Introduction
Chapter 1. Before the Legend: The Young Robinson
Chapter 2. Freedom Fighter
Chapter 3. The World of Black Baseball
Chapter 4. “A Badge of Martyrdom”: Robinson’s Entry into White
Baseball
Chapter 5. The Great Experiment: Robinson Ascends to the Major
Leagues
Chapter 6. “To Be Jackie Robinson”: His Further Years in the Major,
1949-1956
Chapter 7. Robinson Off the Diamond
Chapter 8. Early Sunset on a Legend
Afterword
Bibliographic Essay
Index
About the Author
J. Christopher Schutz is associate professor of history at Tennessee Wesleyan College, where he specializes in the Civil Rights Movement and social and cultural history of the 1960s and 1970s.
Schutz, an associate professor of history at Tennessee Wesleyan
College, portrays baseball legend Jackie Robinson as a 'compliant
warrior,' a revamped version of a man whose temperament could
sometimes make him 'prickly and difficult.' Those traits surfaced
in his California youth in a gang and in the military, where he
faced a court-martial for attacking a bigoted white officer.
Robinson, determined to become a major league ball player despite
segregation, joined the powerhouse Kansas City Monarchs in the
Negro League in 1945. His play as an infielder led Brooklyn Dodgers
president Branch Dickey to boldly select Robinson for the
pioneering slot in the all-white major league. From the start of
his time in the big show, Robinson confronted envy, jealousy, and
hate from opposing players, teammates, and fans, yet he overcame it
all with grit and determination. Schutz skillfully in depicting the
totality of the star’s personality on and off the field, without
any sugar-coating or hype.
*Publishers Weekly*
This work takes a different look at one of the most discussed and
analyzed players in baseball history. It’s easy to accept the
traditional narrative of who Jackie Robinson (1919–72) was and how
he impacted baseball in the United States. However, these
mainstream notions aren’t always accurate. Robinson may not have
retaliated to the onslaught of negativity he experienced being the
first African American major league ballplayer, but he was a
determined and combative man who rebelled and fought against racial
injustice throughout his life. Debut author Schutz (history,
Tennessee Wesleyan Coll.) uses interviews and other sources to
contrast the complex reality of who Robinson was with how he is
traditionally depicted. Another interesting angle illustrates how
Robinson’s career and life both influenced and were influenced by
the events and social context of the times. VERDICT Baseball fans
and those interested in the civil rights movement will enjoy this
book.
*Library Journal*
Jackie Robinson appears as a committed, ambitious, sometimes
difficult young man able to grapple with apartheid in the US,
retain his considerable dignity, excel both on and off the baseball
diamond, and pay a large price in terms of inordinate stress and
the far too early breaking down of his once magnificent body.
Historian Schutz sketches Robinson’s progression from juvenile
delinquency to stardom at UCLA (not USC) before he battled against
Jim Crow military practices and a racist-spawned court-martial.
After a brief stint with the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs,
Robinson was signed by Branch Rickey to become the first black
ballplayer in organized baseball during the 20th century.
Baseball’s great experiment succeeded in large part because of
Robinson’s exceptional play and his ability to confront stark
racism as a member of Brooklyn’s famed boys of summer. Schutz
nicely covers Robinson's postbaseball years, when he stood out as a
racial spokesperson notwithstanding disappointments involving major
political party figures and brickbats from black power advocates.
Despite contending with horrific personal tragedy, Robinson became
a hero for figures ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to the
white, southern-born sportswriter Red Smith.
Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.
*CHOICE*
Another perspective on the groundbreaking life of Jackie Robinson.
We are all familiar with the story, but instead of taking it
from a baseball point of view, it shows the results from a social
impact perspective. It puts a different spin on the whole
Jackie Robinson story and adds new insights to the entire story.
Jackie Robinson’s admirable legacy is about so much more than
just baseball, and this is only one of the many different
angles.
*Gregg's Baseball Bookcase*
"For someone whose story has been told countless times, it is
remarkable how little we know about the actual Jackie Robinson: the
person who saw himself as a servant to the Black Freedom Struggle
and, as he said, 'to the mass.' Christopher Schutz fills this gap
in a manner that is utterly indispensable. It is a must read for
people who like their history whole."
*Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation and author of A People’s
History of Sports in the United States*
"Christopher Schutz provides a provocative and highly nuanced study
of Jackie Robinson and the integration of Major League Baseball.
Instead of portraying Robinson as someone who acquiesced to those
in power in baseball and the larger American society, Schutz
convincingly argues that the great athlete from UCLA by way of
Cairo, Georgia and Pasadena, California, was a proud black man who
through sheer determination and unyielding combativeness was able
to achieve success before, during, and after his career in
America's national pastime. In the process of telling the Robinson
story, Schutz provides important insights into the business of
baseball and the complex and ever changing interconnection among
race, sport, and American culture."
*David K. Wiggins, George Mason University*
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