THE LEAGUE - Mark Reviews Movies

The League, Magnolia Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 6, 2023

It's much more than a sport. Such is the main takeaway of director Sam Pollard's documentary The League, which chronicles the story of the historically dubbed Negro leagues of baseball—henceforth referred to as "the Leagues" for the purposes of this review. In this film, that history reflects, not only the experience of African Americans in the United States in the era between the Civil War and the civil rights movement, but also the inherently unjust history of the country itself during that period.

As such, Pollard's film covers a lot of ground, and all of it is fascinating and necessary to some degree, beyond simply learning about the various teams, rivalries, bits of sports trivia, and significant figures of the Leagues. After all, baseball hasn't merely been just a sport in the United States for a long time. It has come to represent some kind of ideal about American culture and society, and this film sees it as a mirror to hold up to the failings of the country's intrinsic promises and, more importantly, to the way a group of people, denied those promises, can create ones for themselves.

Using past interviews with players/other participants in the Leagues and current ones with assorted sports/history experts and extensive archival footage/photographs, Pollard assembles almost a century's worth of narrative. It's not comprehensive, of course, because this is a single, feature-length documentary, but the range of subjects addressed here is admirably extensive.

There was no official rule that Black players couldn't participate in the major leagues of baseball for 60 years. Indeed, one of the pseudo-myths broken here is that there were Black professional baseball players in the major leagues well before Jackie Robinson, whose successes on the field and indomitable public persona almost single-handedly undid the racial barrier in the world of the sport, signed to a team in 1946.

The segregation of the sport was real, obviously, for the overwhelming majority of the first half of the 20th century. Before what we'd euphemistically call a "gentlemen's agreement" between team owners barred Black players from the major leagues, though, a few did play and excel in the sport, and for all of the good the Leagues brought to players and fans and the game in ways that are still felt and seen to this day, there is an undeniably tragic undercurrent to this inspiring history. How much did specific individuals, the world of sports, and society lose out on because of structural prejudice put into discriminatory, unjust practice?

That's a question still haunting the country to this day, beyond the realm of baseball. While Pollard specifically brings up historical facts like the causes of the Great Migration and the effects of Jim Crow laws, the story of the Leagues does become one about the political, economic, and societal state of the country throughout this period of time, even when it isn't directly addressing the larger ills of the United States then.

Some of that is the encompassing context of the documentary's narrative, which establishes the political and legal climate of the United States in the post-Reconstruction age. A lot of it, though, comes down to the experts on hand to guide us through this history. Pollard has chosen a wide and diverse collection of interview subjects, and one of the tacit points the director makes in his selection of these faces and voices is how far we have come as a country since the historical period being analyzed here. There's something deeply encouraging in seeing how many people, regardless of race or gender or age, have found meaning in the story of the Leagues, as well as how much passion and sociopolitical wisdom each of them brings to the subject.

To attempt to delve into the multiple specifics of the story here would be impossible, because there are so many. We learn about the founding of multiple leagues, in different parts of the country (mostly the Midwest and the Northeast) and at different times, and teams by men and, in one notable case, a woman who saw cultural and business potentials to which too many others in the country at the time, because of personal prejudice and systematic discrimination, were unable and/or unwilling to see.

The life and career of Andrew "Rube" Foster are highlighted for his leadership in envisioning and creating the first of the organized Black leagues. Even so, Pollard ensures that other key people in the ensuing decades are given their due, as well—particularly Effa Manley, a woman who went from successful social activism to becoming a history-making entrepreneur in baseball.

The most significant players—namely Robinson, Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays—who would cross over to the major leagues after the sport became integrated are discussed, heard, and/or seen (in action, by the way, from some of that archival film), obviously. The other side of the story, though, is represented by Joshua Gibson, whose talent and skills would have made him a force with which to be reckoned in the major leagues—but whose potential in that arena would be left a tragically unanswered question.

Pollard incorporates so many sides and angles into this story, and while it certainly shortchanges certain ideas and teams and people, The League provides so much vital history that the narrative at least feels like a complete one. There will be more stories to tell about the Leagues, its participants, and its impact on baseball, sports, and society, but this film serves as a loving, thoughtful start, to be sure.

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