Sol White's History of Colored Baseball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886–1936

America and baseball are rediscovering the game played by African Americans before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. We now know a great deal about the Negro Leagues of 1920 on, and their great stars—Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and their contemporaries.
But what of the pre-1920 black game? From the onset in the 1880s of the “gentleman’s agreement” that barred blacks from playing in white leagues, that game is nearly invisible. Financially shaky, with sporadic media coverage even in black newspapers and completely overlooked by the mainstream, Negro teams of this era played on for love of the game and in hopes that their skills would receive their due.
In 1907, Sol White, a remarkable African-American ballplayer, successful manager, and baseball loyalist, wrote a small volume on the history of the black game. Part fund-raising effort, advertising brochure, team hype, celebration of black baseball, and throughout an implicit and explicit challenge to racism, Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball is the source of much of what we know of the events in the organized black game of that time.
The original was poorly printed, and copies are exceedingly rare (known and rumored copies number only four). This edition republishes the full 1907 edition (with the even rarer supplement), completely reset for legibility, and reproduces all the original’s illustrations, including the advertisements that speak volumes on the social world of the day. Fifteen additional documents from 1886 to 1936 augment the picture of the black game and our record of Sol White himself.
Amazon.com Review
First published in 1907, Sol White's "History of Colored Base Ball," is an essential early document of the black presence in America's pastime. White began his career in 1887 as a second baseman and left-fielder with the Pittsburgh Keystones and played for or managed a host of black teams in a career that lasted nearly 40 years. This edition includes the original text and illustrations of White's book, a supplementary chapter, and more than a dozen other documents, including contemporary newspaper interviews with White, and a roster of 19-century black ballplayers.
From Publishers Weekly
In 1907 White, a successful ballplayer from 1887 to 1909 and manager from 1902 to 1912, wrote a book on the history of black baseball since 1885. Only four copies of that volume are now believed to exist, and it is reproduced here with the original photos and ads, and supplemented by an addendum that White wrote on the 1907 season, reminiscences he contributed to newspapers in 1930 and additional documents, mostly newspaper articles and columns, from other writers. The saddest note in White's work is the sense of loss when the national pastime, which had been integrated in the 1870s and early 1880s, substituted Jim Crow for the 14th Amendment. There are also high spots like the equipping of the Page Fence Giants of Adrian, Mich., with their own private railroad coach so they could avoid segregated hotel accommodations. Albeit only a footnote to history, White's compendium as compiled by Malloy, a specialist on the Negro leagues, provides valuable firsthand testimony of black baseball's universe. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.