Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues

Black Diamond is a great book. I've had this volume for many years, but never gotten to it. Sports and baseball aren't my hot buttons. I do love basketball, but baseball is a sport I love to view in person, as it really is America's greatest pastime. There's nothing quite like traveling to a ballpark on a nice day, walking into the ballpark, selecting a nice lunch and going to sit in an admittedly cramped seat amongst friends to watch a bunch of guys through, hit and catch balls all day long. It's relaxing, it's all american, it's pleasant, it's family-friendly, sometimes it's a little raucous, but classic, fun entertainment.

Black diamond reveals what it was like for African Americans under segregation, Jim Crow, and other terrible racist practices. It follows these men and a few women, as they navigate the difficult landscape, where a lot of amazing players had to put up with terrible conditions, difficult travel, cruelty, poverty, and other adverse circumstances.

This book is interesting, tragic, uplifting, funny, and I loved every minute of reading it, but it could have had more depth, and told more about the personal stories of these players, not withstanding I don't know that a lot of data is around because these guys want chronicled maybe as much as white players and teams unfortunately.

As such, I have decided to write historical fiction on this subject, and if anyone would like to help contribute to the book, I am a caucasian, so I could use some help in writing faithfully about an experience that I'm not as informed about as I could be.