A must have for fans of Baseball history
The research for “Color Blind” by Tom Dunkel is simply meticulous. If you are a fan of baseball history, I simply can not recommend this audiobook strongly enough. The author brilliantly describes the events that led up the 1935 semi-pro baseball tournament in Wichita, Kansas, and allows the reader to take the many trips around the baseball circuit. The often forgotten Bismarck team was a successful integrated squad that broke the color barrier years before Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut.
I have reviewed many audiobooks, but this was the first that compelled me to listen to it again immediately after the first reading. The narration is top notch by Ben Bertolone, who also did a magnification job reading “Pete Rose: An American Dilemma.” Businessman Neil Churchill used his resources to assemble a team that faced the likes of the traveling House of David team, Jamestown, and even traveling to Manitoba.
Dunkel establishes Churchill’s relationship with Abe Saperstein, who formed the magnification Harlem Globetrotters, another successful traveling attraction. Like Saperstein, Churchill recruited talented African American talent to draw strong crowds, even during the crippling Great Depression years. While traveling, Churchill adopted an all or nothing policy, which required establishments to provide service to his entire team.
Churchill spared no expense to attract both black and white baseball talent, such as future hall of famers Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith. The author shares stories that authenticates Paige as being one of the greatest hurlers in baseball history, regardless of color. even out-pitching another hall of famer, Dizzy Dean during an exhibition game. Dunkel clearly sustains that had Paige been white, he would have earned substantially more money in his illustrious baseball career.
If you are a fan of baseball, do yourself a favor, and give this exceptional work a listen!
By: Tom Dunkel
Narrated by: Ben Bartolone
Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
Publisher: Audible Studios