Mar 25, 2013 08:48 AM EDT
Tom Dunkel Tells Story of First Integrated Baseball Team in New Book

Author Tom Dunkel brings to life the first integrated team stocked with legends, both black and white, in his new book "Color Blind."

Jackie Robinson was the first player to break the color line in baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. This put an end to racial segregation in the major leagues. However, according to author Tom Dunkel, this was not the first time racial segregation was broken. A decade before, Robinson, a team in Bismarck, was formed, which became the first integrated team stocked with legends both black and white. This team is now the subject of Dunkel's new book "Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball's Color Line".

Legendary baseball players such as Satchel Paige, Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, and Quincy Trouppe were some of the players who left some of the biggest teams in the major leagues to play ball for this team.

Neil Churchill, a successful automobile dealership owner in Bismarck, paid out of his own pocket to put together the best baseball team that he could, regardless of race, reveals the author in his book.

Talking about the integrated team in a segregated town, the author says, "That was baseball in Bismarck with that team. ... You're not going to find the same sort of prejudice you found in the Great South, but it was clear. There was certain parts of town [where] it wouldn't be a good idea for a black man to be at night. ... They could still not get served a meal in restaurants."

In his book, Dunkel also talks about a special team photo that was taken by a newspaper photographer before the team left for a big Wichita tournament in August of 1935. Dunkel says the arrangement of the players was what was most striking about the photograph. Infielders, which were mostly white players, were in front. The outfielders and the pitchers were at the back. There was only one white person in that back row, who was the left fielder Moose Johnson. 

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