Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

This shares a bit in common with “The Golem's Mighty Swing,” another terrific GN by James Sturm. Both books are about minority traveling baseball teams. The story was effective and moving, but it was barely about Satchel Paige. I can see why this “bait and switch” was used because I don't know that I would have picked the book up otherwise. It is a good primer of athletics in the Jim Crow south.

This graphic novel is about the way that Satchel Paige fought back against racism, but it isn't told from his perspective. It is told from the perspective of a man who used to play baseball and got injured. Then he came home to earn a living and had to face some extreme racism. So we get see how people felt about Satchel Paige as well as the true viciousness of Jim Crow racism.