Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Player

by Jeremy Beer

Overview

2020 SABR Seymour Medal 
2019 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

Buck O’Neil once described him as “Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Tris Speaker rolled into one.” Among experts he is regarded as the best player in Negro Leagues history. During his prime he became a legend in Cuba and one of Black America’s most popular figures. Yet even among serious sports fans, Oscar Charleston is virtually unknown today.

In a long career spanning from 1915 to 1954, Charleston played against, managed, befriended, and occasionally fought men such as Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Jesse Owens, Roy Campanella, and Branch Rickey. He displayed tremendous power, speed, and defensive instincts along with a fierce intelligence and commitment to his craft. Charleston’s competitive fire sometimes brought him trouble, but more often it led to victories, championships, and profound respect.

While Charleston never played in the Major Leagues, he was a trailblazer who became the first Black man to work as a scout for a Major League team when Branch Rickey hired him to evaluate players for the Dodgers in the 1940s. From the mid‑1920s on, he was a player‑manager for several clubs. In 1932 he joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords and would manage the club many consider the finest Negro League team of all time, featuring five future Hall of Famers, including himself, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, and Satchel Paige.

Charleston’s combined record as a player, manager, and scout makes him the most accomplished figure in Black baseball history. His mastery of the quintessentially American sport under the conditions of segregation revealed what was possible for Black achievement, bringing hope to millions. Oscar Charleston introduces readers to one of America’s greatest and most fascinating athletes. 

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496217110
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	11/01/2019
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Jeremy Beer is a founding partner at American Philanthropic in Phoenix. He is the author of The Philanthropic Revolution: An Alternative History of American Charity and his writing on sports, society, and culture has appeared in the Washington Post, National Review, First Things, and the Baseball Research Journal, among many other venues.
 

Table of Contents

Preface    
Introduction: Craftsman    
Chapter 1. Batboy, 1896–1912    
Chapter 2. Hothead, 1912–1915    
Chapter 3. Riser, 1916–1918    
Chapter 4. Star, 1919–1922    
Chapter 5. Manager, 1922–1926    
Chapter 6. Leader, 1926–1931    
Chapter 7. Champion, 1932–1938    
Chapter 8. Scout, 1939–1947    
Chapter 9. Legend, 1948–    
Epilogue    
Acknowledgments    
Appendix: Statistical Record    
Notes    
Bibliography    
Index    

Editorial Reviews

09/23/2019

In this astute biography, Beer (The Philanthropic Revolution) brings to life Oscar Charleston (1896–1954), a Hall of Fame baseball player and manager of the Negro Leagues. Culling facts from scrapbooks, photo albums, clippings, and letters, Beer describes Charleston as “universally respected and widely perceived to personify the black pursuit of excellence,” as he served as a player-manager for several clubs in the 1920s and ’30s, including the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which included future All-Stars Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige. Charleston was described at the time by Negro League sports writers as the league’s greatest player, and, decades later, The Sporting News listed him as a top athlete alongside Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner. In the 1940s, Charleston caught Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey’s attention as a scout for the organization, work he performed up through his death, having recommended several outstanding players, including catcher Roy Campanella. Beer’s evenhanded narrative makes a convincing case for Charleston as the greatest baseball player who never played in the majors. This is a solid hit for baseball historians and fans alike. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

A valuable and superb book.”—Joe Posnanski, The Athletic

From the Publisher

“[Jeremy Beer] has managed to construct a portrait of Charleston that clearly establishes him as a great baseball figure and a pioneer whose career paved the way for many who followed him. . . . An invaluable contribution to baseball history.”—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist
 

Booklist - Wes Lukowsky

"Oscar Charleston fills a void in baseball history, providing context and nuance to a great player who was enigmatic in life—and in death."—Bob D'Angelo, Sports Bookie blog

Sports Bookie - Bob D'Angelo

"Interwoven with modern statistics calculated from the available box scores and other sources of information, one cannot help to wonder how Charleston would have fared in the major leagues had he been allowed to play. . . . Beer paints a picture of a man who should be considered one of the greatest players ever to pick up a bat and glove. Readers who want to get an informed introduction to Oscar Charleston should pick up this book."—Lance Smith, Guy Who Reviews Sports Books

