Black Baseball: A History of African Americans and the National Game (review)

The title of Kyle McNary's work is a partial misnomer: Black Baseball does focus on the relationship between professional baseball and African American players, but the book also expands the focus to include Latino players, from Roberto Clemente to Ivan Rodriguez, and Canadian-born Fergie Jenkins. Focusing mainly on available statistical information as well as first-hand accounts, Black Baseball presents the on-field exploits of various black ballplayers over the past 120 years.

Beginning in the late 1880s McNary briefly chronicles the activities of such early players as Moses Fleetwood Walker, Frank Grant, and George Stovey before moving into the book's main focus: the "gentleman's agreement" era and the Negro Leagues. None of the information presented will be unfamiliar to those who study baseball history; however, stories surrounding Negro League players are always interesting regardless of how many times you read them. Luckily, McNary continues through baseball's integration and into the 2002 season. Unfortunately, information about current players is lacking. The narrative disparity between historical figures and contemporary figures may be due to the audience's familiarity with current black and Latino players or may be because it is difficult to assess a player's impact until after his retirement. Whatever the case it is safe to say that the likes of Barry Bonds and Pedro Martinez deserve more attention in this volume than they actually received.

Where Black Baseball really shines is in the supplemental in formation. The photographs presented throughout the book make up for the cursory historical information. Assembling such a wide variety of team shots, candids, portraits, and action photographs could not have been an easy task, as the long list of acknowledgements attests. Everything from an 1883 Toledo Blue Hens team portrait to an action shot of Miguel Tejada attempting to turn a double play on Derek Jeter is included. The photographs alone make the book worth the purchase price for people interested in baseball photography.

In addition, Black Baseball provides background information on the eleven Negro League World Series contests and separate biographies of select legends, including Buck Leonard, Martin Dihigo, and, of course, Rube Foster, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson. The appendices include a listing of U.S. teams blacks played on prior to integration as well as the very short listing of the Major League managers, general managers, and executives of color.

For anyone interested in an introductory history of African American and Latino baseball players or a coffee table book of baseball photography, Black Baseball provides a solid starting point. Anyone looking for in-depth history or analysis would be advised to look elsewhere.