Beyond the Shadow of the Senators










		Awards: Society of American Baseball Research Finalist, 2004 Seymour Medal, awarded to best book of baseball history or biography Society of American Baseball Research's Negro League Committee 2003 Robert Peterson Recognition Award Spitball Magazine Finalist, 2003 CASEY Award, one of year's ten best baseball books Elysian Fields Quarterly Finalist, 2003 Dave Moore Award, one of year's best baseball books Booklist Top Ten African American Nonfiction Titles of 2003 "The story of trying to bring the star of the Negro League team that played in the Washington Senators' park when the Senators were on the road onto the major-leaguers' roster may be a little-known side skirmish in the fight to integrate the national pastime, but it's fascinating." Reviews/Other Press: Time Magazine article from April 11, 2005 Baseball in D.C.: Pitching to Black Fans (Quote) Newark Star-Ledger article from April 10, 2005 For Washington, Time to Have a Ball (Quote) Philadelphia Inquirer article from April 4, 2005 Nationals Begin New Chapter by Rehashing Some History (Quote) San Jose Mercury News article from April 2, 2005 Washington is Ready for Some Baseball -- But is Everybody? (Quote) Washington Times review from April 2, 2005 Back in the Days of the Grays Seeingblack.com article from March 4, 2005 Playwright Hits Home Run with "LeDroit's Home Team" (Scroll Down) Virginian-Pilot article from October 24, 2004 Reviving Glory of D.C. Grays (Quote) Washington Jewish Week article from October 7, 2004 Root, Root, Root for the Home Team (Quote) Salon.com article from October 4, 2004 Clarification: The Washington Grays (Scroll Down) Washington Post article from October 3, 2004 Gray Days Ahead for Washington? (Scroll Down) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from October 3, 2004 Could the Homestead Grays come back to life in Washington, D.C.? DCMilitary.com article from October 1, 2004 D.C. Baseball: Selig gives Expos blindfold, cigarette Black Athlete Sports Network review from September 3, 2004 BASN Book Review: Beyond the Shadow of the Senators Voice of the Hill article from September 2004 Washington's Homestead Grays and the Integration of Baseball Washington Times article from July 31, 2004 Why not Hail the Grays? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from July 25, 2004 Group Seeking to Revive Grays' Name (Quote) Washington Post article from July 18, 2004 All the Signs Say the Expos Belong Here (Quote) Baseball Think Factory review and interview from June 22, 2004 A Conversation with Brad Snyder (Interview) Boys of Summer Reading: Beyond the Shadow of the Senators (Review) Baseball Author Harvey Frommer's review from March 5, 2004 Taking on the Yankees and Other Baseball Reads (Scroll Down) Cincinnati Enquirer article from February 27, 2004 Baseball dinner puts writers at the plates Duke Magazine review from January-February 2004 Snyder has dusted off a story long forgotten... (Scroll Down) Washington Post article from November 5, 2003 For Seamheads, Enjoyable Distractions (Archive--fee required) WAMU Radio (NPR Washington) interview from June 24, 2003 Interview with WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi (Real Audio Format) Mudville Magazine review from May 2003 Once They Were Kings (Scroll Down) New York Times Book Review from May 25, 2003 Before You Could Say Jackie Robinson (Free Registration Required) New York Times article from May 2003 Baseball Books: A Reading List (Free Registration Required) Washington Times article from May 12, 2003 Writer Sam Lacy played key part integrating baseball (Quote) National Public Radio review and interview from May 3, 2003 Only a Game: Beyond the Shadow of the Senators (Print Review) Interview with NPR's Bill Littlefield (Real Audio Format) Africana.com review from April 29, 2003 Brad Snyder's compelling history chronicles the rise of baseball, both black and white, in Washington, D.C. Sacramento Bee review from April 6, 2003 Runs, Hits and Eras--The Season's Best Baseball Books (Scroll Down) Washington City Paper review from March 28, 2003 Grays Area (Adobe Acrobat Format) Christian Science Monitor review from March 20, 2003 Stars Kept in the Dark Washington Jewish Week article from March 13, 2003 Author: Failure to integrate cost D.C. the Senators New York Press review from March 12, 2003 Shades of Grey; The little-known team that integrated baseball New York Lawyer article from March 12, 2003 Associate Makes Baseball History (Excerpt from Legal Times) St. Petersburg Times review from March 9, 2003 Take a swing at some baseball books Philadelphia Daily News article from March 04, 2003 The Great Baseball Team that Played in D.C. Legal Times feature from March 04, 2003 Making a Baseball History (Free Registration Required) Legal Times review from March 04, 2003 The Forgotten Champions (Free Registration Required) Washington Times review from February 16, 2003 Book on Homestead Grays looks at segregation in D.C. Washington Times article from February 11, 2003 Griffiths to blame for 32-year hiatus? USA Today's Sports Weekly, March 19, 2003 It is one of the game's ultimate ironies: the Negro leagues' greatest dynasty playing in the same city as the major leagues' perennial patsy (" Washington--first in war, first in peace and last in the American League"--the oft-told one-liner about the woeful Senators). The Grays of Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard were superior to their AL counterparts both on the diamond as well as at the box office, yet baseball's color barrier kept the two teams from ever competing. Brad Snyder uncovers a fascinating yet forgotten slice of history with his tale of the struggle for integration in the nation's capital, the heroic black sportswriters who led that crusade and why their noble efforts ultimately failed. -David Plaut Library Journal, Baseball Round-Up, February 2003 Beyond the Shadow of the Senators: The Untold Story of the Homestead Grays and the Integration of Baseball. Highlighting the efforts by two African American sports columnists to integrate baseball in Washington, DC, Snyder discusses the reluctance of Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith to end Jim Crow baseball in the nation's capital. Griffith benefited financially from renting his home ballpark to the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues. Those who witnessed the Grays perform at Griffith Stadium saw such great ballplayers as Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson and also insured profitability for Griffith, whose woeful Senators were unable to do so on their own. An original work. Booklist, Starred Review, February 2003 Historical accounts of major league baseball's integration too often begin and end with one white owner, Branch Rickey, and one black player, Jackie Robinson. But, as with any significant historical milestone things are never as simple as they seem. Snyder, who covered baseball for the Baltimore Sun, spent 10 years researching a little-known side skirmish in the battle to integrate the national pastime, one that took place in the shadow of the federal government. This struggle involved the white owner of the major-league Washington Senators, Clark Griffith, who was not as evil as he was penurious, and a black player, Buck Leonard, who was a more talented player than Robinson and probably every bit as courageous. The wild card in the Washington mix was Sam Lacy, a black journalist inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1997. Lacy, an eloquent supporter of integration, covered the Homes-tead Grays, a Negro League team that played in Griffith's ballpark when his Senators were on the road. Griffith vigorously opposed major-league baseball's integration because the rent from the Grays kept his other team afloat. Leonard, the star of the Grays, often referred to as the "black Lou Gehrig," was thought by many to be the logical choice to integrate the game. Snyder weaves the personal stories of Lacy, Griffith and Leonard into a textured account of a time when baseball symbolized the nation at large and when those with vision understood the implications of integrating an experience shared by so many Americans. A fascinating little-known chapter in the familiar story of baseball's color line. -Wes Lukowsky Publishers Weekly, Starred Review, February 2003 Snyder looks at the roots of Jackie Robinson's integration of major league baseball, but examines that historic event from a variety of angles. This well-documented and enjoyable account illuminates the life of Sam Lacy, a crusading black journalist for a Washington, D.C., black weekly, and his efforts to force major league baseball to integrate. But the book is also a fascinating and largely untold story about the unholy but profitable alliance between Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, and the dynamic but shady Negro League team owner Cum Posey, founder of the Homestead Grays, a storied Negro League franchise founded in Pittsburgh. Using the burgeoning black middle class of WWII Washington, D.C., as a social backdrop, Snyder details how Negro League owners like Posey allied themselves financially with white Major League owners, renting segregated Major League ballparks (at exorbitant rates) for their Negro League teams while the white teams were on the road. The practice became particularly profitable in Washington after Posey moved his Homestead Grays (and such black stars as Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson) to D.C. from Pittsburgh in 1940. Disgusted by the Senators' racist owners and the team's inept play, black fans flocked to the pennant-winning Grays' games, which outdrew the Senators' games. Snyder also sketches the lives of great players like Buck Leonard with great sensitivity, insight and historical context. The book tells two stories: one is how the Griffiths, a legendary baseball family, killed baseball in Washington, D.C., through their own narrow-minded greed and racism; the other is the story of Lacy and Wendell Smith, his fellow black Hall of Fame sportswriter, and the extraordinary black athletes of the Negro Leagues and their determination to play baseball at its highest level.