Kickstart the Week: Negro League T-Shirts

American baseball's treatment of African-American players is a significant scar on the legacy of the American pastime. One of the results of Major League Baseball's refusal to integrate until the arrival of Jackie Robinson in 1947 was that the best black players in the world were forced to play in the Negro Leagues, a collection of traveling teams that had some of baseball's greatest players in history in a segregated league. It means that, as great as players like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio were, they never had the opportunity to play pro ball against people like Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson in their primes. More recent players like Curt Schilling will not even entertain the thought of players like Babe Ruth being the best ever because of the lack of integration during the time they played.

In 2007, I was able to visit the Negro League Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. There is a great legacy of people celebrating the memory of these Negro League teams and players, and some even wanted to see the Washington expansion team named the Greys in honor of arguably the best known Negro League team. Charlie Hustle is a vintage shirt company that is looking to launch a line of shirts celebrating the Negro Leagues, and not only do they look great, but they celebrate a piece of history that should be known by more people and acknowledged as one of the great failures of American sport in not allowing the best of the best to play. Take a look at the Kickstarter here, and maybe you'll see something you like as well.