When Jackie Robinson made his debut at Ebbets Field on opening day
in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers became the first major league team
with a black player anywhere in its organization. By the end of the
Golden Era of baseball, a period in and around the 1950s, there
would be an unprecedented number of notable black players in the
major leagues, including Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks,
Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson. While this era
is defined by integration, it was also the age of the "boys of
summer" Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankee dominance, and the first
major change in the geographic landscape of the big leagues in half
a century. In The Golden Era of Major League Baseball: A Time of
Transition and Integration, Bryan Soderholm-Difatte explores the
significant events and momentous changes that took place in
baseball from 1947 to 1960. Beginning with Jackie Robinson's rookie
season in 1947, Soderholm-Difatte provides a careful and thorough
examination of baseball's integration, including the struggles of
black players who were not elite to break into the starting
lineups. In addition, the author looks at the dying practice of
player-managers, the increasing use of relief pitchers and
platooning, the iconic 1951 pennant race between the New York
Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, and more. Soderholm-Difatte also
tells the stories of three central characters to this era, whose
innovations, strategies, and vision changed the game-Branch Rickey,
who challenged the baseball establishment by integrating the
Dodgers; Casey Stengel, whose 1949-1953 Yankees won five straight
championships; and Leo Durocher, whose spy operations was a major
factor in the Giants' 1951 pennant surge. In an age when baseball
was at the forefront of American society, integration would come to
be the foremost legacy of the Golden Era. But this was also a time
of innovative strategy, from the use of pinch hitters to frequent
defensive substitutions. Concluding with an overview of how
baseball is still evolving today, The Golden Era of Major League
Baseball will be of interest to baseball fans and historians as
well as to scholars examining the history of integration in sports.
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