Customer Reviews

The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama, 1948 (My Name is America)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

ATTENTION ALL BASEBALL BUFFS!:
If you're into baseball you should definitely read, The journal of Biddy Owens. This is a true story about a seventeen year old boy who lived in the 1940's, when there was segregation between blacks and whites. He was a huge fan of baseball and wanted more than anything to play in the major leagues. Since he was not quite good enough for the majors he became the equiptment manager for a black team called the Birmingham Black Barons. As the equipment manager he had a lot of stories to tell about what was happening on an d off the field As you read this story you get a feel for what it was like to be black and play baseball back then.
I recommend this book only to fans of the sport. The author spent the majority of the book focusing on the individual games not on relationships on and off the field. Personally, I would have liked more if the author told more about the main character's personal life and even some information on the other characters, too. I would have liked to get to know the characters better and how they were feeling and thinking. For people who want more than just the plot of every game, I wouldn't read this book if I were them. If you are just interested in reading about baseball games than this is the book for you. All in all, I would rate this book two stars out of five.

I give The Journal of Biddy Owens two stars. Although I am a big fan of Baseball I am not a big fan of this book. This book was kind of boring to me. It's about a 17 year old kid who loves baseball. He is the equipment manager for the Birmington Black Barons, one of the best teams in the Negro leagues. The main character , Biddy tells about his experiences traveling with the team and the prejudice they encounter. Although I enjoyed reading about their eperiences I wanted to know more. I think the author could have told more about Biddy's friends,his life in the neighborhood and his encounters with prejudice. I also think the author could have told more about characters and their relationships. This book kept me wanting more information,descriptions and details. To me this is not a must read book.

Whether you're a baseball fan or not this is a book with a good story line. Biddy is the equipment manager for the Birmingham Black Barons. Biddy is a seventeen-year-old boy trying to reach his dreams of becoming a full time baseball player The Journal of Biddy for the Birmingham Black Barons who play in the Negro leagues. His parents did not approve of him traveling all the time. The moral of the story is people are cruel they make a mountain out of a rock. Black people couldn't play ball for a major league baseball team that is which doesn't make sense today, if an African American wanted to play ball in the majors then he would have to be one heck of a ball player. In my opinion the author could have giving a little more information but the stories were awesome. The author needed to bring some more excitement into the chraracte.

This book has a taste of everyting! It has a little bit of drama,happieness,sadness,anger,and death. I've read this book twice and it's still one of my faves!

Baseball fans I have the book for you.The title of the book is The Journal of Biddy Owens Biddy Owens is a seventeen year old boy who is equipptment manager for the Birmingham Black Barons.The Birmingham Black Barons are a Negro league team.The Negro league teams travel around alot because few of them have their own field. Biddy would travel with the team and write about his experiences. HIs parents didn't actually approve of Biddy working for the team because they thought the more he traveled the more it endangered their family. He kept on traveling though because he loved baseball, he loved watching it and he loved playing it. I really liked that the author talked a lot about baseball in 1948 and only a little about what else was going on during that time. I would ratehre just hear about baseball and not so much about how cruel and mean people were to blacks. That doesn't keeep my interest as much as reading about baseball does. For those of you who want a story rich with history and relationships I would not recommend you read this, but...for baseball fans this is a must read book. I give it 5 stars!

This is a truly amazing book about a boy that is in love with baseball.This book took place in Birmingham,Alabama,1948.Biddy wanted more than anything to be in the negro leugues.But his mother worried that because of the travling and the discrimanation going on that him joining would only jepredize their familys life.I wouldn't choose this book for anyone who doesn't know about baseball because they have a lot of "baseball slang" and compared to some of the other books I wouldn't say that this is the best I've read.I think what this book was trying to tell you pertaining to life is if you want something bad enough your going to have to make a sacrafice and thats what Biddy did he sacraficed his family's everyday life for the love of baseball and I think thats why I consider this book amazing.

This book is about 17 year-old Biddy who is equipment manager for the Birmingham Barons, one of the greatest teams in the Negro Leagues! Although he does not get to play much, the experience for Biddy is amazing. Biddy encounters much prejudice during the season, and even some games are segregated! He also gets to play alongside some of the world's greatest players, including one who would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Willie Mays! Find out all about Biddy Owens and his trip to the Negroe Leagues World Series in this awesome book!

I really like the book The Journal of Biddy Owens. It was about a boy from Birmingham Alabama at the age of 17 he was playing on a Negro league team called the Black Barons. They played on away team fields or their home field Rickwood. The Black Barons had to travel all around the United States to play against 11 different Negro league teams and some Rookie teams. There where some many talented ball players on the team and there was one who was the leader who is the second baseman named Piper. They where a very outgoing team like going to restaurants and meeting new people. The team mad it all the way to the championship. I liked the author because he used very descriptive words and the best was that he uses dates and not chapters. I would recommend this book because it was very well written and descriptive.

This book is about a 17 year old boy named Biddy Owens. He is an African American and is the equipment manager for the Birmingham Black Barons. The year was 1948 and he lived in Alabama. The Black Barons were a team that at the time played in the Negro Leagues. Biddy had always been fascinated with baseball and had always wanted to play as a regular player. He always felt left out just running errands and keeping score. The head coach named Piper knew that so every now and then in practice Piper would let Biddy jump into right field. Piper said though that if he wanted to be on the team though, he would have to put on a few pounds because of him only weighing 135. Biddy started getting better and better and got his weight up until they finally let him join as what they called a regular. That year the Birmingham Black Barons made it to the Negro League World Series. In that series the Black Barons lost every single game. Biddy realized that he wasn't very good, but he didn't care because he had such a love for baseball. In the end the Barons season ended and Biddy got invited to come back and play again next year. I recommend this book to anyone who likes following a diary/journal and to people who especially like baseball.

Read a homerun hitting book about baseball. It is the Negro Leagues and it is the journal of Biddy Owens. It is about a 17 year old boy that is the team equipment manager of the Birmingham Black Barons. He sometimes gets to play right field and hit the ball too. He goes from city to city with the team to baseball games.
The conflict is that the Blacks have to play baseball in their own league and in some cities they go to they can't go into certain bathrooms, they can't go into certain stores, and they can't even drink out of certain water fountains. Later in the book the white people realize that black people can do things just as well as white people can, so the white leagues draft some black people into their league to play in the major leagues with the white people.
I would recommend people that enjoy baseball read this book because you could read a lot about the history of baseball and how different it was in 1948 compared to how it is now. You could learn about how the leagues were separated and how they come together to form one league.