Marc Cheatham on Building Black Baseball Mixtape, Meeting Ken Griffey Jr. and more

On this episode of Breaking Through Glass Ceilings, Brian H. Waters sits down with Marc "Cheats" Cheatham, founder of the Black Baseball Mixtape — the platform built to spotlight Black baseball fans, players, and culture at every level of the game, from Little League to the Majors.

Cheats shares the story of how one conversation with Ken Griffey Jr. about photography (not baseball) opened doors that led to four straight MLB All-Star Weeks, how a random Instagram list of "dream guests" led to Bruce Maxwell sliding into his DMs within the hour, and why the game still needs to build buzz around today's stars like Mookie Betts, CJ Abrams, and James Wood — not just the legends of the 90s. He also opens up about raising his son inside this world, including the time he sat beside Derek Jeter at a charity dinner and had no idea who he was. (00:54) – Welcome, Mark "Cheats" Cheatham (02:50) – Falling in love with baseball (10:40) – Meeting Griffey at the Swingman Classic (23:08) – The origin of Black Baseball Mixtape (33:45) – Adam Jones, representation, and the Orioles (48:00) – Why Black fans need to rally around today's stars (49:29) – His "Breaking through the Glass Ceiling" moment (52:56) – The Derek Jeter dinner story 🎧 Follow the Black Baseball Mixtape: Instagram, Substack, YouTube Visit the Black Baseball Mixtape on the web