Before Brooklyn

The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier

Ted Reinstein

In the April of 1945, exactly two years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, liberal Boston City Councilman Izzy Muchnick persuaded the Red Sox to try out three black players in return for a favorable vote to allow the team to play on Sundays. The Red Sox got the councilman’s much-needed vote, but the tryout was a sham; the three players would get no closer to the major leagues. It was a lost battle in a war that was ultimately won by Robinson in 1947. This book tells the story of the little-known heroes who fought segregation in baseball, from communist newspaper reporters to the Pullman car porters who saw to it that black newspapers espousing integration in professional sports reached the homes of blacks throughout the country. It also reminds us that the first black player in professional baseball was not Jackie Robinson but Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and that for a time integrated teams were not that unusual. And then, as segregation throughout the country hardened, the exclusion of blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, and the battle for integration began anew.

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-5122-9 • eBook • November 2021 • $28.50 • (£21.99)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History

Before Brooklyn

The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier

eBook

Summary

In the April of 1945, exactly two years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, liberal Boston City Councilman Izzy Muchnick persuaded the Red Sox to try out three black players in return for a favorable vote to allow the team to play on Sundays. The Red Sox got the councilman’s much-needed vote, but the tryout was a sham; the three players would get no closer to the major leagues. It was a lost battle in a war that was ultimately won by Robinson in 1947. This book tells the story of the little-known heroes who fought segregation in baseball, from communist newspaper reporters to the Pullman car porters who saw to it that black newspapers espousing integration in professional sports reached the homes of blacks throughout the country. It also reminds us that the first black player in professional baseball was not Jackie Robinson but Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and that for a time integrated teams were not that unusual. And then, as segregation throughout the country hardened, the exclusion of blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, and the battle for integration began anew.

Details

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 272 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-5122-9 • eBook • November 2021 • $28.50 • (£21.99)

Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Baseball / History

Author

Ted Reinstein has been a reporter for “Chronicle,” WCVB-TV/Boston’s award-winning—and America’s longest-running, locally-produced—nightly news magazine since 1997. In addition, he is a regular contributor for the station’s political roundtable show and writes a weekly opinion column. He lives just west of Boston with his wife and two daughters. He is also the author of New England Notebook (Globe, 2013) and Wicked Pissed (Globe, 2016).

Reviews

"Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball's Color Barrier is a must read for baseball fans, historians, and anyone who cares about integration in the US. This meticulously researched book will open everyone's eyes to the "evolution" of what has become the MLB Association today. Robinson has certainly earned the recognition and respect he deserves. However, the story before Robinson- "Before Brooklyn," if you will- is full of intrigue, politics, and race relations that still confront us today. Reinstein poetically combines all the elements of a historical narrative into a story that flows smoothly and is historically rich. Before Brooklyn provides a long-neglected preface to the story of baseball's color barrier fans only thought they knew."

— University Of Nebraska Press

Before Brooklyn

The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier

Ted Reinstein

Before Brooklyn

The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier

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