Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution

by Neil Lanctot

Winner of the 2005 Seymour Medal of the Society for American Baseball Research. The story of black professional baseball provides a remarkable perspective on several major themes in modern African American the initial black response to segregation, the subsequent struggle to establish successful separate enterprises, and the later movement toward integration. Baseball functioned as a critical component in the separate economy catering to black consumers in the urban centers of the North and South. While most black businesses struggled to survive from year to year, professional baseball teams and leagues operated for decades, representing a major achievement in black enterprise and institution building.

Negro League The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution presents the extraordinary history of a great African American achievement, from its lowest ebb during the Depression, through its golden age and World War II, until its gradual disappearance during the early years of the civil rights era. Faced with only a limited amount of correspondence and documents, Lanctot consulted virtually every sports page of every black newspaper located in a league city. He then conducted interviews with former players and scrutinized existing financial, court, and federal records. Through his efforts, Lanctot has painstakingly reconstructed the institutional history of black professional baseball, locating the players, teams, owners, and fans in the wider context of the league's administration. In addition, he provides valuable insight into the changing attitudes of African Americans toward the need for separate institutions.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, History, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Neil Lanctot, Ph.D. (pronounced "Lank-toe") is a historian who has written four books, each of which has combined meticulous research with compelling story-telling.

His first, Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and The Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932, was published in 1994 by McFarland and Company. The book has since emerged as a classic in the genre and was later reprinted by Syracuse University Press.

In 2004, his second book, Negro League Baseball - The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The book received almost universal rave reviews from the popular and scholarly press, including front cover treatment by the New York Times Book Review.

His third book, Campy - The Two Lives of Roy Campanella, was released in March 2011 by Simon & Schuster to critical acclaim from the Los Angeles Times, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Daily News, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and numerous other publications. Campy was also named an alternate selection for the Book of The Month Club.

His latest book, The Approaching Storm, will be released by Penguin/Random House in October 2021.

Lanctot's writing has appeared in the Smithsonian, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, and several other journals and anthologies.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's clear that Neil Lanctot's goal in writing this book isn't blinders-on the glorification of Negro League Baseball. But he also doesn't tell nearly as much about the game itself and its players as the vast majority of readers probably would want. A writer can take any approach he wants, but as a reader I can wish for other things. And so I do.

This book is interesting, informative, worthwhile. But readers should note that the author's approach stresses the organization (or lack thereof), structure and economics of the game. You'll find out more about team owners than about team players. So this isn't the all-encompassing history of the Negro Leagues I had hoped for.

I'm more than fine with an approach that doesn't treat black baseball as some paragon of sport, like Ken Burns does, much as I love him. But Lanctot at times seems too sharply critical of its lack of organization for my tastes. If you don't think much of your subject, why are you writing about it?

Not bad, then, but not great, either. Important and sometimes fascinating, but hard to get excited about.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

Seems like a pretty good book; it just isn't grabbing me right now.

[Robert Morrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very scholarly with very little about the baseball that was the purpose of the business.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulously well-researched history of the Negro Leagues, the "separate but not quite equal" baseball leagues in which black players played before white professional baseball deigned to let them play with white players. While they quickly died out after that, as late as 1984 at least one barnstorming team was still active. Be aware, however, that this is NOT the book to-read if you want statistics, breathless reminiscences, or fawning portraits of Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson. While they are mentioned, this is a history of the leagues themselves and is focused more on the business end, and the main "characters" are the team owners and league executives. It's not a light read, but necessary for anyone who wants a deep understanding of the leagues. I wouldn't recommend this as someone's first or second read on the subject.

[Steve Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent scholarly and detailed overview of the Negro Leagues and it’s organization, disorganization, and eventual demise as integration with the major leagues pulled away the best talent, and fans. I lot of information about the clubs and their owners, but would’ve like to have seen a little more on the players themselves.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given their limitations, both financially and socially, and given the backgrounds and temperaments of their owners and officials, it is amazing that the two leagues under discussion (Negro National League, centered on the Atlantic coast, and the Negro American League, in the Midwest) managed to survive, and be relevant, for as long as they did. Plagued by limited access to capital, extortionate stadium rentals, the pig-headed reluctance of the ownership to establish a non-franchise affiliated, central authority, their failure in any way to market their teams or provide accurate statistics (or even standings) to the fanbase, the success of the leagues is frankly remarkable. The death blows were dealt by the eventual integration of Organized baseball, and the changing social conditions of the 1950's, in which television took away much of the audience from both Organized baseball and, more catastrophically, the Negro Leagues.
This book, because of its commendable focus on the economic and social aspects of the operations of the Leagues, is a bit of a slog. The density of the prose is not helped by the author's tendency towards repetition, not only from season to season, but within descriptions of individual seasons; still, this is a very valuable book, and necessary reading for those seeking an understanding of black baseball between 1933-1958.

[Matt Parbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I found it exciting because I'm a history nerd and love African-American agency, this is the type of sports book that is worth reading and more editors should require their writers to place sports into their historical context. Without the historical context, we are left with legends, nostalgia, facts, and excitement. All too often sports book are just recitations of box scores, events, places, and maybe some reactions/analysis of the impact/meaning on/to the game. History without agency and context is just a collection of summaries of primary sources.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, with good analysis of the Negro Leagues in context. I enjoyed it more than Campy, in which I felt Lanctot tried too hard to adopt a more popular tone and style. This seemed more authentic, somehow. If you are interested in the minutiae of the Negro Leagues in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s, with analysis of its successes and failures in the run up to integration, this is for you.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

via NYPL - wonderful and insightful book, detailing the organization of the Negro Leagues and the social and economic world in which they existed. Not much about the games or players, if that's what you're looking for, but if you want to know why integration happened, the cost to the Negro Leagues and the many ways in which the Negro Leagues succeeded and failed in the decades before Jackie Robinson, this book is going to be hard to beat.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing work of baseball history -- far and away the most detailed book ever written about the business end of the Negro Leagues. But it's far from an easy read.

[Jason Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing look at all aspects of the Negro Leagues - finances, battles for players, the move to the Majors, and stories that will entertain all fans of the game.

[Daryl Grigsby]

detailed comprehensive look at organized Negro League baseball from the Depression to Jackie Robinson. a great work!

[Armchair Squid · Rating 3 out of 5]

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