Branson, Douglas M. Greatness in the Shadows: Larry Doby and the Integration of the American League. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 336 + Photographs, Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index. $34.95 Hardcover. Reviewed by Josh Howard As Douglas Branson himself admits, Greatness in the Shadows is not a biography. Instead, his work is an analysis of the literature—or…
By Jorge E. Moraga Introduction: Your 2016 Baseball Hall of Famers… On July 27th, retired Major League Baseball (MLB) players George Kenneth “Ken” “Junior” “The Kid” Griffey Jr. and Michael Joseph “Mike” Piazza joined the ranks of baseball’s most elite club. In a near unanimous decision, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voted in…
Ross, Robert B. The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016 (hardback). Ppxx+288. Notes and index. $29.95. Reviewed by Jorge Iber In the University of Nebraska’s press release for this book, sports editor for The Nation Dave Zirin is quoted as saying that the…
By Leslie Heaphy Having any discussion that involves female owners in the Negro Leagues has to begin with a discussion of Effa Manley, the only woman elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (2006). But what many people do not realize is the women that came before and after Effa. From Olivia Taylor to…
Swanson, Krister. Baseball’s Power Shift: How the Players Union, the Fans, and the Media Changed American Sports Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 287. Notes, Bibliography, and Index. $29.95 Hardback. Reviewed by Nick Sacco As an enthusiastic fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, I was saddened and disappointed to…
Luke, Bob. Integrating the Orioles: Baseball and Race in Baltimore. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016. Pp. 216. Notes and index. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Chuck Westmoreland Frank Robinson, the 1961 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player, arrived in Baltimore after the Cincinnati Reds made one of the most baffling trades in baseball history. From…
Gaines, Bob. Christy Mathewson, The Christian Gentleman: How One Man’s Faith and Fastball Forever Changed Baseball. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. x+218. Illustrations, notes, appendices, works cited, and index. $38.00 hardback. Reviewed by Paul Putz Renowned for his pinpoint accuracy and his “fadeaway” pitch, Christy Mathewson’s baseball exploits are well known. He ended…
By: Leslie Heaphy Women playing baseball is not new but our knowledge level is limited. But within the history of women’s baseball our knowledge of African American women and their participation in baseball is almost non-existent beyond a name such as Effa Manley. During the 2014 LLWS many became aware of Mone` Davis as she…
Swanson, Ryan A. When Baseball Went White: Reconstruction, Reconciliation, and Dreams of a National Pastime. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014. Pp. xx+198. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $29.95 hardcover. By Dain TePoel “To say, as many historians have, that baseball’s racial segregation resulted from a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ is roughly the equivalent of asserting that…
McGregor, Robert Kuhn. A Calculus of Color: The Integration of Baseball’s American League. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2015. Pp. 224. 19 Photos, notes, bibliography, and index. $29.95 softback. Reviewed by Lindsay Parks Pieper As a means of ice-breaking at the beginning of each semester, I ask my sport history students who they would meet…
Sport in American History 