We were approached by agency The Hive to create a documentary to immortalize the team and document the integration of the All-Stars into Sony’s “MLB The Show 22” video game, thereby bringing history back to life. The immediate challenge was that it has been over 88 years since the All-Stars played. With none of them alive to tell their story themselves and very little archival footage available, the question became, “How do we still make this visually dynamic?” From that question, LeSean brought forth the idea of doing re-enactments on 16mm film and projecting the few historical photos and team artifacts the team did have across significant landmarks throughout the city of Chatham. Along with this, they interviewed the descendants of the team’s players, including the MLB Hall-of-Famer and Cy Young winner Fergie Jenkins Jr., whose father was Ferguson Jenkins Sr.

One challenge was illuminating the team to “MLB The Show 22”’s players so that they would care about their inclusion in the video game; without doing so, there was nothing drawing the video game’s players to use them. The director addressed this by building a story structure that allowed an impactful team introduction to a younger generation of baseball fans; with the viewer understanding the significance of the team and why their winning an OBA championship was more than a statistic, it went well beyond the sport of baseball.