Review of "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball," by Kadir Nelson

 Review of

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson, ISBN 9780786808328

Five out of five stars

The trials and failure through success of the Negro leagues

 It is one of the great tragedies in the world of sports in particular, and society in general that many of the greatest baseball players of the first half of the twentieth century never played in the major leagues. While there were no written rules forbidding the people with dark skin from playing in the major leagues, it was well known and rigidly enforced that no black man was allowed to take the field with whites in a regular season game.

 Yet, there was a great deal of baseball in the blood of the black men and their desire to play was strong enough that they formed their own teams and leagues. Although they did not have the financial and social backing of the major leagues, they managed to play every chance they got. As is made very clear in this book, their life was very hard.

 In order to make the money needed to pay the players and continue the Negro leagues, the teams sometimes played two games in one day with some distance to be traveled between the games. It was a time of strictly enforced segregation throughout the country, most hotels and eating establishments in the south were off-limits. The players often slept on the bus, or the bus pulled over and they slept in tents. In the best of circumstances, the players could go to the back door of a café and buy a sandwich and a drink. Entering and sitting at a table or the counter was an invitation for a fight.

 Yet, their talent was no secret. It was legal for teams of white players to barnstorm in the off-season and play black teams. When speaking honestly, the white players considered some of the black players to have superior talent. Josh Gibson was considered by all to be the best catcher and hitter in the country and the tireless Satchel Paige the best pitcher in the country.

 When the major leagues were integrated in 1947, the best black talent was quickly absorbed into the major leagues, leading to the slow death of the Negro Leagues. The failure of the Negro leagues was due to the success of their best players being accepted in the major leagues.

 The story of the Negro leagues is one of the most interesting of all baseball stories. The men that played in the league were devoted to the game, tolerating conditions of overwork, low pay, widespread hardship and hatred, yet to a man they were living a dream. To make even a modest living from doing what they loved to do. This book is a great rendition of one of history’s anomalies, where the best were known, yet not allowed to completely express their talents.

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