Black Baseball’s Heyday

The Black Ball Era, a double entendre that describes segregated baseball from the 1880s to the mid-1940s, involves much more than just the exploits of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck O'Neil and dozens of their fellow eventual Hall-of-Famers. It's also the time when minority neighborhoods flourished, American jazz blossomed, innovations made the National Pastime more dynamic and more accessible to fans, and leaders emerged. All of this is synthesized into one fast-moving, highly readable account that complements the distinctive paintings of internationally celebrated artist Anthony High.

Thirty-two of High's unique works are presented in the equivalent of an art museum tour complete with the commentary of a guide, including High-Lights which provide High's reflections on, and background and explanations of, the image or images appearing with each respective chapter. Countless books have been published about the stars and various aspects of the Black Ball era, but no single work pulls all of the disparate dimensions together in art and words in quite the way that this book does.