Long Time Coming: A 1955 Baseball Story

This stirring, deeply emotional documentary explores how one ball game transformed a group of kids and offered hope for a country struggling with racial tensions and inequality. In 1955, two Florida teams squared off in a contest with historic ramifications. One of the first integrated Little League games, the Pensacola Jaycees vs. the Orlando Kiwanis wasn’t just a simple battle on the diamond; it offered hope that a color-blind world might be right around the corner. Of course, that didn’t happen. Six decades later, players from both dugouts talk about the impact of that game and their complicated journeys, as filmmaker Jon Strong puts human faces on the festering problem of American racism. Beautiful, tragic, and optimistic, Long Time Coming features diverse voices of civil rights leaders; Hall of Fame ballplayers, including Hank Aaron and Cal Ripken Jr.; and a handful of men who’ve lived through turbulent times and found hope.