Reviews (1)

Great kids book, 3rd grade and up
This is a good book for kids (i.e. 3rd graders with good reading skills, up to 6-7 grades).My 9-year-old boy loved it, he couldn't put it down.We are white and it really helped him understand and empathize with what segregated America was like, and what a young black man had to go through to break baseball's "Color barrier".Great book for elementary school research papers.At 230 pages it's a substantial (not a quick) read, but the type is large and he motored right through it.It really kept his interest---he was very absorbed! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Jackie Robinson is a great person to learn about!
I found this book easy to understand. Since I'm only a young adult things written in this way are easier to understand,and a lot funner to read.

Great information for young people (and older ones, too).
After reading this biography of Jackie Robinson, I feel a renewed sense of understanding about the many injustices suffered by this proud man in the name of civil rights. Eloquently presented and at a reading level that middle school readers can understand, Jackie Robinson is a fine addition to any library. Despite a minor factual error, I recommend this book to a person of any age who seeks to increase his or her knowledge of the time period and of Robinson's life and work. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great Book..Great Player
In this book, author Russell Shorto presents the biography of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in major-league baseball.Born in Cairo, Georgia, Robinson encountered many hardships growing upuntil he discovered that he was very good at something: sports.Soon hispeers recognized him as a star athlete and treated him differently.Inhigh school, Robinson's talents extended off the baseball field into manyother sports such as tennis, golf, and track and field.After attendingUCLA, Robinson entered the war.His career in baseball began with theNegro National League, the first black baseball league to be formed.In1947, Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and proved to a suspiciousnation that African Americans can succeed.Faced with racial prejudice,Robinson beat the odds and became one of the greatest baseball players inhistory.Not only did Robinson improve the conditions for blacks inbaseball, he was instrumental in the civil rights movement.Moreimportantly, he proved that a poor black boy from Georgia could become ahero.

Astonishing
I thought that Russel Shorto did a great job writing this book.Jackie Robinson is a hero and that is what he made him out to be. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Basic biographies of Cobb, Ruth and Robinson for young fans
For my money there are two figures in baseball history who tower above everybody else, namely Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.In terms of changing the game you cannot find another player or owner who had an impact as great as the man who made the home run what it is today and the man who broke the color barrier.The only other thing that comes as close to impacting the game would be the introduction of night baseball at which point we are closer to requiring clean baseballs to be used and lowering the mound than we are to what Ruth and Robinson accomplished.

However, in "They Shaped the Game," William Jay Jacobs looks at not only Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson but starts off with Ty Cobb.Certainly Cobb personifies the way baseball was played before Ruth changed the emphasis from speed to power, but I would not make the case that he shaped the game in terms of changing how it was played.Willie Keeler was hitting them "where they ain't" and John McGraw had made using your head when playing baseball a key part of the game before Cobb's time.So I buy the idea of Cobb defining the game, but not shaping it into something new.

Besides, the argument that Cobb, Ruth and Robinson shaped the game is rather implicit in this book, which essentially provides short biographies of the three players.To demonstrate the impact Jacobs would have to focus more on those who followed in their footsteps.However, that gets reduced to Lou Gehrig and Roy Campanella respectively when it comes to Ruth and Robinson.What I was expecting was a more specific look at how Jimmy Foxx, Hack Wilson and Hank Greenberg were following closely on Ruth's heels and how Jackie Robinson opened the door for Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente.

As short biographies of these three players what you will find in "They Shaped the Game" certainly covers the highlights of their careers and will serve as introductory looks at each.I appreciate that Jacobs does not sanitize their lives, touching on Cobb's racism, Ruth's drinking, and the hate hurled at Robinson but leaves it to later biographies to fill in the details (a list of such books is provided in the back).The book is illustrated with black & white photographs of the players and if "The Shaped the Game" does not really prove its thesis, it domes demonstrate that Cobb, Ruth and Robinson all had the key common trait of being fiercely dedicated to what they were doing. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Jackie Robinson biographer Jules Tygiel has compiled a powerful batting order of prominent writers and those who knew Robinson first-hand--including Roger Kahn, Red Barber, black sportswriter Wendell Smith, Robinson's Olympic-medalist brother Mack, even Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson himself. Their perspectives help pierce the shadow cast by the legend and shed real light on the man. Barber's poignant recollection of his personal battle with racism still rings loudly a half century later, and Harold Parrott's "The Betrayal of Robinson" is an unforgettably harrowing account of the animosity directed toward Robinson that first season. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Essential for learning about Mr. Robinson
An interesting approach to an autobiography, "Jackie Robinson A Life Remembered" is a crisply written bio by one of the best baseball writers ever, Maury Allen.
What makes this interesting for me, was the personal recollections from his teammates and contemporaries, interspersed with linking passages by Allen.
It flows surprisingly well, and reads lightning quick, nearly as quick as the subject's speed from first to second.
One thing I came away with, is how heroic Mr. Robinson really is. He truly is a central figure in American civil rights; he might be the single most important figure, more so than MLK.
Jack Rooselvelt Robinson was a well-educated (at UCLA), impossibly skilled athlete who entered the national pastime when very little else held the attention of our country as a whole.
Baseball, for all intents and purposes, was the only sport there was. Football, baseketball, hockey...all in their early stages. Baseball reflected the USA.
And in the post-WWII era, our country was in pretty good shape overall. Life was good.
Then came this one man who challenged the conventional wisdom of the time, and by sheer force of will, changed the way millions of people thought about millions of other people.
And not specifically because he was black.
It was because he was amazing.
Rookie of the Year at age 28. He only played relatively few years, not making the trip out to L.A. from Brooklyn. He died prematurely, ravaged by diabetic complications.
He changed the world in a year. People came to see the "black Dodger". That lasted a year. Then people came to see "Jackie Robinson". Race not an issue anymore.
He was the last (the only) player who would get caught in a rundown...a "pickle" as we used to say as kids...and the outcome would actually be in question. Normally, the runner gets tagged out. Every time. A foregone conclusion.
With Jackie, with his stops and starts, head fakes and body lunges, it was a fair fight so to speak. You'd wonder who really had the advantage.
This guy stole HOME from time to time. Home. The single most electrifying stunt possible in a baseball game. The guy tried to beat THE PITCH home. And sometimes he did!
His life needs to be part of every child's basic history education.
He's a hero. ... Read more