Description
Book SynopsisThis dual biography highlights the transformative influence of Sam Lacy and Wendell Smith, two journalists who changed American sport and society through their calls to desegregate Major League Baseball and recognize Black baseball players.
In a decade-long battle, Lacy and Smith tirelessly advocated for the inclusion of Black players in the major leagues, reporting in the Baltimore Afro-American and Pittsburgh Courier, respectively. Both sports writers covered players in the Negro Leagues, following off-season games in places like Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. In 1947, Lacyâs and Smithâs work helped break through MLBâs racial barriers when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. Over the coming years, Lacy and Smith, on individual career trajectories but sharing a common goal, would report on the dissolution of the Negro Leagues and future MVPs such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Elston Howard. The book considers the lasting legacies of
