Satch, Dizzy, and Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball Before Jackie Robinson

Barnstorming was a way of life for professional baseball players in the 30’s and 40’s. Pay was not good, especially for players in the minors as well as Negro League players. With major portions of the country lacking a major league baseball team, barnstorming gave the fans a way to see

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baseball greats in action. There was no color bar in barnstorming – fans both black and white wanted to see their favorites go against the best players in the other leagues. In Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert : the wild saga of interracial baseball before Jackie Robinson, baseball scholar Timothy Gay covers the barnstorming exploits of pitchers Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, and Robert Feller along with a large supporting cast including Negro League greats Buck O’Neill, Monty Irvin and Judy Johnson to the DiMaggios, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. The war years include teams that played in the armed services, with many anecdotes of major and Negro League servicemen. As far as I can tell, this is the only book that covers interracial barnstorming in this time period along with a serious look at the racially integrated California Winter League (in existence for decades in the early part of the twentieth century.)

Gay’s book is written as scholarship and is heavily footnoted. There is an excellent bibliography and index along with statistics showing the Paige/Dean and Paige/Feller match-ups. Although the illustrations show many photos of Satch, the Dean brothers and Bob Feller, there are also photos of lesser known players.

The book can be dry reading with its plethora of facts but it is worthwhile noting that many major, minor and Negro leaguers played against each other years before Jackie Robinson would integrate the majors with results that can surprise the reader.

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