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Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball's Color Line
COLOR BLIND is a prelude to Jackie Robinson’s Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Semipro baseball was highly competitive in the 1930s, so competitive that even out on the Great Plains a lot of money got bet on games between rival towns. Car dealer Neil Churchill managed Bismarck, North Dakota's team. He began muscling up by luring players from the Negro Leagues, the biggest prize being the great-but-perpetually-unpredictable Satchel Paige, who shocked the baseball establishment by heading west to where the buffalo roam. Paige pitched for Bismarck at the tail end of 1933 and all of 1935. The focal point of the book is that 1935 season, when events take an odd turn toward Kansas.
COLOR BLIND is written with an eye beyond baseball. The narrative touches upon moonshine, gambling, Depression hard times, Dakota pioneer days and, of course, racial discrimination. Sitting Bull, Franklin Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg are among the famous faces who make cameo appearances.
COLOR BLIND is written with an eye beyond baseball. The narrative touches upon moonshine, gambling, Depression hard times, Dakota pioneer days and, of course, racial discrimination. Sitting Bull, Franklin Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg are among the famous faces who make cameo appearances.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2013
72 people are currently reading
311 people want to read
About the author
Tom Dunkel
4 books21 followers Tom Dunkel is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist. He has been a contributor to The Washington Post Magazine for more than 20 years. Other credits include The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Smithsonian. He also was a staff features writer at The Baltimore Sun and a contributing editor at George, John Kennedy's genre-bending politics and culture magazine.
His new book, White Knights in the Black Orchestra, will be released October 11 by Hachette. It is narrative nonfiction about some members of the German resistance before and during World War II. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded him a "Public Scholar" grant in support of this project. The New York Post named White Knights one of the 17 best nonfiction reads for Fall 2022, calling it "a fascinating look at…a loose network of German military officers, diplomats, politicians, and civilians who risked their lives to undermine the Third Reich…”
Dunkel's first book, Color Blind, was released in 2013. It also is narrative nonfiction, the story of an integrated semipro baseball team that played in North Dakota during the Great Depression and whose marquee player was Satchel Paige, star pitcher and folk hero of the Negro Leagues. Booklist named Color Blind one of the Top 10 Sports Books of 2013.
His new book, White Knights in the Black Orchestra, will be released October 11 by Hachette. It is narrative nonfiction about some members of the German resistance before and during World War II. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded him a "Public Scholar" grant in support of this project. The New York Post named White Knights one of the 17 best nonfiction reads for Fall 2022, calling it "a fascinating look at…a loose network of German military officers, diplomats, politicians, and civilians who risked their lives to undermine the Third Reich…”
Dunkel's first book, Color Blind, was released in 2013. It also is narrative nonfiction, the story of an integrated semipro baseball team that played in North Dakota during the Great Depression and whose marquee player was Satchel Paige, star pitcher and folk hero of the Negro Leagues. Booklist named Color Blind one of the Top 10 Sports Books of 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
September 20, 2013
My apologies to the author , but I felt this was 200 pages of exposition (I kept wondering when a story would evolve out of the factoid collage), 40 pages of story about Wichita's National Semi-Pro Baseball Tournament (good story, but I guess there wasn't enough to expand into a book?) and 60 pages of whatever-became-of-him epilogue. Though the subject and time period are well researched, the way it's put together is often difficult to follow.
I'd forgive the meandering writing if there were something at stake in the book. For the vast majority of the people in the book, race seems a non-issue, which is great(!) but season highlights of 1930s baseball aren't captivating reading. The subject of race is rarely a foreground subject--the book opens with a section on race and baseball, but doesn't revisit it until after p. 100!--which is surprising for a book with such a bold subtitle. For me, the significance of this team wasn't well argued. Though Bismarck may have been the longest lasting integrated team of the era, the book mentions other integrated teams that also existed at one time. Throughout the book, all-white teams played against all-black teams, and while that is a long ways away from equality, it is still better than pre-Jackie Robinson MLB. I do not doubt this team faced adversity and racism, but this is a not book about overcoming hatred and slurs, which one finds in Jackie Robinson stories about breaking the MLB color line. It isn't a book about the team owner weighing pros and cons of having an integrated team. It isn't a book about race. It is a baseball book about a little remembered era of baseball in North Dakota (of all places) during the Depression...and the remarkable (and extremely well-funded) team it follows happens to be integrated. I feel my main takeaway was what I learned about the numerous baseball leagues that existed in the 1930s, which would have been more interesting in a book with a more seamless flow.
