Baseball Character, Cancel Culture, & Comic Relief
Featuring Former Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent, An Update On Loretta Ross Calling in the Calling Out Culture, and My Exchange With Curb Your Enthusiasm's Susie Essman & Her Hilarious Friends
Baseball & The Power of Character
While many of us are watching the World Series, I’d like to share a story from baseball’s past, a story that’s never been publicized, told to me by former Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent - one of the sport’s great oral historians.
The story, about the second Black MLB player’s first day on his team, the Cleveland Indians, is a reminder that one person, doing the right thing, at the right time, can be a game changer. I hope you’ll click play on the image below and listen to this two-minute recording. Please share it, especially with the young people you know.
To learn more about Larry Doby’s journey after that first day, and to hear Fay Vincent’s fascinating account of the Negro Leagues, which, before Robinson and Doby integrated the MLB, was the only option for talented Black baseball players, please click the Spotify podcast link below, shuttle forward to 20:15, and keep listening until 33:08.
Loretta Ross Followup
This month, Wavemaker guest Loretta Ross, who is on a mission to provide a positive alternative to cancel culture, was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant of $800,000 — for activists, scientists, and academics who “show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future.”
If you missed our Wavemaker Conversation earlier this year, I’m including the video of it below. Professor Ross has one of the most captivating and inspiring life stories I’ve ever heard. She shares the dramatic details with me, along with how she is teaching her justice-driven students to “pursue accountability without anger, hatred and contempt.”
Introducing “Curb’s” Susie Essman & Friends
This past summer, I introduced one of the best comedy panels imaginable. It was for the 10th anniversary of the Nantucket Book Festival. I was asked to keep the intro to two minutes. Three minutes sounded about right. I felt I could do it in four. And, as you’ll see if you click play on the video below, I didn’t need a second more than 6 minutes.