Overview

He was told that the color of his skin would keep him out of the big leagues, but Joe Black worked his way up through the Negro League and the Cuban League. He burst into the Majors in 1952 when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the face of segregation, verbal harassment, and even death threats, Joe Black rose to the top of his game; he earned National League Rookie of the Year and became the first African American pitcher to win a World Series game. With the same tenacity he showed in his baseball career, Black became the first African American vice president of a transportation corporation when he went to work for Greyhound. In this first-ever biography of Joe Black, his daughter Martha Jo Black tells the story not only of a baseball great who broke through the color line, but also of the father she knew and loved.

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Author Biography

Martha Jo Black is the daughter of Joe Black and the coordinator of fan experiences for the Chicago White Sox. She lives in Chicago. Chuck Schoffner is a freelance writer and a veteran college sports writer who worked for United Press International and the Associated Press for 33 years. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa.