Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ John B. Holway (Author), Lloyd Johnson (Author), Rachel Borst (Author), Ted Williams (Afterword), Buck O'Neil (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These two volumes contribute a good deal to the ongoing examination of the Negro Leagues. Holway, one of the deans of black baseball history, provides the most complete statistical accounting yet of the game's segregated half. The obvious by-product of painstaking research, The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues presents a quick overview of African American participation from 1859 to 1882 and then an annual accounting through 1948, the year after Jackie Robinson entered the major leagues. Holway's contribution is noteworthy, covering won-loss records, batting records, and pitching performances. Textual commentary is sprinkled throughout, as are useful lists of lifetime batting and pitching leaders. But the story remains incomplete because of the paucity of written accounts, incomplete box scores, and a general failure on the part of black baseball management and journalists alike to provide a historical record for the most statistically conscious of all sports. McNeil's (The Dodgers Encyclopedia) undertaking is different, as he seeks to determine which Negro League participants should be included in the National Baseball Hall of Fame; at present, 17 have been admitted. Cool Papas and Double Duties calls on both former Negro Leaguers and black baseball historians to select those candidates, then offers a final selection and biographies of those chosen. Biz Mackey, Turkey Stearnes, Dick Lundy, Mules Suttle, and Hilton Smith received the greatest number of votes; Stearnes and Smith, in fact, have subsequently been elected to the hall. McNeil's work also presents all-time Negro League all-star teams, with corresponding biographies. Enjoyable to course through, this book frequently enlightens but will in no way stop baseball fans and scholars from debating the various merits of the top performers. Both books are recommended for general libraries. R.C. Cottrell, California State Univ., Chico
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...Holway is the granddaddy of researchers on black baseball...this book is a must read for every student and historian..." -- Robert Peterson - author, Only the Ball Was White

"...Holway knows more about the Negro Leagues, the players, and the history of Negro League baseball than anyone alive today." -- Bob Feller, former Negro League star

"...statistics that prove the greatness of the Negro League players. Now, we can truly call baseball the National Pastime." -- Ken Burns - Producer

"Holway's latest book contains the most complete compendium of statistics available on the subject [of the Negro Leagues]." -- The Washington Post

"I don't know anyone who writes about the Negro Leagues with the dedication of John Holway. He is the last word." -- Bowie Kuhn, Former Commissioner of Baseball

"The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues is a compelling story and a must read for all baseball fans." -- Allan "Bud" Selig - Commissioner of Baseball

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 472 pages
• Publisher: Hastings House; 2nd edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803820070
• ISBN-13: 978-0803820074
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #750,939 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for Negro League beginners, others buy w. care, June 23, 2001

By	Mr. Paul R Hanson (Freeport, The Bahamas) - See all my reviews

I should state here that I am glad I bought this book, it has several excellent features such as 1) descriptions of post-season Negro League series, games with whites and Cuban exhibitions against major league teams 2) it highlights previously unappreciated performances (see Mule Suttles' 1926 quintuple crown season); and 3) other useful information (such as Suttles' career averages before and after his 1927 beaning by Chet Brewer)

If you have never previously purchased a book about the Negro Leagues, this is a 4 star purchase (one star off for the errata I will talk about later).

However it was not what I expected. Based on the editorial reviews, I hoped for a "Baseball Encyclopedia" for the Negro Leagues, if not on a season by season basis, then certainly for career statistics of the most significant players. The book instead concentrates on a yearly history from 1859 to 1948, with emphasis on yearly leaders, summary rosters and batting averages for those players. The "Statistical Record" comprises 13 pages at the back of the book.

There are also frustrating contradictions with previously published information. The 10th edition of The Baseball Encyclopedia (TBE) published season and career statistics of about 130 stars. The author contributed to that publication.

In his introduction to this book, the author explains that new sources of data have been used to arrive at the career statistics given in this book that supersedes TBE. How then can John Beckwith and Biz Mackey have "lost" 11 and 10 career homers respectively in 560 and 1367 extra career at-bats? Clint Thomas is credited with 51 HR in TBE, but is not mentioned on the career HR list in this book, which goes down to Howard Easterling's 21. Also, the author still claims (page 229) that Ed "Yump" Jones caught both the 1926 and 1927 World Series' no-hitters, however, Dick Clark and Larry Lester's Negro Leagues Book states that William "Fox" Jones was the 1926 AC Bacharach Giants catcher. Clark and Lester supposedly proof read the manuscript of this book.

Internal inconsistencies exist (e.g. the lack of cross-referencing of Mule Suttles' and Turkey Stearnes 1930 eastern and western statistics on pages 259 and 265, and on p26 Richard Harris scored 106 runs in 100 games but p105 shows him as making 106 hits in 100 games).

Omissions - the statistical summaries of post-season series sometimes show less than 8 position players for one team. How can this be so if box scores are available from which to compile the summaries?

Errata - the first half of the book in particular is littered with them. On p52, Nux James is listed as having a .375 BA for the Royal Giants, which would place him second in the batting race, but he is not listed with the leaders. This happens several times (e.g. Jap Payne p74, Lee Wade p76). Maybe there are minimum games or at-bats criteria, but this is not explained. On the same page, JH Lloyd is listed as both the second baseman and utilityman of the X-Giants, but with different batting averages of .108 and .000 respectively. On p62 the same Nux James is listed as having a .300 BA in the leaders, but .318 when listed with his team. On page 116 the triples figures are missing for the leaders. On p 165 Joe Rogan is listed as 5th with 13 triples in 1922, behind Charlie Blackwell and Heavy Johnson with 10 and 9 respectively. You can see a picture emerging.

Computation errors - I have only found one (Lyman Bostock's career average computes to .368 not .341) but I am not about to check the whole book.

All in all, I am still waiting for the various Negro Leagues' researchers to get together, develop a common definition of what constitutes a Negro League game and share their research databases to compile a Negro Leagues "Baseball Encyclopedia". It appears that the information is available, so I do not think that I want too much.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One in a Hundred, August 22, 2001

By	Royse M. Parr (Tulsa, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

My personal library collection of baseball books includes several hundred volumes. Only a privileged few of these books sit on a small shelf handy above my word processor. Among the selected few is a newcomer, The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History by John Holway. This unique book succinctly traces the history of Negro baseball from pre-civil war days to the end of the Negro Major League era in 1948.

Mr. Holway is no stranger to the more than 7,000 members of the Society for American Baseball Research. He has been chronicling Negro baseball history since 1969, and has produced five previous books on the topic. His innumerable newspaper and magazine articles are referenced in the book's laudable bibliography. Well indexed, this book is the culmination of over three decades of dedicated ressearch by the man who knows more about Negro baseball than any writer ever. Royse "Crash" Paarr, co-author, Glory Days of Summer: The History of Baseball in Oklahoma.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Negro Baseball Tour de Force, December 7, 2001

By	David W. Anderson (Olathe, KS United States) - See all my reviews

This is a fine overview of the contributions made by black ball players from the mid 19th Century to the more well known players of the 20th. I judge baseball books on how they contribute to the overall understanding of their subject matter. This book stands among the others, including Only the Ball Was White and Larry Lester's pictorials on the Negro Leagues in Chicago, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh.