Review of "Black Baseball Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar"

Hello,

Roberta J. Newman and Joel Nathan Rosen's "Black Baseball Black Business: Race Enterprise and the Fate of the Segregated Dollar" is due to be released on March 4th, 2014. I was able to read an advance copy of this book thanks to NetGalley.com and the University Press of Mississippi.

This book is a scholarly look at the so named Negro Leagues, which the authors say isn't an apt name for these leagues. They're correct as the Negro Leagues were actually a collection of leagues, the most notable probably was the Negro National League (NNL). The book also covers the economies and economics surrounding those leagues. Baseball's color line was drawn in 1883.

"Black Baseball" starts with an introduction written by Negro Leagues star Monte Irvan, who turns 95 on February 25th. He relates some of his experiences playing in the Negro Leagues. He additionally writes about some of his off the field experiences. Irvan was born in Haleberg, Alabama but grew up in Orange, New Jersey. He debuted in MLB two years after Jackie Robinson did and played for the Dodgers arch rival Giants. Although he didn't start playing in the MLB until he was 30, he still hit .293, had 99 home runs, 443 RBIs and 731 hits.

Irvan writes about his visits to Toots Shor's restaurant as Negro League players were starting to get some grudging respect. They were allowed in the club and given tables, they just weren't given as good of tables as Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio. That may have related to skin color as much as they didn't play for the Yankees. Even as he writes some of these experiences I don't detect any bitterness.

The book also covers the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. There's a wing dedicated to about 18 former Negro League players. Among those players are Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, James "Cool Papa" Bell and Irvan.

Other economic and societal factors include Chicago Defender, a black newspaper, the Afro-American Realty Company, barnstorming and Jim Crow laws.

Also the authors write about the Great Migration which "began in earnest when Europe went to war in 1914". European ethnic immigrants came to America which caused a flooded job pool. Also cotton crops suffered significant damage because of a boll weevil infestation.

Historian Isabel Wilkinson writes about the Great Migration: "Over the course of six decades some six million black southerners left the land of their forefathers and fanned out a across the country for an uncertain existence in nearly every other corner in America."

Wilkerson makes a great point about the Great Migration "it was the first big step the nation's servant class ever took without asking".

Many of the people in this great migration moved to Chicago's Black Belt, Harlem and Kansas City's 18th and Vine District. That's also the reason Negro Leagues had more success there than elsewhere.

Black Baseball faded from view in the late 20s and early 30s as the Great Depression bit into America's economy. With the Great Depression running from basically 1929-1939, Blacks found themselves out of jobs in manufacturing and service industry in the early to mid-30s.

With the "American war machine gearing up" that began a second wave of the Great Migration. This second wave lead to a resurgence of the NNL.

This is an insightful look into one of the most colorful eras of professional sports. This book probably isn't for everyone. However if you've ever wondered what the societal and economic things that made the success and ultimately failure of the Negro Leagues, then this is your book. On a scale of 1-10, I'm giving this book a solid 7.

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