Buy new:
$19.20
FREE delivery Friday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
List Price: $21.99 Details

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Save: $2.79 (13%)
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Friday, May 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 5 hrs 10 mins
In Stock
$$19.20 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$19.20
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Monday, May 6 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by Dream Books Co.
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: Shows signs of wear. Jacket may be torn, cover may have creases, pages have some writing and highlighting. May have some water damage. May be a former library book. Ships direct from Amazon!

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime.

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you grow your business. Learn more about the program.

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Jules Tygiel
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy 25th anniversary Edition

by Jules Tygiel (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 65 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$19.20","priceAmount":19.20,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"19","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"20","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"XQk6wmmtQouqzaQ1anf0%2FE2EIb5GrlJukD6o7quqILw740SNgQ3wTJvduBV9pFf508d34zNlEhLdU7mPE%2FsjC1%2F2ZQs8BOXzHkrLuvXC6rgnur1WMed9bZ0mW6pHuyq53eM%2BJCMyOJA%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$13.41","priceAmount":13.41,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"41","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"XQk6wmmtQouqzaQ1anf0%2FE2EIb5GrlJuC9JZXDV3jBDJrmCsScRsc2w7cCtW519WaLUwDBQqJUewrfsd6mn2VDYDnxgYc6ecSOiDW6voETIPaoKkW7AV5otoTaXM%2FHKHC4h9x7en8ODLk8m1zGYPmtF8CuzHYUrOc%2FJ41rKEq8f8gHzhzHA69A%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

In this gripping account of one of the most important steps in the history of American desegregation, Jules Tygiel tells the story of Jackie Robinson's crossing of baseball's color line. Examining the social and historical context of Robinson's introduction into white organized baseball, both on and off the field, Tygiel also tells the often neglected stories of other African-American players--such as Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron--who helped transform our national pastime into an integrated game. Drawing on dozens of interviews with players and front office executives, contemporary newspaper accounts, and personal papers, Tygiel provides the most telling and insightful account of Jackie Robinson's influence on American baseball and society. The anniversary issue features a new foreword by the author.
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    0195339282
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0195339284
  3. Edition
    25th anniversary
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    February 27, 2008
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.9 x 0.83 x 5.53 inches
  8. Print length
    448 pages
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
$19.20
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It (Harper Perennial Modern Clas
$13.39
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Ball Four: The Final Pitch
$23.70
Get it as soon as Friday, May 3
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rich, intelligent cultural history.... The effect of Mr. Tygiel's lively narrative is to make us realize, or remind us in case we've forgotten, what a remarkable impact Rickey's experiment had on baseball." --The New York Times

"Rich, intelligent cultural history.... The effect of Mr. Tygiel's lively narrative is to make us realize, or remind us in case we've forgotten, what a remarkable impact Rickey's experiment had on baseball." --The New York Times

"Not only is this a book that is long overdue, but it turns out to be a book that is well worth the wait; it is comprehensive, perceptive, balanced--and into the bargain it is eminently readable." --Washington Post Book World

"Gives us the first in-depth, fully rounded picture of the successful integration of major league baseball." --The New Republic

"A thumpingly good baseball book." --Chicago Sun-Times

Book Description

An anniversary edition of one of the pivotal works on baseball and race in America, by the preeminent historian of our national pastime

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 25th anniversary edition (February 27, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195339282
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195339284
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.9 x 0.83 x 5.53 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 65 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jules Tygiel

Jules Tygiel

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
65 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

R. Cryan
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Classic, goes beyond 1947; extras in the 50th Anniversary Edition
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book celebrates Jackie Robinson's success, but also shows clearly that it wasn't all ice cream and cookies for Black players after 1947. It summarizes the prior history of the Negro Leagues, reviews the challenges of integrating the rest of the American and National Leagues and the minor leagues around the country (not just in the South), and what was lost as Black players and fans were co-opted from the Negro Leagues (at that time one of the largest and most visible Black-owned enterprise in the US) by the newly integrated, but still white-owned 'major leagues.'
The 50th Anniversary Edition has a short but valuable afterword.
Helpful
 Report
Solipso
5.0 out of 5 stars A readable and informative history of how baseball was integrated.
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
For the first half of the twentieth century, Major League Baseball pretended to be a monument for the Land of the Free's national pastime. But actually it was a shameful bulwark of segregation. BASEBALL'S GREAT EXPERIMENT is an enlightening chronicle of how American baseball became integrated--and therefore TRULY American.

Jules Tygiel's first chapter displays fireworks. Jackie Robinson's debut in the Dodger organization propels the reader forward like a fast-paced novel. Then the pace slows down and becomes history. In the next chapter Tygiel flashes back to the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, relating how the few blacks who played in organized baseball were gradually squeezed out. Tom Sawyer's fence got whitewashed.

