Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier [Paperback]

Harvey Frommer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2003

Blending exclusive interviews with Rachel Robinson, Mack Robinson (Jackie's brother), Hall of Famers Monte Irvin, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Ralph Kiner and others, celebrated author Harvey Frommer evokes the lives of Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey and heralded baseball player Jackie Robinson to describe how they worked together to shatter baseball's color line. Rickey and Robinson is a dual biography tracing the convergence of the lives of two of baseball's most influential individuals in a special moment in sports and cultural history. To this day, their bravery and determination continues to shape the sociological perspectives of the sports world. Now in a new paperback edition!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mr. Harry Frommer, a friend of the NLBPA has published another great book...

A vivid account of the two as genuine American heroes. (Washington Post )

One of the best...brutally honest with no punches pulled. (Amsterdamn News )

A fine and sympathetic biography. (Library Journal )

Interesting and exciting book. (Jersey Journal )

Thorough research, a vivid account. (Chicago Tribune )

A celebration, nostalgic account. (Ebony )

Pleasant, upbeat look at this unusual pair. (Kirkus )

I've read more than a dozen books on the Rickey/Robinson tandem and I must say that Frommer's is the best structured. He brings Robinson's persona alive, proving why he was the first black man selected to break the racial barrier. (Art Rust Jr. Black Issues Book Review )

Just a terrific book. It fills in so many of the blanks about the story of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. It's like a history lesson. And the intro by Monte Irvin puts it over the top...highly recommended. (Billy Sample, Host )

About the Author

Harvey Frommer has written 29 books and over 600 artivcles, mostly on sports subjects. The author of the classic New York City Baseball: 1947-1957 and the bestselling Throwing Heat, Nolan Ryan's autobiography, he is professor of English in the City University of New York. Frommer lives with his family in North Woodmere, Long Island.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing; Limited 1st ed edition (April 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878333126
• ISBN-13: 978-0878333127
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,857,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( R ) > Robinson, Jackie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, July 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier (Paperback)

From Black Athlete Sports Netwrok
This N' That with Tony Mack:
Book Review: Rickey and Robinson

-"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbles, nor where the doer of deeds could have done better. On the contrary, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena -- whose vision is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives vallantly; who errs and comes up again and again; who knows the greatest devotions; the great enthusiasms; who at best knows in the end of the triumph of high achievement."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Harvey Frommer lived in Brooklyn that summer in 1947 when two men, one black and one white, came together to right a long overdue wrong in the sport of baseball. Just two years removed from the end of World War II, the climate in America and the world had taken on a major change.

More than 50 years later, Frommer gives us a brief snapshot of the life and times of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. Blending exclusive interviews with Rachel Robinson, Mack Robinson (Jackie's brother), Hall of Famers Monte Irvin, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Ralph Kiner, and others, Frommer evokes the lives of Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey and heralded baseball player Jackie Robinson to describe how they worked to shatter baseball's color line.

"Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier" gives a vivid account on the lives of these two men and how their collaboration helped bring change to the game of baseball and to society. "Many Blacks had just returned home from the war, including Jackie", said Frommer. "They had just served their country in a war and were tired of being considered second-class citizens."

In an excerpt from the book, Frommer talks about that day in April when Robinson played his first game in Brooklyn:

"With the blue number 42 on the back of his Brooklyn Dodger home uniform, Jackie Robinson took his place at first base at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947. It was 32 years to the day since Jack Johnson had become the first black heavyweight champion of the world."

Writer James Baldwin had noted: "Back in the thirties and forties, Joe Louis was the only hero that we ever had. When he won a fight, everybody in Harlem was up in heaven. On that April day the large contingent of blacks in the crowd of nearly 40, 000 had another hero to be "up in heaven" about, another hero to stand beside Joe Louis."

Frommer's book also examines the decisions and oppositions that existed during a time when black athletes underwent the kind of scrutiny that would be embarrassing to this day. In many instances, we can still see them existing in a subtle fashion now, but it showed how Robinson had to be the first to endure such indignities.

"Rickey and Robinson" is a dual biography tracing the convergence of the lives of two of baseball's most influential individuals in a special moment in sports and cultural history.

For anyone that wants to learn and grasp the period that these two men lived, this book does an excellent job of weaving that story.

I highly recommend that you check this book out.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FABULOUS BOOK BY A NAME BASEBALL WRITER, July 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier (Paperback)

Pinstripe Press
Rickey and Robinson
The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier
Blending exclusive interviews with Rachel Robinson, Mack Robinson (Jackie's brother), Hall of Famers Monte Irvin, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Ralph Kiner and others,
- The Pinstripe Press

Celebrated author Harvey Frommer evokes the lives of Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey and heralded baseball player Jackie Robinson to describe how they worked together to shatter baseball's color line.
"This book clearly illustrates the elegance and class that BOTH men showed on the field and off. Frommer has provided a fresh perspective and a testament to overcoming adversity in the face of ignorance. Rickey and Robinson is a must read for hardcore baseball fans everywhere."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, July 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier (Paperback)

From Black Athlete Sports Netwrok
This N' That with Tony Mack:
Book Review: Rickey and Robinson

-"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out where the strong man stumbles, nor where the doer of deeds could have done better. On the contrary, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena -- whose vision is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives vallantly; who errs and comes up again and again; who knows the greatest devotions; the great enthusiasms; who at best knows in the end of the triumph of high achievement."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Harvey Frommer lived in Brooklyn that summer in 1947 when two men, one black and one white, came together to right a long overdue wrong in the sport of baseball. Just two years removed from the end of World War II, the climate in America and the world had taken on a major change.

More than 50 years later, Frommer gives us a brief snapshot of the life and times of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. Blending exclusive interviews with Rachel Robinson, Mack Robinson (Jackie's brother), Hall of Famers Monte Irvin, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Ralph Kiner, and others, Frommer evokes the lives of Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey and heralded baseball player Jackie Robinson to describe how they worked to shatter baseball's color line.

"Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who Broke Baseball's Color Barrier" gives a vivid account on the lives of these two men and how their collaboration helped bring change to the game of baseball and to society. "Many Blacks had just returned home from the war, including Jackie", said Frommer. "They had just served their country in a war and were tired of being considered second-class citizens."

In an excerpt from the book, Frommer talks about that day in April when Robinson played his first game in Brooklyn:

"With the blue number 42 on the back of his Brooklyn Dodger home uniform, Jackie Robinson took his place at first base at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947. It was 32 years to the day since Jack Johnson had become the first black heavyweight champion of the world."

Writer James Baldwin had noted: "Back in the thirties and forties, Joe Louis was the only hero that we ever had. When he won a fight, everybody in Harlem was up in heaven. On that April day the large contingent of blacks in the crowd of nearly 40, 000 had another hero to be "up in heaven" about, another hero to stand beside Joe Louis."

Frommer's book also examines the decisions and oppositions that existed during a time when black athletes underwent the kind of scrutiny that would be embarrassing to this day. In many instances, we can still see them existing in a subtle fashion now, but it showed how Robinson had to be the first to endure such indignities.

"Rickey and Robinson" is a dual biography tracing the convergence of the lives of two of baseball's most influential individuals in a special moment in sports and cultural history.

For anyone that wants to learn and grasp the period that these two men lived, this book does an excellent job of weaving that story.

I highly recommend that you check this book out.