Soul of Baseball, The

by Joe Posnanski
Category: "Sports"
Pages:280
Year of Publication:2007
Date Added:09/24/2023
Date Read:08/23/2025
Notes:Subtitle: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America

Buck O'Neil played Negro League Baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs. In the early 2000's, he was in his nineties, but still alert and active. He became the spokesman for the league and traveled around the country doing radio shows and interviews, speaking at functions, and appearing at baseball stadiums. Posnanski traveled with him for a year, recording his stories and memories, listening to his interviews, and watching how people reacted to him. Buck was always positive, always upbeat, honest about prejudice but never bitter. When he died, he had not yet been elected to the Hall of Fame, and was disappointed about it, but refused to get upset and even spoke at the ceremony when other Black players were elected.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for Soul of Baseball, The

Review - Soul of Baseball, The

Well-written, but too long. It quickly got repetitive. Buck sounds like a great guy, and his promotion of the Black players who weren't allowed in the MLB was a worthy mission, although I suspect that they weren't all as amazing as Buck claimed they were.

Reviewed by Roger on 2025-08-23 06:11:27

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