The Integration Of The Pacific Coast League

"An account of the desegregation of baseball's Pacific Coast League, the first American League of any sport to desegregate all of its teams"--

While Jackie Robinson's 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers made him the first African American to play in the Major Leagues in the modern era, the rest of Major League Baseball was slow to integrate while its Minor League affiliates moved faster. The Pacific Coast League (PCL), a Minor League with its own social customs, practices, and racial history, and the only legitimate sports league on the West Coast, became one of the first leagues in any sport to completely desegregate all its teams. Although far from a model of racial equality, the Pacific Coast states created a racial reality that was more diverse and adaptable than in other parts of the country. The Integration of the Pacific Coast League describes the evolution of the PCL beginning with the league's differing treatment of African Americans and other nonwhite players. Between the 1900s and the 1930s, team owners knowingly signed Hawaiian players, Asian players, and African American players who claimed that they were Native Americans, who were not officially banned. In the post-World War II era, with the pressures and challenges facing desegregation, the league gradually accepted African American players. In the 1940s individual players and the local press challenged the segregation of the league. Because these Minor League teams integrated so much earlier than the Major Leagues or the eastern Minor Leagues, West Coast baseball fans were the first to experience a more diverse baseball game.

This book is a record of the men and events, team by team, during Major League Baseball's integration. It focuses especially on the owners, executives and managers who were the heroes, villains or spectators of integration, and it sheds new light on the unheralded champions of integration and on those whose culpability has so far been overlooked. Individual chapters cover each of baseball's integration-era teams, and a final chapter covers expansion teams of the 1960s. Each team's responsible individuals are examined, its acquisition, deployment and treatment of black players documented, and the effect of its integration actions on team performance analyzed. Appendices provide populations of integration-era Major League cities, first black players by team, first black players in various minor leagues, rosters of black players by team, a timeline of black player milestones, and a list of black All-Star selections through 1969.

For major league baseball, the decade following Jackie Robinson’s 1947 debut was one of slow yet persistent change. Four other black players made their first, brief big-league appearances that year, followed by only two in 1948 and four in 1949. But by the end of 1959, 122 black ballplayers had made it to the big leagues. Like Robinson, their lives were made difficult off the field, and on it they dodged beanballs and spikes. This book brings attention to the accomplishments of this transitional generation of African American players—made up of men like Luscious Luke Easter, Sam “The Jet” Jethroe, and Sad Sam Jones—many of whom spent years in the minors, the Negro leagues, or both before getting their shot. Chapters on each season from 1947 to 1959 incorporate biographical and career profiles for 25 players who stood out during baseball’s integration. A final chapter covers the outstanding minor league players who for various reasons never got a real chance to play major league ball. Appendices include a roster of black major leaguers from 1947 through 1959, a list of black-player firsts and statistics on the year-by-year population of black players in the majors.

