Color Blind; The Forgotten Team that Broke Baseball's Color Line

Dunkel, Tom

ISBN 10: 0802120121 / ISBN 13: 9780802120120

Published by Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2013

About this Item

xiii, [1], 345, [5] pages. A Note on Sources. Notes. DJ has slight wear and soiling. The author graduated from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. After college I worked for a documentary filmmaker in New York City, then he earned a masters degree in journalism at New York University. His first job was at New Jersey Monthly and for the next 20 years he oscillated back and forth between staff positions and periods of full-time freelancing. He was a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and he hiked the Arizona desert with Senator John McCain, tagged along with high-tech bounty hunters chasing "skips", and drove Bruce Willis' Dodge Charger while Mr. Willis rode shotgun. He spent four years researching and writing his first book, Color Blind, about the lost world of semipro town baseball. It's the story of an integrated team that broke the color line more than a decade before Jackie Robinson made his historic Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. From a Kirkus review: Dunkel spins the colorful yarn of an integrated team's wild days of independent baseball during the Great Depression. For players unable to make the big leagues for lack of talent, personal issues or skin color, semiprofessional teams often offered a way to earn a living playing the game. In Bismarck, N.D. successful car dealer and gambler Neil Churchill's desire to put together a winning team led him to seek out the finest players available, regardless of race. The resulting mix went on to dominate opponents across the Midwest, culminating in the 1935 National Semipro Tournament. Their success was due in part to the on-again, off-again presence of the legendary Satchel Paige. The author addressed the racism faced by the black players, many of whom would likely have been major league All-Stars had they been allowed to play, and he provides historical background to flesh out the story. But at its heart, the book is a tale of a time when baseball was more than just a sport, a multibillion-dollar industry or another form of entertainment competing for Americans' attention. A well-told account of a fascinating, and forgotten, chapter in the history of America's national pastime. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated].

Seller Inventory # 72879

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Color Blind; The Forgotten Team that Broke Baseball's Color Line
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802120121
• ISBN 13: 9780802120120
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good
• Dust Jacket Condition: very good

About this title

Synopsis

A 2013 CASEY Award Finalist for Best Baseball Book of the Year and a Booklist Top Ten Sports Book of the Year

When baseball swept America in the years after the Civil War, independent, semipro, and municipal leagues sprouted up everywhere. With civic pride on the line, rivalries were fierce and teams often signed ringers to play alongside the town dentist, insurance salesman, and teen prodigy. In drought-stricken Bismarck, North Dakota during the Great Depression, one of the most improbable teams in the history of baseball was assembled by one of the sport’s most unlikely champions. A decade before Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues, car dealer Neil Churchill signed the best players he could find, regardless of race, and fielded an integrated squad that took on all comers in spectacular fashion.

Color Blind immerses the reader in the wild and wonderful world of early independent baseball, with its tough competition and its novelty. Dunkel traces the rise of the Bismarck squad, focusing on the 1935 season and the first National Semipro Tournament. This is an entertaining, must-read for anyone interested in the history of baseball.

“A tale as fantastic as it is true.”—Boston Globe

About the Author

Tom Dunkel is an award-winning freelance journalist with more than 25 years of experience reporting for major newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, New York Times Sunday Magazine, and Wall Street Journal. He lives in Washington, D.C. This is his first book.