This Black History Month, Invisible Collective founder Justin Polk and Invisible-represented director Carl Jones celebrate the launch of the series they co-created for Major League Baseball (MLB.) A modern retelling of the Negro Leagues’ historical legacy, “Undeniable – Stories from the Negro Leagues” illuminates the Leagues’ impact on the game of baseball. The series features baseball’s most iconic players, legendary female ballplayers, and the Negro Leagues’ influence on the world as a whole.

“Undeniable” is MLB’s first animated series, but it’s also a prominent effort among several endeavors by MLB (and Major & Minor League Clubs) to celebrate Black History Month. Polk, a passionate baseball fan, fronted the creative and live-action production. Polk partnered with Carl Jones (“The Boondocks,” “Black Dynamite”) and his animation studio Martian Blueberry to bring the series to life. Jones’s ability to spotlight underrepresented stories is displayed through exceptional comic-strip-style animation.

“There was no one else for this job,” stated Polk. “Carl’s already a part of the Invisible family, and as the owner of one of the only Black animation studios in the industry, he helped Invisible tell these diverse stories from a place of authenticity.”

The path to “Undeniable” began about three years ago when Major League Baseball decided it would officially acknowledge the approximately 3,400 players of the Negro Leagues (who were in operation from 1920 and 1948) as Major Leaguers. This means that their stats and records are officially a part of MLB history. “After I found this out, I reached out to Major League Baseball to ask them if they were going to do a campaign in celebration,” Polk said.

MLB then asked Polk to pitch them ideas for a project, and as a result, three animated shorts were created. They covered the legendary Jackie Robinson and Monte Irvin, groundbreaking women in the league like Toni Stone, and the international influence that the league has had. Polk first discovered these incredible stories through Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and a keen baseball historian. Kendrick would often relay these stories to museum patrons- this led to him being tapped to narrate the project.

Polk then connected with Jones and Martian Blueberry for the animation process. For over 12 weeks, Jones and his team utilized traditional, 2D animation to create “Undeniable”, and collaborated with MLB to get the intricacies in the animation perfectly accurate — everything from the exact shade of blue on the Indianapolis Clowns’ uniforms to the cultural accuracy of the player’s physical features was discussed during production.

“These are Black and Brown legends who were up against a tremendous amount of adversity and still found a way to overcome and become the icons that they are. We face similar obstacles as Black creatives in Hollywood, where there’s a lack of diversity all around,” stated Jones. “Invisible and Martian Blueberry are aligned in our mission statements, and as Black-owned companies, we are specifically focused on telling our stories in an authentic way. Which requires a lot of attention paid to our cultural nuances—to how we talk, walk, dress, and move.”

With this incredible level of care, passion, and artistic excellence, Polk and Jones express the weight and vibrancy of the Negro League history in “Undeniable”, making history themselves. “This project was important to me in so many ways: as a baseball fan, as a supporter of the history of the Negro Leagues, and as a Black man,” stated Polk. “I’m so proud that Major League Baseball and the Negro League Museum put their trust in Invisible to share these remarkable stories.”

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Lauren Ashton

Lauren Ashton is a Los Angeles-based writer. She has also taught stop-motion animation and film history since 2020, and holds a BFA in Acting from The California Institute of the Arts. Lauren has previously worked with Walt Disney Imagineering, and since graduating from CalArts, she has worked at Spellbound Inc. (a YouTube Production Company), Gnomon School of Animation, and written plays and sketch comedy for various theaters.

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