Chappie and Me: An Autobiographical Novel

by John Craig

Book Overview

This is a story about baseball, and the way it was for black players in the charged summer of 1939-six years and a long war before the color barrier was at last lifted and America began to recognize... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0396076602
• ISBN13: 9780396076605
• Release Date: January 1979
• Publisher: Dodd Mead
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great book for baseball fans everywhere

John Craig's story of a wandering band of Black ballplayers, playing before and after World War II, is a wonderful tribute to the many who toiled, not in major league stadiums, but in every backwater town in Canada and the United States.Unfortunately, I never got to speak to John. He had died when I called him, but I spoke to his wife, and John was proud of the book because it chronicled an important time in our lives -- the years before the color barrier was broken.Chappie's Colored All-Stars, I imagine, were typical of the kind of men who loved the great game of baseball and put up with the many miles of travelling they had to do to earn their keep.Of course, as John Craig pointed out to Chappie, he was white, in case Chappie hadn't noticed, and to hit the road with them, playing in blackface, had to be the experience of his life.The book tells us an awful lot about the incredible talents that played the game with him, and the conditions under which they played. To get out of town alive, they had to win by the scantest of margins, but as one reads the book and marvels at the skills these players had, it's not hard to imagine that they could have blown out almost anyone they faced, even the odd professional team.As baseball fans, we never get to hear all the many stories that are out there relating to the time before Black ballplayers were allowed to cavort on the emerald green fields of major league stadia, but we've heard enough to tell us that their talent was immense, and that, had they played, we would now be celebrating many of their lives and careers.If you love baseball, give this a read. You'll never regret it. A real gem.