MARBLEHEAD — The Abbot Public Library is soon to host an event that combines the history of America’s pastime and the fight for racial equality.
WCVB “Chronicle” reporter Ted Reinstein will visit on March 9 (7 to 8 p.m.) to discuss his most recent book, “Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier.”
In April of 1945, two years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, liberal Boston City Councilman Izzy Muchnick convinced the Red Sox to try out three Black players in return for a favorable vote to allow the team to play on Sundays.
The Red Sox got the councilman’s vote, but the tryout was a sham, with the three players not getting any closer to the major leagues.
Reinstein’s book tells the story of the heroes who fought segregation in baseball but were not well known, from communist newspaper reporters and Pullman car porters who made sure that Black newspapers supporting integration in professional sports reached homes throughout the country.
“It also reminds us that the first Black player in professional baseball was not Jackie Robinson but Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and that for a time, integrated teams were not that unusual,” a representative from the Abbot Public Library said. “And then, as segregation throughout the country hardened, the exclusion of Blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, and the battle for integration began anew.”
Reinstein is best known in New England as a journalist and reporter for WCVB Channel 5’s “Chronicle,” which is America’s longest-running, locally-produced TV newsmagazine.
“From every corner of New England, he’s found the offbeat, the unique, the moving, and the just plain memorable, all while telling the enduringly colorful stories of the region’s people and places,” the library representative said.
Reinstein’s first book, “A New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories,” was selected by National Geographic Traveler as a “Best Pick.” He is also the author of “Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds,” and co-author with his wife, Anne- Marie Dorning, of “New England’s General Stores: Exploring an American Classic.”
Reinstein received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brandeis University. He has two daughters, and lives west of Boston.
To sign up to attend this event, visit abbotlibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/author-talk-ted-reinstein/.
To read more about Reinstein, visit his website at tedreinstein.com, and view the ebook copy of “Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier”
at noble.overdrive.com/media/6483189 or the Libby app.
For additional information about the reading, visit www.abbotlibrary.org, email [email protected], or call 781-631-1481.
