The story of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson’s survival as a professional baseball player in late-1960s Alabama could not have happened without fellow Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.
The former Oakland A’s star said as much during his viral interview Thursday from historic Rickwood Park, ahead of the special regular-season game between the Giants and the Cardinals. Jackson detailed the racist indignities he experienced during his time in the south while playing for the Birmingham A’s in 1967 — the same year that notorious segregationist George Wallace’s wife Lurleen took over as governor of Alabama in her husband’s attempt to skirt term-limit laws — and said that his return to the stadium wasn’t exactly a cheery one and he wouldn’t want to go through all of that again.