Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston

Rating:
Summary: And poor Babe Ruth gets all the blame!
Review: "Reverse the Curse" is a mantra in Boston to encourage the Red Sox on to victory -- but perhaps just WHO cursed the Red Sox and put them on the downward spiral is not that clear. Babe Ruth did not put some hex on the team, but rather management that refused to spend adequate time recruiting and cultivating African-American baseball players such as Willie Mays (WHO turns away Willie Mays???? Apparently the Red Sox did back in 1946!)

There are many examples of this throughout the 20th century: the racist belief that separate races fare better in separate leagues, booking the majority of the team in a hotel that would not accept an African-American so he had to stay 17 miles away from his teammates in anothert city -- in fact, Tom Yawkey was apparently so racist that the would not even allow for a minority to work ANYWHERE in Fenway Park, even as a janitor (the only other people I have heard who did that was the Three Stooges.)

Bryant rounds out the book with history of Boston itself -- how it is the cradle of liberty and at one point was heralded as a place for African-Americans as a place where things were a little more equal, but has quickly degenerated into quite the opposite (Boston was one of the first cities to desegregate its schools in 1855 de jure, but it was still separate de facto in the 1970s, resulting in riots.)

It's a very interesting and worthwhile book, whether you are a baseball fan or not.

Rating:
Summary: And poor Babe Ruth gets all the blame!
Review: "Reverse the Curse" is a mantra in Boston to encourage the Red Sox on to victory -- but perhaps just WHO cursed the Red Sox and put them on the downward spiral is not that clear. Babe Ruth did not put some hex on the team, but rather management that refused to spend adequate time recruiting and cultivating African-American baseball players such as Willie Mays (WHO turns away Willie Mays???? Apparently the Red Sox did back in 1946!)

There are many examples of this throughout the 20th century: the racist belief that separate races fare better in separate leagues, booking the majority of the team in a hotel that would not accept an African-American so he had to stay 17 miles away from his teammates in anothert city -- in fact, Tom Yawkey was apparently so racist that the would not even allow for a minority to work ANYWHERE in Fenway Park, even as a janitor (the only other people I have heard who did that was the Three Stooges.)

Bryant rounds out the book with history of Boston itself -- how it is the cradle of liberty and at one point was heralded as a place for African-Americans as a place where things were a little more equal, but has quickly degenerated into quite the opposite (Boston was one of the first cities to desegregate its schools in 1855 de jure, but it was still separate de facto in the 1970s, resulting in riots.)

It's a very interesting and worthwhile book, whether you are a baseball fan or not.

Rating:
Summary: Shut Out: A story of Race and Baseball in Boston
Review: As a baseball fan and a student of local history,I found the book to be both informative and entertaining. No fan of the Red Sox can deny that the organization's view on race has cost the team on the field. More importantly, Mr. Bryant points out that the city of Boston and the inability to deal with race has also played a part in the team's checkered history. I found that Mr. Bryant, a native of Dorchester, to be fair in assesing the team and the city's history. This book is very well researched, and it also serves as a great oral history of Boston and the baseball team.

Rating:
Summary: At Long Last
Review: Everyone in Boston knew this story for years, but until Howard Bryant decided to do the work and get it it down, it went basically untold. Top-notch reporting on a difficult subject makes this book special. It should be painful for Red Sox fans and it is, but it's also an indictment of the game - more than fifty years after Jackie Robinson baseball still has a long way to go. The truth hurts, but it shall also set you free.

His chapter on the role the media, particularly the Globe played in the story is particularly notable, as are the voices of so many of the affected Red Sox players, i.e. Earl Wilson, Pumpsie Green, Jim Rice and Ellis Burks, among others. It would have been easy to write a screed that could be easily ignored, but Bryant painstakingly pins the story to the ground, step by step. Anyone serious about baseball, fan or insider, should read this.

Rating:
Summary: A Hard Look
Review: Howard Bryant combines the research skills of a first-rate journalist with the eyes and ears of a skilled novelist to tell the sad story of institutional racism and the Red Sox. This is a book that is not limited to looking at just sports, though, he captures the mood of the city and its troubled times, often beautifully weaving in colorful anecdotes concerned with busing, the controversial Charles Stuart murder case, the prejudices of the media and the bottom line of big business.

He raises some fascinating points: Ted Williams paid a verbal tribute to the Negro Leagues when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Willie Mays still regrets that he and Jackie Robinson were never able to hit in a lineup with Teddy Ballgame at Fenway and Celtics superstar Bill Russell would often drive Red Sox utilityman Pumpsie Green (the first black to play for the Sox) around Boston, making acid comments about a city that found it so hard to accept African Americans.

This is a nicely done piece of writing. Give it a chance.

Rating:
Summary: best baseball book I read in 2002
Review: Howard Bryant wrote the best baseball book I read in 2002, a fascinating look at the history of the Red Sox, the city and the Boston media since 1945 as regards race relations. Great research, homework was done on the interviews, and this holds up even better now that new ownership seems to have embraced its message.

