“I Felt the Cheers:
The Remarkable Silent Life of
Curtis Pride”
The author: Curtis Pride, with Doug Ward
The details: Kensington, $29, 240 pages, released February 25, 2025; best available at the publishers website and Bookshop.org.
A review in 90 feet or less
The idea, as well as the fact, that Curtis Pride is still proudly identified these days as an MLB Ambassador for Inclusion since 2015 is worth mentioning right out of the batters’ box.
The announcement came in an MLB press release that remains on its website. The same proclamation noted that Billy Bean, hired as the first Ambassador for Inclusion a year earlier, was to be promoted to VP of Social Responsibility and Inclusion.
To be clear: Bean was actually named Senior VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Even if the press release now reads otherwise. At least Bean kept his title in tact when MLB.com did an obituary on him in August of 2024. Maybe that title dies with him.
In his new autobiography, waiting until almost near the end, Pride acknowledges the responsibilities he feels have come with that designation for the league’s DEI program.
“We worked together to find ways to be more inclusive, which can mean greater accessibility in every stadium, or finding ways for teams to build bridges with their local community,” Pride wrote on page 198. “We did programs for children with disabilities. In my travels I met everyone: the stadium director, the community relations director, marketing officials and attorneys. Basically I worked with a team’s different departments to cover as many different bases as possible.
“One day I believe those club executives will be made up of more minorities and people with disabilities. It was work I really enjoyed, probably because I believe it is so important. It’s a long process, but we are moving in the right direction. The goal is to make Major League Baseball the most inclusive and accessible of all the major sports.”
Pride puts his humility on the line here. It comes from birth.
Continue reading “Day 5 of 2025 baseball book reviews: Pride and prejudices”
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