Black Barons of Birmingham

A unique approach to the history of a Negro League team: The first half of this book covers the leagues and the players of the 1920s, the 1930s, and 1940 through 1947 (when Robinson broke the color barrier). The second half is devoted to the Black Barons of subsequent decades, the former Barons invited to tryout camps, others who were signed with minor league clubs, and the fortunate few who got their long-awaited chance in the majors.

Larry Powell is a professor of communication studies at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He is the author or co-author of several books and articles.

Larry Powell
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 226
Bibliographic Info: 28 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3806-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5480-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      iv
Foreword by Clayton Sherrod      1
Preface      3

PART I. THE BLACK BARONS BEFORE INTEGRATION
Introduction      7
1. The Black Barons in the 1920s      10
2. The Black Barons in the 1930s      33
3. The Black Barons in the 1940s      42

PART II. THE BLACK BARONS AFTER INTEGRATION
Introduction      53
4. Post–Robinson Era Black Barons      62
5. Players and Tryout Camps      112
6. Black Barons in the White Minor Leagues      125
7. Black Barons in the Major Leagues      165

Afterword      199
Chapter Notes      201
Bibliography      211
Index      215

“Larry Powell has broken new ground…there is real strength in the wealth of information on individual players, much of it drawn from personal interviews”—Midwest Book Review; “Larry Powell provides not only a history of this Southern staple of Negro League Baseball, but first hand narratives from the players who lived to tell it. You will discover names of the greats that you never saw play, and by the end of the book you will wish you had been there to see them. These are the stories of the Birmingham Black Barons, and they are the ones that our future generations need to hear”—Baseball Happenings.