Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution (Hardcover)

by Neil Lanctot (Author) "The unfortunate position of black professional baseball by 1933 reflected the disturbing decline of a once promising enterprise..." (more)
Key Phrases: black professional baseball, major league integration, white organized baseball, New York, African Americans, Kansas City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

If you know anyone who claims to be up on baseball history -- smarties who know the names of Joe DiMaggio's outfielder brothers or how many years Hoyt Wilhelm pitched in the minors -- ask them for whom Satchel Paige played (the Pittsburgh Crawfords) or Josh Gibson (the Homestead Grays) or Jackie Robinson in his pre-Brooklyn Dodgers days (the Kansas City Monarchs) or Larry Doby before the Cleveland Indians (the Newark Eagles). If they hit it out of the park on those (it's 1,000 to 1 in Vegas they won't), brush them back with this: Name the six teams in the Negro National League and the six in the Negro American League in the mid-1940s.

Bet the farm, or at least the fences around it: No one will know, except those who have just read Neil Lanctot's story of black baseball during its five-decade run to its final innings in the late 1950s. In remarkable detail -- 576 endnotes alone that consume 77 pages -- Lanctot takes us beyond the ball field where the Paiges and Gibsons played in forced segregation, and into the commercial and social realities of baseball in black communities. As much as the Paiges and others may be romanticized for being the equal of any white players, they remained trapped in an industry that was separate but emphatically unequal.

Lanctot, a history professor at the University of Delaware, traces the rise of black baseball to "the Great Migration of 1916-1919, when 500,000 blacks, responding to northern industrial demands and deteriorating social and economic conditions, left the south for the urban north." For a time, black baseball entrepreneurs attracted enough of a fan base to create two profitable leagues. But the Great Migration was soon brought low by the Great Depression. Financial backers pulled back, teams disbanded. A few managed to hang on. A modest turnaround came in 1934, when promoters drew 20,000 spectators to each of two doubleheaders in New York's Yankee Stadium. Satchel Paige, on the mound for the Crawfords and mowing down batters, was advancing from star to legend status. In 1938, nearly 11,000 fans came to a game in Washington's Griffith Stadium, a record for black baseball attendance.

Focusing more on the economics of black baseball than the feats of its players, Lanctot pursues one main theme throughout his 11 chapters: that the cash flow was often a cash trickle. Long overnight bus rides were common, along with mechanical breakdowns on the way to the next town 1,200 miles away. With no binding contracts, as was true in organized white baseball, players could be freelancers open to the next best offer. Paige, lured by $2,500, jumped to a team in the Dominican Republic. He said he preferred to "go to South America and live in the jungles rather than go back to the [Negro] league and play like I did for 10 years." It wouldn't last. Life under Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, a baseball fan when he wasn't imprisoning or torturing people, was more oppressive than anything in the States.

Lanctot offers a rich array of facts that history lovers can feast on. We learn that in the late 1930s it was the Communist Party and its fine newspaper, the Daily Worker, that led the drive to integrate baseball. White owners, nearly all political conservatives, were one with Clark Griffith, boss man of the Washington Senators, who said that blacks were a "tool" of the communists. As for access to the white leagues, Griffith said that "the nigras themselves didn't want it."

Integration might have happened during the war years of the early 1940s, when big league rosters were running low on players. But instead of signing established blacks, owners recruited white teenagers, including a 15-year-old pitcher. The Sporting News, as conservative as the owners who read it, denounced "agitators . . . who have sought to force Negro players on the big leagues, not because it would help the game, but because it gives them a chance to thrust themselves into the limelight as great crusaders in the guise of democracy."

The rest of the story is common knowledge, but with a footnote. In April 1947, Jackie Robinson came to the Brooklyn Dodgers, followed in July by Larry Doby to Cleveland, and Dodger Dan Bankhead, the big leagues' first black pitcher. While these three had to deal with white racism on the field and on road trips, a group that Lanctot calls "the black elite" and "black bourgeoisie" was worried that the emoting and enthusiasm of unruly working-class and poor black fans in the stands would reflect badly on the whole community.

Integration ended the Negro leagues. As sterling a historian as he is, Lanctot might have added one more chapter as an update: the current and continuing decline in numbers of black big leaguers, the low appeal of baseball among blacks in high school and college compared with football and basketball, the absence of black fathers to play catch with their children. Much of this was reported in the July 7, 2003, edition of Sports Illustrated by Tom Verducci, who asked the same question that was raised nearly a century ago, and is ably analyzed by Neil Lanctot: Does the black ballplayer have a future?

Reviewed by Colman McCarthy

Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

Review
"A careful and balanced judgment on the Negro leagues, one that is likely to stand for some time." -- New York Times Book Review, May 16, 2004

A splendid book--scholarly without being stodgy--meticulously researched, clearly written. -- Stan Hochman, Philadelphia Daily News

A valuable volume that belongs in your collection. -- Pittsburgh Post Gazette

An authoritative history of the Negro Leagues. . . with a wealth of data and scores of previously uncollected insights. -- Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Essential as soon as it was released - for anyone captivated by the history of Negro Leagues,...a landmark work. -- T.J. Quinn, New York Daily News

For anyone ever captivated by the history of the Negro Leagues, it is a landmark work. -- New York Daily News, May 22, 2004

The best book written about black professional baseball,...one of the best books written about a black business endeavor, period. -- Gerald Early, Ph.D., Pennsylvania Gazette

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press; illustrated edition edition (April 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812238079
• ISBN-13: 978-0812238075
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #165,262 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing research, and a good story too, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

The author weaves together an amazing amout of historical research to tell an interesting story. All the important figures are here, Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson, etc., but he also introduces lesser known though equally interesting personalities, especially the owners. Never before has anyone told the whole story of the Negro Leagues like this, explaining why Negro League baseball was important as an institution to African American communities across the country.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind the scenes look at the history of the Negro Leagues , August 12, 2004

By	Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

While most knowledgeable baseball fans have a passing acquaintance with Negro League Baseball, precious little ink has been devoted to the institution itself. Author Neil Lanctot has corrected this oversight with a downright fascinating and meticulously researched book. "Negro League Baseball" chronicles the history of the sport from its earliest origins until its ultimate demise in the early 1960's. From the outset there were a multitude of obstacles that the operators of most of these teams were simply never able to overcome. Poor administration, lack of suitable venues, constantly shifting franchises and raids from competing leagues were just some of the problems the Negro Leagues were up against. And when the leagues finally became profitable in the early to mid 1940's the spectre of integration in organized baseball and the shortsightedness of the league owners would ultimately seal the fate of this venerable black institution.
This is an absolutely fascinating story that you are sure to become engrossed in. The writing is first rate and as I mentioned earlier the book is extremely well researched. Sports fans and history buffs alike are certain to enjoy this one. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic History In One Volume, August 1, 2006

By	Mr. Richard D. Coreno "Mr. C" (Berea, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Neil Lanctot pens an outstanding history of Negro League Baseball and its historical significance in this brilliant one volume work.

There has been several important works on the Negro Leagues over the years, but none have been as inclusive on exploring the era as Lanctot. If the reader is looking for a book to quickly skim over, this is not the one to purchase. But you will be missing a vital book on a professional baseball league that has never received its true recognition.

It has angered me for many years that the Negro Leagues has become nothing more than a footnote in baseball history, seemingly "celebrated" a couple times a season with current pro baseball teams wearing "throwback" jerseys during games.

Lanctot's book should be a required reading for baseball's commissioner and other officials & then the steps should be taken to include the NLB statistics in "official" records, with additional classes of hall of fame inductees to follow the NLB Class of 2006.