Full Description
In 1947, as the integration of Major League Baseball began, the once-daring American League had grown reactionary, unwilling to confront postwar challenges--population shifts, labor issues and, above all, racial integration. The league had matured in the Jim Crow era, when northern cities responded to the Great Migration by restricting black access to housing, transportation, accommodations and entertainment, while blacks created their own institutions, including baseball's Negro Leagues.
As the political climate changed and some major league teams realized the necessity of integration, the American League proved painfully reluctant. With the exception of the Cleveland Indians, integration was slow and often ineffective. This book examines the integration of baseball--widely viewed as a triumph--through the experiences of the American League and finds only a limited shift in racial values. The teams accepted few black players and made no effort to alter management structures, and organized baseball remained an institution governed by tradition-bound owners.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments deleteix
Preface
Introduction: The Costs of Racism
I. The Negro Leagues: Baseball by and for Black People
II. The American League: The Trials of a Major League
III. The Masks of Separation: Why Integration Was Unlikely to Happen
IV. A More Honest Face: How Integration Happened
V. The American League Tries: The Pioneer Experiments
Interlude. The End of The Road: The Negro Leagues Wither
VI. Reluctant Realists: A Change Gathers Momentum
VII. Ungracious Surrender: The Ongoing Resistance of the Final Two
VIII. Looking Back—and Looking Ahead
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
