PRETEND THE BALL IS NAMED JIM CROW : the story of josh gibson

Joshua "Josh" Gibson (1911-1947) is a baseball legend--one of the greatest power hitters in the Negro Leagues, and in all of baseball history. At the height of his career, this trailblazing athlete suffered grueling physical ailments, lost his young wife who died giving birth to their twins, and endured years of Jim Crow-era segregation and discrimination--all the while breaking records on the ball field. Dorian Hairston's debut poetry collection explores the Black American experience through the lens of Gibson's life and seventeen-year baseball career, which culminated in his posthumous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Hairston brilliantly reconstructs the personas of Gibson and others in his orbit whose encounters with white supremacy interweave with the inevitability of losing loved ones. By alternating between the perspectives of Gibson, members of his family, and contemporary Black baseball players, Hairston captures the complexity and the pain of living under the oppressive weight of grief and racial discrimination. Emotive, prescient, and absorbing, these powerful poems address social change, culture, family, race, death, and oppression--while honoring and giving voice to Gibson and a voiceless generation of African Americans. Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Author’s Note Bottom of the First: 0–0 Manifesto for Black Baseball Players Smuggling Strength Naming Home Run #1 Night Visions Brooklyn Uncovered Dear Diary Papa Tells the Truth Premature Bottom of the Fourth: 1–0 Grays The Original Dodgers Seen It Coming (1951) Pregame Cut West Field Can’t Compete Trash Talk Bat Considers Considering a Strike Home Run #270 Dear Mama Your Enough Ain’t Enough Not Fit for Service Pregame Prayer Top of the Fifth: 2–2 Telegram to Pittsburgh Pirates Gator Belt Outfield Cot Worship Trucutu Perejil The Base Watch Winter Ball Bottom of the Sixth: 3–2 Crawfords Resurrection The Magician Battle of the Greatest Late-Night Ritual The Bats Speak Deep Breath Bottom of the Ninth: 3–2 Crawfords Living Will Youth Fountain My First Slump Mama and Her Daughter Let Us Be Home Run #800 and Something Extra Innings Cooperstown Where We Go The Walk Off Acknowledgments