Nappaland's BookBlog Review

SATCHEL PAIGE: Striking Out Jim Crow

by by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso

(Hyperion)

Reader Appeal: Kids to adults

Genre: Graphic Novel / Sports History

Ah, baseball. The American pastime. Well, at least it used to be. Baseball has kinda been on rough times for the last decade or so between strikes and steroid scandals and fan dissatisfaction. But there’s still a part of us that remembers and loves those sunny afternoons with friends watching the flailing of arms and hearing the crack of the bat. Satchel Paige caters to those fond memories, conjuring up an even more distant time, before Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play on a professional, white, major league baseball team, when the players of the Negro League rattled from game to game in old buses and played game after game against anyone who would play them.

Though the story is ostensibly about Leroy “Satchel” Paige, the black pitcher who, though not the first to join the major leagues, was one of the first to achieve national fame, the story is told through the eyes of a young batter, Emmet, who manages to get a hit on him before ending his career with a bad knee injury sliding home. The middle portion of the book focuses more on the situation in America at the time (Jim Crow laws, racism, segregation) and the ongoing struggles of the former ballplayer until coming around in the final pages to a confrontation on the baseball field that draws both end of the plot together. Satchel Paige leads a defiant display against the forces of racism, the villains go home humiliated, and our hero finds a bit of himself that he had lost again. All in all a nice, inspiring story.

Reading this story is a bit like reading “Casey at the Bat” or some other classic bit of baseball nostalgia. The story isn’t much more complex and seems to be aimed at a younger audience. Simple can be good, though. Like I said, it’s like reading a short story or a poem. The major set piece is the game at the end; the whole book is really just building up to that point. One could argue that the first part seems a bit tacked on because of that, but it’s all setting the scene, and it’s not poorly done. Really, it’s a shame we don’t get the story of Emmet in more detail; I rather enjoyed it, though it sometimes seemed to occupy a different world from the rest of the book.

The art in the book is pretty simple, which is in line with the country-speak of the narrative, and maintains the mood well. There’s nothing too spectacular here, but it all works as it should and is nice and evocative. My only complaint is that sometimes it’s a little hard to tell the characters from one another, due to the style (not that it matters too much in practice).

I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book, even though I’m not personally a baseball fan or American history fan (how un-American of me, tsk, tsk). Considering the length and cost of the book, it would have been better if it had been printed in softcover instead of hardcover, in my opinion. The payoff at the end of the story was good and it was a nice to get a slice of history in such a fun, easily digestible way. I could see this being a really great book for kids, since it teaches you and gives you a taste of the history of our nation in a very thought-provoking way but through a fun medium. Not every kid wants to learn about Jim Crow laws, but most kids can appreciate a good sports story (even I can, and I’m not a sports guy).

There’s lots to reflect on here, if not a lot of reflection (that’s left for you). After all, the subject matter is pretty heavy: broken dreams, racism, ambition, defiance. Reading through it roused my anger against the immoral and unfair attitudes and policies that were all too common in America until the second half of the twentieth century (not that everything is perfect now, but it’s better…). I’m sure you’ll find it provocative too.

Taken as a whole, this is a pretty good book. It’s not quite great, but it’s good for what it is and does what it sets out to do. Adults might find it a bit too short and simple to really capture their attention for very long, but reading it with kids should prove interesting and productive.

BOOKBLOG RATING: B

--MV

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.