Beyond the Shadow of the Senators

Book excerpt: The fight to integrate baseball began with Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. So you think... In Beyond the Shadow of the Senators, former Baltimore Sun baseball/news writer Brad Snyder reveals that the integration of baseball actually started in Washington, D.C., and not in Brooklyn, New York. Beyond the Shadow of the Senators is the fascinating story of the lost era of baseball between 1935 and 1947, when Ruth retired and Robinson smashed the color barrier by signing with Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers. It's the story of why the fight to integrate baseball began in Washington and ended in Brooklyn, why black Washington ultimately lost the fight, and why the Washington Senators -- the team most primed for integration -- were not the first team to employ a black ballplayer. It is also the story of Sam Lacy, a crusading black journalist who fought doggedly for integration; Buck Leonard, the black Lou Gehrig, who helped the cause of all black players on and off the field; Josh Gibson, the Negro leagues' most celebrated slugger; and Clark Griffith, the stubborn owner of the Washington Senators, who thwarted integration at every twist and turn. And, of course, it's the