Sam Pollard’s “The League” Is Not Your Typical Baseball Doc.
The documentary filmmaker grew up in the 1960s watching the St. Louis Cardinals, whose roster of players included Black or Latino players including Bill White, Curt Flood, Orlando Cepeda and Lou Brock, but did not know much about the Negro Leagues that existed when the sport was still segregated.
“I knew who Jackie Robinson was and that it was because of him Blacks had integrated the Major Leagues in 1947,” says Pollard. “But what I did not know much about in 1964 at the age of 14 was that he had come out of the Negro Leagues and that the Negro Leagues had been home to Black and Latino ballplayers who had to play segregated baseball during the height of the Jim Crow era.”
While some segregation in the sport always existed, the color line in baseball was not rigidly enforced until...
The documentary filmmaker grew up in the 1960s watching the St. Louis Cardinals, whose roster of players included Black or Latino players including Bill White, Curt Flood, Orlando Cepeda and Lou Brock, but did not know much about the Negro Leagues that existed when the sport was still segregated.
“I knew who Jackie Robinson was and that it was because of him Blacks had integrated the Major Leagues in 1947,” says Pollard. “But what I did not know much about in 1964 at the age of 14 was that he had come out of the Negro Leagues and that the Negro Leagues had been home to Black and Latino ballplayers who had to play segregated baseball during the height of the Jim Crow era.”
While some segregation in the sport always existed, the color line in baseball was not rigidly enforced until...
- 7/7/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Growing up in the 1960s, director Sam Pollard lived in a household that loved baseball, specifically the St. Louis Cardinals. It was that 1961 team that consisted of a large list of African-American players that stood out to Pollard, especially in a time when rosters that looked like this were scarce across Major League Baseball.
That team would be the beginning of his love affair with baseball and the history of the sport, specifically the Negro League and the impact it would have not only on sports history but American history in the years to come.
“I became enamored with baseball and I eventually started doing research on the Negro Leagues learning about players like Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige,” Pollard said. “What really sparked my interest was this idea that these players were playing in this league because of segregation and were not allowed to play...
That team would be the beginning of his love affair with baseball and the history of the sport, specifically the Negro League and the impact it would have not only on sports history but American history in the years to come.
“I became enamored with baseball and I eventually started doing research on the Negro Leagues learning about players like Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige,” Pollard said. “What really sparked my interest was this idea that these players were playing in this league because of segregation and were not allowed to play...
- 9/28/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The remarkable story of Effa Manley, the first and to-date only woman to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, is headed to the screen.
Alcon Television Group has acquired the rights to baseball historian James Overmyer’s praised non-fiction novel Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles. The company also has picked up the rights to Byron Motley (The Negro Baseball Leagues) and Jeffrey Miiller’s adaption of the material to use both as source material for a limited TV series titled The Eagles of Newark. Anya Adams is attached to direct the pilot. Search is underway for a showrunner. The producers also may attach on-screen talent before taking the project out.
The limited series will chronicle the dramatic efforts by tenacious civil rights activist Effa Manley and her husband Abe as they embark upon a risky business venture – starting their own ball club,...
Alcon Television Group has acquired the rights to baseball historian James Overmyer’s praised non-fiction novel Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles. The company also has picked up the rights to Byron Motley (The Negro Baseball Leagues) and Jeffrey Miiller’s adaption of the material to use both as source material for a limited TV series titled The Eagles of Newark. Anya Adams is attached to direct the pilot. Search is underway for a showrunner. The producers also may attach on-screen talent before taking the project out.
The limited series will chronicle the dramatic efforts by tenacious civil rights activist Effa Manley and her husband Abe as they embark upon a risky business venture – starting their own ball club,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sam Pollard has been tapped to direct The League, a documentary centered on the tumultuous journey of Negro league baseball. Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson of the Roots is serving as executive producer along with Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick and Jen Isaacson of RadicalMedia.
Told through the personal experience of notable Negro League umpire Bob Motley, the pic explores Black baseball as a stage for some of the world’s best athletes, an economic and social pillar of Black communities, and the unintended consequences of MLB integration. The rise and fall of the Negro Leagues follows the arc of race history in the United States.
Featuring interviews from Negro League players like Buck O’Neil and Hall of Fame Inductees Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron, The League celebrates some of the 20th century’s best athletes and entrepreneurs while grappling with America’s difficult march toward equality, including a discussion...
