With Jackie Robinson Day a week from tomorrow, I have a cover story out today for the Sacramento News & Review about why few African-Americans are playing baseball– and what’s being done to change this.
(On a semi-related note, I forgot to share my Sporting News column here this week. It’s about why Buck O’Neil still isn’t a Hall of Famer.)
I spent a month reporting my cover story, doing more than 30 interviews from Little League coaches to former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent. I focused on people like former MLB manager Jerry Manuel, who’s founded a free baseball academy in the Sacramento to get more blacks playing.
I believe this is an important story, worthy of a national audience. Please give it a read if you have a chance. Any help getting the word out would be appreciated as well.
You may be interested in my new book, which came out April 1: Greatness in the Shadows: Larry Doby and Integration of the American League (university of Nebraska Press, 2016). Doug B
Thanks, Douglas. I’m a little backlogged in books right now, though Larry Doby’s an underrated figure in baseball history.