For anyone wanting read about the black baseball experience in the time of the negro leagues, I would recommend The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski. For anyone looking for crazy baseball antics of a bygone era, I would recommend Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck. For anyone wanting to read about baseball's color line being broken, I would recommend reading up on a guy named Jackie Robinson. (Ever heard of him?) For more info on Satchel Paige, just start reading and never stop, decoding the truth from the fiction as best you can! As for THIS book, I would recommend it to armchair baseball scholars who simply want to know more about non-MLB baseball in the 1930s.
I'd forgive the meandering writing if there were something at stake in the book. For the vast majority of the people in the book, race seems a non-issue, which is great(!) but season highlights of 1930s baseball aren't captivating reading. The subject of race is rarely a foreground subject--the book opens with a section on race and baseball, but doesn't revisit it until after p. 100!--which is surprising for a book with such a bold subtitle. For me, the significance of this team wasn't well argued. Though Bismarck may have been the longest lasting integrated team of the era, the book mentions other integrated teams that also existed at one time. Throughout the book, all-white teams played against all-black teams, and while that is a long ways away from equality, it is still better than pre-Jackie Robinson MLB. I do not doubt this team faced adversity and racism, but this is a not book about overcoming hatred and slurs, which one finds in Jackie Robinson stories about breaking the MLB color line. It isn't a book about the team owner weighing pros and cons of having an integrated team. It isn't a book about race. It is a baseball book about a little remembered era of baseball in North Dakota (of all places) during the Depression...and the remarkable (and extremely well-funded) team it follows happens to be integrated. I feel my main takeaway was what I learned about the numerous baseball leagues that existed in the 1930s, which would have been more interesting in a book with a more seamless flow.
For anyone wanting read about the black baseball experience in the time of the negro leagues, I would recommend The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America by Joe Posnanski. For anyone looking for crazy baseball antics of a bygone era, I would recommend Veeck as in Wreck by Bill Veeck. For anyone wanting to read about baseball's color line being broken, I would recommend reading up on a guy named Jackie Robinson. (Ever heard of him?) For more info on Satchel Paige, just start reading and never stop, decoding the truth from the fiction as best you can! As for THIS book, I would recommend it to armchair baseball scholars who simply want to know more about non-MLB baseball in the 1930s.
September 20, 2013
I never knew anything about Bismark, North Dakota's baseball team during the depression, and how they won "The National" with an integrated baseball team that featured Leroy Satchel Paige. Well written, interesting, and informative, this is a book that I am quite glad I loaded on my iPad's Kindle app. If you like baseball, history, or just well written books, be sure to add this one to your list of must reads.
March 28, 2020
At a time when I’m missing baseball the most, Dunkel’s ability to describe the people and play of a forgotten 1930s integrated ball club from North Dakota, is just sports fix I needed.
October 25, 2021
Best baseball history book I have ever read
I love baseball and this is the best baseball book I ever read. It's full of true stories about the Negro league and the players who made up the integrated team in Bismark, ND. This semi-pro team was integrated long before Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers. Satchel Paige is a big part of the story. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.
I love baseball and this is the best baseball book I ever read. It's full of true stories about the Negro league and the players who made up the integrated team in Bismark, ND. This semi-pro team was integrated long before Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers. Satchel Paige is a big part of the story. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.
November 6, 2020
Major League talent finds themselves on the wrong side of the color line, but find an integrated baseball home in North Dakota. Truly a unique time of baseball history. "If only the rest of the baseball world would catch up to Bismarck, North Dakota."
March 24, 2022
I did not finish this book.
I found the writing to be tedious. I'm a fairly fast reader, it took me nearly 5 hours just to force my way through the first two chapters.
At that point I just bailed because I lost all interest.
I'm really disappointed because I wanted to like this book.
I found the writing to be tedious. I'm a fairly fast reader, it took me nearly 5 hours just to force my way through the first two chapters.
At that point I just bailed because I lost all interest.
I'm really disappointed because I wanted to like this book.
September 3, 2022
I love baseball and history. 'Color Blind' provides a great look at a semi pro team in Bismark,ND that came to prominence in the 1930's. But, what set it apart was the fact that it was the first integrated team to gain national stature. This is a great book that not only looks at a relatively obscure part of baseball history but also the racia fabric of the United States in the 1930's.
April 5, 2015
To me, reading this book was akin to watching a master artist at work on a painting. First he starts with something unrecognizable (North Dakota) and slowly adds a bits of the familiar (baseball, pre-civil rights era black/white relations) until a clear picture is formed. What the reader is left with is a better understanding of all the parts and an appreciation for the journey that got us there.
Dunkel writes beautiful prose. I love his careful introduction of FDR’s statement about the empty barn and how he wove that into a social indictment on Major League Baseball’s inability to accept the talents of the black ballplayer. (Dunkel also used a Carl Sandburg poem in the same manner but to illustrate a different point.)
Dunkel writes beautiful prose. I love his careful introduction of FDR’s statement about the empty barn and how he wove that into a social indictment on Major League Baseball’s inability to accept the talents of the black ballplayer. (Dunkel also used a Carl Sandburg poem in the same manner but to illustrate a different point.)
April 25, 2013
This book is a terrific read, even for people like me who are not necessarily baseball aficionados. It paints a really interesting picture of life durng the Great Depression and race relations and combines that storyline with the excitement of baseball competition. Dunkel's metaphors are an added plus to this well-written book.
May 15, 2013
An interesting exploration about a forgotten part of sports history. I especially enjoyed the Satchel Paige stories.
September 12, 2013
Absolutely fascinating.
September 7, 2014
Even though I am not a baseball fan, because this book was so well written, it captured my interest as soon as I cracked it open. It speaks to American culture weaving facts and story together.
March 16, 2015
Very good read with an in-depth view into semi-pro and the Negro League baseball in the 1930's. A real eye opener into that era.
May 25, 2020
I love baseball. I love history. And what I love most is those hidden corners of baseball history. Those little known pockets of the past that teach us more about things we thought we already knew everything about. That’s what Color Blind is. It’s a peak into depression era semi-pro baseball in the Dakotas that paints a perfect picture of the time, the place, and the people.
At times, Dunkel seems to go off on a tangent that doesn’t connect to the narrative (the first few chapters are guilty of this), but the writing is wonderful and the side trip always winds up adding context and charm to the main story.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to explore those forgotten stories of baseball’s past.
At times, Dunkel seems to go off on a tangent that doesn’t connect to the narrative (the first few chapters are guilty of this), but the writing is wonderful and the side trip always winds up adding context and charm to the main story.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to explore those forgotten stories of baseball’s past.
September 30, 2022
I'd read about the Negro Leagues. I'd read about Satchel Paige. I'd read all sorts of books about baseball history... but I'd never been aware of the story of semi-pro baseball and it's brief foray into integrated teams, as seen in the Bismarck team that captured the imagination of so many fans for a period in the 1930s. The baseball detail in the book is exquisite, though I could have lived without the many forays into the context of the great depression and life in North Dakota at that time. Still, an enlightening read for any fan of the game and for those who wonder abut our society's racial divides.
September 8, 2024
At times the book makes a Simon Winchester book seem focused, but the ultimate story here is worth it. Sure I'm a sucker for books that cover baseball, George Armstrong Custer, and Caribbean dictatorships, but who isn't?
An integrated baseball team won a semipro baseball tournament in 1935. That's a message to remember and something that should get more ink. Sure it wasn't Major League Baseball, but two of the players ultimately ended up in Cooperstown. Some how the owner of a car dealership in Bismarck, North Dakota, cobbled this team together and didn't let a silly thing like race get in the way.
