We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

• #21 in Best Baseball Books

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Nope. Sorry. Not fair. Kadir Nelson, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you've completely overdrawn your account in the creativity department. I could accept that you are one of the greatest living illustrators making his way today. I didn't even mind how young and talented you were. That was fine. But dude, did I actually have to learn that you were a remarkable writer as well? Now wait just one darn tooting minute here, buster. How fair is it that most of us schlubs can't drawn more than a stick figure or write more than a tortured haiku while you proceed to write AND illustrate what I'm going to have to call one of the greatest children's books of 2008? Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know how he has done it, but illustrator and first-time author Kadir Nelson brings us a baseball book that will make fans out the least sports-enthused children out there. Lush pictures, great text, and startling facts bring the story of Negro League baseball to life like never before.

Rube Foster was the founder of the Negro National League. Said he of his men, "We are the ship: all else the sea." All long as there has been baseball in America there have been African-American ballplayers. Men like Sol White and Bud Fowler. Before Rube Foster, however, there was no organized professional league. Then, on February 20, 1920, Rube called together owners of black baseball teams, like himself, and the Negro National League began. Through the collective voice of the players, we hear about these years and these men who played together. We hear about amazing plays, crazy rules, outright characters, and the greats. We hear about the hardships of being a player, including the low pay and the dangers of playing in the South. Finally, the book ends with Jackie Robinson, the integration into Major League Baseball, and end of the Negro Leagues themselves. With footnotes, a mass of factual information, a disarmingly engaging style, and portraits that'll blow you away, Kadir Nelson has produced his opus and we're all invited to watch.

We're living in an age where text and image are growing increasingly inextricable. Where a full-length novel like The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick can win a Caldecott and a Newbery winner like Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz is filled to brimming with illustration. Even graphic novels are gaining more and more respect every year. Into the midst of all this strides "We Are the Ship", and the result is a story that is just as strong visually as it is verbally.

Turns out, there's plenty I didn't know about the Negro Leagues. You could fill a book with what I didn't know (ha ha). Sometimes the facts Mr. Nelson found struck me as particularly interesting, though. Here then is an encapsulation of a couple that I found out of the ordinary and fascinating. In brief:

* Owners of Negro League teams, at the beginning, "couldn't afford to pay a man to just sit in the dugout," so team managers almost always played in games.

* Baseball players in the majors had more expensive balls than those in the Negro Leagues. Take into account the handmade bats the Major Leaguers got and you can see how many records these Negro League players could have beaten if only they'd had the right equipment.

* This should have occurred to me before, but when lights were made to provide for night baseball, suddenly "All those folks who had to work during the day were now able to see a baseball game in the evening." Hence, more money for everyone.

* When barnstorming in California and Cuba, the Negro League players would often play against "everybody from Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth." And they won about sixty percent of the time too.

* Those players who were drafted into the army could play baseball for the military in the Special Services rather than fighting.

* The East-West Game was, in a sense, the outdoor equivalent of Harlem's fancy nightclubs. "People who didn't know anything about baseball came to the ballpark in their Sunday best just to be seen at the East-West Game, you hear?"

There's something about writing about the players of the Negro Leagues that inspires an author to be creative. When Rich Tommaso wrote, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, it was a graphic novel written from the point of view of a sharecropper who was briefly a ball player. Nelson also avoids writing from the point of view of any one real-life person, preferring to use the single voice of the players in total. The title of this book is "We Are the Ship", the "we" in this case being the men on the field. This "collective voice", as Mr. Nelson calls it, gives us an omnipresent guide through a difficult time. It also serves to be much more engaging than a straight set of rote facts could ever be. There's something personable about the voice. It draws the reader in, particularly the child reader.

And as an author, Mr. Nelson could have easily have fallen into the trap of writing about the big familiar names like "Satchel" Paige and skipped the guys who didn't make it into the news quite as often. Chapter 5 (or "5th Inning") gives credence to men like Oscar Charleston, Dick Seay, Judy Johnson, Ted Page, and more. It can't talk about everyone and Nelson acknowledges this at the end. "But you know something? We had many Josh Gibsons in the Negro Leagues. We had many Satchel Paiges. But you never heard about them . . . Unfortunately, most of them will never receive the recognition they deserve. We can only hope the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown will someday open the doors to more of these fellows."

