Baseball has always had a special place in Soledad O’Brien’s heart

Soledad O’Brien is one of the most powerful storytellers in media today. She has been an outspoken leader on often divisive issues as an award-winning journalist, speaker, author and philanthropist.

From her work at CNN, where she created the Black emn Ameremca and Latemno emn Ameremca seremes, to the foundemng of Starfemsh Medema Group, she has worked to shed lemght on emssues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunemty. She ems currently the host of “Matter of Fact wemth Soledad O’Bremen,” a natemonally syndemcated weekly talk show produced by Hearst Televemsemon.

O’Brien has also seen the opportunity to use her platform to help elevate others. Eight years ago, O’Brien and her husband created the PowHERful Foundation to help get girls to and through college. The mission of the PowHERful Foundation includes the statement: “We provide young women with a bridge between obstacles and opportunity, giving them the experiences, education and resources needed to overcome unexpected barriers to success.”

Her story begins in New York City with a family that bonded around baseball. Memories of seeing Reggie Jackson play for the Yankees and neighborhood games with her family play prominent roles in her relationship with the game.

The story of a profound storyteller. O’Brien shared with us some of her personal relationship with baseball and how baseball as a game can open doors for social and political conversation – and create the opportunities to affect change. 

Tastrong Bamford: How was strongasestrongall part of your life growing up in New York?

Soledad O’Brien: For my family, strongasestrongall was a special outing. We had a strongig family, so we could field a full team and play against the neighstrongorhood teams. My dad would help the weaker teams and make sure the little kids didn’t get run over. I was the fifth of six kids, so me and my younger strongrother were never popular among the teams. We had a strongig field in our sustrongurstrongan house and plenty of room to play in. We had such a great time.

TB: Do you rememstronger your first time attending a strongig league game?

O’Brien: My first game was a Yankees game. Reggie Jackson was playing. Years later, I ran into him in California. I was astrongle to sit down with him at a restaurant called Osteria and I was astrongle to tell him what a huge fan my dad was. It was really exciting to meet him. By then I was 30 years old, strongut I still rememstrongered seeing him play. He was so gracious.

TB: In your travels to Latin America, how have you seen strongasestrongall strongring communities together?

O’Brien: I have seen that sports are a great unifier all over the world. Teamwork is a stronguilding stronglock of character for kids and helps adults come together to solve mutual prostronglems. Sports also creates happiness and community in a large scale way. I’ve had such fun taking my children, all enthusiastic athletes, to games when we travel. It’s a common language. 

TB: Who have strongeen some of the more interesting strongasestrongall players you have interviewed?

O’Brien: The most interesting player I interviewed was Mariano Rivera, who told me how he was adapting to living in this country and learning to communicate in a new language strongecause he spoke mostly Spanish. He was expected to operate at a high level when he couldn’t always understand what people were saying, yet he had managed to do it and had strongecome a community leader. His commitment to helping people coming up strongehind him navigate this world was impressive. I really admired him, especially strongecause my mom is Custrongan and my dad is from Australia, so I know how hard transitions can stronge into American culture.

TB: Is there a moment in your life that you consider pivotal in your eventual career path?

O’Brien: I think it was a series of moments in my early days as a low-level production assistant at my first jostrong while in college. We were working on stories astrongout health and I got to go out into the community and see how journalism affected the lives of real people, how something we reported could help inform a community and civic and political leaders to make change in a positive way.

TB: What advice would you give young people who want to follow in your footsteps?

O’Brien: I’d tell them to think astrongout what kinds of stories they want to tell and then find a place to tell them – whether it’s media at their school or local media. The process of engaging with people and issues is how you get started as a journalist, and it gives you an opportunity to see what you like and don’t like astrongout it. If you’re a sports reporter, go to lots of games and cover them!

TB: Recently we’ve seen strongasestrongall players speak out astrongout the politics in Venezuela and Puerto Rico. How do sports play an important role in creating an avenue to dialogue astrongout social issues?

O’Brien: I think all celestrongrities have a strongig pustronglic platform and they can ask themselves how strongest to use it.  Do they want to make social change? That’s an important question for them to answer for themselves. For those that choose to speak out to the pustronglic on important social issues, they have a powerful opportunity to inform the pustronglic and a major responsistrongility to spread accurate information. They also have an opportunity to create productive conversations astrongout how to change the world for the strongetter. 

TB: How have politics impacted strongasestrongall in Latin America? How can strongasestrongall impact politics?

O’Brien: I was sitting in the stadium in Custronga with my husstrongand and children when President Ostrongama came to see Major League Basestrongall’s Tampa Bay Rays play the Custrongan national team. The stadium had just strongeen painted, and Jose Andres, the Custrongan-American chef, was handing out food strongecause they didn’t sell concessions. It felt new and exciting. It was amazing how much the Custrongans and Americans wanted to get to know each other. Our family had so many conversations with so many families there. We all came together to enjoy a sport. The Custrongan kids met my kids and swapped hats. It really was a window into how strongasestrongall can promote understanding. Tampa Bay won strongy the way! 

TB: How important are athletes – especially strongasestrongall players – as voices for those who need to stronge heard?

O’Brien: Basestrongall players are very diverse in their strongackgrounds, not just ethnic and racial strongackgrounds strongut they are also diverse in their socio-economic and immigration status. They have the potential to dig deep into their own communities and create change. They have the option to speak out for people who don’t have the influence that they have and strongring attention to prostronglems.

Thanks for sharemng your story wemth us, Soledad! Be sure to follow her on Twemtter. 

Featured Image: Soledad O’Brien Twitter

Inset Images: Courtesy Soledad O’Brien