Reginald is more interested in practicing his violin than in his father's job managing the worst team in the Negro Leagues, but when Papa makes him the bat boy and his music begins to lead the team to victory, Papa realizes the value of his son's passion.

Documents the life of the Negro League star and Hall of Famer, tracing Bell's sharecropping heritage, his extraordinary switch-hitting talents, and how Major League Baseball's racial barriers impacted his career.

Using an "Everyman" player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through the decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947. Illustrations from oil paintings by artist Kadir Nelson.

"Major League Baseball (MLB) is a diverse sport played by athletes from around the world. But in the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s, MLB was mostly segregated. Black players and coaches were not welcome. The Negro Leagues gave these players and coaches other options to play pro baseball. Meet unsung Negro Leagues stars such as Moses Fleetwood Walker and Toni Stone, and learn about the activists and heroes who helped integrate America’s...

"An ambitious Harlem woman's husband upends her social climbing when he buys a Negro Leagues baseball team and appoints her as the team's business manager. Overnight, Effa Manley goes from 125th Street's civil rights champion to an interloper in the boys' club that is professional baseball. Navigating her way through gentlemen's agreement contracts, the very public flirtatious antics of superstar Satchel Paige, and a sports world that would much rather...

"The extraordinary, unlikely, and inspirational true story of the friendships formed between Cam Perron--a white, baseball-obsessed teenager from Boston--and hundreds of former professional Negro League players, who were still awaiting the recognition and compensation that they deserved from Major League Baseball more than fifty years after their playing days were over"--Provided by publisher.

A black garbage collector named Troy Maxson in 1950s Pittsburgh is bitter that baseball's color barrier was only broken after his own heyday in the Negro Leagues, Maxson is prone to taking out his frustrations on his loved ones.

"Before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, Black athletes played in the Negro Leagues--on teams coached by Black managers, cheered on by Black fans, and often run by Black owners. Here is the riveting true story of the woman at the center of the Black baseball world: Effa Manley, co-owner and business manager of the Newark Eagles. Elegant yet gutsy, she cultivated a powerhouse team. Yet just as her Eagles reached...