Indian summer : the forgotten story of Louis Sockalexis, the first native American in major league baseball / Brian McDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McDonald, Brian (Brian Vincent)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sockalexis, Louis, 1871-1913.

Sockalexis, Louis.

Baseball players--United States--Biography.

Baseball players.

Indian baseball players.

United States.

Indian baseball players--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

x, 244 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

[Emmaus, Pa.] : Rodale ; [New York] : Distributed to the book trade by St. Martin's Press, [2003]

Summary:

It is our national pastime, a sport as American as apple pie. Yet until now no one has told the story of the Native American who first played it, just 7 years after Wounded Knee and half a century before Jackie Robinson broke the league's color barrier. His name was Louis Francis Sockalexis, grandson of a Penobscot chief. The story goes that he developed his amazing arm throwing rocks across a lake near his home in Old Town, Maine. In 1897, he was signed by the team then known as the Cleveland Spiders and was considered one of the finest "natural athletes" ever seen in the game until alcohol -- and perhaps the mix of fame and racist hatred from some fans -- took its toll. Years later, after his near anonymous death, the team would change its name to the Cleveland Indians in his honor.

McDonald's vivid writing brings to life the raucous stadiums from the turn of the century, filled with rowdy fans, hard-drinking players, and corrupt team owners with ties to organized crime.

ISBN:

1579545874

OCLC:

51028943