Boys of Summer Reading: Beyond the Shadow of the Senators

Brad Snyder’s Beyond the Shadow of the Senators tells an excellent tale of Negro League baseball in the decades preceding Jackie Robinson. Focusing on Washington, D.C.’s Homestead Grays and the community surrounding them, Snyder’s book contrasts the sad-sack Senators with the champion Grays and explores the difficult issues that surrounded the segregation of the sport in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Beyond the Shadow of the Senators brings stories of several Negro league players to life, notably Buck Leonard, the Homestead Grays’ Hall of Fame first baseman. Snyder follows Leonard’s path from his childhood in North Carolina, where he helps his mother raise three younger siblings, to the Negro leagues, where he hoped to raise more money for the family. After failing to catch on with several other teams, Leonard became an anchor for the Homestead Grays. The book chronicles his time with the team, much of which he spent as second fiddle to flashier teammates such as Josh Gibson. In fact, the parallel between Leonard and the Yankees’ Lou Gehrig was noted by many baseball observers, who characterized both as reliable players who consistently produced without calling attention to themselves.

At the close of the 1930s, Clark Griffith found his Washington Senators struggling to compete with the teams in the American League. His lack of money hindered his ability to field a successful team. While other teams were stocking their minor leagues as modeled by Branch Rickey and the St. Louis Cardinals, Griffith was attempting to generate revenue in any way possible. One of his biggest solutions was to recruit players from Latin America, particularly Cuba. The Cubans were willing to play for smaller salaries than many Americans, but it was often suggested that many of them were of African descent. With Griffith’s apparent willingness to cross into the gray area of Major League Baseball’s color barrier, it seemed likely that he would be at the forefront of integration.

It appeared especially likely that Griffith would be willing to integrate his team when he struck a 1940 arrangement with Grays’ owner Cum Posey for the Grays to play a number of home games in the Senators’ park, Griffith Stadium. The agreement became a quick success as Washington’s burgeoning African-American population took to the team, especially during World War II. By playing night games when the Senators were out of town, the Grays were able to attract fans who worked in government or wartime production and who wanted to relax after finishing their day shifts. Griffith Stadium, located in the LeDroit Park neighborhood in Northwest Washington, was the near the hub of the African-American community and was a natural meeting place for friends and families.

As the war dragged on and more players were called into military duty, a call went out for Major League Baseball to integrate its teams. One of the leaders of this movement was Sam Lacy, a writer for the Afro-American newspaper based out of Baltimore. After being led on for a few years about the need to slowly prop up the Negro leagues and prepare them for integration, Lacy became disgusted with the glacial pace of the movement and began hammering everything that he viewed as an impediment. His primary target was Griffith, who employed a one-legged pitcher and several notorious racists while ignoring the talented black players who played their home games in his own stadium.

The irony brought on by the continued success of the Homestead Grays was not lost on many African-Americans. While the Senators continued to languish near the American League cellar, the Grays rolled to numerous Negro National League championships and were easily one of the best teams in the league.

Posey, the Greys’ owner, was another character who eventually drew the ire of many people who supported integration. Snyder explains that Posey’s economic success was dependent upon the continued success of the Homestead Grays, and, naturally, the Negro leagues in general. Posey feared (correctly, as it turned out) that integration would lead to a tidal wave of defections as his players moved to more lucrative Major League contracts. In addition, because most Negro league contracts were not actually written down, it was virtually impossible for the owners to receive compensation from the teams who signed away their best players. Snyder’s book shows how baseball’s integration ran against the personal financial interests of some of America’s wealthiest blacks.

In sum, Beyond the Shadow of the Senators is a captivating book, with a story that is both important and interesting. The thoroughly researched book more fully explains the complex racial issues baseball was forced to confront during the 1940s. It is magnificently researched and superbly told, making it one of the best baseball books I have ever read.