An interesting story of a white college student in 1959 & 1960, when he came home from college played for a local team in West Texas Colored League, a semi-pro type league. He was the only white player on the team and in the league. The local team needed a pitcher & they had seen him pitch before even though he wasn't on a college team. Segregation was still a major thing in Texas, schools, restaurants, colleges, sports, etc were all separated by race. So for the author Jerry Craft to play for this team was a pretty big deal. Jerry knew a couple players as they grew up in same town and played pickup games together as kids but that had ended around junior high/high school time. Interesting to read about traveling to games & what they had to deal with getting there & then the types of fields and teams they were playing. An interesting story about a time that is kind of hard to believe.
I had read some books about the Negro Leagues and this book brought back those memories. With integration of major league baseball that spelled the eventual end of the Negro Leagues. How the Negro League owners were not compensated for the players being signed away. How with integration it was only for the players, no Negro League team or owners were brought over.
There is one copy already on PBS system. I will go ahead and post this one too. Don't expect it to move very quick but you never know. I picked it up to read now because the World Series/Playoffs were on.
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