Long before the triumph of Jackie Robinson, America had a strong tradition of black baseball with its own pantheon of superstars--Rube Foster, Oscar Charleston, Smokey Joe Williams, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and many more. This was the other half of American baseball, the half that was ignored for decades. Yet these black players, on their black teams and in their black leagues, may have been playing the most exciting--and possibly the best--baseball seen in America during the sixty "blackball" years from 1887 to 1947. Certainly, in over four hundred games that have been uncovered between the black teams and barnstorming white big leaguers, the blacks won at least two out of three. John Holway, who has done more than anyone to gain recognition for the Negro Leagues and to help their most deserving stars gain their rightful places in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, crisscrossed the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s seeking out the surviving veterans of the old Negro Leagues and putting their stories on tape; he then spent countless hours in libraries to confirm these stories. The result, in the words of nearly two dozen old-time players, and with statistics from the newspapers of the time, is one of the most important books on baseball history. Long out-of-print, this revised edition of Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues is supplemented with a new introduction, new photographs, and newly-researched statistics, to present the living history of some of the best baseball ever played.

Voices From The Great Black Baseball Leagues

Biographies & Memoirs

Holway, John B.

Community & Culture

Da Capo Press

Before Jackie Robinson crossed major league baseball's color line, there existed a parallel world of "blackball" with its own pantheon of superstars: Rube Foster, Oscar Charleston, Smokey Joe Williams, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and many others. Hundreds of elite athletes played in the Negro Leagues from 1887 through the early 1950s, and this remarkable oral history offers an inside look at some of their lives. Seventeen players and a team owner reminisce about this often-overlooked side of American baseball, recapturing the era with a vividness that no journalist could rival. Author John Holway has achieved more than anyone else in the attempts to attain recognition for the Negro Leagues and to help their most deserving stars gain their rightful places in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Holway sought out veterans of the Negro Leagues and recorded their recollections. He then conducted extensive research to confirm the stories with statistics from newspapers of the era. The result is a living history of the great black teams, acclaimed by The New York Times as "the closest we can come to seeing them." This revised edition features over eighty vintage photographs and a Foreword by baseball historian Frank Ceresi.

Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues: Revised Edition (Dover Baseball)

Dover Publications

Official source for the major motion picture from Executive Producer George Lucas! The first group of African-American pilots in the history of the U.S. military, the Tuskegee Airmen had to battle discrimination at home before they could join the fight abroad. Trained at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, they overcame racial bias during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the Army Air Corps. The pilots of the 332nd made their reputation escorting B-17s and B-24s on long bombing runs over Central Europe. Nicknamed "Red Tails" for the crimson tips of their P-51 Mustang fighters, the airmen were also known as the "Red-Tailed Angels" by their admiring bomber crews. Based on extensive interviews with members of the Tuskegee Airmen, this inspiring book offers insights into the prejudices the Red Tails had to overcome and recaptures the drama of wartime service. As veteran Charles McGee noted, "The story of the Tuskegee Airmen isn't a black story, it's an American history story, and the youth of America need to know about it." The primary source for the George Lucas film, Red Tails, this volume includes sixteen pages of historic black-and-white photographs and was praised by Library Journal as "an important addition to any African-American history and/or military studies collection."

Red Tails: An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen (Dover Military History, Weapons, Armor)

History

Military

Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues

Americas

Hastings House Pub

Profiles "Bullet Joe" Rogan & other stars who helped make the Kansas City Monarchs one of the greatest teams in Negro League Baseball.

Bullet Joe and the Monarchs (Blackball Stars)

Sports & Outdoors

Capital Pr

Ted Williams is perhaps the most fascinating, the most controversial yes, and possibly the greatest figure in American sports history. Only Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan stand on a pedestal with him. It is sad that millions of young people know only what they have read of his death. This book is not about his death. It is about his life. Ted Williams was an enigma, who just wouldn't fit into a mold. The Boston press once took a poll to name the least cooperative, most temperamental, most generous, and most cooperative players on the Red Sox. Williams came in first in everycategory. I knew Ted Williams for 45 years, beginning in 1957, and saw him play for 20, beginning in 1941. This has given me a unique box seat to this amazing chapter of Americana. To me he is the Beethoven and Monet of baseball. But why another Ted Williams book? Ted is already the subject of a large and growing hagiography of excellent and readable books. His own My Turn AtBat is one of the most engaging autobiographies in sports literature. I made a modest contribution in 1991 with The Last 400 Hitter, about his magnificent season of 1941. Each biography draws on different sources. They are like the blind men who clutch different parts of an elephant. Each adds to the mosaic, aseach gropes to discover this ebullient yet elusive and enigmatic man. In the present work I have tapped hit her to untapped sources in hopes of presentingthe most complete story yet assembled of an amazing Renaissance man. Based on half a century of research, I have examined this many sided genius from as many new angles as possible, hoping top aint the Cromwellian portrait that he himself would have wanted, warts and all. Ted and I spent hours probing his memory for games and players now largely lost to living memory. Beginning 20 years ago I also probed the memories of dozens of men, many now gone, whoplayed with and against him, to get their unique and