In the third chapter, Tygiel returns to the 1940s and begins his detailed account of Branch Rickey's affair with integration and Jackie Robinson. It relegates 42--the recent movie--to the status of a peepshow. So if that movie is all you know about this affair, you know practically nothing.

For the last section of the book, you made need to apply yourself. At least I did. It is not quite a scholarly account, but it lacks the narrative flow of the Jackie Robinson section. Even so, it is a cornucopia of precious anecdotes. Baseball players that I knew only as faces on baseball cards became real people, afflicted with the adversities of prejudice and segregation. Can you imagine the great Henry Aaron having to pee alongside the team bus because he was not allowed to use the white restroom?

The trade paperback has disadvantages. Its small typescript may be troublesome, and its printed photos are poor. But the hardcover will not have Tygiel's "Afterword," which updates the book to 2007. Both editions have many footnotes, a bibliography, and an index. I generally skip the "Acknowledgments," but for this book it was worth reading. Tygiel tells how he got interested in the subject, and he reveals his authoritative sources of research. (For example, Dodger manager Walter Alston and Jackie Robinson's wife Rachel.)
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Gio
5.0 out of 5 stars Baseball as History
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2008
Verified Purchase
This is the book from which John McCain and his ghost writer "borrowed" most of the content, both of facts and of rhetoric, for the first chapter of McCain's "Hard Call". The ghost does acknowledge Tygiel, but merely in passing.

And this is surely the deepest historical biography of any sports figure ever written. Jules Tygiel is a professor of history at San Francisco State University, and the author of a fine dispassionate biography of Ronald Reagan, as well as the book "Baseball As History", which quite brilliantly examines the culture of America in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries through the lens of baseball.

You can read "Baseball's Great Experiment" simply for pleasure, as a baseball lover, or you can read it for historical insight, which it offers aplenty. It's a great irony that baseball and the army were integrated meaningfully long before corporate business, the mainline Christian churches, the federal bureaucracy, or academia!

Tygiel writes firm straight-forward prose, with a minimum of sermonizing (McCain's big fault as a writer) or academic pomposity. His portrayals of Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson are well-rounded and believable, with both their strengths and their weaknesses. Even if you have a total indifference to baseball, you'll find the human drama fascinating.

As for yours truly... Do it again, Red Sox!
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Who wrote the book
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a wonderful book about Jackie Robinson by an author who knew his subject well.
Helpful
 Report
Gary L
5.0 out of 5 stars Real Eye-Opener
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2007
Verified Purchase
THis is a wonderful book that I can't praise enough. If you - like me - have been putting off reading about Jackie Robinson and the other black baseball pioneers of the late 1940's and 1950's, this is the book for you. It's a shocking description of just what life was like for blacks at that time. It's a real eye-opener that needs to be read by all baseball fans and all students of American history.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Alan Cohen
4.0 out of 5 stars The story of the integration of baseball needs to be ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016
Verified Purchase
The story of the integration of baseball needs to be told again and again, especially in a time when a divided nation tends to forget how far we still have to go when it comes to respecting one another and accepting everyone into not only baseball but society as well.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jeff C
5.0 out of 5 stars book
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
terrific
Helpful
 Report
Martha Melk
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is a great book - you learn so much about the times - the history of baseball in this context and the
"players" in the struggle for equality. Wonderfully written - easy to follow and understand and not dry or boring or
"just for" baseball fans.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

ickledot
5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive academic account
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2020
Verified Purchase
for someone who doesn’t really know baseball, living in the UK, but is curious about the story of Jackie Robinson, this has to be the definitive account. Admittedly, you’ll have to Google some baseball terms but this doesn’t spoil the tale, in fact much seems quite familiar. The detail is amazing - those who only played a single game in the major leagues all have a mention and the main characters appear as rounded individuals, sometimes to their cost.
Overall, a great read. Thank you.
Report
HAPPYGrandma
2.0 out of 5 stars Purchased new, but got used.
Reviewed in Canada on December 3, 2023
Verified Purchase
Not sure how that happened but I got a used book. Through Amazon I’m waiting to hear back from the seller to see if I can get a replacement as the book is damaged on the front back and spine and has some highlighter in it. Otherwise, if the book was new, the cover has a nice look to it, but the photos inside the book are very faded looking so the quality is not what I expected. Font is OK not very dark and a little on the small side but the damage to the book and the poor quality photos are a big disappointment but if you don’t care so much for that quality and you want to read the contact of the book , I’m sure it would be good. It’s a gift for my son and unfortunately it’s past his birthday so I’m hoping to get a replacement soon just waiting on the seller and hopefully they’ll be able to help me out in someway
Report
Nick Vaughan.
5.0 out of 5 stars Jackie Robinson breaks the colour bar.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 25, 2019
Verified Purchase
Great book about the breaking of the colour bar in American baseball in the late forties, written by an American history academic, so is written with academic vigour.
Report