6 books found
by Joseph Bucklin Bishop
1918 · New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, this biography chronicles the struggles of the second black player to reach the Major Leagues. Larry Doby joined the Indians 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson's first appearance with the Dodgers. A Hall of Famer and seven-time All Star, Doby faced the same prejudices that plagued Robinson, but with far less media attention and support.
Aware of Mr. Doby's neglect by biographers, Mr. Moore, who has been a fan of his subject ever since he heard the Doby legend, seeks to give him recognition. . . . Mr. Moore effectively uses records, interviews, and a clear narrative style to make his points (what is more persuasive in sports than an athlete's record! what is more animated than public statements and their refutations!), and gives voice to some of Mr. Doby's severest critics.... Pride Against Prejudice is a tribute to both its author and Larry Doby New York Times Book Review This is an excellent biography of Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League and one of the first black managers in the major leagues. . . . Moore has done a superb job of researching Doby's life and writing about it. The book is highly recommended. The Sporting News As the second black major league baseball player, following Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby has never received the acclaim accorded to Robinson; yet his experiences of segregation and racial invective, and his courage and ability to excel in the face of almost overwhelming circumstances, were equivalent. This fascinating biography brings to light many interesting and little-known facts concerning Doby's life and baseball career, and his contribution as a civil rights pioneer in the American League. His story is perceived as the story of the many black men who followed him into major league baseball, and who shared importantly in pioneering the integration of the sport.
This book presents some very raw facts about the negative aspects of racism and the devastating effects it has on individuals, municipalities, States, the Nation and indeed the world. It covers a ten year period in the authors life, presented autobiographically, from 1940 to 1950. The story is based primarily on historical events as reported in the ex Black weekly newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier. The news articles are presented as parts of fictionalized dialogue between the author, his young peers and older adult advisors. Most of the fictionalized accounts have some bases in truth but some did not occur in the sequence or to individuals as presented. Names of individuals reported in news media have not been changed, nor have the names of family members and teachers. Names of townspeople have been changed although a real person existed for that character. The primary goal of the book is to present true facts about the history of the disease based on a false premise of race that has caused so much suffering, ignorance and despair over centuries in the hope that we will stop perpetuating it and let it die the ignoble death it deserves.