Sam Lacy and Wendell Smith: The Dynamic Duo that Desegregated American Sports

This dual biography highlights the transformative influence of Sam Lacy and Wendell Smith, two journalists who changed American sport and society through their calls to desegregate Major League Baseball and recognize Black baseball players.

In a decade-long battle, Lacy and Smith tirelessly advocated for the inclusion of Black players in the major leagues, reporting in the Baltimore Afro-American and Pittsburgh Courier, respectively. Both sports writers covered players in the Negro Leagues, following off-season games in places like Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. In 1947, Lacy’s and Smith’s work helped break through MLB’s racial barriers when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Over the coming years, Lacy and Smith, on individual career trajectories but sharing a common goal, would report on the dissolution of the Negro Leagues and future MVPs such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Elston Howard. The book considers the lasting legacies of these sports journalists, both recognized in the writers’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Through its thoughtful analysis of Lacy and Smith’s groundbreaking impact on America’s pastime, this book will appeal to students and general readers interested in sports history and journalism and Afro-American history.

Wayne Dawkins is a professor of professional practice at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He is the author of biographies of politician Emanuel Celler and voting rights activist Andrew W. Cooper. Dawkins was a journalist at four daily newspapers for a quarter century before transitioning to academia two decades ago.