"After Jackie" by Carl Fussman

"After Jackie", by Carl Fussman is subtitled "Pride, Prejudice, and Baseball's Forgotten Heroes: An Oral History". It is hard to write a book review about "After Jackie" because "No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever..." followed by the usual permission instructions. "Like a good meal, praise should be served," I read "when it is still bubbling." I have been waiting for two years for a reply to a permission request and it is hard to keep praise bubbling for such long periods of time. Do publishers know how difficult it is to entice people to read a book without offering up a tidbit, a little appetizer to the main course?

You will be hearing about meals in this book. Playing professional baseball did not give African-Americans entrance into dining establishments to use their meal tickets. 1950s prejudice and outright bigotry was not limited to the South, Jim Crow laws and lasted well into the 1960s. The way players reacted to being refused service varied. This is where quotes come in handy. I am dying to share a joke one of the players used when a server told him the establishment did not serve his kind. His response involved what he was not planning on ordering, like crackers.

Like, Jackie Robinson, "After Jackie" is a winner from start to finish. I liked the dedication page which was short and had nothing to do with baseball or racism. The forward by Henry Aaron has a great tale about dreams. Fussman starts the first chapter about pressure with an illustration about Shaquille O'Neal. Each chapter starts with a word from the author, followed by oral history as told to him by players, their wives, friends, others involved in 1950s baseball as well as people like Spike Lee and Charlie Pride. Fussman did an excellent job breaking up his interviews into bite size bits of conversation to fit each chapter topic. I especially liked Don Newcombe's narratives.

Many players that Fussman contacted about doing interviews turned him down. Some, remembering history, did not trust a white man to gather ingredients and prepare the meal. Others felt it has all been said before. Having recently read "Carrying Jackie's Torch" I did notice this was true about some of the antidotes in "After Jackie". This did not detract from the book, but was much like asking for a second serving of a delicious desert. I am also dying to share a story about Vic Pellot and a traffic light. The first Latino ballplayers faced discrimination made worse if their skin was black. Pellot's story will make you laugh. Other tales will bring tears to your eyes.

Most people that grew up watching players like Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepada, Roy Campanella or Al Downing, were clueless about the pressure these guys faced on and off the field. Most of their teammates were just as clueless. Some of their teammates were part of the problem. "After Jackie" is an oral history of how the integration of America's favorite pastime helped to integrate U.S. society at large. As restaurants, hotels and service stations slowly ended old taboos against black baseball players, those doors soon opened for everyday citizens to follow.

Sad these brave men had to swallow their pride, enduring mistreatment that no man would stand, to prove that black men were intelligent enough to play baseball. The men are proud of their endurance, as they should be; they became stronger and better than those that saw them as inferior. Focused anger could send the ball over the fence when faced with the toughest pitcher or at a crucial point in a game. Once proven, doors were opened for other black citizens with better job opportunities. Also sad was that the gains were a loss to the largest black owned business of the time: The Negro League. Integrated baseball cost them fans and the League folded. These lessons are told through baseball's forgotten hero's oral history as only they can tell it; a grand book.

"After Jackie" by Carl Fussman was published in 2007 by ESPN Books. Each chapter starts with a black and white photo of different baseball players in uniform. It is 235 pages with an addtional 5 pages called "Voices" which gives a brief bio of the oral historians. It also includes an Introduction, an after word, "The Facts About Memory", Acknowledgements and Table of Contents. "After Jackie" would be a great addition to school libraries or as a gift to any young baseball fan. List price is $24.95; offered online at Amazon.com for discounted rates. Understanding the history of integration of baseball, can show how much the United States has grown in overcoming racism. It can also be a recipe for change that is still needed in the U.S. today.