From an award-winning writer, the first linked history of African Americans and Latinos in Major League Baseball
The colliding histories of black and Latin ballplayers in the major leagues run the gamut from early collaboration in civil rights protests to simmering intra-racial tensions. Jackie Robinson
jumped baseball’s color line to much fanfare, but integration was also painful. It gutted the once vibrant Negro Leagues and often subjected Latin players to Jim Crow racism. Today, MLB
tightens its grasp around the Caribbean’s burgeoning baseball academies; at home, it embraces, and exploits, the legacy of the Negro Leagues.
After peaking at 27 percent of all major leaguers in 1975, African Americans now make up less than one-tenth—a decline unimaginable in other men’s pro sports. The number of Latin Americans, by
contrast, has exploded to over a quarter of all major leaguers and roughly half of those playing in the minors. Rob Ruck not only explains the catalyst for this sea change; he also breaks down
the consequences that cut across all quarters of society. In Raceball, a brilliant researcher and deft storyteller puts the pieces together to unveil a fresh and stunning truth: baseball
has never been stronger as a business, never weaker as a game.