Told through the personal experience of notable Negro League umpire Bob Motley, the pic explores Black baseball as a stage for some of the world’s best athletes, an economic and social pillar of Black communities, and the unintended consequences of MLB integration. The rise and fall of the Negro Leagues follows the arc of race history in the United States.
Featuring interviews from Negro League players like Buck O’Neil and Hall of Fame Inductees Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron, The League celebrates some of the 20th century’s best athletes and entrepreneurs while grappling with America’s difficult march toward equality, including a discussion...
- 11/23/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
After more than a decade away from directing, Penny Marshall will return to helm sports-themed biopic, Effa. Per Deadline, the movie intends to tell the true story of Effa Manley, the pioneering baseball executive who was the first-ever female inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Much like Marshall’s 1992 sports dramedy, A League Of Their Own, based around the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from the World War II era, this movie will explore similar themes. Effa will zoom in on the specifics of Manley, an African American woman who rose through the ranks during the 1930s and 40s as the co-owner and business manager of World Series-winners, the Newark Eagles. “The story is a fascinating tale of a woman who broke through so many barriers and accomplished so much for the players and the game, during a time when the face of baseball changed forever,” said Marshall of the film.
Much like Marshall’s 1992 sports dramedy, A League Of Their Own, based around the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from the World War II era, this movie will explore similar themes. Effa will zoom in on the specifics of Manley, an African American woman who rose through the ranks during the 1930s and 40s as the co-owner and business manager of World Series-winners, the Newark Eagles. “The story is a fascinating tale of a woman who broke through so many barriers and accomplished so much for the players and the game, during a time when the face of baseball changed forever,” said Marshall of the film.
- 12/11/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
A League Of Their Own director Penny Marshall is swinging away at a baseball biopic about Effa Manley, the sports trailblazer who became the first woman to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Manley made history by rising in the ranks of the Negro National League in the 1930s and ’40s as a co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles, the team that went on to win the 1946 Negro World Series. Effa, which is gearing up to shoot in Savannah, Georgia early next year, will be financed and produced by Studioplex City LLC as the first in a two-picture deal the FONU2 subsidiary has signed with Marshall.
This used to be Marshall’s playground: She directed her way around a diamond in 1992’s A League Of Their Own, about the struggle to establish America’s first female baseball teams during WWII. The Effa project harkens to a...
Manley made history by rising in the ranks of the Negro National League in the 1930s and ’40s as a co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles, the team that went on to win the 1946 Negro World Series. Effa, which is gearing up to shoot in Savannah, Georgia early next year, will be financed and produced by Studioplex City LLC as the first in a two-picture deal the FONU2 subsidiary has signed with Marshall.
This used to be Marshall’s playground: She directed her way around a diamond in 1992’s A League Of Their Own, about the struggle to establish America’s first female baseball teams during WWII. The Effa project harkens to a...
- 12/11/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
The director of A League Of Their Own and Big has signed a two-film deal with Georgia-based FONU2 subsidiary Studioplex City, kicking off with a biopic about Effa Manley.
The film charts the rise to fame of the first woman to be inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame who managed the National Negro League’s Newark Eagles in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Wendi Laski will produce. Marshall directs from a screenplay by Byron Motley and will serve as executive producer alongside Motley.
Studioplex City will finance and produce Effa, set to begin shooting in Savannah, Georgia, early next year.
“The film is about a strong woman who was ahead of her time, the history of baseball and the Negro Leagues,” said Studioplex City president and FONU2 chairman Jake Shapiro.
“We are proud to be working on such a meaningful project with such a powerful and talented director.”
“The story is a fascinating tale of a woman...
The film charts the rise to fame of the first woman to be inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame who managed the National Negro League’s Newark Eagles in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Wendi Laski will produce. Marshall directs from a screenplay by Byron Motley and will serve as executive producer alongside Motley.
Studioplex City will finance and produce Effa, set to begin shooting in Savannah, Georgia, early next year.
“The film is about a strong woman who was ahead of her time, the history of baseball and the Negro Leagues,” said Studioplex City president and FONU2 chairman Jake Shapiro.
“We are proud to be working on such a meaningful project with such a powerful and talented director.”
“The story is a fascinating tale of a woman...
- 12/11/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
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