The eight Negro League players available in Storyline mode will be Buck O'Neil, Hank Thompson, Hilton Smith, Jackie Robinson, John Donaldson, Satchel Paige, Rube Foster, and Martín Dihigo. Gamers will be able to choose one of those players and embark on a narrative journey through their lives, which includes short informational videos. At the end, you can actually play as one of the Negro League legends during some of the most important moments of their careers.
According to the official PlayStation blog, Sony has wanted to incorporate Negro League players into"The Show" for several years. "The Negro Leagues are an important part of baseball and American history, whose iconic figures are not nearly as well known as other baseball players of the era," Sony product development communications and brand strategist Ramone Russell said via the PlayStation Blog."We've thought about introducing the Negro Leagues into MLB The Show for years, but we needed to figure out how to do it the right way for an interactive medium.
The inclusion of these players and their Negro League team is made possible through partnership between Sony, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and NLBM president Bob Kendrick, who narrated the players' informational videos.