A Florida High School Baseball Team’s Battle Against Itself – New ESPN Investigative Documentary
“The Walkout,” the story of a Florida high school baseball team’s battle against itself, is a new ESPN investigative documentary that debuted this weekend.
Fort Myers High School baseball players staged a walkout on their own teammates six weeks after an assistant coach sent a text message to the team that included a racial slur. The culture wars playing out in Florida schools over the teaching of race and culture, book banning and more, are in full effect in Lee County, and they exploded in real time during the Fort Myers High 2023 baseball season, tearing the team apart.
The fallout continues, with the filing of two federal discrimination lawsuits, including one by former Major League Baseball player Michael Tucker, whose son is on the team. Using exclusive interviews, cell phone videos, public records and body cam footage from police, award-winning journalists Howard Bryant, ESPN senior writer, and Nicole Noren, ESPN producer and director, explore what led to the walkout in this investigative documentary.
To view “The Walkout” on ESPN YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbmMndEji8c
To view Howard Bryant’s original ESPN.com reporting from April 21:
A racial slur and a Fort Myers High baseball team torn apart
ESPN Daily Podcast – One Racial Slur Tore a Baseball Team Apart (May 24, 2024)
https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/40208284
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