Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America by Peter Dreier and Robert Elias

Abstract

Reviewed by: Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America by Peter Dreier and Robert Elias Paul Hensler Peter Dreier and Robert Elias. Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. 408 pp. Cloth, $36.95. In an age where increasing amounts of attention continue to be devoted to diversity and inclusion, Peter Dreier and Robert Elias reinforce the notion that we’ve come a long way but still have a long way to go. Baseball Rebels serves as a well- rounded volume that examines various aspects of the national pastime vis-à- vis the tumultuous social issues of race relations, the battle of the sexes— in more ways than one— and progressive activism. The narrative is made up of short essays related to a common theme and as such makes for a handy reference for each topic or subtopic. Possibly the best of these is found in chapter 3, titled “Before Jackie Robinson,” which provides readers with overviews of the state of Blacks in the world of baseball up to 1947, the formation and subsequent plight of the Negro Leagues, and vignettes of, among others, Wendell Smith, Lester Rodney, and Bill Veeck, each of whom led efforts to point the segregated game toward a more even playing field. As is the case with other major sections of the text dealing with sexism and activism, the book chronicles the long odds faced in overcoming stereotypes and prejudice, and the broad spectrum of “rebels” featured herein are the [End Page 124] trailblazers who broke down barriers in order for baseball to become less of a white male- dominated domain and more representative of the face of America. The authors make no attempt to ameliorate the difficulties encountered by those brave enough to buck the current trends, whether the topic is gay athletes putting up a false front to look inconspicuous by pretending to be heterosexual, Black athletes trying to ignore racial taunts directed at them from the stands, or an activist player like pitcher Sean Doolittle, to whom over eight pages are devoted in describing his open-mindedness to accept people of all stripes and his willingness to be a hands- on participant in community affairs. The rebels also include the late Terry Cannon, the founding father of the Baseball Reliquary as an institution devoted to figures either not worthy of Cooperstown enshrinement or who somehow don’t fit the Hall of Fame’s prescribed categories of player, manager, umpire, or executive but whose impact on the game holds relevance. Dr. Frank Jobe, whose innovative “Tommy John surgery” saved more than a few careers, and Topps baseball card magnate Sy Berger are two such honorees in the Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals. Yet for all the personalities that Dreier and Elias incorporate in their book, two names are conspicuous by their absence. Not found in these pages are Janet Marie Smith, whose work in the development of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in the early 1990s became a springboard for retro- ballpark construction and renovation, and Sherry Davis, who broke the glass ceiling preventing women from becoming public address announcers when she took the microphone for the San Francisco Giants beginning in 1993. Also, while the text covers a lengthy time frame and the authors place events in proper historical context, references to the Cold War being at its height in 1949 and 1950 miss the mark— the era was in its infancy and had even yet to see the launch of Sputnik or the fearful episode of the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, readers should not be taken aback by passages that may appear to stray from the overarching theme of the book. Baseball and sports are a reflection of society, and vice versa; thus, Dreier and Elias do well in citing Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Billie Jean King, and Colin Kaepernick to demonstrate that rebellious leanings are not exclusive to the national pastime. “Whether they seek or acknowledge it, professional athletes are public figures and celebrities. Their celebrity status provides them with a public platform...