June and a 2.05 ERA since the start of this month.

Graceffo, who spent over seven weeks on the injured list and held a 4.92 ERA a season ago, has improved his strikeout-to-walk rate from 9.3% a year ago to 12.5% as the minor league season reaches its mid-point.

“I just think more and more you see that your stuff plays like you belong here,” Graceffo said of his takeaways from getting a setback-free workload to begin 2024. “I think that I can have success at this level and at the next level.”

Include an improved changeup to his signs of success for the former 2021 fourth-round draft pick.

The righty toyed with the grip on his changeup this offseason until he found one that suited him and developed a feel for what he felt was right. When throwing his changeup this year, Graceffo has generated a 36.75% whiff rate. Opposing batters have two hits on that pitch for a .091 average after they hit it for a .267 average and swung and missed on it 25% of the time in 2023, per Statcast.

“I try not to pay attention too much to all the numbers and stuff because, at the end of the day, the hitters are going to tell you if your stuff is good or not,” Graceffo said. “And I feel like I’ve had success with it and I’m just going to keep riding with it.”

Taking a step forward with his changeup was one of the 24-year-old’s offseason goals as he entered his third full season in the minors. Graceffo, the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year in 2022, is striving for consistency each day he takes the mound.

“It’s just being able to show up that one day a week, two days a week, whatever it is, and just put your best self forward,” Graceffo said. “… I feel like when I can put my best self forward and I feel great, then I feel like that’s when I’m going to have success. It’s just being able to find that every week and do my work throughout the week and trust on my start that I can get it done.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Masyn Winn’s stepfather Earl Luckett loves baseball. So it’s no surprise Luckett spent a large chunk of this week leading up to and during the Cardinals visit to Rickwood Field with the wide-eyed enthusiasm and curiosity of a child taking in their first major-league game.

The week also included tears, happy tears, but tears he never saw coming.

“I can’t even explain the feeling,” Luckett said, standing in the shadow of the Rickwood Field grandstand, wearing a Cardinals baseball cap and holding another freshly purchased cap commemorating the event.

Winn, the rookie shortstop and seemingly ascending star, played a central role in the game at Rickwood Field as the lone Black American player in the starting lineup for either team. He scored two runs and rocketed a double (exit velocity of 102.7 mph) off the wall in left field in the third inning, a blast that triggered immediate audible marveling around the ballpark.

The Cardinals pulled out a one-run win over the San Francisco Giants on a night that also served as a celebration of the life, career and influence of Alabama native, former Negro Leagues player, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and American sports legend and icon Willie Mays.

Before the game, Winn made it clear he wasn’t shying away from the potential influence he might have in spurring the interest in baseball for young Black children.

“There’s not a lot of brothers in baseball,” Winn said. “So I think it’s important. Me and Jordan Walker have talked about it a lot, just being an inspiration — not only to kids around St. Louis, but all over the world.

“Trying to get some more color in baseball. I think it would be good for the game. I feel like a lot of kids grow up wanting to be football or basketball players, and they don’t know how fun baseball can be and how truly impactful we can be on the field.”

In 2023, the percentage of Black baseball players in MLB dropped to 6.2%, according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. That marked the lowest percentage since the Racial and Gender Report Card data started being collected in in 1991 when 18% of the MLB players were Black.

The Cardinals opened the season with three Black players on their roster in outfielders Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II as well as Winn. Relief pitcher Keynan Middleton has been on injured list since the start of the season, and he had season-ending surgery.

Passing on a love for baseball, shedding tears

Multiple times in the days and weeks leading up to Thursday’s MLB Tribute to the Negro Leagues game, Winn recounted for reporters and the experiences and lessons he took from Luckett growing up playing travel baseball.

Luckett had one team named The Negro League Legends comprised of all Black players from the Houston area. He gave the team uniforms with the last names of former Negro League players on the back such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige and others.

Luckett also required each player to learn about the player whose name was on the back of their jersey. Players had to research that player, put together a report and then present that report to the team.

For Luckett, who had a stint in the minor leagues in the Houston Astros organization in the 1980s, the practice arose from his own interest in baseball’s history and the history of Black players. He said it wasn’t something coaches ever told him, but he took it upon himself to find more information on the topic.

“So now, I have the opportunity to coach some young Black kids,” Luckett explained in an interview with The Post-Dispatch. “Let me teach them some history of baseball. If I get them excited about that, they’re going to continue to play the game. One day, you never know.”

