The road to Undeniable began in 2020, when MLB decided it would officially begin treating the approximately 3,400 players of the Negro Leagues, which operated between 1920 and 1948, as Major Leaguers, making their stats and records part of MLB history. After this was announced, the directors and creators of this project reached out to MLB to see how this achievement could be celebrated.

In response, MLB asked the creators to pitch them ideas for a project. The objective being to create something approachable that would celebrate, entertain and educate baseball fans about the Negro Leagues around the world.

The result are three animated shorts covering legends like Jackie Robinson and Monte Irvin, trailblazing women in the league, and the league’s international impact. The objective was to create a series that would celebrate and educate baseball fans around the world.

The idea behind Undeniable was to create a series that could be enjoyed by all audiences that also accurately and artfully celebrated the significant role the Negro Leagues and its players have had on baseball’s history. Another objective was to preserve these underrepresented stories, which are vulnerable to being lost forever if we don’t make the concerted effort to archive and record them. After all, much of the information found in these shorts isn’t online because it's held by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and its orator Bob Kendrick. So, the directors went directly to the source to curate the most integral stories that they would highlight with these engaging, culturally reflective animations. This creative directly amplified, celebrated, and drew awareness to MLB’s recognition of the Negro Leagues as part of the Major Leagues.

In December of 2020, MLB officially gave Major League status to the Negro Leagues. This meant that approximately 3,400 Negro League players would officially be recognized as major leaguers and have their stats and records included in MLB’s history books. To celebrate this moment MLB partnered with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to tell some of the incredible stories from the Negro Leagues. Without much archival footage from this era, the best way to visually do this was through animation. The strategy was to create an animated series that appeals to viewers of all ages and all levels of fandom. By design, each episode focuses on a different theme which resonates with viewers of varying interests. Undeniable is rooted in baseball but also explores stories of female empowerment, the fight for civil rights, and the way different cultures around the world have worked together to impact the sport.

The greatest challenge was ensuring the animation accurately represented the individuals within the series while being fresh and relatable to the viewer.

“I wanted a visual language that communicated the vibe of this historic era so people could connect with these stories on an emotional level. We used bold lines and shadows to give the character's weight and strength, and muted colors to give it a nostalgic feeling,” said the animator. “We also used dynamic angles and poses combined with strong compositions to give each scene a contemporary feel.”

Creators were also influenced by painters Kadir Nelson and Ernie Barnes, whose paintings used exaggerated and elongated features. They worked with MLB to get everything from the precise blue on the Indianapolis Clowns’ uniforms to the number of people in the stands exactly right.

“It was about finding that balance between making the characters recognizable and innovative stylization,” said the animator.

Undeniable made a substantial impact on baseball fans around the world and created a deeper connection to the American game.

The three animated shorts were distributed across all of MLB’s owned and operated platforms, including YouTube, Facebook Watch, MLB.com and MLB.TV. Along with earning front-page placement on YouTube Kids as part of YouTube’s Black Joy initiative, the series engaged viewers across MLB’s channels and earned media placements in over 20 different publications of varying focuses. MLB also hosted a screening, panel discussion, and Q&A at Bowie State University where collaborators of the series discussed the project and the phases of animation and production.

Undeniable successfully reached young, diverse audiences of varying levels of fandom, receiving 9M+ views, 129.7M reach and 83.9% positive sentiment across social mentions.