Description
Book SynopsisThis book follows Dizzy and Daffy Dean’s All-Stars as they barnstormed across the country in 1934, taking the field against the greatest teams in the Negro Leagues. It shows the glory of the games as well as the disingenuous journalistic tactics that proliferated during the tour with an introspective look at its impact on race relations. In 1934, brothers Dizzy and Daffy Dean were stars of Major League Baseball’s regular season and World Series. Following their St. Louis Cardinals’ victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game Seven, Dizzy and Daffy went on a fourteen game barnstorming tour against the best African-American baseball players in the country. The Dizzy and Daffy Dean Barnstorming Tour: Race, Media, and America’s National Pastime examines for the first time the full barnstorming series in its original and uncensored splendor. Phil S. Dixon profiles not only the men who were part of the Deans’ All-Star teams but also the men who played against them, including some of baseball’s most monumental African-American players. Dixon highlights how the contributions during the tour of Negro League stars such as Satchel Paige, Chet Brewer, Charlie Beverly, and Andy Cooper were glossed over by sports writers of the day and grants them their rightful due in this significant slice of sports history. The Dizzy and Daffy Dean Barnstorming Tour gives careful consideration to the social implications of the tour and the media’s biased coverage of the games, providing a unique window for viewing racism in American sports history. It is more than a baseball story—it is an American story.
Trade ReviewPhil Dixon is a tireless digger into a rich and still largely unexplored vein of baseball history—the great black leagues. -- John B. Holway, author of Kick Mule
Phil Dixon has written a compelling story about baseball's barnstorming past. He transports us back to a long forgotten time and place, with iconic and little known characters, sorting through a pre-Jackie Robinson era of American segregation. -- Larry Foley, filmmaker, The First Boys of Spring
Phil Dixon has written a wonderful chronicle about the Dean brothers’ barnstorming days around the Midwest. It is filled with humorous stories about these baseball greats and forgotten facts from the golden era of baseball. -- Phil Conger, editor of the Bethany, Mo., Republican-Clipper
Phil Dixon has boldly and vividly brought to life a must-read book about one of the most significant stories in baseball and American history. The legendary Dean brothers’ barnstorming tour, orchestrated against the backdrop of American segregation, thrilled fans, helped substantiate the immense talent of Black Baseball, and began to bridge the divide between Black and White in the United States. -- Bob Kendrick, President, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
