Diunte: At 95, Bill Greason remains an everlasting link to baseball’s Negro Leagues
From SABR member Nick Diunte at Forbes.com on February 25, 2020:
At 95, Reverend Bill Greason is a survivor. A World War II veteran, and one of the last living players from the bygone Negro Leagues, Greason built a tremendous legacy from fighting Jim Crow segregation both in the military and on the baseball field. As one of the last living Negro Leagues alumni, he explained how important the teams were to his Birmingham community.
“A lot of our young people don’t know anything about the Negro Leagues,” Greason said during a 2013 interview. “It had a great influence on our people, baseball; this was all we had in Birmingham. On Sundays, after the game, people would leave worship service, come to the ballpark dressed like I am right now, and this was all that we had at that time. Baseball was very important to a lot of people, and they loved the ballplayers. And we did our best to be respectful, treat people nice and help people where we could.”
Read the full article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickdiunte/2020/02/25/at-95-bill-greason-remains-an-everlasting-link-to-baseballs-negro-leagues/#226c7b2e4967
Originally published: February 27, 2020. Last Updated: February 27, 2020.