NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL

400+ WSGA images click here

Literature

Early Latino Ballplayers In The United States: Major, Minor And Negro Leagues, 1901-1949
Format Hardcover
Subject Sports & Recreation / Reference
ISBN/SKU 078642012X
Author Nick C. Wilson
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date November 2005

 

Black Ball the Negro Baseball Leagues 2006 Calendar
Format Paperback
Edition WALL
Subject Non-Classifiable
ISBN/SKU 0764931830
Author N
Publisher Pomegranate
Publish Date June 2005

Voices From The Negro Leagues: Conversations With 52 Baseball Standouts Of The Period 1924-1960
Format Paperback
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General
ISBN/SKU 0786422793
Author Brent Kelley
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date March 2005

Cool Papas And Double Duties: The All-Time Greats Of The Negro Leagues
Format Paperback
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General
ISBN/SKU 0786422297
Author William F. McNeil
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date March 2005

Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues
Format Library
Subject Juvenile Fiction / Historical / General
ISBN/SKU 0439554993
Author Walter Dean Myers
Publisher Scholastic
Publish Date November 2003

Annotation
Teenager Biddy Owens' 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons includes the games and the players, racism the team faces from New Orleans to Chicago, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional baseball player. Includes a historical note about the evolution of the Negro Leagues.A teenager's 1948 journal about working for the Birmingham Black Barons covers the games, the players, racism the team faces, and his family's resistance to his becoming a professional, with a historical note about the Negro Leagues.


The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960
Format Hardcover
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General
ISBN/SKU 0786413808
Author Leslie A. Heaphy
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date December 2002

Review
The Negro leagues emerged in response to the refusal of "organized baseball" to field African Americans. After struggling to subsist in the 1920s, black baseball made its mark on American society in the 1930s, featuring such superstars as Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige. During these years black teams won more than half the exhibition games they played against white teams. But the slow integration of major league baseball after WW II made the Negro leagues increasingly irrelevant, and by the early 1960s they had disappeared. Heaphy (history, Kent State Univ.) begins his story long before the formal founding of the Negro National League in 1920, and he provides rich detail on some of aspects of black baseball that distinguished it from white baseball: the enduring importance of barnstorming, the unenforceability of contracts, the shifting role of the press, and the place of black baseball in African American urban communities. But what makes this book a milestone in Negro league historiography is its bibliography: the more than 80 pages of references, organized topically (by player and subject), will serve as an indispensable starting place for the next generation of students. Summing Up: Essential. Libraries supporting African American studies or coursework that intersects with sports history or sociology; all levels. Copyright 2003 American Library Association


Negro Leagues: All-Black Baseball
Format Paperback
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Ethnic / African-American
ISBN/SKU 0448426846
Author Laura Driscoll
Publisher Price Stern Sloan
Publish Date July 2002

Annotation
When Emily goes to the Baseball Hall of Fame, she gets the chance to learn all about the Negro League and soon writes her report on the early players who changed the face of the game during such a difficult period of segregation and discrimination. Simultaneous.


Review
Gr. 3-5. "I love baseball. I know a lot about it. But before last fall, I had never heard of the Negro Leagues," begins Emily Brooks, who, as Driscoll's narrator, relates what she learned in Cooperstown in a report for class. The enthusiastic, clear delivery makes this entry in the Smart about History series a solid choice for middle-graders. Emily takes readers back to the late 1800s when Bud Fowler (credited with inventing shin guards because white players kept spiking him) played on a pro team and then follows the history through the creation of the Negro Leagues in the 1920s to the 1969 election of Satchel Paige to the Baseball Hall of Fame. There's nothing about current black players, but Emily certainly gives kids a clear view of the racism that marked the past and introduces them to a few of the great African American players of their day. The vintage black-and-white photos are fascinating, and the lively artwork keeps to the spirit of the game without trivializing the racial inequity. Too bad there is no bibliography so kids can read on. ((Reviewed September 1, 2002)) Copyright 2002 Booklist Reviews

The Biograpical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues
Format Paperback
Subject Biography & Autobiography / Sports
ISBN/SKU 0786709596
Author James A. Riley (EDT)
Publisher Pub Group West
Publish Date February 2002

Annotation
Updated and published in paperback for the first time, this definitive guide to the Negro Leagues provides readers with biographical profiles, vital statistics, records, career overviews of more than four thousand baseball players. Reprint.


A Complete History of the Negro Leagues, 1884 to 1955
Format Paperback
Edition REV&UPDTD
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History
ISBN/SKU 0806523247
Author Mark Ribowsky
Publisher Kensington Pub Corp
Publish Date January 2002

Annotation
Complemented by period photographs, this updated history of the Negro Leagues tells the story of the African-American players and teams of the Negro League, including such notables as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and John Henry Lloyd. Original.


