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From an award-winning writer, the first linked history of African
Americans and Latinos in Major League Baseball
After peaking at 27 percent of all major leaguers in 1975, African
Americans now make up less than one-tenth--a decline unimaginable
in other men's pro sports. The number of Latin Americans, by
contrast, has exploded to over one-quarter of all major leaguers
and roughly half of those playing in the minors. Award-winning
historian Rob Ruck not only explains the catalyst for this sea
change; he also breaks down the consequences that cut across
society. Integration cost black and Caribbean societies control
over their own sporting lives, changing the meaning of the sport,
but not always for the better. While it channeled black and Latino
athletes into major league baseball, integration did little for the
communities they left behind.
By looking at this history from the vantage point of black America
and the Caribbean, a more complex story comes into focus, one
largely missing from traditional narratives of baseball's history.
"Raceball" unveils a fresh and stunning truth: baseball has never
been stronger as a business, never weaker as a game.
Born to an Irish Catholic working-class family on the Northside of
Pittsburgh, Art Rooney (1901-88) dabbled in semipro baseball and
boxing before discovering that his real talent lay not in playing
sports but in promoting them. Though he was at the center of
boxing, baseball, and racing in Pittsburgh and beyond, Rooney is
best remembered for his contribution to the NFL, in particular to
the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he founded in 1933. As Rooney led
the team in the early years, he came to be known as football's
greatest loser; his influence, however, was instrumental in making
the NFL the best-run league in American pro sports. The authors
show how Rooney saw professional football--and the
Steelers--through the Depression, World War II, the ascension of
TV, and the development of the NFL. The book also follows him
through the Steelers' dynasty years under Rooney's sons, with four
Super Bowl titles in the 1970s alone. The first authoritative look
at one of the most iconic figures in the history of the NFL, this
book is both a critical chapter in the story of football in America
and a thoroughly engaging in-depth introduction to a character
unlike any other in the annals of American sports.
Born to an Irish Catholic working-class family on the Northside of
Pittsburgh, Art Rooney (1901-88) dabbled in semipro baseball and
boxing before discovering that his real talent lay not in playing
sports but in promoting them. Though he was at the center of
boxing, baseball, and racing in Pittsburgh and beyond, Rooney is
best remembered for his contribution to the NFL, in particular to
the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he founded in 1933. As Rooney led
the team in the early years, he came to be known as football's
greatest loser; his influence, however, was instrumental in making
the NFL the best-run league in American pro sports. The authors
show how Rooney saw professional football--and the
Steelers--through the Depression, World War II, the ascension of
TV, and the development of the NFL. The book also follows him
through the Steelers' dynasty years under Rooney's sons, with four
Super Bowl titles in the 1970s alone. The first authoritative look
at one of the most iconic figures in the history of the NFL, this
book is both a critical chapter in the story of football in America
and a thoroughly engaging in-depth introduction to a character
unlike any other in the annals of American sports.
In a new afterword Rob Ruck looks at the current state of baseball
in the country that has produced Sammy Sosa and many other major
league stars.
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