Looking back at the career, community work of Sacramento baseball legend Norman Blackwell
SACRAMENTO — February marks Black History Month. Here at CBS13, we are committed to bringing you stories from our communities.
Norman Blackwell, Sr., is an Oak Park legend whose love for baseball has touched many lives both on and off the field.
At 90 years young, Blackwell is still swinging a bat. His love for the game started at the age of six. As he grew older and spent countless hours on the sandlot field, he had an epiphany.
"I was just doing something that I loved to do, and I didn't realize it, how good I was," he said.
For a young Black kid growing up in the 1940s, the struggle was real.
Even as racial integration came to baseball and Jackie Robinson became the first Black man to play in the major leagues, the nation's racial tensions would find its way into the sport.
"I couldn't get into that shortstop because they were the all-American kid playing shortstop and me being afro-American, it wasn't for me to play," Blackwell said.
So he started to catch behind home plate and learned to play every position. The uphill battle continued in high school after transferring from McClatchy to Elk Grove.
"I was challenged by a lot of ballplayers on the team and against me," he said. "I bared with it because I wanted to play. I could have quit, but I wanted to play."
He would soon get a break after high school, playing semi-pro ball for the McClellan Pacemakers. The St. Louis Cardinals organization offered him a contract. Their training camp was located in the deep South, and on the advice of a friend, Blackwell turned it down.
"He said, 'Down there, if something happens, they will either hang you or shoot you in Savannah, Georgia,' " Blackwell said.
The Cardinals would approach him again. By this time, Blackwell was 26 years old, married with kids and had a good-paying job working as a mechanic.
Looking back, he said he regrets that decision.
"Somewhat later on, yeah, I did," he said. "I think about it sometimes."
However, Blackwell said he's made sure to pay it forward by coaching his own children and other young players.
"I had a little league team. I had about seven guys that turned professional baseball. Little leaguers – never know that they were going to be professional ball players," he said.
After 50 years of playing baseball, he got introduced to senior softball and won even more accolades.
His joy for the game sometimes leads to him dancing on home plate, and finally revealing his secret weapon.
"I can say it now because everybody says, 'You won't tell anybody.' I had a rocket arm," Blackwell said.
Today, hundreds of trophies, awards, medals, and newspaper clippings fill the walls and shelves of his personal museum.
Right across the street at McClatchy Park, where he once played ball as a kid, is a partial namesake honoring his dedication to the game as a mentor and coach.
Blackwell takes it all in stride and refuses to hang up his cleats.
"When the guys haven't seen me in a long time, they ask, 'Norman, what are you doing now?' " he said. "I said, 'I'm still playing senior softball. So, 'Oh, God. You're blessed. I said, 'I know I'm blessed.' "
Norman and his late wife, Mildred, raised 11 children. Two of their sons would go on to play minor league ball.
During his spare time, Blackwell and his family set up a food pantry in the driveway of his home. For the past 38 years, they've been feeding thousands of needy families in their community.
