The Negro Leagues

I've been considering Negro League Baseball a lot lately. Weekend before last I made my annual pilgrimage to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony (it's my fifth year in a row). This year the inductees were Bruce Sutter, a relief-pitcher best known for use of the split-fingered fastball, and 17 individuals who were involved with the African-American experience in baseball before the color barrier was broken--some with organized Negro Leagues, some who played even before then. These people were elected by a committee that made a large study of Black and Latin baseball, and I picked up a copy of the companion book, called Shades of Glory.

Thinking about the Negro Leagues conjures up many emotions. To watch as relatives of the inductees (all 17 are deceased) read their ancestors' plaques and grab their long-delayed day in the sun was very moving. Listening to Buck O'Neil, who has become one of the most important voices of the Negro League legacy speak about how proud he was to be a Negro League ballplayer was wonderful, but one can't help but feeling a pit in the stomach, realizing that the very existence of these leagues was a large stain in the fabric of American society. All of these players should have been able to suit up in the Major leagues, and prove their mettle on an equal playing field. Instead, they played what has been called "shadow ball," a largely identical game that was separate from white America.

The book was interesting, if not particularly well-written. The author is Lawrence Hogan, a history professor, and the prose is a bit stodgy, getting bogged down in game scores, but occasionally breaking into wild hyperbole. I'm sure these players were good, perhaps better than the white players in certain circumstances, but too many are described as the best ever. There are also typos and misspellings that make an old copy editor like me take notice. I would have preferred more information about the people themselves. One of the key people in Negro League history, Andrew "Rube" Foster, was a great pitcher and then founded the Negro Leagues in 1920. In 1925 he had a "nervous breakdown" and died in 1930, and the league suffered from his absence. What was his story? I wasn't looking for sensational material, but the subject is glossed over.

I was startled to learn that there were Negro teams up until the 1980's. The Clowns, who played in many towns, mostly Indianapolis, continued barnstorming long after baseball was integrated. One of the best parts of the book was the last chapter, which detailed the double-meaning of Jackie Robinson's entry into the Majors--it was great for the race as a whole, but bad for the business, because it meant the end of the Negro Leagues.

A very interesting subject, one that really encapsulates the never-ending drama of race relations in America.