Baseball may be America’s most enduring professional sport, often referred to as a national pastime. And in his latest documentary, “MLK/FBI” director Sam Pollard examines an often overlooked chapter in baseball’s history: the Negro League.  
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“The League,” ready for its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month, celebrates the all-black league in all of its facets: from the entrepreneurs that created it to the legendary players like Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neil, as well as Hall of Famers like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, who made it what it was.
Here’s a synopsis for “The League,” courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival:
Baseball is known as America’s pastime, but for many years, non-white people were socially and professionally excluded. Director Sam Pollard and executive producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson shed light on that history with The League, revealing how the dynamic style of Black baseball players came to define the way the game is played today. With the eye of a historian, Pollard delves into how Black professionals formed Negro League baseball, building a unique sporting culture and community of their own. 
Utilizing newly discovered archive footage and interview recordings, The League offers a fresh avenue through which to appreciate Black American history. At the same time, there’s a lot that will appeal to fans of baseball, whether a casual follower of the sport or the most ardent fanatic with an encyclopedic knowledge of stats. The film’s approach to baseball history is comprehensive and approachable, making it an unmissable sports documentary.
As noted above, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson serves as an executive producer on “The League” along with Tariq Trotter, Jon Kamen, Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban, Haley Jones, Nina Dobrev, and more.  Robin Espinola, Dave Sirulnick, Jen Isaacson, and Byron Motley produce the film through RadicalMedia.
“The League” is Pollard’s first film to premiere at Tribeca since 2018’s “Mr. Soul!,” a doc about legendary TV broadcaster Ellis Haizlip. Pollard’s most recent film was another documentary biopic, 2021’s “Citizen Ashe,” about African American tennis player Arthur Ashe.
Explore the history of the Negro League and its fascinating baseball culture when “The League” premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 12. Not in NYC? No worries: “The League” hits limited theaters on July 7 before being available to stream digitally on July 14, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Watch a trailer for the film below.