This being his first full-length written work, you might think that Mr. Nelson would be uncomfortable with text. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Chapters follow the history of the leagues in a chronological fashion, with breaks for facts about playing in Cuba or dealing with the Second World War. It's clear that the author also knows how uptight people can be when it comes to illustrations of real people. In his Author's Note, Mr. Nelson mentions that he employed some artistic license in this novel. This line in particular cracked me up. "I am fully aware that Cool Papa played center field, but the right-field wall is so visually interesting that I used a bit of license and placed him in front of it. Perhaps he was playing right field that day or he just chased a fly ball to right and stopped for a photo." In other words, quit your jabber jawing, people! The man knows his facts, and if he wants to move someone around the field, let him!

Credit the publisher with not skimping on the presentation of this book one jot. There are multiple two-page full color spreads throughout this story. There are pullout sections that reveal every player on the K.C. Monarchs and the Hilldale Club, as seen during the First Colored World Series on October 11, 1924. Remove the cover of this book and you'll see a beautiful imprint of the image on the bookflap. As for the back matter, there is plenty of it and Mr. Nelson puts it to good use. At the end you will find a list of "Negro Leaguers who made it to the Major Leagues", "Negro Leaguers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame", an Author's Note, Bibliography, Filmography Endnotes, and an Index that denotes references to illustrations with italics.

I can't believe I've gotten this far into the review without really talking about the illustrations. If I were to compare Kadir Nelson's work here to Norman Rockwell, a lot of people might get mad. To them, Rockwell represents a kind of twee Americana, heavy on the saccharine, light on the artistic merit. But Rockwell had an ability to capture a person or moment in time. Nelson's work is very different from Rockwell's, but he also knows how to capture a person's soul in a portrait. The men you see in this book are both weighed down by the events in their lives, and yet are buoyed by the very job they do. These are portraits of soldiers preparing for battle. Wilber "Bullet" Rogan sits heavy on a bench, his eyes almost entirely hidden under the shadow from his cap. "Satchel" Paige stands loose and lanky and long, mere seconds before throwing a trademark pitch. I cannot even begin to imagine how to draw portraits these intense without having the subjects there before you. Photographs, particularly those of the old and grainy variety, can only tell you so much. And then there are the moments of relaxation. Rube Foster and his Chicago American Giants disembark from a train as two boys look on in wonder. Newark Eagles owners Abe and Effa Manley sit in front of a group of men singing as their bus hurtles them to their next game. Nelson shakes things up, showing the men staring directly at the viewer or in the midst of the game one minute and then riding high on the shoulders of fans another, you never know what to expect.

I seriously doubt that Hank Aaron writes a Foreword for every book proposal he receives. Seems to me that he'd do relatively few. Yet with this book Aaron writes at the beginning, "When I read these stories and look at the artwork, I am flooded by memories of years past and grateful for Kadir's fresh approach to the subject." Children now have a chance to pay homage to heroes with cool names like Cumberland Posey and "Cool Papa" Bell. It's a one-of-a-kind book, the like of which you have not seen, nor ever will see again. A triumph.

Every now and then a writer of children's books comes along that understands the truth of literature for kids....tell a compelling story with honesty and energy. If Kadir Nelson had only accomplished this "We Are The Ship" would be a great achievement. In actuality, the wonderful writing in this book is just the tip of the iceberg. You could remove every letter of text on every page and this work would still sing! Each painting carries the reader away to a time and a place in a way I've never experienced before. You can almost feel the sun on your back and the wind in your hair. Do not make the mistake of thinking this book is just for kids. Its for everyone.

If a book will ever have a chance to win both a Newbery and a Caldecott - this is it! It better win at least one. A Coretta Scott King award is a slam dunk. Kadir Nelson is brilliant - as illustrator and writer. The early illustration of Jackie Robinson sliding home as a KC Monarch is just one of the opuses in the most unforgettable museum of illuminating art in a book! Bravo!

This is a marvelous book with literate text and outstanding art (I want a print of every illustration!) As a dyed in the wool baseball fan, I thought I was pretty aware of the Negro League - learned so much from this book - don't be mislead by the children's category - every adult I know who has seen it has bought it for themselves. I have this compulsion to stop perfect strangers on the street to tell them to read this.

I actually met Kadir's mother some years ago and have always kept one of his illustrations on my desk. As luck would have it, I heard Kadir being interviewed on NPR and decided to buy this book for my son. Well, this was ALMOST a present not given, as I fell totally in love with the fine illustrations and moved by the sensitivity and honesty of the text. This book is an excellent resource, as well as a powerful visual display.

