For over a century, the Negro Leagues of the early to mid-1900s have largely been swept under the turf of Major League Baseball.
Then came a turbulent 2020, bringing to light the stark reality that systemic racism has been a lingering black mark in our nation’s DNA since its inception. It took a world-wide pandemic and the inevitable exposure of extreme racial inequalities to begin to wake America up. Protests throughout the country motivated action.
In baseball, the MLB pulled the name of former commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1919–1944) off future MVP awards. In early 2021, the long overdue reclassification of Negro League teams and players was initiated by baseball’s Major League. But have the African/American players of the Negro Leagues of the 20s, 30s and 40s been truly recognized for their amazing contributions to baseball.
It’s finally time to tell the story of the 1930’s Pittsburgh Crawfords.
WE GOT GAME, created and written by Bruce McKagan, is the musical story about the1930’s Pittsburgh Crawfords of the historic Negro League: the players, the events, the struggles, the joys, the heartbreaks, the dreams, the discrimination, and the lifelong friendships of this amazing, but little-known baseball team.
The ‘34/35 Craws are considered by many sports historians to be the greatest team to have ever played the game of baseball. Unfortunately, this club of black athletes played in a time of open discrimination, demonstrated by the hate crimes of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists, as well as every day baseball fans. To make matters worse, Major League Baseball had no intentions of letting any negro players in.
To create the musical compositions for WE GOT NAME, Bruce has assembled over 35 gifted musicians, vocalists and producers to record this captivating two act, 18 song musical, featuring the characters of Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, coach Oscar Charleston, plus MLB commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and Babe Ruth.
For more information about this up and coming musical, feel free to contact us through this website.