Baseball's Other All-Stars: The Greatest Players from the Negro Leagues, the Japanese Leagues, the Mexican League, and the Pre-1960 Winter Leagues in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Baseball's Other All-Stars: The Greatest Players from the Negro Leagues, the Japanese Leagues, the Mexican League, and the Pre-1960 Winter Leagues in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic Jan Finkel (bio) William F. McNeil . Baseball's Other All-Stars: The Greatest Players from the Negro Leagues, the Japanese Leagues, the Mexican League, and the Pre-1960 Winter Leagues in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Jefferson NC: McFarland and Company, 2000. 240 pp. Paper, $29.95. Baseball's Other All-Stars is a gem, a mother lode of material hitherto unavailable to baseball fans—not even on the Internet. It is a logical continuation of William F. McNeil's groundbreaking work in The Sultan of Swat, wherein he determined baseball's greatest home run hitter in the Major Leagues, Negro [End Page 127] Leagues, Minor Leagues, and Japan. Knowledge of The Sultan of Swat is helpful but not imperative to the enjoyment of Baseball's Other All-Stars. Simply put, McNeil in these two books has made an original and major contribution to baseball research. McNeil assumes his readers are knowledgeable about the Major Leagues and have at least a nodding acquaintance with the Negro Leagues. His central purpose is to acquaint informed, curious fans with the great players of the Negro Leagues, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Japan, and so on. McNeil provides this introduction aptly by presenting a brief history of baseball in the area under discussion and following up with his selection of an all-star team and a sketch of each player. McNeil divides his study into twelve chapters: one on baseball in the nine-teenth century; two on an overview of baseball in the twentieth century (1900- 50 and 1951-2000); three on the Negro Leagues (1900-25, 1926-50, and an all-time all-star team); one each on the Cuban Winter League, the Japanese professional leagues, the Puerto Rican Winter League, the Mexican League, and other leagues (the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Panama); and one titled "The Ultimate Other All-Star Team" wherein he draws his findings together and selects a non-major-league all-world team that has no weaknesses. All of the chapters are fascinating, but those on the Negro Leagues are the most poignant for obvious reasons. Having finished his discussions of various leagues and players, McNeil closes the book with twenty-seven statistical tables that provide his evidence. These tables are invaluable, including comparisons between leagues, lifetime statistics where available, projections of player performances based on a 550-at-bat season, all-star teams picked by other authorities, and McNeil's all-world team with major leaguers. Where sufficient pitching figures exist, a projection of pitcher performance based on thirty-two, thirty-six, or forty starts would be useful, but McNeil has done plenty. In discussion or statistical presentation, McNeil has done his home work. His bibliography is selective, comprised solely of books, but contains most of the major researchers:Robert Peterson, James A. Riley, John B.Holway, DickC lark, and Larry Lester among others on the Negro Leagues; Thomas van Hyning on the Puerto Rican Winter League; Michael M. and Mary Adams Oleksak on Latin American baseball; and Daniel Johnson, through correspondence, on Japanese baseball. Significant omissions include Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria's The Pride of Havana and Daniel Johnson's Japanese Baseball, which likely became available after this book went to press. More curious is the omission of Peter Bjarkman's Baseball with a Latin Beat. McNeil, however, is a conscientious, thorough researcher who synthesizes his material well, quotes liberally from his sources, and always acknowledges them appropriately. [End Page 128] Some minor fluffs keep Baseball's Other All-Stars from being perfect. Foremost is McNeil's tendency to repeat himself, often retelling certain details about the players he discusses. This is understandable, since many players moved back and forth through the Negro and Latin American leagues, acquitting themselves well everywhere they went, and McNeil needs to keep the reader who is skipping randomly throughout the book apprised. Nevertheless, the repetition can be distracting to the person reading the book straight through. Less understandable is his repetition, with definition, of...