I Will Never Forget: Interviews With 39 Former Negro League Players - Hardcover

Kelley, Brent P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786414812 ISBN 13: 9780786414819

Publisher: McFarland Publishing, 2003

Synopsis

This book continues the riches of two highly praised previous volumes, Voices from the Negro Leagues "interesting...solid"--MultiCultural Review and The Negro Leagues Revisited "wonderful"--Booklist/RBB; "voluminous...top-notch"--Public Library Quarterly).

The players interviewed in this new book of interviews are Bill Bethea, John "Scoop" Brown, Paul Casanova, Jim Colzie, Bunny Davis, Ross Davis, Clifford DuBose, Lionel Evelyn, Hubert Glenn, Herald "Beebop" Gordon, Raymond Haggins, J.C. Hartman, Joe Henry, Carl Holden, Vernell Jackson, Clarence Jenkins, Ernest Johnson, Thomas Johnson, Marvin Jones, Ezell King, Willie Lee, Larry LeGrande, William Little, Nathaniel McClinic, John Mitchell, Grady Montgomery, Bob Motley, Charley Pride, Mack Pride, Bill "Sonny" Randall, Henry Saverson, Eugene Scruggs, Willie Sheelor, Sam Taylor, Ron Teasley, James Way, Sam Williams, Walter Williams, and Willie Young. Photographs of the players and their teammates and complete-as-possible statistics supplement the interviews.

About this title

About the Author

Brent Kelley, a retired equine veterinarian from Paris, Kentucky, is the author of numerous McFarland baseball books, including The San Francisco Seals, 1946-1957 (2002), The Pastime in Turbulence (2001), The Negro Leagues Revisited (2000), Voices from the Negro Leagues (1998), The Early All-Stars (1997) and In the Shadow of the Babe (1995).

Reviews

Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line when he stepped on the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he inadvertently broke the back of the Negro baseball leagues, too, by turning black fans' attention to the Major Leagues. But the Negro leagues were a significant chapter in American sporting history, and Kelley has captured the experience of the players in his three volumes of oral history. (This one follows Voices from the Negro Leagues , 1998, and The Negro Leagues Revisited , 2000.) One of the more interesting players interviewed here is James Colzie, who pitched for 21 years and won 265 games, sandwiching his baseball around a career as an educator and president of the local NAACP. He recalls the insults he and his teammates endured--without verbal or physical retaliation--because that was the accepted path to integration at the time. What will strike readers is the affection these men have for their playing days and the success most had after their baseball careers were over, often in public service or education. A valuable piece of sports history. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland Publishing
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786414812
• ISBN 13: 9780786414819
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 193