R. Lee Procter

Procter's novelized account of a factual series of events in Negro League baseball history is meticulously researched and compulsively readable. It is clearly a labor of love and will be enjoyed by fans and all those fascinated (as I am) with the history of the sport, and those who want to learn more about the Negro Leagues.

I was hooked from page one. The story is told from the point of view of Clyde "Peanut" Wiggins, a 12-year-old who works part-time as a numbers runner (his mom has sewed special pockets in his pants for the change, and he keeps all the numbers in his head, so there will be no evidence if he gets caught!). Clyde is smitten with the Pittsburgh Crawfords and is the editor, publisher and sole reporter for a neighbourhood broadsheet about them. All this we learn in the first couple of pages. Peanut's written prose is sprinkled with fantastical baseball jargon: "ace twirler", horsehiders, diamond bugs. The voice is, throughout, believable and authentic, as are the voices of the other characters, notably the great and sadly forgotten slugger, Josh Gibson.

We live, happily, in an era beyond the time of horrific lynchings and also beyond (though that is highly dubious) the blight of racism. We live in a time where I can read Procter's terrific opening pages and use Google to learn about Greenlee Field, and then open Streetview to take a walk along Bedford Street, near Josh Gibson Field, and look at the housing project that now stands where the Negro League team's home field once existed.

When I was growing up in Montreal, we mostly heard little about baseball. Hockey was number one, football (CFL), such as it was, number two. We only paid attention to baseball at World Series time. The Royals, where Jackie Robinson broke in, were gone along with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It took me some time and effort, as a kid, to acquire a baseball fixation, aided by late-night radio games over such stations as the clear-channel voice of the Cardinals, KMOX 1120, and Harry Caray.

As far as Satchel Paige: I do remember him pitching, amazingly enough (I was fourteen), in his one appearance for the A's:

"... in the 1965 season, A’s owner Charlie Finley signed Paige for one game.

"On Sept. 25, in front of 9,289 fans at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium, Paige faced started against the Red Sox and faced 10 batters, 'relaxing' in a rocking chair between innings.

"But Paige’s performance was no joke. He allowed a first-inning double to Carl Yastrzemski, but retired the Red Sox in order in both the second and third innings – including a strikeout of Boston pitcher Bill Monbouquette.

"Paige even came to the plate himself, striking out.

"Paige was removed to the game prior to the fourth inning, leaving the field to a standing ovation."

https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/satchel-paige-pitches-at-age-59#:....

Paige figures largely in this book, in which many of the astonishing details are actually grounded in the true history of the events.

Procter's truth vs fiction postscript, along with its bibliography, is eye-opening. It includes a reference to a novel by the Haitian-American writer Edwige Danticat which I would very much like to follow up on, based around the Parsley Massacre, about which I knew nothing.

There is this, also, which talks about the events in Procter's book:

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/6/loverro-satchel-paige/

And there is also another book, also titled Sugarball, by Allen Klein:

https://www.amazon.com/Sugarball-American-Game-Dominican-Dream/dp/0300052561

Dizzy Dean playing for white teams on barnstorming tours against Negro League teams ? Yes, that is true. I remember him solely as the color commentator, along with Pee Wee Reese, on Saturday afternoon TV broadcasts of games when I was a kid.

I recently came across a piece by Jeffrey St Clair (another baseball diehard) on Counterpunch.org about Bob Gibson, the legendary Cardinals pitcher, and the racial discrimination he encountered as late as the 60s:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/02/26/why-bob-gibson-became-a-globetrotter/

From Procter's postscript:

"Satchel Paige’s outrageous routine of bringing in the outfielders, telling the batter what he was going to throw and reducing the size of home plate to a sliver of chewing gum wrapper on the plate – true?

"A: True"

There is much more; the book is a delight from start to finish.… (altro)

Got this free for an early review, and the first few chapters I thought it seemed implausible. But I really warmed to it. The writing is not fantastic, but the endearing characters and lively plotting and sheer chutzpah of the story made up for any lack of sophistication. Then I got to the Afterword, where the author explained exactly what was fact and what was fiction and his assessment of the likelihood of the fictional parts occurring, and why he had written this novel. (Basically, two extraordinary real life events happened in the same city at the same time, and the novel posits that there is overlap between them in an audacious "but what if?" I really enjoyed it.… (altro)

In 1937 Rafael Trujillo, the murderous dictator of the Dominican Republic, recruited some of the great stars of Negro League baseball, including Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson, to play in his country’s National baseball tournament. R. Lee Proctor’s Sugarball: A Novel of Negro League Baseball is a wonderful work of historical fiction that brings to life this remarkable episode in baseball history. Proctor’s dedicated research into Negro League history is evident throughout with personalities that ring true and accurate period details. This is a fun and satisfying read, particularly for those with an appreciation of the Negro Leagues.… (altro)