Ted the Kid

AuthorHouse

Ted Williams is perhaps the most fascinating, the most controversial - yes, and possibly the greatest - figure in American sports history.Â Only Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan stand on a pedestal with him. It is sad that millions of young people know only what they have read of his death.Â This book is not about his death.Â It is about his life. Ted Williams was an enigma, who just wouldn't fit into a mold.Â The Boston press once took a poll to name the least cooperative, most temperamental, most generous, and most cooperative players on the Red Sox.Â Williams came in first in every category. I knew Ted Williams for 45 years, beginning in 1957, and saw him play for 20, beginning in 1941.Â This has given me a unique box seat to this amazing chapter of Americana.Â To me he is the Beethoven and Monet of baseball. But why another Ted Williams book? Ted is already the subject of a large and growing hagiography of excellent and readable books.Â His own My Turn At Bat is one of the most engaging autobiographies in sports literature.Â I made a modest contribution in 1991 with The Last 400 Hitter, about his magnificent season of 1941. Each biography draws on different sources.Â They are like the blind men who clutch different parts of an elephant.Â Each adds to the mosaic, as each gropes to discover this ebullient yet elusive and enigmatic man. In the present work I have tapped hitherto untapped sources in hopes of presenting the most complete story yet assembled of an amazing Renaissance man.Â Based on half a century of research, I have examined this many-sided genius from as many new angles as possible, hoping to paint the Cromwellian portrait that he himself would have wanted, warts and all. Ted and I spent hours probing his memory for games and players now largely lost to living memory. Beginning 20 years ago I also probed the memories of dozens of men, many now gone, who played with and against

Black Giants

Baseball

Xlibris, Corp.

Back in 1982, the Society for American Baseball Research was still young, barely a decade past its founding, and had grown to some 1600 members. One of their number, a "defrocked English Lit guy poking around in journalism," suggested to the board of directors that SABR, and the world, might benefit from a publication along the lines of American Heritage, only about baseball. Before long that member, John Thorn, found himself at the helm of the newly christened periodical, The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History. The very first issue included names we think of today as luminaries in the field of baseball history and analysis: Harold Seymour, Lawrence S. Ritter, Pete Palmer, David Voigt, Bob Broeg, and more. Over the years the significance of that flagship issue has only grown, while the inventory has dwindled. SABR is pleased to present a replica edition here, with the addition of a new preface by John Thorn, now the official historian of Major League Baseball.

The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History: Premiere Issue Replica

THORN, John

Ritter, Lawrence S.

Carroll, Bob

Bankes, Jim

Palmer, Pete

Ahrens, Art

Seymour PhD, Harold

Society for American Baseball Research

Korea is “the forgotten war.” But to those who fought in it, it was the “unforgettable war.” If the names of all those killed were put on a wall, it would be larger than the Vietnam Wall. And Korea lasted only three years, Vietnam about ten. The agony of the winter of 1950-51 is an epic to compare with Valley Forge and the Bulge. Korea was also our last segregated war. This is the story of the black 24th Infantry Regiment, told in the words of the men themselves. Like all black troops since the Civil War, they were reviled by whites and their own commander for “bugging out” - running before the enemy. The charge can still be read in the Army’s own official histories. Yet the 24th left more blood on the field than their white comrades - if they did bug out, they must have been running the wrong way. It’s a good thing we weren't with Custer,” one black GI muttered - “they'd have blamed the whole thing on us.” The 24th won the first battle of the war, won its division’s first Medal of Honor, and guarded the shortest and most vulnerable road to Pusan. If the port had fallen, the war would have been lost, leaving a red dagger pointed at Japan. It did not fall. That winter, after the Chinese attacked, the entire American army bugged out in perhaps the worst military disaster in American history. “That,” said another black veteran, “was when I learned that whites could run as fast as blacks.” This is the story of those unsung heroes, who helped turn the Communist tide for the first time. The men bring that forgotten war and their own unsung bravery to life in their own sometimes funny, often heart-breaking, and always exciting words.

Bloody Ground: Black Rifles in Korea

Miniver Press

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