Negro League ballplayers, earning paychecks comparable to those of blue-collar workers, needed an off-season source of income to make ends meet. Many of them found the answer in baseball, by joining racially integrated barnstorming teams that toured the country after the regular season ended, or by playing in the organized winter leagues that operated in Florida, California, and several Caribbean and Central and South American countries.
This history recounts the experiences of American black ballplayers outside of the Negro Leagues—often in places where a lack of prejudice contrasted sharply with conditions at home. Tracing the development of the game in each location and the unique character of each winter league, it details the contributions of the Negro League players and collects their statistics in each of the winter leagues.

William F. McNeil is a longtime baseball historian and the author of numerous books on the game. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he is the recipient of five Robert Peterson awards for increasing the public’s awareness of the Negro Leagues. He lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

William F. McNeil
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 244
Bibliographic Info: 47 photos, tables, appendix, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012 [2007]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6924-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0062-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      ix

Introduction      1

1. All Roads Lead to Florida      5

2. Cuban Paradise      30

3. 25th Infantry Regiment Baseball Team      52

4. California, Here I Come      62

5. Barnstorming      89

6. Puerto Rican Winters      111

7. Dominican Republic Adventures      134

8. Far Away in Venezuela      156

9. Other Venues      186

10. Looking Back      205

Appendix: Negro League Player Statistics      209

Bibliography      223

Index      225

Winner, Sporting News—SABR Baseball Research Award
“recounts the experiences of African Americans paying outside of the Negro Leagues”—The Courier; (SABR Negro Leagues Committee Newsletter).