The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History
Format Paperback
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General
ISBN/SKU 0803820070
Author John Holway
Publisher Midpoint Trade Books Inc
Publish Date May 2001

Annotation
A chronological history of the Negro Leagues from 1862 to 1948 lists the statistics of every pitcher and batter, team records, significant games and advances for black players, and box scores.


Review
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 Cahners Business Information.

Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues
Format Paperback
Edition 1ST I.R. D
Subject Biography & Autobiography / Sports
ISBN/SKU 1566632951
Author William Brashler
Publisher Natl Book Network
Publish Date April 2000

Annotation
An account of the life, career, and final downhill years of the man who was called "the black Babe Ruth," and who died, at thirty-five, during the winter after Jackie Robinson broke the minor league color barrier.



The Negro Leagues Revisited: Conversations With 66 More Baseball Heroes
Format Hardcover
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History
ISBN/SKU 0786408758
Author Brent P. Kelley
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date May 2000

Review
Following up on his 1998 Voices From the Negro Leagues Kelley interviews another 66 people who played from the 1920s, when the Negro National League was formed, to the 1950s. He includes rare photographs and what statistics are available. He notes that many of the veterans are dying now and their stories are all that remain of the era. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles
Format Paperback
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History
ISBN/SKU 1578860016
Author James Overmyer
Publisher Natl Book Network
Publish Date February 1998

Annotation
Tells the story of Effa Manley, a hard-headed business woman who owned the Newark Eagles baseball team and turned them into the pride of the local community

The Indianapolis ABCs: History of a Premier Team in the Negro Leagues
Format Hardcover
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General
ISBN/SKU 0786403675
Author Paul Debono
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date July 1997

Review
If one grants that primary sources for early black baseball are relatively scarce, this reviewer fails to understand why Debono, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research's Negro Leagues committee, ignored some of those that should have been available to him. He identified Norman Beplay as the dean of Indianapolis oral historians, but cited him no further (he claims an interview not cited in the bibliography). The first three chapters were quite well done, but from that point on this reviewer became frustrated with the lack of narrative style, with a series of apparently unrelated facts and undeveloped arguments, and with a serious inattention to editing (e.g., misspellings, inaccurate footnotes, contradictions, grammatical flaws). Debono argued, for example, that the "black press ... guided all [italics added] of American society to a new day." That sentence ended a chapter. No effort was made to demonstrate the basis for such a far-reaching claim. Nearly half the pages are devoted to three appendixes--player biographies, ABC statistics, and ABC game scores, valuable contributions to a small segment of the still-uncharted waters of Negro league baseball. Copyright 1999 American Library Association


I Was Right on Time: My Journey from Negro Leagues to the Majors
Format Paperback
Edition REPRINT
Subject Sports & Recreation / History
ISBN/SKU 068483247X
Author Buck O'Neil
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publish Date June 1997

Annotation
A veteran of seven decades of professional baseball reminisces about his days in the Negro Leagues, offers an intimate portrait of Satchel Paige, and reveals his current work scouting for the Kansas City Royals

The King of Swat: An Analysis of Baseballs Home Run Hitters from the Major, Minor, Negro, and Japanese Leagues
Format Paperback
Subject Sports & Recreation / Baseball / Statistics
ISBN/SKU 0786403624
Author William F. McNeil
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc Pub
Publish Date May 1997

Review
In search of the greatest home run hitter of all time, baseball aficionado McNeil surveys the history of baseball greats with the enthusiasm generally reserved for Saturday games at Fenway. Using statistical comparisons and accounting for the variances between players, the volume analyzes the minors, Japanese, Negro and major league candidates and compares the top sluggers in relation to their competition and ballpark differences, incidentally creating a personality driven history of the game. The top slugger? Like the movie The Crying Game , the publishers suggest we keep the results secret. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.


The Negro Leagues
Format Paperback
Subject Juvenile Nonfiction / Ethnic / African-American
ISBN/SKU 0791025926
Author James A. Riley
Publisher Chelsea House Pub
Publish Date August 1996

Annotation
Provides a history of the Negro leagues and the role they played in integrating baseball


Review
Gr 5-8?Spanning the years 1868 to 1960, this title takes a look at blacks in professional baseball in general and at the Negro Leagues in particular. While the material is accurate and the book is attractively designed, the sheer number of players and teams discussed may overwhelm readers. Riley introduces a lot of names, but offers little substantive detail or real insight. Black-and-white photographs are liberally sprinkled throughout the seven chapters. While credits are cited for them, the text itself is not documented. The list for further reading includes predominantly adult titles. While not fatally flawed, this effort is not a first choice. Michael Cooper's Playing America's Game (Dutton, 1993), Robert Gardner and Dennis Shortelle's Forgotten Players (Walker, 1993), and Patricia and Fredrick McKissack's Black Diamond (Scholastic, 1994) all provide similar information in a more reader-friendly format.?Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI