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Baseball's Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore
Not yet published
Expected 2 Apr 26From the prison cage to the batting cage, Ron LeFlore's journey to the major leagues was anything but ordinary.
When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he was serving five to fifteen years for armed robbery. An extraordinary athlete, the Detroit native had luck on his his coach, a convicted felon, had connections to the Detroit Tigers. Within three-and-a-half years, Ron went from a prison inmate to a Tiger centerfielder.
In Baseball's The Story of Ron LeFlore, Adam Henig tells for the first time in full the unbelievable life and career of Ron LeFlore. Blessed with blinding speed and a powerful swing, Ron shed his jailbird past to become one of the game's premiere hitters and its most dangerous base stealer during the latter half of the 1970s. His rags-to-riches life story became a bestselling book and a made-for-television movie starring actor LeVar Burton, fresh from his performance in Roots. But the good times did not last. Less than a decade after making his Major League debut, Ron was finished with baseball.
Baseball's Outcast is not just another book about the rise and fall of a troubled athlete. Henig goes deeper, tracing the star player's family roots, exploring the segregated world that Ron was raised in, examining the criminal justice system he was subjected to, and revealing how childhood trauma shaped his success and downfall. Filled with insight from Ron himself, as well as from former teammates, coaches, front-office personnel, inmates, childhood friends, and relatives, Baseball's Outcast provides unprecedented access into Ron's life story and the obstacles he faced every step of the way.
When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he was serving five to fifteen years for armed robbery. An extraordinary athlete, the Detroit native had luck on his his coach, a convicted felon, had connections to the Detroit Tigers. Within three-and-a-half years, Ron went from a prison inmate to a Tiger centerfielder.
In Baseball's The Story of Ron LeFlore, Adam Henig tells for the first time in full the unbelievable life and career of Ron LeFlore. Blessed with blinding speed and a powerful swing, Ron shed his jailbird past to become one of the game's premiere hitters and its most dangerous base stealer during the latter half of the 1970s. His rags-to-riches life story became a bestselling book and a made-for-television movie starring actor LeVar Burton, fresh from his performance in Roots. But the good times did not last. Less than a decade after making his Major League debut, Ron was finished with baseball.
Baseball's Outcast is not just another book about the rise and fall of a troubled athlete. Henig goes deeper, tracing the star player's family roots, exploring the segregated world that Ron was raised in, examining the criminal justice system he was subjected to, and revealing how childhood trauma shaped his success and downfall. Filled with insight from Ron himself, as well as from former teammates, coaches, front-office personnel, inmates, childhood friends, and relatives, Baseball's Outcast provides unprecedented access into Ron's life story and the obstacles he faced every step of the way.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 2, 2026
9 people want to read
About the author
Adam Henig
5 books5 followersAdam Henig is the author of "Watergate's Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman" (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2021). He is author of two other books, "Alex Haley's Roots: An Author's Odyssey" (2014) and "Baseball Under Siege: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor's Battle to Integrate Spring Training" (2016).
His next book, "Baseball's Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore," will be published in 2026 (Rowman & Littlefield).
Adam's writings have appeared in Time, Detroit Metro Times, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books, History News Network, San Francisco Book Review, and the website BlackPast.
For more information, visit www.adamhenig.com.
His next book, "Baseball's Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore," will be published in 2026 (Rowman & Littlefield).
Adam's writings have appeared in Time, Detroit Metro Times, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books, History News Network, San Francisco Book Review, and the website BlackPast.
For more information, visit www.adamhenig.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
While every professional athlete, no matter their background, has an interesting story to share about the rise to becoming one of the best at their profession, former Major League Baseball player Ron LaFlore had a very different path to get to that point. His story of going from a convicted criminal serving time in prison to becoming an All-Star outfielder is covered in this book by Adam Henig.
LaFlore grew up in a poverty-stricken, mostly Black area of Detroit. Succumbing to life on the streets, he took to committing various crimes to obtain money. During an armed robbery, he was arrested and sentenced to serve time at Jackson State prison. While I was certainly interested in LaFlore’s baseball career, I found this section of the book to be the best as Henig did a masterful job of describing LaFlore’s life in prison, his change in behavior from rebellious to model prisoner due to athletics and the ways he developed his skills in baseball, a sport he never played before suiting up for the prison team.
A scout from the Detroit Tigers discovered LeFlore through connections and he was granted a 48 hour pass to attend a tryout at Tiger Stadium. While still fairly raw with his fielding and hitting, it was LaFlore’s speed that eventually earned him a contract with the Tigers and more importantly, an early release from prison.
From there, the book is mainly about his baseball career, where he became an all-star with the Tigers during the 1976 – 78 seasons, led the American League twice in stolen bases and was a fan favorite. He teamed up with a local sportswriter to pen an autobiography, which became a best-seller and also was made into a made-for-TV movie that starred LeVarr Burton playing LaFlore. Henig’s writing was also very good here, including when he injected aspects of LaFlore’s personal life that not only affected LaFlore’s performance on the field, but also his standing with teammates and the Tigers’ front office.
That led to a trade to the Montreal Expos, where he led the National League in stolen bases, becoming the first major league to accomplish the feat in both leagues. However, again due to difficulties with getting along with teammates and the front office, the Expos released him after just one season, 1980. After that, he tried to catch on with the Chicago White Sox, but that didn’t end up well either.
Here is where the book turns into simply a brief summary of his life after baseball, save for one incident where he and his wife were invited to a reception for former players in Detroit, only to have several issues such as the lack of a hotel reservation make it more difficult. I found this to be quite an abrupt end to the book after all the great detail about his life before and during baseball.
I wish to thank Bloomsbury Academic for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
LaFlore grew up in a poverty-stricken, mostly Black area of Detroit. Succumbing to life on the streets, he took to committing various crimes to obtain money. During an armed robbery, he was arrested and sentenced to serve time at Jackson State prison. While I was certainly interested in LaFlore’s baseball career, I found this section of the book to be the best as Henig did a masterful job of describing LaFlore’s life in prison, his change in behavior from rebellious to model prisoner due to athletics and the ways he developed his skills in baseball, a sport he never played before suiting up for the prison team.
A scout from the Detroit Tigers discovered LeFlore through connections and he was granted a 48 hour pass to attend a tryout at Tiger Stadium. While still fairly raw with his fielding and hitting, it was LaFlore’s speed that eventually earned him a contract with the Tigers and more importantly, an early release from prison.
From there, the book is mainly about his baseball career, where he became an all-star with the Tigers during the 1976 – 78 seasons, led the American League twice in stolen bases and was a fan favorite. He teamed up with a local sportswriter to pen an autobiography, which became a best-seller and also was made into a made-for-TV movie that starred LeVarr Burton playing LaFlore. Henig’s writing was also very good here, including when he injected aspects of LaFlore’s personal life that not only affected LaFlore’s performance on the field, but also his standing with teammates and the Tigers’ front office.
That led to a trade to the Montreal Expos, where he led the National League in stolen bases, becoming the first major league to accomplish the feat in both leagues. However, again due to difficulties with getting along with teammates and the front office, the Expos released him after just one season, 1980. After that, he tried to catch on with the Chicago White Sox, but that didn’t end up well either.
Here is where the book turns into simply a brief summary of his life after baseball, save for one incident where he and his wife were invited to a reception for former players in Detroit, only to have several issues such as the lack of a hotel reservation make it more difficult. I found this to be quite an abrupt end to the book after all the great detail about his life before and during baseball.
I wish to thank Bloomsbury Academic for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
December 8, 2025
What a story! If you wrote a film script of Ron LeFlore's life it would certainly be rejected as being totally beyond belief.
The young black man from the harsh ghettos of Detroit, an armed robber and convicted felon who discovers his incredible athletic gifts whilst incarcerated and somehow ends up having an illustrious Major League baseball career with the Detroit Tigers and Montreal Expos, becoming an All Star, winning the award for the most stolen bases in both leagues before being overwhelmed by his demons and returning to poverty and obscurity.
There is so much fertile material for the author to work with and work with to Adam Henig most certainly does.
A bio-pic was made of his life called "One in a Million".
Ron LeFlore certainly lived up to that title and this engrossing and wonderful book is also one in a million too.
Highly recommended.
The young black man from the harsh ghettos of Detroit, an armed robber and convicted felon who discovers his incredible athletic gifts whilst incarcerated and somehow ends up having an illustrious Major League baseball career with the Detroit Tigers and Montreal Expos, becoming an All Star, winning the award for the most stolen bases in both leagues before being overwhelmed by his demons and returning to poverty and obscurity.
There is so much fertile material for the author to work with and work with to Adam Henig most certainly does.
A bio-pic was made of his life called "One in a Million".
Ron LeFlore certainly lived up to that title and this engrossing and wonderful book is also one in a million too.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews