‘The League’ documentary opening at The Neon has ‘rich connections’ to Dayton

The documentary, directed by Sam Pollard and executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, tracks the lifespan of the Negro leagues. The Black baseball league, which cropped up during the Jim Crow era in the United States, came out of a love for the sport as hard racial lines were drawn in the sand across the country in the late nineteenth century.

The rise of the leagues was closely tied with racial movements within the United States, and the film details how the leagues grew in response to Plessy v. Ferguson — which established the “separate but equal” clause — and the Great Migration.

The work of baseball legend Rube Foster is credited in the film for making the first Negro league prosperous at a time when teams were employing strategies that made the game more aggressive and entertaining to watch than the stricter game in the major leagues. Foster was the mind behind organizing independent Black baseball teams into a cohesive league, creating the Negro National League.

The careers of the Negro leagues’ greats including Josh Gibson, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, John “Buck” O’Neil Jr. and Jackie Robinson are highlighted in the documentary for their contributions to developing the sport.

“The League” goes beyond telling the story of what are now household names in baseball history, and explores how the leagues were disrupted by the Great Depression, World War II and even racial desegregation and integration. The story also tracks Black players as they endured racism while they toured the country for games. The eventual integration of Major League Baseball is also dissected and looked at from the lens of players who lost opportunities in the sport as the movement ultimately dismantled the Negro leagues.

Another major player in both the league and the documentary is Effa Manley, who co-owned and managed the Newark Eagles in the 1930s and 40s. Her contributions to the Negro leagues earned her an induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame — the first and only woman to date to be induced.

The documentary has its ties to Dayton, too. The film was based on the book “The Negro Baseball Leagues” written by Negro league umpire Bob Motley and his son Byron Motley. Bob Motley left the South in the 1940s and headed to the Gem City. He is featured throughout “The League,” and his son was sought out by Sam Pollard, the film’s director, to help produce and narrate the documentary.

“My vision was simple,” Pollard said in a statement. “Find voices of those who played the game, surround them with historians and fans of the Negro leagues, use as much archival footage and stills I could find and, to add drama, shoot period recreations and create animation that would add another level of cinematic texture to the film.”

Byron Motley had previously recorded interviews with Negro league players, which Pollard used throughout the film alongside archival footage from Negro league historians that the director had never seen before.

“It was a treasure trove of wonderful voices and added immensely to the telling of the story,” Pollard said.

The filmmakers even dedicated the documentary to the late Bob Motley.

It was because of these connections that The Neon jumped at the opportunity to bring the film to its theater, manager Jonathan McNeal said. Because of an exclusive release agreement, the film only opened in AMC theaters. With no AMC movie theaters in the Dayton area, distributors approached The Neon for a few screenings after the agreement ended. The Neon quickly added the film to its already packed lineup for July.

“Knowing that Dayton has a rich connection and history with The Negro League as well The Neon being the prime spot in town for thoughtful and engaging documentaries, we definitely wanted to bring this special film to town,” McNeal said.

“The League” opens at The Neon, located at 130 E. Fifth St. in Dayton, on Friday, July 14. The theater will screen the film for five showings. Showtimes: Friday, July 14 and Saturday, July 15 at 2:50 p.m.; Sunday, July 16 at 1 p.m.; Monday, July 17 at 5:10 p.m.; and Tuesday, July 18 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.neonmovies.com/.