num_pages: 448
description: In 1997 the American people will celebrate with great fanfare and publicity the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's explosive entrance into major league baseball. Robinson has become a national icon his name a virtual synonym for pathbreaker. Indeed much has transpired between thisyoung African-American's first bold strides around the baseball diamonds of a segregated America and General Manager Bob Watson's pride in assembling 1996 World Champion New York Yankees. Recognizing this monumental event in America's continuing struggle for integration Jules Tygiel has expandedhis highly acclaimed Baseball's Great Experiment. In a new afterword he addresses the mythology surrounding Robinson's achievements his overall effect on baseball and other sports and the enduring legacy Robinson has left for African Americans and American society. In this gripping account of one of the most important steps in the history of American desegregation Tygiel tells the story of Jackie Robinson's crossing of baseball's color line. Examining the social and historical context of Robinson's introduction into white organized baseball both on andoff the field Tygiel also tells the often neglected stories of other African-American players--such as Satchel Paige Roy Campanella Willie Mays and Hank Aaron--who helped transform our national pastime into an integrated game. Drawing on dozens of interviews with players and front officeexecutives contemporary newspaper accounts and personal papers Tygiel provides the most telling and insightful account of Jackie Robinson's influence on American baseball and society.
language: English
title: Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
publisher: Oxford University Press, USA