I believe that the racial injustice which existed such a short time ago probably would have persisted longer if the color barrier had not been broken in baseball.
Baseball was a metaphor for America, both here and in terms of how it was understood by the rest of the world.
I never followed baseball very much. As a kid, I never followed sports.
[ Chadwick Boseman] was not a baseball player. He spent, I don't know, countless hours, many months, working two sessions a day with professional pro coaches to develop the baseball skills that he needed.
You have to remember that baseball really was the American pastime in the Forties, not football, basketball or any other sport.