David Price, who will pitch Game 5 of the 2018 World Series tonight, provided me some great insight into how players today view the legacy of the Negro Leagues.

It’s huge to be able to look back at (the great history of Negro League pitching) left by Satchel Paige and those other great pitchers to know the legacy that we have.

It’s huge to be able to look back and remember what they did not just on the baseball field but also how tough it was off the field and how they changed the entire game, and they changed their communities, and they changed people’s lives. For them to go through the struggles they went through definitely sheds a different light on the struggles we have today. If they saw the struggles that we have now, they would probably just laugh at us. So if we get down or go through a rough patch, if you look back on that history, it helps.

He discussed Satchel Paige’s first season in the major leagues, in which he drew enormous crowds and helped Cleveland win the 1948 World Series:

That’s crazy. I can’t imagine what that must have been like. He was able to step up on the biggest stage after spending his whole life waiting for that moment, and to not shy away from that moment, but to shine in that moment.

But he knew the powers that he possessed. He knew his arm, and he knew his whole bag of tricks, and after all he’d been through, he wasn’t scared of anybody.

I’m sure it was a real good feeling, but also probably pretty frustrating, to know that all your life you could have done this. You could have pitched at the highest level and made your family much more money. For him to get that opportunity at 42 must have been (bittersweet). But he didn’t have to do it. He could have said, ‘You didn’t want me before. Now I’m not coming here to entertain for you and make you money.’

Excerpts from Legacy: The Enduring Impact of the Negro Leagues on Modern Baseball and American Society