I heard an interview with the author on the radio a few months ago and kind of tucked this book into the back of my mind as possibly interesting. Then when I ran across it in the bookstore I had to buy it. Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball in a wonderful way that highlights both the joys the players had in playing as well as the challenges they faced - everything from lumpy ballparks and crowded team buses to the difficulties imposed by segregation and prejudice. He tells it from the "we" perspective that gives it an atmosphere of a voice speaking from the past but also makes it sound personal. He introduces us to many of the greats, men who would have been stars in any league, like Satchel Paige, "Cool Papa" Bell, "Judy" Johnson, Josh Gibson - the "black Babe Ruth" (or was Babe the "white Josh Gibson?") - and many, many others. He includes information on those who made the Negro League possible, like Rube Foster, and some of the team owners. I also thought numbering the chapters as Innings (with "Extra Innings" for the final chapter) was a clever touch.

But the text alone isn't what makes this book so great. The artwork is stunning in this oversize book, and hardly a page goes by that doesn't have a full page painting (including one fold-out). Some are simple poses of the men on the field and a few show them getting off trains or riding on the bus, but my favorites are the ones that show the action of the game. Several would be good enough to hang on the wall (as reprints, of course, not cut from the book). It has a look and style of the old depression-era artwork that was used in murals and public places.

My little-league son and I have been reading the book and have both learned a lot. Of course, segregation is a recurrent theme, and it's embarrassing to me that this is how things used to be, but I think it's important that my children understand how it affected real people. But we both enjoy reading not only of the challenges faced, but also the joys they had in playing the game we both love and their triumphs. The forward by Hank Aaron and the part about Jackie Robinson are nice in that regard. This is a beautiful book that baseball fans of any color will enjoy.

This beautifully illustrated book chronicles the rise and fall of Negro League Baseball. Full-page paintings give you a real look at some of the most talented baseball players of their time (and possibly of any time). The writing is also awesome. Using a collective "we", Kadir Nelson speaks with the voice of all Negro League players, like he's been there and seen everything that he talks about. He uses a very conversational tone, like you were sitting on the back porch with any one of the players and talking about the things he'd seen. The book tells a story that is often neglected, a history of which many people might not be aware.

And that's why it surprised me so much that the women who played in the Negro League were not mentioned at all. I would have given this book a much higher rating, but it seems a glaring omission to me. Albeit, most of the action wraps up around 1945 when Jackie Robinson signed with the Major Leagues. And Mamie Johnson, Toni Stone, and Connie Morgan didn't join the league until somewhere around 1953. But it still seems like Nelson is doing to the women players what white people did to the African-American players... by neglecting to mention them, he's effectively erasing them from history. The subtitle of the book proclaims it to be "the story of Negro League Baseball". Why aren't women a part of that story?

I grabbed this book off the rack at my local bookstore in Silicon Valley and rummaged over the dramatic illustrations for many months before actually reading the book. I showed it to so many people before I actually started reading it from cover to cover. While I don't consider myself a died-in-the-wool baseball fan, I did read "The Glory of Their Times" (which many consider one of the classics of early baseball) and would rate this book well beyond that because of the visual impact of the illustrations. In fact, I think someday I'll probably think I understated the beauty and richness of this book.

I was really struck by the lack of bitterness in the "voice" of the author. How often the author would just be surprised by how hard some people would work to send a racist message - like the woman who sent over the cake inscribed with the N-word. And how white and black ballplayers really respected anyone who was really good at what they all loved to do - play baseball.

I also appreciated the candor about how some black players were really mean and would "cut you with their spikes if given a chance". That's the way they played the game and Kadir Nelson tells and illustrates the complete and wonderful story.

This book is set in the time between the formation of the Negro League by Rube Foster in the 1920's and Jackie Robinson's cross over to the majors in 1947. This was the era of the Negro League's time of greatest activity and fame.
Black baseball had its own superstars. These included Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and the great Satchel Paige. This was a period when Negro players frequently couldn't find hotels that would let them stay overnight or restaurants that would serve them. Frequently, they spent nights sleeping in their buses or in tents beside the road.
Not only is this book an intriguing account of Negro League Baseball, but Kadir Nelson's illustrative paintings are outstanding works of art.
The bind black players were caught in is illustrated by baseball's great white pitcher Walter Johnson's comment about the talented catcher Josh Gibson, "He can do everything. He hits the ball a mile. And he catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair....too bad this Gibson is a colored fellow." Gibson was so good that some people said Babe Ruth should have been called "the white Josh Gibson."
Nelson portrays the "triumphs and defeats on and off the field," as well as adding intriguing facts. Did you know that Satchel Paige had a wonderful singing voice? That Oscar Charleston was such a mean son-of-a-gun that he once snatched the hood off a Ku Klux Klansman? Or that Louis Armstrong owned the "Secret Nine" ball club and that Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was part-owner of the New York Black Yankees?
An especially moving part of this book deals with the exhibition and barnstorming games members of the Negro League played against white major leaguers: "I guess we beat those major leaguers as often as we did because we could out-think them. Baseball is a game of intelligence. For a long time, a lot of people thought Negroes could never play major league ball because they thought we weren't smart enough. It took them a long time to realize that nothing was further from the truth. Those major leaguers learned a lot by playing us, and we learned a lot from playing them. They learned we were men just as they were, and they would shake our hands and look us in the eye after we beat them, as did we. Maybe we did help change a few minds by playing baseball, after all."

I received this book as a gift from a colleague and I was thoroughly impressed by it. It's rare that I find a book that captures in both art and in words the majesty and legend of a time and a people. This is just such a book. Kadir Nelson's artwork lends a mythic strength to the men who were a part of the Negro leagues, capturing both their energy and most especially their quiet power. It is somewhat reminiscent of the WPA artwork that dominated many public facilities in mid-twentieth century America when these leages were prevalent. Like the themes of the WPA artwork, the ballplayers playing day after day, game after game - sometimes three or four games a day - are to be celebrated as much for their perseverance in hard work as for their significant accomplishments. Nelson's crisp and engaging narrative captures much of the gritty detail of those times, not pulling punches about the rough and less romantic aspects of the leagues, but also not trying to let the story be anything but the truth of the times. This is a story that will help you appreciate the reality of a time that has passed but also help you to get a sense of the power that these legendary players had in their era. It's a work of art, a fine piece of literature and a pleasure to own as a gift.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

heard about this book on NPR. They described the artwork and the author read a small piece.

I'm not a baseball fan but I felt that this was a book that I would like to share with my children (and possibly my local library)

The artwork is amazing! There is one picture where I feel like I could almost hear the crack of the bat.

This book would be great for any youth (or adult) that is interested in baseball history.

In We Are the Ship, the story of the Negro Baseball League is told through the eyes of one who lived it. It has all the facts and figures to surely be a historical baseball book. It also has all the stories and personalities to be a very personable and emotional read. The voice of "We" tells the story from the very conception of Negro League baseball through Jackie Robinson's joining the Braves. The author takes care to describe all the important characters - building their legends with vivid language.
If this book were its story alone, it would be fascinating. But it is also filled - and I do mean filled - with paintings of the league and its players, owners, umps, and bus trips. The paintings are GORGEOUS. I don't remember any children's book that had illustrations that made me stop to study them for so long. The portraits are so intense - Nelson has most of the subjects looking right at you - THROUGH you - and I felt drawn in to look at them as hard as they were looking at me.
As a book club book, I think Negro League Baseball would be a wonderful subject to study and discuss as a club. There are many situations in this book that would be wonderful discussion - even debate - material. It would be interesting to figure out how to read it together, due to its length and the fact that it is so gripping it demands to be read straight through. It is so good I will absolutely HAVE to share it with my students.
This is sure to be at the top of the list of Newbery contenders for 2008!

Although I am far beyond young, I initially purchased this book because of striking Kadir Nelson artwork I have on a jazz cd cover, "The Heavy Hitter," by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, an excellent, underrated 50s sax player. The cover features a Negro League slugger belting a long one, and that was what caught my eye. The music is fine, too.
Then, last spring, Sports Illustrated featured several more examples of Nelson's artistry, and I decided I had to have this work of art. The copy, though secondary and somewhat elementary for adults, still contains solid information on the leagues and players. Most baseball fans will still learn much they did not know about these unappreciated players and their times. For younger readers, it will be an impressive introduction to a part of baseball history they should know.
The art is superb, and the large pages make it even more impressive. I highly recommended this collection for all baseball fans and art lovers. This is one I will pick up frequently just to page through, and use as a reference for Negro League information. The price is right, too.
Overall, this is a labor of love, and the love shows clearly.

Mr. Nelson's illustrations/paintings are breathtaking. This book is absolutely gorgeous and a place I go when I need some inspiration.

Excellent publication. Graphics are exceptional. I plan to keep this as a keepsake for my grandchildren.