THE GREAT YEARS OF THE PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE Without a doubt the Pacific Coast League was the most important sports activity on the West Coast. From its inception in 1903 to its glorious climax it mirrored all the excitement and glory and thrills that is baseball. But all this was especially true during the '40s and '50s - years rich in the fame and victory of being the leading minor league in the nation. Come, now, and recall these great times. Re-live the soaring days of baseball, and share One Man's Memories of this exciting time, the years 1938 to 1957, the GREAT YEARS OF THE PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE. There have been baseball fans, and there have been baseball fanatics. But Mr. Stadler's richly drawn memories and extensive added research have put him in a class of his own. Of the many hundreds of books on the sport that have come down the pike, this one takes a uniquely "different" approach. Not an expert addressing the fan as an "authority," Mr. Stadler instead tells his story as a fan speaking to the player. Never has there been a book that gives the baseball pro a perspective of his own game through the eyes of the fan. Never... until now. As a result, here is a book that gives an added insight to how the folks in the stands really saw the game. A book that re-lives the soaring days of MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. It was a special time, a game played under special conditions. A time that saw baseball's greatest players, past, present and future. Players who set records that may never be topped. The career players who spent their entire lives in the league. The big-league stars who closed their playing years in the minors, and the youngsters on their way up, giving their all to make a name and impression for themselves. But this is a book of more than just the facts and statistics. These are the people, the stories, the flavor and most important the ATMOSPHERE OF EXCITEMENT that was the heart of the Pacific Coast League. Some of it may be trivia, but it is never trivial. These are the stories that are the very soul of baseball, told from the perspective of a man who considers it a priviledge to have lived in PCL territory - a league that could not be topped, during a time when it came to the very brink of major league status. The author recounts incidents he witnessed at the stadiums and playing fields, events he lived via radio, the friendships he made. As much as re-living the past for baseball afficionados, his stories will warm the spirits of readers who come to know Ken himself, and to share his love of the totality of this great sport. If baseball is your game ... if memorabilia-in-words is your coin ... if humor and trivia and a folksy manner is to your taste... then you'll adore Ken's work on the Hollywood Stars and the heydays of the PCL before the majors came out West. One Man's Memories will awaken your own long-forgotten recollections of the days of hand-kept scoreboards and gloves tossed on the edge of the outfield grass. If you care at all about the highlight days of the Pacific Coast League, about the fans, the players, the anecdotes... and most of all the excitement and soaring times of the game of baseball, then this is a book you simply must read. It's all here, a magnificent, one-of-a-kind compilation that brings across the richness of the times, the games, the players.. .remembering... The Pacific Coast League - One Man's Memories - 1938-1957 "Order a copy today. Or better yet, order two and give one to your best friend. And then share ONE MAN'S MEMORIES of these exciting days!"

"[An] essential study of a previously unexplored chapter of the game’s history. An important addition to baseball collections...." Library Journal, Starred Review The gripping story of how one of the most infamous scandals in American history—the Black Sox scandal—continued for nearly a year following the fixed World Series of 1919 until the truth began to emerge. The Black Sox scandal has fascinated sports fans for over one hundred years. But while the focus has traditionally been on the fixed 1919 World Series, the reality is that it continued well into the following season—and members of the Chicago White Sox very likely continued to fix games. The result was a year of suspicion, intrigue, and continued betrayal. In Double Plays and Double Crosses: The Black Sox and Baseball in 1920, Don Zminda tells the story of an unforgettable team and an unforgettable year in baseball and American history. Zminda reveals in captivating detail how the Black Sox scandal unfolded in 1920, the level of involvement in game-fixing by notable players like Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver, and the complicity of White Sox management in covering up details of the scandal. In addition, Zminda provides an in-depth investigation of games during the 1920 season that were likely fixed and the discovery during the year of other game-fixing scandals that rocked baseball. Throughout 1920, the White Sox continued to play—and usually win—despite mistrust among teammates. Double Plays and Double Crosses tells for the first time what happened during this season, when suspicion was rampant and the team was divided between “clean” players and those suspected of fixing the 1919 World Series.

The Pacific Coast League enjoyed a reputation as one of the premier minor leagues in organized baseball. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Lefty Gomez, the Waner brothers and Ernie Lombardi were among the future Hall of Famers who played in its cozy parks. Legendary minor leaguers such as Smead Jolley, Buzz Arlett, Lefty O'Doul and Frank Shellenback made their marks in the PCL. This reference work is a season-by-season guide to the glory days of the PCL. It includes a listing of starters and primary reserves for all teams from 1903 through 1957, as well as playoff results, managerial records, and statistical leaders for each season. Complete PCL records for over 500 of the circuit's most notable players are also provided.

In 1903, a small league in California defied Organized Baseball by adding teams in Portland and Seattle to become the strongest minor league of the twentieth century. Calling itself the Pacific Coast League, this outlaw association frequently outdrew its major league counterparts and continued to challenge the authority of Organized Baseball until the majors expanded into California in 1958. The Pacific Coast League introduced the world to Joe, Vince and Dom DiMaggio, Paul and Lloyd Waner, Ted Williams, Tony Lazzeri, Lefty O'Doul, Mickey Cochrane, Bobby Doerr, and many other baseball stars, all of whom originally signed with PCL teams. This thorough history of the Pacific Coast League chronicles its foremost personalities, governance, and contentious relationship with the majors, proving that the history of the game involves far more than the happenings in the American and National leagues.