Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams

by Robert W. Peterson

Book Overview

Early in the 1920s, the New York Giants sent a scout to watch a young Cuban play for Foster's American Giants, a baseball club in the Negro Leagues. During one at-bat this talented slugger lined a ball so hard that the rightfielder was able to play it off the top of the fence and throw Christobel Torrienti out at first base. The scout liked what he saw, but was disappointed in the player's appearance. "He was a light brown," recalled one of Torrienti's teammates, "and would have gone up to the major leagues, but he had real rough hair." Such was life behind the color line, the unofficial boundary that prevented hundreds of star-quality athletes from playing big-league baseball.

When Only the Ball Was White was first published in 1970, Satchel Paige had not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame and there was a general ignorance even among sports enthusiasts of the rich tradition of the Negro Leagues. Few knew that during the 1930s and '40s outstanding black teams were playing regularly in Yankee Stadium and Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. And names like Cool Papa Bell, Rube Foster, Judy Johnson, Biz Mackey, and Buck Leonard would bring no flash of smiling recognition to the fan's face, even though many of these men could easily have played alongside Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Hack Wilson, Lou Gehrig--and shattered their records in the process. Many baseball pundits now believe, for example, that had Josh Gibson played in the major leagues, he would have surpassed Babe Ruth's 714 home runs before Hank Aaron had even hit his first. And the great Dizzy Dean acknowledged that the best pitcher he had ever seen was not Lefty Grove or Carl Hubbell, but rather "old Satchel Paige, that big lanky colored boy."

In Only the Ball Was White, Robert Peterson tells the forgotten story of these excluded ballplayers, and gives them the recognition they were so long denied. Reconstructing the old Negro Leagues from contemporary sports publications, accounts of games in the black press, and through interviews with the men who actually played the game, Peterson brings to life the fascinating period that stretched from shortly after the Civil War to the signing of Jackie Robinson in 1947. We watch as the New York Black Yankees and the Philadelphia Crawfords take the field, look on as the East-West All-Star lineups are announced, and listen as the players themselves tell of the struggle and glory that was black baseball. In addition to these vivid accounts, Peterson includes yearly Negro League standings and an all-time register of players and officials, making the book a treasure trove of baseball information and lore.

A monumental and poignant book, Only the Ball Was White reminds us that what was often considered the "Golden Age" of baseball was also the era of Jim Crow. It is a book that must be read by anyone hoping not only to understand the story of baseball, but the story of America.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195076370
• ISBN13: 9780195076370
• Release Date: April 1992
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Oh, what a game.

Robert Peterson originally published this book in 1970 so it's really the original and standard history of the Negro Leagues. Peterson not only tells the history of these leagues and some of the great players, but also provides brief biographical sketches of dozens of players whose big league service would otherwise be lost to history. The book also has extensive appendices with annual standings and box scores of all-star games. The book gives us glimpses into Jim Crow America (and it was not just in the South). Peterson portrays the often overlooked fact that the Negro Leagues were a business venture run almost exclusively by and for black people. And it was a tough business at that, but one that drew often sizeable crowds, especially on exciting and exhausting barnstorming tours. The Negro Leagues could not survive integration as its best players were siphoned off to the 'majors'. Despite the obvious benefits to those men who were finally broke through the wall of prejudice, the reader also understands that there was a sense of loss when the leagues shut down in 1960. More powerfully, the reader experiences the lost opportunities suffered by those players who never got the chance to play in the majors and make major league money, like Jimmie Crutchfield, the Black Lloyd Waner, who barely made a living on one side of Pittsburgh playing for the Crawfords while Waner hauled down $12,000 a year (a princely sum at the time) playing for the Pirates. A must read for anyone interested in baseball, race relations, or American history.

Very Well Researched and tied together.

This book was not what I thought it would be. Its part stat book, part biography, part history of the leagues. It is not as story-like as I expected and seems a bit fractured in places. Having said that, its a wonderful book that conveys a lot of the zeitgeist of the time. For a book with so many facts, it is surprisingly easy to read. Though, at times it seems to repeat itself, it still conjures up an age when African American players wore their caps sideways, introduced stealing bases on a regular basis etc... It is a shame that so many sad periods in world history become fascinating periods to read about for generations that follow after. Educational, entertaining and solidly researhed, bravo!

Out of the Shadows, Into the Light

Most baseball fans are familiar with the great names and stories that emanated from the Negro Leagues. Satchel Paige, ever the showman, often asked his fielders to sit down while he struck out a dangerous hitter; Cool Papa Bell was so fast that he could blow out a candle and be in bed before the room got dark; and Josh Gibson may or may not have hit a ball completely out of Yankee Stadium. Peterson includes these gems and much more in this incredibly in depth history of the Negro Leagues. He chronicles the history of the black ballplayer, beginning with those few who actually played in the major leagues during the tail end of the nineteenth century, before the doors were closed, and continuing into the 40's and 50's, when Jackie Robinson's arrival in Brooklyn led to the demise of the Negro Leagues. Peterson relies almost exclusively on first-hand accounts culled from the black press of the day and extensive interviews from players and coaches. Also included is an appendix filled with year by year standings and an alphabetical listing of Negro League players. Certainly, this book is invalueable to anyone interested in learning about the unknown greats from the Negro Leagues.

Their Own game

This book beautifully captures the heart and soul of what Negro League baseball was. Not only does this book give real insight into what the game meant to black players and fans, but helps one understand how the alienation of blacks from big-league play was a great tragedy to the game. This book makes me wonder how great the game could be today, if this tragedy had not occurred.

Their Own Game

This book beautifully captures the heart and soul of what the Negro League was. Not only does it give a real insight into what the game of baseball meant to the players and fans, but helps one understand how the alienation of blacks from big-league play was a great tradgedy to the game. This book makes me wonder how great the game could be today, if this tradgedy had not occurred.