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We are the ship all else the sea.-Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship of fortunes won and lost of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world play ball. Using an Everyman player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.