The Negro Leagues Book
by Dick Clark and Larry Lester
Reviewed by James Floto, Diamond Angle

At last, a huge hole has been plugged in our knowledge of the Negro Leagues. Indeed, this 382 page volume serves as the Total Baseball of organized black ball, from the 19th century to the folding of the Negro Leagues is 1955.

Many of our readers are aware of the work of Larry Lester in securing black baseball's place in the consciousness of baseball fans. He has done yeoman duty as a Board of Director and founder of The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, is co-chair of SABR's Negro Leagues Committee and has done hundreds of hours Sherlocking (and occasionally "sheer-lucking") his way through reams of old newspapers in pursuit of box scores. Dick Clark is another indefatigable Negro Leagues researcher and is Larry's SABR co-chair. They were aided in their research by dozens of other SABR folks.

The first part of the book is a selection of brief essays, including brief league and city histories, key players and a special section on the 11 Negro Leaguers elected to the Hall of Fame so far.

The bulk of this encyclopedic volume is devoted to making some sense of the chaotic written record of the Negro League's past.

There are other interesting sections, like a very thorough cross-referencing of the dozens of players who went from the Leagues to the majors. Nowadays, most knowledgeable fans know that Jackie, Aaron, Banks, Campy and Mays got their start in the Negro Leagues, but may not be aware that lots of other '50s and '60s players like Minnie Minoso, Al Smith, Jim Gilliam, Elston Howard, George Crowe and that popular Met, Choo Choo Coleman, all got their start in professional black ball.

The last section of the book is primarily references for further study, including books, magazine articles, and Theses & Dissertations, as well as the important sportswriters who covered the Negro Leagues. The book closes with a couple of pages of movies about the Leagues and prominent players, like Satchel Paige, Jack Johnson and Jackie Robinson, who appeared in movies.

For all the painstaking and monumental work that went into the book, my favorite part is the dozens of photographs that pepper the text. Many have never appeared in a book before. In fact, many were printed directly from old negatives for the first time.

All-in-all, an excellent first edition of the book destined to be the standard reference for all who wish to learn more about, and do research on, the Negro Leagues.

“This book has more than enough stats about the Negro Leagues than you'll ever need. Plus there isn't a star, semi-star or player that this book doesn't cover. Great book for stats, players, and some short stories. If you're looking for more stories about the Negro leagues, you might want to look for another book but no serious baseball fan should be without "The Negro Leagues Book." The authors didn't miss a beat.”

Louise M. Castaldo, Sherman Oaks, California