Negro Leagues and African American Baseball Players

The Ernie Harwell Sports Collection began in 1966 when sportscaster Ernie Harwell made his initial donation.  Its holdings include books, team yearbooks, media guides, programs, scorecards and scorebooks, cards, clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, and artifacts.  There is a printed finding aid for the collection available at the reference desk in the Burton Historical Collection, and some of the materials are accessible through the library’s online catalog.

An exhibit area called “The Lulu and Ernie Harwell Display Room” in the Main Library houses a portion of the collection, including seats from Tiger Stadium and a mock broadcast booth.
Access to the display room is by appointment.  Please call the Burton Historical Collection at (313) 481-1401 to schedule an appointment.

The Lulu and Ernie Harwell Display Room

Detroit Stars jersey

Framed photos:

• Turkey Stearnes
• The Detroit Cubs, 1935
• The Detroit Stars
• Ozzie Virgil
• Willie Horton
• Lou Whitaker

Books

Anacostia Historical Museum.  Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia (796.357 S479)

Bak, Richard.  Turkey Stearnes and the Detroit Stars: The Negro Leagues in Detroit, 1919-1933 (796.357 B17t)

Brashler, William.  Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues (B G35837 B7 2000)

Chadwick, Bruce.  When the Game was Black and White: The Illustrated History of the Negro Leagues (796.357 C345w)

Cottrell, Robert C.  The Best Pitcher in Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant (B F811C8)

Debono, Paul.  An African-American Experience: The Negro Baseball Leagues (796.357 D352a)

Debono, Paul.  The Indianapolis ABCs: History of a Premier team in the Negro Leagues (927 D352i)

Dixon, Phil.  The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867-1955: A Photographic History (796.357 D646n)

Fox, William Price.  Satchel Paige’s America (B P152 F8)

Gilbert, Thomas W.  Baseball and the Color Line (796.357 G377b)

Heaphy, Leslie A.  The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960 (796.35764 H351n)

Hogan, Lawrence B.  Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball (796.35764 H678s)

Holway, John.  Black Diamonds: Life in the Negro Leagues by from the Men Who Lived It. (796.357 H747b 1991)

Holway, John.  Josh and Satch: The Life and Times of Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige (796.357 G358H7)

Irvin, Monte with Phil Pepe.  Few and Chosen: Defining Negro Leagues Greatness (796.35764 I72f)

Irvin, Monte.  Monte Irvin: Nice Guys Finish First (B I72m)

Kelley, Brent P.  “I Will Never Forget”: Interviews with 39 Former Negro League Players (796.35764 K287i)

Kelley, Brent P.  The Negro Leagues Revisited: Conversations with 66 More Baseball Heroes (796.35764 K287n)

Kelley, Brent P.  Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960 (796.35708 K287v)

Lanctot, Neil.  Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932 (796.357 L229f)

Lanctot, Neil.  Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruination of a Black Institution (796.35764 L179n)

Lester, Larry.  Baseball’s First Colored World Series: The 1924 Meeting of the Hilldale Giants and the Kansas City Monarchs (796.35764 L567b2)

Lester, Larry.  Black Baseball in Detroit (796.357 L567b)

Lester, Larry.  Black Baseball in Kansas City (796.35764 L567b5)

Lester, Larry.  Black Baseball’s National Showcase: the East-West All-Star Game, 1933-1953 (796.35764 L567b)

Loverro, Thom.  The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball (796.35764 L946e)

Luke, Bob.  The Baltimore Elite Giants: Sports and Society in the Age of Negro League Baseball (927 L963b)

McFarland & Company.  Black Baseball and Chicago: Essays on the Players, Teams, and Games of the Negro Leagues’ Most Important City (796.35709 B561)

McFarland & Company.  Satchel Paige and Company: Essays on the Kansas City Monarchs, Their Greatest Star and the Negro Leagues (B P152 s)

McNary, Kyle P.  Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe: 36 Years of Pitching & Catching in Baseball’s Negro    Leagues (B R11715M2)

Morelli, Jack.  Heroes of the Negro Leagues (796.35709 M815h)

O’Neil, Buck.  I Was Right on Time (B O58i)

Overmyer, James.  Queen of the Negro Leagues: Effa Manley and the Newark Eagles (B M3148 O9)

Paige, Satchel.  Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever: A Great Baseball Player Tells the Hilarious Story Behind the Legend (B P152m 1993)

Paige, Satchel.  Pitchin’ Man: Satchel Paige’s Own Story (B P152p)

Perry, Thomas K.  Textile League Baseball: South Carolina Mill Teams, 1880-1955 (796.35764 P429t)

Reisler, Jim.  Black Writers/Black Baseball: An Anthology of Black Sportswriters Who Covered the Negro Leagues (070.44979 B561 2007)

Rhoden, William C.  $40 Million Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete (796.08996 R346f)

Ribowsky, Mark.  A Complete History of the Negro Leagues, 1884-1955 (796.357 R357c)

Ribowsky, Mark.  Josh Gibson: The Power and the Darkness (B G35837 R3)

Ribowsky, Mark.  The Power and the Darkness: The Life of Josh Gibson in the Shadows of the Game (796.357 R357p)

Riley, James A.  The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (796.357 R453b)

Rogosin, Donn.  Invisible Men: Life in Baseball Negro Leagues (796.35764 R635i 2007)

Rust, Art.  Get that Nigger off the Field!: An Oral History of Black Ballplayers from the Negro Leagues to the Present (796.357 R922g)

Trouppe, Quincy.  20 Years too Soon: Prelude to Major-League Integrated Baseball (796.357 T757t)

Tye, Larry.  Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend (B P152 T9)

University of Nebraska Press.  Out of the Shadows: African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson (796.35764 O94)

White, Sol.  Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball, with Other Documents on the Early Black Game,1886-1936 (796.35709 W585s or 796.35709 W585h)

Wilson, Nick.  Early Latino Players in the United States: Major, Minor, and Negro Leagues, 1901-1949 (927 W695e)

Young, A.S.  Great Negro Baseball Stars and How They Made it in the Major Leagues (927.96 Y84g)

Biography Files

Clippings Files 

Photograph Files

Scorecards and Scorebooks

Bob Feller’s All Stars vs. Kansas City Royals

Scrapbooks

Horton, Willie