Dayna reviewed Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball on + 46 more book reviews
In some ways, to look at the history of black baseball is to look at the past image of civil rights in the whole of U.S. society.
For this baseball fan, Shades of Glory shows that the history of black baseball is part heartening, seeing that, in the early days, not a vast quantity of racism came from the actual fans of the game. They simply wanted "their" clubs to field competitive teams.
At the same time, also is it disheartening and, unfortunately, not surprising to read of the cementing of the notion that "money is the root of all evil", at least as far as the African-American in 19th century baseball was concerned. And when certain white stars, who seemed to be either outright prejudiced or just plain jealous, threatened to walk away from the game rather than continue to play with their black teammates, owners and league leaders caved, dismissing the African-American players from their teams and then essentially banning them from the leagues altogether.
Author Lawrence D. Hogan has performed a valuable service to fans of the game by compiling this history of one of the most important facets of America's pastime.
For this baseball fan, Shades of Glory shows that the history of black baseball is part heartening, seeing that, in the early days, not a vast quantity of racism came from the actual fans of the game. They simply wanted "their" clubs to field competitive teams.
At the same time, also is it disheartening and, unfortunately, not surprising to read of the cementing of the notion that "money is the root of all evil", at least as far as the African-American in 19th century baseball was concerned. And when certain white stars, who seemed to be either outright prejudiced or just plain jealous, threatened to walk away from the game rather than continue to play with their black teammates, owners and league leaders caved, dismissing the African-American players from their teams and then essentially banning them from the leagues altogether.
Author Lawrence D. Hogan has performed a valuable service to fans of the game by compiling this history of one of the most important facets of America's pastime.
