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

by Timothy M. Gay

Book Overview

Before Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball in 1947, black and white ballplayers had been playing against one another for decadeseven, on rare occasions, playing with each other.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416547983
• ISBN13: 9781416547983
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 349 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Gay takes reader on a delightful barnstorming trip

Any subject is in good hands with author Tim Gay, a splendid writer and meticulous researcher. In Satch, Dizzy and Rapid Robert, Gay does an excellent job of chronicling the interracial baseball exhibitions before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller are the main characters in these barnstorming exhibition games which started in 1934 and continued through 1947. Barnstorming was a way for entrepreneurial baseball players to try to earn some extra money. These interracial exhibition games "combing back roads, were part of the last gasp before television, mass marketing and interstate highways forever dulled our culture." Gay writes that the interracial exhibition games "helped puncture baseball apartheid. They went a long way toward making the game the national pastime." Satch and Dizzy first battled each other in 1934 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles in front of 17,000. They both pitched 13 innings and Dizzy struck out 13 and gave up one run, while Satch struck out 17 and hurled a shutout. While the fabled match up has been recounted by Bill Veeck and others, no record of the game has been found. Feller first met Satch in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1936 as a 17-year-old. The last time they faced each other was Nov. 2, 1947, in Los Angeles. By 1947, baseball integration had taken away the novelty of interracial barnstorming and the days of baseball's two fastest pitchers matching skills against each other were virtually over. Feller's 1946 barnstorming tour was called "the most successful in baseball history." His teams played 22 games, including 19 against the Satchel Paige Negro All-Stars. Feller's squad went 17-5 and drew 250,000 fans. On that historic tour, Feller introduced plane travel to the majors, brought big-time baseball to the West Coast and gave sorely needed exposure to black stars. To Feller, barnstorming was strictly a commercial, money-maker. He didn't see it as a societal undertaking. In all, Satch, who Joe DiMaggio and Dizzy Dean both called "the greatest pitcher I ever saw," faced Dean in two dozen exhibitions and twice that many against Feller. Satch made his major league debut on July 9, 1948, at age 42 with the Cleveland Indians. Satch drew 210,000 fans in the first three games in pitched in the majors. The veteran hurler won six games for the Indians, helping to get them to the World Series. Gay paints interesting portraits of Satch, Dizzy and Rapid Robert while giving you a real sense of what barnstorming was like. He also covers the feud between Feller and Jackie Robinson. This book is well-written, thoroughly researched and well documented. It brings together all the elements that make an exceptional book.

Long Time Baseball Fan

This book brought back many fond memories. I found it to be an excellent read. Growing up in St. Louis, I saw a lot of the Brown's baseball games at old Sportsman's Park. My cousin lived 4 blocks away. and I'd visit him for a week at a time, and we'd use our "Knothole Passes" to get free admission and sit high in the second deck of the left field stands. The Browns were the doormat of the American League. Attendance was dismal. Bill Veeck tried many promotional stunts to lure fans into the stands before they were eventually sold and moved to Baltimore in 1953. There was Satch and Pete Gray, the one-armed left fielder, in the lineup, and even the midget, Eddie Gadell. Lots of fun at the old ball park!

A fascinating look at three of baseball's greatest characters on one of its most colorful stages

In "Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert", Timothy M. Gay brings to life the largely forgotten story of the interracial barnstorming games of the 1930s and 1940s. Despite the opposition of Commissioner Landis, these games thrived in the offseason because the players needed the money and the public, especially in smaller towns and the then-Major-League-deprived West Coast wanted to see the stars, white and black. And the biggest star on the barnstorming circuit was the ageless Satchel Paige. Gay begins in the thirties and the exploits of Paige and Dizzy Dean who, fresh off his Cardinals' World Series Sweep of the Tigers, had replaced Babe Ruth as the pre-eminent Major Leaguer. Gay aptly compares Diz and Satch as fastball throwing versions of Huck Finn and Jim, and his recounting of the games in their barnstorming tours beginning in 1934 flows like a journey down the Mississippi. He punctuates the flow of these games - painstakingly recounted from the limited press coverage - with fascinating vignettes of the other characters in Satch's show. These include future Hall of Famers from the Negro Leagues, such as Oscar Charleston, as well as the impresarios of the Negro Leagues and the major leaguers who joined Diz on tour. Above all this, are the continuing stories of the three principals - Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, and Bob Feller. Feller, who approached the tours as both player and promoter, reflected the often conflicted racial views of that era. Gay recounts how Feller, a friend and advocate for Paige, continually belittled the abilities and accomplishments of Jackie Robinson. Ultimately, it was Robinson and the others who integrated the major leagues that spelled the end for the Negro Leagues. Soon, television and better pay for big leaguers put an end to barnstorming. Fortunately for us, Timothy Gay did not heed Satchel Paige's advice - "Don't look back" - and has given us a marvellous look back at a fascinating chapter in the history of our National Pastime.

Baseball's Promotional Stunts

For many baseball players during the early part of the 20th century, the regular season's wages paid such a paltry sum, they had to work during the off-season, as well, just to make ends meet. For these guys, there were no big endorsement deals; no long-term contracts that paid them huge sums of money. The "big name" players would usually hit the road after the regular season had drawn to a conclusion, and take their acts to places that rarely had the chance to watch major league action; towns like Des Moines, Omaha, Kankakee, or Fargo. These folks who normally wouldn't get the chance to see the likes of Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig, now had the chance to see these legends perform up close, in a very informal environment; barnstorming filled a void for thousands of fans, from coast to coast, and the players became even bigger legends with the masses. With that scenario as a backdrop, Timothy M Gay has compiled a wonderful story of how three of the game's most colorful, and talented performers - Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller - got together during an off-season to create some magic for a nation in the throes of the Great Depression; and give fans a preview of interracial baseball, long before Jackie Robinson officially broke the color barrier in 1947. The performances of the players were never recorded in the official archives of major league baseball; but for the fans who witnessed the action - on and off the field - this was as good as it gets; and the memories lasted a lifetime.