They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota

by Frank M. White, Dave Winfield (Foreword by)

Overview

A tale of unsung heroes and forgotten stars who battled discrimination and other hardships to play the game they loved, told by the son of one such legend of Minnesota black baseball.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681340043
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	02/01/2016
Edition description:	1
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,090,056
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Frank M. White is a former athlete, coach, official, and sports administrator. He currently coordinates the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program for the Minnesota Twins. His exhibit, They Played for the Love of the Game, was developed with the Ramsey County Historical Society in 2010.

Dave Winfield played twenty-two seasons in the major leagues and is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a native of St. Paul and an alumnus of the Universityof Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dave Winfield ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

1 Beginnings Minnesota Black Baseball in the Nineteenth Century 3

2 The Early Twentieth Century Black Baseball: Gophers and Keystones 17

3 The Roaring Twenties Creating Their Own League 43

4 The 1930s Promises, Challenges, and the Great Depression 71

5 The 1940s The End of the Color Barrier in Organized Baseball-But Barriers Still Exist 89

6 The 1950s The Decline of Black Baseball and the Rise of Fast-Pitch Softball 119

7 The 1960s The End of an Era 137

8 Extra Innings 163

Appendix: They Passed Here Along the Way: African American and Latino Players on Minnesota's Minor League Clubs 171

Sources and Bibliography 175

Index 183