By “you never know” Luckett envisioned maybe the players being inspired to play high school baseball, maybe be devoted and talented enough to play in college baseball. Sure, maybe even some advance to the professional ranks.

Mostly, Luckett shared his love for the game with Winn and all the players on his amateur baseball teams in hopes of sparking further interest. The impact of him sharing never before hit Luckett quite like it did on Thursday morning when he read an article that quoted Winn.

“I’m sitting in my hotel room earlier this morning, five in the morning,” Luckett said. “Somebody sent me something, and I’m reading it. TV is off. I’m drinking a cup of coffee and I’m reading it.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, Masyn is talking about all this?’ He took something from that. Without even knowing, I’ve got tears going down my eyes. Even right now, I want to. I’m just happy.”

The next generation hopes to pay it forward

The idea of passing on a love for the game and an appreciation and understanding of the history of Black baseball permeated the Rickwood Field event, visually, audibly and with the presence of legends of Black baseball as well as lesser-known figures who paved the way by playing in the Negro Leagues. Those players are in effect Black baseball royalty, and many were honored as part of the ceremonies Thursday.

The Treniers song “Say Hey” might as well have been the unofficial theme song of the event, a nod to Mays.

Reminders of the Black baseball trailblazers even adorned the walls of the hallway in the makeshift clubhouse the Cardinals used for the game. Images of Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Hilton Smith, Martin Dihigo, Rube Foster, Mammy “Peanut” Johnson, Bell, Paige, Mays and Aaron stared back at players and staff members.

The fan zone just outside the ballpark included a version of the bus the Birmingham Black Barons used to travel to games. A stage hosted live music.

A wall erected more than 20 feet high showed facts about the Negro Leagues, the players and how the players and teams fit into history and intertwined with the social climate. It wouldn’t have been out of place in either the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City or the Negro Southern League Museum in Birmingham.

MLB and the Cardinals brought several of the organization’s top young Black minor league players to Birmingham for the event.

Scott, who is currently on the Triple-A Memphis roster, joined the major-league club as the 27th man for Thursday’s game (he was returned to Memphis’ roster following the game).

Walker remained with Memphis, where he homered and threw out a runner at the plate Thursday night. His parents attended the game at Rickwood.

Highly regarded pitcher Tink Hence, last year’s top draft pick Chase Davis and infielders Trey Paige and Tre Richardson attended the game and pregame festivities. Richardson played travel ball for Luckett growing up.

Hence, an Arkansas native, expressed his own desire to pass on the love for baseball, just as it was passed onto him.

“It’s pretty big for me,” Hence said. “I’ve got a little brother, and my dad has a team The NextUp Cardinals. Him already paving the way for me and looking out for me (makes me want) to go on and look out for my brothers and just get that experience of kind of giving back to the younger kids.

“Where I’m from, Pine Bluff, there’s a lot of kids growing up playing baseball more than when I was coming up.”

Hence, who is rated by Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com as one of the top 50 overall prospects in the minors, credited his father for being willing to organize teams and set up baseball camps or clinics for local kids.

Hence now hopes the farther he progresses in the game, the easier he’ll make it for those who follow.

“Opportunity, I feel like, is the biggest thing you could give out for the kids that coming up,” Hence said.

The opportunity Winn received roughly 10 years ago to play with a team full of Black players with uniforms that provided a direct tie to the game’s history and a coach that pushed them to delve into that history proved formative.

So wearing a St. Louis Stars uniform carried extra meaning. He later admitted he almost teared up when he shared a moment with Luckett after the game.

“It really just feels full circle to come back to it,” Winn said of Negro League team jersey on at Rickwood Field.

The Cardinals’ recent mini-surge, in which they have won six of nine games to stand at .500, has some fans and sports-talk radio gabbers discussing the team’s playoff possibilities.

Although they still trailed National League Central Division-leading Milwaukee by 6½ games entering the weekend, they had moved above the cut line in the battle for a wild-card playoff slot in the mostly mediocre NL. It’s so mediocre that through Thursday only four of the 15 teams were above .500.

But while the standings say the Cards are in the thick of the wild-card chase, the oddsmakers’ numbers indicate otherwise.

Entering the weekend, two of the three walk-in legal sportsbooks in the area had posted prices on them making the playoffs, and the Redbirds were in the red at both — nearly a 2-1 underdog at one shop.

DraftKings (Casino Queen in East St. Louis) was requiring betters to risk $190 to try to win $100 if wagering that the Cards would not reach the postseason field. Conversely, folks putting up $100 on the Redbirds to qualify would make a $160 profit if correct.

