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A book review of the new biography, Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Player by Jeremy Beer.
Oscar Charleston was a star of the Negro Leagues of the 1920s and 1930s, largely for the Pittsburgh Crawfords but also for others teams, then managed for several years afterward before his death in 1954. Like many of the Negro League players who did not make the major leagues, he largely faded from view after his death as the country buried those days, in equal parts uninterested and ashamed. It was not until the 1970s, after a special committee had been formed to elect a group of players from that time period, that Charleston got some recognition with his posthumous election in 1976.
That kicked off a period of interest in the old segregated leagues that continues today. Researchers began digging in to the period, first with oral histories, then with the painstaking reconstruction of what statistical records survived. Stories were told and published, and the world of the Negro League player, barnstorming the country and living their lives, came alive to a new audience.
Oscar Charleston was among the stories told, and he began to appear on some lists of the greatest ballplayers ever. That reached its peak with the publishing of Bill James' New Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001, where he named Charleston the fourth-greatest player of all time. With the sterling reputation of James in the world of baseball analysis, that got people's attention.
No one had published a thorough biography of Charleston, largely because of a dearth of source material. Charleston left behind no heirs to carry on his name or promote his cause. He had no depth of correspondence. Because of his death, so soon after baseball integration, he had little time to get his story out into the world of Major League Baseball. Some would speak of him, but there was no great paper trail, only scattered anecdotes.
Jeremy Beer undertook the task, a daunting one at best. He located family members and photos, dug through archives of black newspapers for scraps of information, and gathered all the information that could be found. What he has produced is far from perfect and sometimes unsatisfying, but is certainly as good as anyone could have done, and I thank him for it.
The coverage of Charleston's career is good, because that is what exists in the available material. For biographical material such as birth and marriage records and family, Beer has often had to turn to census records, which are not always accurately reported. He has filled these in with the best reconstructions available. This book is the best synthesis of the life of Oscar Charleston possible.
It's a really good book. I wish it could be better, but that's the best we can do with the information that exists. Beer puts the information together in a readable style, mentions but rejects the clear apocryphal material, and forges ahead to stitch together a smooth whole.
If you are interested in baseball history, the Negro Leagues, or the segregated US of the first half of the 20th century, you will enjoy this book. Highly recommended.

posted by Shawn Weaver at 2:09 PM