Turkey Stearnes and the Detroit Stars: The Negro Leagues in Detroit, 1919-1933

A prodigious researcher, Bak ( And Cobb Would Have Caught It ) not only tracked down occasional references to black baseball in the white press of the 1920s and early '30s, but also interviewed surviving players and fans. His book is a plea for organized baseball to put Norman ``Turkey'' Stearnes (1901-1979) in the Hall of Fame, but Bak also depicts the Detroit Stars, a team in various Negro leagues that was more than competent but not great. He shows the many obstacles the Stars overcame, including franchise shifts and players jumping to other teams (as Stearnes did) and the crisis the club could not defeat, the Great Depression, which hit the Motor City harder than any other urban area. During his nine years with the Stars, Stearnes set almost all of the team's individual and career records and readers will most likely agree with Bak that he merits election to the shrine at Cooperstown. Photos. (Apr.)