Customer Reviews

Leagues Apart: The Men and Times of the Negro Baseball Leagues

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This fascinating account of pre integration baseball is a treasure. Not only does it introduce young readers (and parents not familiar with the "Negro Leagues") to great, almost legendary African-American players including Leroy "Satchel" Paige, Josh White, James "Cool Papa" Bell, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson (as well as the Cuban-born Martin Dihigo, Jose Mendez, and Crisobal Torriente), but it explains segregation with facts and an appropriate tone of compassion and a sense of injustice:

"Before about 1950, if you were black and wanted to earn a living playing baseball, you were not allowed to play on the same team with white ballplayers. Prejudiced team owners, encouraged by bigoted players, established racist rules that prevented black athletes from playing in the major leagues, regardless of their skills."

The book also explains how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when Branch Rickey hired him to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The book mentions the insults that Robinson endured (though not detailing them) as he paved the way for other early major league stars who came from the Negro Leagues (for example, Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, Ernie Banks, and Elston Howard).

This initial integration spelled the eventual end of the Negro Leagues. Still, in one poignant quotation from Gene Benson, an outfielder with the Bacharach Giants and the Philadelphia Stars, famed baseball author Lawrence Ritter captures the accomplishments of these often unheralded players: "We never thought about the major leagues. We never dreamed that it would come true. But I know we were the pioneers. Without our league, where would Robinson have come from? If we weren't out there suffering and struggling, they wouldn't have any blacks in there now."

Although written primarily for kids, I would have liked to see photos (in addition to the excellent drawings) of the players, and, when known, their stats. For a more detailed look at the game, try Robert Peterson's great "Only the Ball Was White." This, however, is an excellent (if somewhat too brief) look at an era when "The National Pastime's" most prestigious (and highest paying) league excluded players on the basis of race.