by Leroy (Satchel) Paige, as told to David Lipman (1993)
"Satchel Paige was forty-two years old in 1948 when he became the first black pitcher in the American League. Although the oldest rookie around, he was already a legend. For twenty-two years, beginning in 1926, Paige dazzled throngs with his performance in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Then he outlasted everyone by playing professional baseball, in and out of the majors, until 1965. Struggle--against early poverty and racial discrimination--was part of Paige's story. So was fast living and a humorous point of view."--Page 4 of cover.
text by Glenn Stout
Takes an in-depth look at the first African-American to play Major League baseball, at his road to the majors and his Hall of Fame career, focusing on the color barrier that existed for him, and exposing a number of myths concerning Robinson's relationship with Branch Rickey.
Jim Gigliotti
Presents information, including biographical profiles and career statistics, about some of the major league baseball's best pitchers.
John "The Penguin" Bingham
"John Bingham is a beloved evangelist of running. Known by fans as "The Penguin" for his gentle humor and back-of-the-pack speed, Bingham's memoir An Accidental Athlete explores with wit and poignancy his evolution from a bespectacled fat kid in the 1950s to unlikely hero of the modern running movement. Bingham remembers unfulfilled childhood dreams of athletic glory seen through Coke-bottle glasses, his unhealthy sedentary years as he chased a career, and his epiphany at age 43, when he stirred from the couch, found his mojo, became a runner, and rediscovered himself. An Accidental Athlete is a warm, engagingly written, feel-good book for the everday athlete who is sure to recognize him or herself somewhere in these pages"--
Margaret Davidson
Examines the life of the talented black athlete who broke the color barrier in major league baseball by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.