I agree with Tom Dunkel that way more people should know this story.
An integrated baseball team won a semipro baseball tournament in 1935. That's a message to remember and something that should get more ink. Sure it wasn't Major League Baseball, but two of the players ultimately ended up in Cooperstown. Some how the owner of a car dealership in Bismarck, North Dakota, cobbled this team together and didn't let a silly thing like race get in the way.
I agree with Tom Dunkel that way more people should know this story.
October 3, 2024
It's good but it was the slow pace that kept me from liking this more. I'm sure it was difficult to research as not many people left that could give first hand accounts (note: book was written in 2013). I also don't think this team actually broke the color line as there were other integrated teams before them, at the same time and even invited to the big tournament that is mentioned in the book. The main reason is because Satchel Paige was a part of this team and he's someone people are more interested in. It's fine, but for baseball fans only I imagine. Good history of Bismark and North Dakota as well.
July 23, 2017
If I were a lover of baseball this would have been a terrific book as it's pretty much a history of baseball in the 1930's. It's also history of segregation in sports. Throw in some of the history of North Dakota as well as of Depression era America and American farmers. I really enjoyed reading about Satchell Paige and his amazing pitching and I found it very interesting reading about Depression era farmers in North Dakota. All the stats about baseball pretty much went right past me and all the names of baseball players and teams did not stick with me thus the 3 start rating.
February 12, 2025
I totally love and appreciate my younger brother for telling me about this book! The exploration of a bygone era of baseball including the stories of the integrated Bismarck, North Dakota squad, and many more amateur and semipro teams in the 1930s is a wondrous historical treasure! It is full of many fascinating anecdotes including lots about the still remembered Satchel Paige. It also recalls the blatant racism that blocked many incredibly talented people from any chance to play in the major leagues, fulfilling their potential and deserved place in history.
March 3, 2020
One of the best baseball books ever !!
Great book detailing a little known story of a semi pro integrated baseball team . The book is well written and extremely well researched and add in Satchel Paige and other Negro league stars on the Bismarck “Churchill “ team . This is one great read .
Great book detailing a little known story of a semi pro integrated baseball team . The book is well written and extremely well researched and add in Satchel Paige and other Negro league stars on the Bismarck “Churchill “ team . This is one great read .
April 19, 2022
I enjoyed this book. Facts of a baseball era that I was not educated on. I did not realize that black and white players were on the same teams before Jackie Robinson. This was at the semipro level, but still a good read about how the races could play as a team together and seem to get along just fine as well. Nice to get to know the characters of the era. The 1930s. Interesting.
January 14, 2020
Bismarck was ground zero for integrated baseball teams well before it was even considered for MLB. This was an exciting account of all the owners, players and teams in the 1930s.
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February 13, 2022
Being from North Dakota, I never knew we had such a rich history of baseball. Growing up in a mainly white community, it is outstanding to know that Bismarck, ND was willing to be progressive with integration in baseball. I highly recommend this book, even if you are not a sports lover.
March 1, 2023
This book was so good it almost brought me to tears ..I still can believe the color of a person's skin can't stop a talent so great from moving up! But they still prospered and got the respect they deserved in this wonderful book! ❤️
February 8, 2024
This was a fun read for this baseball fan. Kind of drags through the second half, but still interesting. It's difficult to realize how important baseball was in the depths of the Depression.
If you're from the Midwest, especially North Dakota, it's a must read.
If you're from the Midwest, especially North Dakota, it's a must read.
July 6, 2017
Should be a movie can I help produce it. Impressive social and political awareness by author
October 31, 2018
Great story about maybe the most important sports team to integration in the history of the US that no one knows about.
January 19, 2019
Simply put, it is a must read for any baseball fan, especially if you are interested in the history of the game. Highly recommended.
September 17, 2019
Enjoyed as it touched on history of the area (where I have lived for over 20 years), sports, and the struggle of African American players in baseball.
October 24, 2020
An excellent history about an integrated baseball team in Bismark during the 1930s.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews