Public Employee Press

Book review
Choosing sides: Baseball, race and class

With the Mets in the World Series, we thought it was time to look at a couple baseball novels with labor themes that explore race and class.

In his novel "Hunting a Detroit Tiger" author Troy Soos introduces us to unions and baseball in Detroit in 1920.

While protagonist Mickey Rawlings, a utility infielder for the Detroit Tigers, was not interested in politics or unions, he began to see which side he was on after attending a lecture by Emmet Siever, a baseball union organizer and a member of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies), at the team's union hall.

After the talk, Mickey decides to meet Siever, only to find his dead body in a back room. The Wobblies think he murdered Siever.

Mickey is forced to clear his name by finding out who killed Siever, despite being warned off the case by the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner of the FBI), which is spying on unions. Solving the crime changes Mickey and his view of unions. But his main goal was still playing baseball, especially to play in a World Series game.

In another novel, written two years after "Hunting a Detroit Tiger," Soos tackled the growing racism in the country. In "Hanging Curve," Mickey is traded to the St. Louis Browns.

Fascinated by the skill of the African American ballplayers not allowed on major league teams, he plays for an amateur white team, which loses to a Black team led by pitcher Slip Crawford.

Soon afterward, Crawford is lynched in the African American ballpark in East St. Louis. Mickey is drawn into the investigation by an African American lawyer outraged by the crime.

While investigating the crime, Mickey learns about the racism growing all around him. Before the investigation, Mickey had given little attention to the segregation at Sportsman's Park, where the Browns played.

As segregation grew in the area, the Klan was also moving north to Midwestern states. Mickey's sensitivity about race grew through his meetings with legendary African American players barred from baseball.

Mickey ultimately solves the case. But the Browns lose the pennant to the Yankees. And though he didn't get a chance to play in the World Series, Mickey again knew which side he was on.

— Ken Nash,
Retired librarian, DC 37 Education
Fund Library, Room 211