Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues

Occasionally I will receive a book from a publisher to review. The Right Time: John Henry "Pop" Lloyd and Black Baseball was one of those. I do not follow sports, but, I do study history and because I grew up in Cincinnati during the time of the ‘Big Red Machine’ I thought I had the background to write a review. I was wrong. Less than a quarter of the way through the book I was struggling with who was who and just why they were important. When I went looking for help I found Patricia and Fredrick McKissack’s Black diamond : the story of the Negro baseball leagues. After investing just a few hours reading time I came away with the background on the Negro baseball leagues I needed to complete my assignment.

Black Diamond is aimed show more at the young adult market but it is not a watered down history and at no time does it talk down to its readers. The racist violence sometimes committed against the players is mentioned but not in graphic detail. Thankfully there are none of the convoluted sentences filled with myriad polysyllabic words that so often obscure scholarly history. Those are the only concessions made to the YA market. Overall the book is a very competent introductory history of segregated baseball and the players who, had they lived in a free country with equal opportunities for all, could have been household names in every household. It is a well written account of a very interesting story interesting even to someone who is not a sports fan.

I highly recommend this book. show less

Great read. As a history buff and baseball fan, it makes sense to me and will be a welcome addition to my classroom library. It ties the beginnings of the league to its connection with the early African-American stars of MLB, like Jackie Robinson. My stat keepers in the classroom will be amazed by some of the crazy info about these players; batting averages, pitching win-loss numbers, etc. Beyond the history, it gives a young reader some idea of the segregation and racism that was prevalent not so long ago. Some of the pictures included are fantastic and will be sure to get kids reading more on the subject.

The book that I read was a nice book. It was really interesting that I got to learn about what all African- American baseball players had to go through to get us where we are. I would recommend anyone read Black Diamond, whether you are into sports or not.