The story of black professional baseball provides a remarkable perspective on several major themes in modern African American history: the initial black response to segregation, the subsequent struggle to establish successful separate enterprises, and the later movement toward integration. Baseball functioned as a critical component in the separate economy catering to black consumers in the urban centers of the North and South. While most black businesses struggled to survive from year to year, professional baseball teams and leagues operated for decades, representing a major achievement in black enterprise and institution building.
"Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution" presents the extraordinary history of a great African American achievement, from its lowest ebb during the Depression, through its golden age and World War II, until its gradual disappearance during the early years of the civil rights era. Faced with only a limited amount of correspondence and documents, Lanctot consulted virtually every sports page of every black newspaper located in a league city. He then conducted interviews with former players and scrutinized existing financial, court, and federal records. Through his efforts, Lanctot has painstakingly reconstructed the institutional history of black professional baseball, locating the players, teams, owners, and fans in the wider context of the league's administration. In addition, he provides valuable insight into the changing attitudes of African Americans toward the need for separate institutions.

ROY CAMPANELLA was the backbone of the great Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the late 1940s and 1950s, alongside such other Hall of Famers as Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider. An outstanding defensive catcher and a powerful slugger, Campy won the National League MVP Award three times. But everything changed on a rainy January night in 1958 when Campy's car skidded off the road and he was left paralyzed below the neck. For the second time in his life, Roy Campanella would become a pioneer, this time off the field. Neil Lanctot's "Campy "is the magnificent, authoritative biography of this exuberant, gifted athlete.