FanDuel (horse track in Collinsville) was not taking bets on the Cards to be miss the tournament but was booking action on them getting in, with a successful $100 bet there being rewarded with at $182 profit.

The Cardinals also remain longshots to win any title. To wit:

The odds on them claiming the NL Central crown ranged from 5-1 at Argosy (casino in Alton) to 5½-1 at DraftKings and 6-1 at FanDuel.

The price on them to win the National League pennant was 25-1 at DraftKings, 35-1 at Argosy and FanDuel.

Thinking really big, their World Series-winning return was 60-1 at DraftKings and Argosy, 75-1 at FanDuel.

The varying prices underscore the importance of shopping around before betting.

Getting relief

The Cardinals have had a number of underachievers this season, but closer Ryan Helsley is not one of them.

He leads the majors in saves, with 25, and entered the weekend three ahead of the runner-up — Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase. Helsley was even more dominant over the National League field, four saves ahead of Kyle Finnegan of the Nationals and six ahead of the man in third place, Raisel Iglesias of the Braves.

That puts Helsley squarely in the favorite’s role to win the NL Reliever of the Year award in odds offered at FanDuel, the only walk-in shop in the area with wagers being accepted on capturing that honor.

The price there as of Friday afternoon on Helsley prevailing was +155, meaning a winning $100 bet would reap a profit of $155. Next on the list was San Diego’s Robert Suarez, who had seven fewer saves than Helsley but a far superior ERA (1.17 compared to 2.45 — plus superior figures in opponents’ batting average and WHIP). His won-loss record was 4-1; Helsley is 2-3.

The price on Suarez winning the award was 3-1 and he was followed by Finnegan and Iglesias at 7½-1 each.

Helsley has converted 25 consecutive save opportunities, a Cardinals record, with his only blown chance coming in the team’s season opener. He has walked seven men over his last five innings and allowed only two runs over his last eight innings — both in a tie game he entered and was charged with the loss.

Suarez also has just one blown save chance and had walked just one over his last 8⅓ innings of work. Through Thursday, he has allowed just three earned runs since the beginning of April across 28⅓ innings.

Wallet whackers

Last year, City SC won 17 of its 34 matches in its inaugural Major League Soccer season, and because many of the victories were at long odds for the upstart team the return was quite handsome for those who backed them at the betting windows.

In fact it was so glittering for those who wagered on them using the three-way line, which includes picking the game to end in a draw as well as selecting either team to win, that a $100 bet on them each time would have resulted in a $1,247 profit if using the most favorable price available among the area shops.

What a difference a year makes. City SC’s 3-0 loss at home Wednesday night to Colorado, in a match it had been favored to win, dropped the club to 3-6-9 — a measly three wins in 18 games, with those nine ties. The club has won just one of its last 10 outings, and has been shut out in its last three contests.

That has led to a bankroll-busting loss of $1,018 for the three-way line City bettors, giving back most of the profits of last year.

City is back at it Saturday night when it entertains Atlanta, which is 5-8-5 and the home team is favored. As of Friday afternoon the most favorable three-way line among the three area walk-in shops on City to win was -117, at Argosy. That means a successful $100 risk would reap an $85 profit.

ST. LOUIS — Diamond Sports Group — the parent company of Cardinals and Blues broadcaster Bally Sports Midwest — is weeks away from a key hearing when the company will make the case that it should be allowed to emerge from bankruptcy and continue airing professional sports.

The case hit a snag earlier this month when the MLB, NHL and NBA pushed Diamond for detailed financial information about the company’s contracts with cable distributors like DirecTV and Charter — information, Diamond said, that it legally can’t release without those companies’ permission or a court order.

Cox Communications and Charter — which pay fees to Diamond for producing professional sports telecasts — argued in court that the information is confidential, and its release could hurt them competitively. But the Houston bankruptcy court judge overseeing the case said Diamond needs to be able to share those details, in order to make a strong case that it is capable of emerging from Chapter 11.

During a Friday morning hearing, the judge signaled that he planned to allow Diamond to release parts of the documents.

Judge Christopher Lopez said Diamond would be permitted to release certain aggregated financial figures related to its business with the cable distributors. And key language in the contracts — so-called “most favored nation” clauses — would be released on an anonymized basis, to be viewed only by the leagues’ outside, non-staff attorneys.

If those details were kept private, Lopez said, the company would go into the confirmation hearing “with one arm behind its back,” unable to make the strongest possible case for its business plan.

“That’s just something that cannot happen,” Lopez said. “The debtor cannot be hamstrung.”