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Black Baseball in Pittsburgh (PA) (Black America)

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has had a rich baseball tradition for more than a century. The Pittsburgh Pirates were in the first World Series in 1903, and have won five since then, and have produced such Hall of Fame greats as Honus Wagner, Paul & Lloyd Waner, Pie Trayner, Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente, and Willie Stargell.
Yet the Pirates are only part of the story of great baseball in Pittsburgh. In the years before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's infamous color line, two of the greatest teams to ever take the field, the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the Negro Leagues played their exciting brand of baseball in the Steel City. Some of the most outstanding players ever to swing a bat or throw a ball played on those teams, including many Hall of Famers. Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson, Smokey Joe Williams, Willie Wells, and Buck Leonard are among the greats who played on these amazing teams. These men and their teams rivaled any of the great major league players and teams of their era, and they should never be forgotten.
Black Baseball In Pittsburgh tells the story of these teams through pictures. It combines a brief introduction with nearly 200 pictures, each having extensive captions. Many of these photos were taken by the legendary "One Shot" Teenie Harris, a renowned photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier. Even though the book has very little text, it is a most attractive product, and a fitting remembrance for the legendary Black teams of Pittsburgh.

Theo Logos

Renowned NLB researchers Larry Lester & Sammy J. Miller provide a unique perspective on the rich tradition of the Homestead Grays & Pittsburgh Crawfords through nearly 200 photographs covering nearly as many pages.

Baseball is a game where the camera lense can capture so much and the editors do a magnificent job in utilizing the archives from the Pittsburgh Courier and supplementing the photos with in-depth cutlines. Of particular interest is the 1935 Crawfords, one of the greatest professional teams ever, which featured Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, Judy Johnson, Cool Papa Bell & Sam Bankhead.

It is also a celebration of a legendary newspaper during an era when the print media was king. This is truly a history book that not only tells the story of NLB in Pittsburgh, but is a loud & proud message of black power when facing institutionalized racism.