Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and the Making of a Baseball Legend

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Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and the Making of a Baseball Legend Pub. Date: 8/31/2009 Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated

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Overview

The baseball legend that might never have been

"John Klima discovers a terrific story of overcoming all the odds to achieve your dreams. The dreamer was a dream player—Willie Mays. I loved this story and this book."
—Torii Hunter, Gold Glove Award Winner and All-Star Center fielder, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

"I was a Willie Mays fan. When he was on the field, nobody could get at him. You couldn't take your eyes off him. He was like a kid playing out in the street. He did everything with flair. John has done some digging. It's hard to find those interesting stories."
—Joe Torre, New York Times bestselling author of The Yankee Years and manager, Los Angeles Dodgers

"John Klima has a delightful way of digging deep into a forgotten pocket of sports history and coming out with an unforgettable story. He does all lovers of Willie Mays and of baseball a great service with this fine book. I really, really enjoyed it. Well done!"
—David Maraniss, New York Times bestselling author of Clemente and Rome 1960

"Willie Mays was a dazzling ballplayer, but the story of his early career is much bigger than baseball. In Willie's Boys, John Klima puts us in the front row for one of the most fascinating periods in the game's history, as the Negro Leagues died and the Major Leagues struggled with integration. Mays is the perfect protagonist. The drama is real, the stakes are high, and Klima captures it with shimmering prose and hard-nosed reporting. I loved this book."
—Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season

"In Willie's Boys John Klima's studious research and careful writing create a dramatic, important, and human story out of a line of agate—Willie Mays's rookie year with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. As Mays himself told Klima, 'You know more about this than I do.' So will the close reader of this fine book."
—Glenn Stout, author and Series Editor of The Best American Sports Writing

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Willie's Boys adds to baseball lore by recounting Willie Mays's service with the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, which led to the Black Barons' participation in black baseball's final World Series. Baseball writer Klima (Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound) repeatedly delivers quotes from Black Barons, their adversaries, scouts, and other baseball figures regarding Mays's preternatural skills, particularly in the field and on the base paths. The hitting prowess, for both average and distance, came a bit later, but the raw talent and the drive were immediately present. Mays's personality, somewhat surprisingly, does not come through as clearly, unlike that of the other star of Klima's story, Willie's teammate, mentor, and first professional manager, Piper Davis. Even more than Mays's story, those of Davis and players such as the great third baseman Ray Dandridge demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of black baseball, along with the hurdles even brilliant players had to overcome to enter organized baseball. Klima refutes long-standing notions regarding the supposed refusal of teams like the Yankees and Red Sox to sign black players, as both sought to sign Mays. VERDICT Recommended for all interested readers.—Robert C. Cottrell, California State Univ., Chico

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780470400135
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
Publication date: 8/31/2009
Pages: 320
Sales rank: 697,760
Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

John Klima

John Klima, an award-winning baseball writer, has written for the New York Times, Yahoo! Sports, and Los Angeles Times. His story "Deal of the Century" was selected by David Maraniss to be included in the 2007 edition of Best American Sports Writing. In 2007, he was honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing. He is a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Society for American Baseball Research. Visit his Web sites at www.klimaink.com. and www.baseballbeginnings.com.

Prologue: "The Best Baseball Player I've Ever Seen" 1

1 Trapped in the Hot Box 5

2 Negro Avenue 26

3 A Piper Kind of Team 47

4 The Defenders of Rickwood Field 65

5 "The Best Little Boy Anybody Ever Seen" 89

6 Readin' the Hops 101

7 Whammy Alabama 121

8 "A Player Who Shouldn't Have Been There" 131

9 "A Horseshit Scout" 140

10 "Come On, Willie!" 152

11 "Josh Gibson Is Dead and We Still Can't Beat These Guys" 176

12 Somebody Is Always Watching 190

13 The Goose Shooter 205

14 "Wait until You See Mays" 221

15 The Boston Gold Sox 234

16 Miracle in Harlem 243

17 Take That Glove to the Big Leagues 260

Epilogue: "He Was Thirteen Again" 281

Notes 284

Index 293

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Anonymous

Posted September 9, 2009

A truly great book!

I absolutely loved this book! It is well researched, but it is not bogged down and boring. The author did a wonderful job of making sure that he did his homework, but put it all in a narrative form, so that it reads easily, quickly and enjoyable.

You really will feel like you are on the bus with Willie Mays and his team, through the South in the 1940s, and the discrimination and difficulties that accompanied it. You learn the rich language that the men of the Negro Leagues used and created. You will understand aspects of what it was like to live in that era. You will also learn never before known parts of Willie Mays's career, and how he actually got to the New York Giants instead of the numerous other teams that knew about him. You get to know the wonderful cast of characters who helped and taught Willie Mays when he was so young. (Piper Davis, Willie's player-manager is truly a great character!) You will see rivalries and discrimination and triumph over them. Willie's Boys offers great insight into the humble beginnings of a true baseball great.

So, if you like and are interested in baseball, Willie Mays, history, culture, orstories of struggle and discrimination, this is the book for you. It really does have something for almost everyone. I can not recommend this book more highly!
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