Rating:
Summary: Not well written
Review: I was very excited to read this book, being a longtime Red Sox fan.
But I finished the book being disappointed. Bryant's writing isn't very good, in my opinion. There are many times when he repeats the same thing he had just written, sometimes on the very next page. It reads like he wrote the chapters in non-sequential fashion, and forgot he had written the same thing earlier.
One thing that irritated me especially was the continued repetition of a person's first and last name. He'll say, "Jim Rice" in one paragraph, and "Jim Rice" two or three paragraphs later. "Rice" would have been sufficient!
There are a couple of decent chapters, especially the one about Jackie Robinson. But overall I found this book not very insightful.
He makes too many assertions without any empirical research behind it. A more thorough history of the city of Boston and its racial divides would have made the reader understand more why it has treated its black athletes differently.

Rating:
Summary: Shame on you, Boston..The CIty and the Red Sox
Review: If Howard Bryant?s book, ?Shut Out: Race and Baseball in Boston? were simply about the failure of the Boston Red Sox to integrate their team, it would have served a great purpose. This book not only creates in painstaking detail but also painful scenarios that have affected the life of not only the Red Sox fandom but also citizens of this misunderstood city.
Boston. Liberal? Perhaps. Tom Yawkey and the Red Sox. Racists? Perhaps. Bryant makes no judgement but presents the stories of many who have passed though Boston?s corridors of school systems, judicial systems and sports teams. The sum total are a damning and deserving indictment of a city slow to respond to equality but quick to jump to persecution of minorities.
The failure of the Red Sox to integrate and the lack of comfort felt by athletes playing and sometimes living in the Cradle of Liberty is painful and sad but true. This book is well written, doesn?t waste words and doesn?t let a clearly emotion inducing story shade the author?s opinions.
This book should serve as a textbook at high schools and colleges who want to bring a sense of history along with a primer of how journalism should be undertaken.

Shame on you Boston. The City and the Sox.

Rating:
Summary: Should've been a home run. It's a foul out instead.
Review: In my opinion, the exploration of racism in the Boston Red Sox baseball organization is just an awesome, interesting topic for a book. Unfortunately Howard Bryant, the author of "Shut Out", is a man not nearly proficient enough to tell the tale.

As has been mentioned by numerous previous posters, his writing style is that which annoying repetition replaces clear and intelligible writing that would require him to make a point only once. (I figured out that Larry Whiteside was the first black sprotswriter for the Boston Globe on the first time I read it, but Bryant reiterates THE SAME EXACT POINT roughly another dozen times.)

His fact checking as well leaves a bit to be desired--to wit, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson played for the Sox in 1967-68, and was not--repeat, NOT--ever a teammate of Jim Rice, who first made it up to the big club in 1974. A quick perusal of baseball-reference.com could've confirmed that fact for Bryant.

Also, whoever it was that edited this book should consider finding another line of work. Rarely have I read a book from a supposedly "legitimate" publisher (i.e., not self published) that contained so many misspellings, grammatical and punctuation errors.

According to the book's jacket, Bryant is a journalist covering the Yankees for the Bergan Record. This tidbit tells me one of two things: either (1) Bryant's writing style is inherently more suited for 600 word newspaper articles than a 250 page book, or (2) the Bergan Record is a crappy newspaper that will hire just about anyone who wants a job.

This book isn't all bad...but it's a whole lot more bad than good. I don't think I've been more dissapointed in a book in quite some time. I give this two stars; it would've been one, but I'll give Bryant credit for coming up with an intriguing topic, despite his inability to do it justice.

Rating:
Summary: The Curse of Yawkey and His Cronies
Review: My rating of four stars is based on my interest level while author Howard Bryant deserves five stars for his in-depth effort on the subject of the Boston Red Sox and the racial problems that have cast a cloud over the storied franchise. The author relates the story of the farcical tryout of Jackie Robinson at Fenway Park along with two other blacks in 1945 with the Red Sox using the excuse they couldn't sign Robinson since he would have had to report to a minor league team of theirs located in the south where he would have had to deal with a segregated society. The same held true for Willie Mays who could have been patrolling center field for the Sox. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey purchased the team in 1933 and surrounded himself with a trio of cronies and drinking buddies named Eddie Collins, Joe Cronin, and buffoon racist Mike "Pinky" Higgins. It is certainly true that racism was not limited to the Red Sox during the 1950's, but they were last in integrating their team with the signing of Elijah "Pumpsie" Green in 1959, and as long as the specter of Collins, Cronin, and Higgins were involved nothing was going to change. Yawkey, as owner was certainly no leader, as he entrusted his franchise to these three men and passively accepted their beliefs. Author Bryant also goes into detail on the experiences of Reggie Smith, Jim Rice, Ellis Burks, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, Luis Tiant, and Mo Vaughn during their stays in Boston. Some of the book covers non-baseball racially related incidents over the years, and how the team has suffered in trying to get free agents to sign with the Red Sox. When Pumpsie Green joined the club in '59 Ted Williams sent a strong message to teammates and other bigots by warming up with Green prior to the games. Seemingly little things like this can loom large when someone is trying to gain acceptance. Green, himself, summed things up quite well in the year 2000 by saying, "Sometimes when I think of the things people like me had to go through, it just sounds so unnecessary. When you think about it, it is almost silly, how much time and energy was wasted hating." This is not simply another baseball book, but one that provides a look into the Boston Red Sox' role in race relations involving their storied ball club. You need not be a fan of the Bosox, I'm not, to enjoy the book.