Carrying Jackie's Torch; The Players Who Integrated Baseball--and America

Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, 2007. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xxiii, [1], 264 pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. Inscribed by author on title page. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Steve Jacobson was a sports reporter and columnist with Newsday for 44 years, beginning in 1960. He was awarded first prize by the Associated Press of New York and Top Five Sports Columnists numerous times. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. The real and painful struggles of the black players who followed Jackie Robinson into major and minor league baseball from 1947 to 1968 are chronicled in this compelling volume. Players share their personal and often heart-wrenching stories of intense racism, both on and off the field, mixed with a sometimes begrudged appreciation for their tremendous talents. Stories include incidents of white players who gave up promising careers in baseball because they wouldn't play with a black teammate, the Georgia law that forbade a black player from dressing in the same clubhouse as the white players, the quotas for the number of blacks on a team, and how salary negotiations without agents or free agency were akin to a plantation system for both black and white players. The 20 players profiled include Ernie Banks, Alvin Jackson, Charlie Murray, Chuck Harmon, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Curt Flood, Lou Brock, and Bob Watson.