MLB The Show 23’s Negro Leagues feature marks the beginning of a powerful multi-year journey

As a huge baseball fan, I was thrilled to see the news The MLB The Show 23 brings a new feature about the upcoming game called Storylines: The Negro Leagues. This first season features many of the league’s biggest stars in a new interactive mode in collaboration with the Negro League Baseball Museum and its President, Bob Kendrick, a national institution dedicated to preserving the rich history of black baseball and its impact on America.

Because of the racial segregation laws of the time, black Americans were not allowed to play with white players or participate in Major League Baseball. To counteract this, Rube Foster – himself an amazing player and founder of the Chicago American Giants – led the formation with other black club owners to form the Negro National League in 1920 and give blacks a way to play organized baseball. The result gave us some of the greatest legends the game has ever played, many of which we, as players, will learn more about in this new Storylines feature MLB The Show 23.

We had the opportunity to meet with Ramone Russell, Communications and Brand Strategist at the San Diego Studio, and talk about how MLB The Show 23 plans to use an interactive medium to tell this powerful piece of American history, how it fits into the game’s framework, and what future iterations of this mode might look like in subsequent seasons.

“The Negro Leagues are an important part of baseball and American history, and their iconic figures aren’t nearly as well known as other baseball players of the era,” explains Russell. “We plan to use MLB The Show and the interactive medium of gaming as a gateway; a gateway to connect new generations of baseball fans with these historical figures and their tales of triumph over adversity.”

“Storylines is a new gaming experience in MLB The Show 23‘ Russell continues. “It will guide players through a sequential narrative that focuses on a single player and will watch short informational videos about the player. After that, they play as them in Moments to reflect on important events in that player’s career.”

Of course, part of what makes this such an incredible journey for these players is the social hardships they went through as they overcame significant adversity in their professional and personal lives. It was refreshing to hear that this “gateway” to the past aims to tell the story of these players very honestly.

“We’re not glossing over the hardships they faced or the ugliness of American segregation during that time,” says Russell. “But MLB The Show is an E-rated game and 100% of the stories are narrated by our narrator, Negro League Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick.”

The Negro League Baseball Museum established in 1990, as described on the official siteis “the only museum in the world dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African American baseball and its profound impact on America’s social advancement.” Bob Kendrick, who served as a volunteer for the NLBM in the early 1990s and later in 2011 President, has been responsible for many of the museum’s educational programs, events, and more.

As part of his role with the Museum, Kendrick has been a great advocate for the history of the Negro Leagues, sharing stories about many of their legendary players, many of whom will feature in the Season 1 storylines listing, which will include Leroy. Satchel” Paige, Jackie Robinson, Andrew “Rube” Foster, Hilton Smith, Hank Thompson, John Donaldson, Martín Dihigo, and John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil. Having someone like Kendrick front and center lends a level of authenticity to this feature that baseball fans are sure to appreciate.

Additionally, as part of this historic partnership with the NLBM, MLB The Show and San Diego Studio are donating $1 each to the museum MLB The Show 23 Digital Deluxe Edition or The Captain Edition sold in the United States through December 31, 2023.

Talking more about how this partnership came about, Russell pointed out that the San Diego studio, which has been developing MLB The Show for nearly two decades, has wanted to do this for a very long time — it was just one thing, finding the right partner to find to tell the story the team envisioned and execute it in the right way.

“The Negro Leagues are not only an important part of baseball history; More importantly, they are a crucial part of American history,” explains Russell. “The inspiration to bring the Negro Leagues to MLB The Show has always been there, but we never had a good understanding of how to do it and that has always been the conundrum. The stars aligned and we finally found a way to get it right.”

Best of all, this is just the beginning of this new Storylines feature for MLB The Show. Next year’s release will feature a new cast of Negro League legends, sharing their unique stories of courage, grace, and triumph in the face of adversity.

“The Storylines feature is a vehicle we created to tell meaningful stories in the baseball universe while holding a controller,” says Russell. “The possibilities are endless; however, our focus right now is the Negro Leagues. It will take us years to tell their stories with the respect, dignity, admiration and appreciation they deserve.

When asked what he thinks people will take away from this new gameplay feature, Russell summed it up succinctly.

“We hope that everyone who plays storylines will be inspired, educated and enlightened by these stories,” he says. “Anything above that is a bonus.”

MLB The Show 23 is available to pre-order today for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and will be available on day one with Xbox Game Pass on March 28, 2023. We have more exciting news to announce soon MLB The Show 23 here on Xbox Wire, so stay tuned!