Out of the Shadows: African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson (review)

If you are reading this book review, then you value baseball research and NINE's contribution to that body of work. In his introduction to Out of the Shadows, editor Bill Kirwin writes that when he founded NINE in 1992, "one of [his] principle motivations was to offer an opportunity to explore the historical and social implications of black baseball and its impact on the game and greater society in general" (ix). Out of the Shadows presents a collection of essays previously published in NINE that explore that principle motivation.

Avid NINE readers will be familiar with the included essays. Jerry Malloy's entries provide readers with insight into both the beginnings of black baseball as well as the genesis of black baseball research. "The Birth of the Cuban Giants: The Origins of Black Professional Baseball" discusses the founding and evolution of the team that, in Malloy's words, "set the standard for black baseball excellence." In a subsequent and related essay, Malloy provides insight into the man to whom all black baseball researchers owe a debt of gratitude, Sol White.

Anthony R. Pratkanis and Marlene E. Turner's essays in this volume, "The Year 'Cool Papa' Bell Lost the Batting Title: Mr. Branch Rickey and Mr. Jackie Robinson's Plea for Affirmative Action" and "Nine Principles of Successful Affirmative Action: Mr. Branch Rickey, Mr. Jackie Robinson, and the Integration of Baseball," frame the reintegration of professional baseball as an act of affirmative action. That concept always manages to raise a few eyebrows in my classes because it is interesting and thought-provoking.

Jean Hastings Ardell and Gail Ingham Berlage illustrate the intersection of race and gender in their contributions, "Mamie 'Peanut' Johnson: The Last Female Voice of the Negro Leagues" and "Effa Manley: A Major Force in Negro League Baseball in the 1930s and 1940s," respectively. With Manley's induction into the Hall of Fame this year, hopefully these two works will encourage more research into black women's contributions to baseball.

Six additional essays expand the depth and breadth of the collection, reminding readers that baseball is capable of being not only a source of entertainment and economics but also a source of social change. If you collect back issues of NINE, you already have access to each of these essays. While the repetition may not seem useful to some, having these essays in one book makes them easy to locate. In addition, the book would make an excellent textbook for any class with a prolonged discussion on the history of U.S.-born blacks in baseball. If we're lucky, we can look forward to future volumes of NINE's greatest hits.