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Black Baseball, 1858-1900: A Comprehensive Record of the Teams, Players, Managers, Owners and Umpires
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About Black Baseball, 1858-1900: A Comprehensive Record
Product Description This is one of the most important baseball books to be published in a long time, taking a comprehensive look at black participation in the national pastime from 1858 through 1900. It provides team rosters and team histories, player biographies, a list of umpires and games they officiated and information on team managers and team secretaries. Well known organizations like the Washington's Mutuals, Philadelphia Pythians, Chicago Uniques, St. Louis Black Stockings, Cuban Giants and Chicago Unions are documented, as well as lesser known teams like the Wilmington Mutuals, Newton Black Stockings, San Francisco Enterprise, Dallas Black Stockings, Galveston Flyaways, Louisville Brotherhoods and Helena Pastimes. Player biographies trace their connections between teams across the country. Essays frame the biographies, discussing the social and cultural events that shaped black baseball. Waiters and barbers formed the earliest organized clubs and developed local, regional and national circuits. Some players belonged to both white and colored clubs, and some umpires officiated colored, white and interracial matches. High schools nurtured young players and transformed them into powerhouse teams, like Cincinnati's Vigilant Base Ball Club. A special essay covers visual representations of black baseball and the artists who created them, including colored artists of color who were also baseballists. Review “This exceptional work documents the early history of Black baseball in the United States....excellent essays provide context, covering the value of baseball to company employees and how Black baseball was portrayed in the (predominantly white) media...this groundbreaking reference source serves as a memoir of those who pioneered the sport, despite odds against them”― Booklist “Brunson delivers an extraordinarily well researched guide to African American history in baseball...the level of detail and commitment to this research is impressive...this highly recommended set offers insight into the cultural, political, and historical aspects of African American baseball”― Choice “a comprehensive collection of biographies…. With many think pieces bemoaning the overwhelming ‘whiteness’ of the national pastime, this title on the black experience with baseball, between the years 1858 and 1900, is timely.... Essays explore historical and cultural events that impacted the sport.”― Library Journal “A well-researched, ground-breaking guide to African American history in baseball.”― Reference and User Services Association “a monumental work”― The Courier “[A] tour de force. James Brunson devoted thirty years to this project, and it shows. We finally have the identification and bringing together of the myriad of teams and many hundreds of black pioneers of baseball who contributed to the birth of the sport.... [F]ills an important gap that those interested in the history of the great American pastime, the story of black baseball, cultural studies, and the African-American struggle will find of immense value.”―Donald Spivey, Distinguished Professor of History, University of Miami, author of “If You Were Only White:” The Life of Leroy “Satchel” Paige “A monument in baseball literature.”―John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball. About the Author James E. Brunson III is an art historian who specializes in American Modernism. His work has been published in NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, and Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game. A practicing artist who specializes in watercolor painting, he currently teaches visual culture at Northern Illinois University.
