With Black History Month here and baseball season just around the corner, I wanted to share two exciting books that celebrate legendary Black baseball players while delivering a fun mystery for young readers.
My latest Ballpark Mysteries books are perfect for Black History Month, featuring all-time greats Satchel Paige and Willie Mays—along with fascinating nonfiction about Black baseball players, the Negro Leagues, and baseball history.
Satchel’s Stolen Strike is set at Rickwood Field—America’s oldest professional ballpark and the site of MLB’s 2025 tribute to the Negro Leagues—this mystery follows Mike and Kate as they hunt for a stolen Satchel Paige baseball.
Willie’s Clutch Catch takes place the next day, at the same historic ballpark, their friend Buck—who bears a striking resemblance to Willie Mays—is wrongly accused of sabotaging the big game. It’s up to Mike, Kate, and Andy to clear his name!
Both books blend history, mystery, and baseball, making them great additions for Black History Month displays, young readers, and sports fans alike.
A Bit of Negro Leagues History
Early in baseball’s history, some professional baseball teams allowed Black players on their teams. By the late 1800s, white team owners started to prohibit Black ballplayers from joining white professional teams because of racial discrimination.
As a result, Black players formed their own teams and “barnstormed” around the country. That meant that even though they did not have a league to call their own, these Black teams traveled the country and played against teams that were willing to take them on.
In 1920, the Negro National League was formed in Kansas City. Other Negro Leagues followed over time, including the Negro Southern League, the Negro American League, the East-West League, the American Negro League, and the Eastern Colored League.
Not long after Jackie Robinson became the first Black player to play for a modern major-league team in April 1947, the Negro Leagues started to decline. Gradually, some of the best Black players joined major-league teams instead of staying in the Negro Leagues. Unfortunately, some players, such as Josh Gibson and James “Cool Papa” Bell, were too old to make the transition.
During the 1950s, as baseball became more integrated, the Negro Leagues lost talent and fans. Eventually, they went out of business. Some teams continued as “barnstorming” teams playing exhibition games wherever they could. The last Negro Leagues All-Star Game was held in 1962. And the last barnstorming Negro Leagues team, the Indianapolis Clowns, played into the 1980s.
Negro Leagues in the Hall of Fame
In 2020, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, announced that seven Negro Leagues were officially declared major leagues. That means that 48 records and statistics from Negro Leagues games between 1920 and 1948 are now part of the history of Major League Baseball.
Check out this Negro Leagues Electees page from the National Baseball Hall of Fame highlighting Hall of Fame players who spent part or all of their time in the Negro Leagues.