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- [Voiceover] Batter up!
(baseball bat cracks)
(upbeat blues music)
(baseball bats crack)
- The Anderson Monarchs are
an inner-city baseball team in South Philadelphia.
We've been together since we were young,
some of us since we were three.
We are called the Monarchs
after the Kansas City Monarchs, the
old *** League baseball team.
And also, to commemorate Jackie Robinson,
and what he did.
- Jackie, he's our main role model, as the Monarchs.
We're usually, most the places,
in tournaments that we go, we're the only
African American team.
We're trying to prove to the other teams that
if we have the same opportunity,
then we can do the same.
We also have adopted his style of play.
With the small ball, and the bunting, and stealing.
He brought that into the Major Leagues,
from the *** Leagues.
- We don't try to just hit home runs all the time.
Basically, just playing how they played,
outsmarting every other team,
and just putting the ball in play.
- There's a lot of strategy going.
You gotta just work together and you can't put
anyone down, and leave anyone out.
It's more of a team game
than just a single-person game.
- [Jahli] If we're down, we always
keep our heads up, and just keep playing the game.
Win or lose, we're still a team, and family.
- [Team] Monarchs!
- We play, thinking of Jackie all the time.
We're trying to build on his legacy.
One of the reasons why there's a decline in
African Americans in baseball,
they're not given the opportunity.
There are very limited programs across the city.
And in the suburbs, there are teams with academies,
and places to train over the winter,
and the kids in the city just aren't getting that.
So, we have had an opportunity that
all kids should get.
(upbeat drums)
- Jackie Robinson is my idol.
He's the reason I love the game.
I've looked up to him, I play his position.
I'm trying to follow in his steps, go to the major leagues.
- Personally, myself, I'm like
the only girl in the league,
so, it is connected in certain ways.
When we first started, all the teams,
they were like saying, "Oh, it's a girl, it's a girl."
Because they wouldn't think that I could play with them
and be on their level of game.
I just go out and play, and show everyone that
not only boys can play this sport, but also girls.
And, you shouldn't judge anyone
by the way they look and who they are,
you should judge them by like how they play.
- If I could ask Jackie Robinson a question,
I would ask him, "How could you handle the pressure?"
"How could you take that a long time, without snapping?"
If I was in that position, I probably would,
but I think that he wanted other
African Americans to play baseball.
- He probably just put everything aside,
and just worried about his career.
And knowing that a lot of people wouldn't like him,
he just had to go out and play the game
he knows how to play.
- [Zion] I think Jackie changed this country by
putting African Americans into a position where
they could be able to do what they want.
- [Jahli] Jackie broke some barriers for all those
African American kids out there.
He gave them goals to set for themselves.
To go higher and higher
and show people what we can do.
(Monarchs cheer)
(baseball bat cracks)
(stadium spectators cheer)