Sol White's History of Colored Baseball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886-1936

In 1907 White, a successful ballplayer from 1887 to 1909 and manager from 1902 to 1912, wrote a book on the history of black baseball since 1885. Only four copies of that volume are now believed to exist, and it is reproduced here with the original photos and ads, and supplemented by an addendum that White wrote on the 1907 season, reminiscences he contributed to newspapers in 1930 and additional documents, mostly newspaper articles and columns, from other writers. The saddest note in White's work is the sense of loss when the national pastime, which had been integrated in the 1870s and early 1880s, substituted Jim Crow for the 14th Amendment. There are also high spots like the equipping of the Page Fence Giants of Adrian, Mich., with their own private railroad coach so they could avoid segregated hotel accommodations. Albeit only a footnote to history, White's compendium as compiled by Malloy, a specialist on the Negro leagues, provides valuable firsthand testimony of black baseball's universe. Photos. (Apr.)