Author and baseball historian Keith Wood ("The Memphis Red Sox: A Negro Leagues History") joins the show to explore the rich yet often overlooked story of the Memphis Red Sox, one of Black baseball’s most resilient and community‑rooted franchises. From their semi-pro origins in the early 1920s to their run through the Negro Southern, National & American Leagues, the Red Sox embodied sustained Black ownership and stability in a turbulent era for segregated sports.
Wood details how the Martin family, a group of influential African American professionals, uniquely controlled both the club and its home field, giving Black Memphis rare economic and cultural autonomy around the ballpark. We dig into the social life of Martin Stadium, where Sunday doubleheaders doubled as civic gatherings and a showcase for elite Black talent passing through the Mid-South.
The Red Sox story features future Major Leaguers and other notable figures who wore the Memphis uniform - including Dan Bankhead, Bob Boyd, Buck O’Neil, and even country music hall-of-famer Charley Pride - and what their stories reveal about the broader pipeline from the Negro Leagues to integrated baseball.
Wood also explains how the forces that followed Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier led to the slow decline and eventual disappearance of the franchise by the end of the 1950s - while leaving behind a powerful legacy of entrepreneurship, community pride, and baseball excellence.
PLUS: Charlie Pride's only Billboard Top 40 pop crossover hit!