Guy Who Reviews Sports Books - Lance Smith

“A valuable and superb book.”—Joe Posnanski, The Athletic
 

Athletic - Joe Posnanski

"I miss nothing like I miss baseball, and author Jeremy Beer has delivered a treasure to fill the hours between vintage games on the MLB Network."—Frank Murtaugh, Memphis Flyer

Memphis Flyer - Frank Murtaugh

“There is a special place in heaven—or in Cooperstown, which is much the same thing—for the University of Nebraska Press, which continues to enrich our understanding of baseball history. It continues this noble work with Jeremy Beer’s biography of Oscar Charleston. It does justice to the player whom Bill James rates as the greatest of all Negro Leagues players—and the fourth-greatest player of all time, behind only Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Willie Mays.”—George F. Will, columnist and author of Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball
 
 

George F. Will

“Weaving a story that is as entertaining as it is edifying, Jeremy Beer does the culture a great service by delivering a biography of the forgotten superstar Oscar Charleston—a man who lived on his own terms and played baseball like few others.”—Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty
 

Charles Leerhsen

“What if Oscar Charleston had still been in his prime when it came time for the color barrier to be broken in Major League Baseball? On sheer talent, he would have been an obvious choice to carry out the role subsequently championed by Jackie Robinson. In this crisp chronicle of Charleston’s life, Jeremy Beer revitalizes the legend of an indomitably competitive man who deserves to be rated among baseball’s true immortals.”—Branch Rickey III, president of the Pacific Coast League
 

Branch Rickey III

“Forgotten by many, remembered mostly as a foul-tempered brawler by others, Oscar Charleston was in fact perhaps the greatest Negro League baseball player of all time: a commanding force at the plate, at first base, in the outfield, on the base paths and as a pioneering scout and manager. In this thoroughly researched and vividly written biography, Jeremy Beer finally does justice to Oscar Charleston the man and to his place in the history of America’s pastime.”—Mark Whitaker, author of Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance
 

Mark Whitaker

“If you believe what many veterans of the Negro Leagues said—that Oscar Charleston was the greatest all-time all-around player—then you will find Jeremy Beer’s biography to be the unapologetic gospel truth. Beer’s examination of the grand Oscar’s youthful days, his military career, his adult life, and his baseball legacy is the fruit of serious grassroots research. He proves that Charleston was the most divine legend there ever was!”—Larry Lester, chairman of the SABR Negro Leagues Committee and author of Baseball’s First Colored World Series
 

Larry Lester

“Denied his due in life, the greatest Negro Leaguer of all time—indeed, one of the greatest ballplayers ever, black or white—was overdue this spotlight. Good on Jeremy Beer for a book baseball buffs will love, about a man most of us weren’t lucky enough to see: Oscar Charleston.”—Gregg Doyel, sports columnist for the Indianapolis Star 
 

Gregg Doyel

"If Beer set out to write the authoritative biography of Oscar Charleston, he accomplished his goal seamlessly. The book is much more than a biography, it is an exhaustively researched tome about not only Oscar Charleston, but about the rise and fall of Negro Leagues baseball in the twentieth century."—Paul Langendorfer, Inside Game

Inside Game - Paul Langendorfer

★ 11/01/2019

With this work, Beer (The Philanthropic Revolution) pays respect to a great player who is often overlooked: Oscar Charleston (1896–1954). A superstar in the National Negro League, Charleston did it all with speed, power, and an incredible instinct for the game. Charleston later became manager of the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers, working with Branch Rickey to scout black players for the first integrated Major League Baseball teams. In this thorough account, Beer has created a definitive work on Charleston's life and accomplishments. The result is a fascinating story and an important piece of sports history. VERDICT Fans of baseball history will thoroughly enjoy this well-written account of one of the sport's greatest players.—Gus Palas, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Library Journal