Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

by James Sturm, Rich Tommaso (Illustrator)

Overview

Baseball Hall of Famer Leroy "Satchel" Paige (1906 - 1982) changed the face of the game in a career that spanned five decades. Much has been written about this larger-than-life pitcher, but when it comes to Paige, fact does not easily separate from fiction. He made a point of writing his own history . . . and then re-writing it. A tall, lanky fireballer, he was arguably the Negro League's hardest thrower, most entertaining storyteller and greatest gate attraction. Now the Center for Cartoon Studies turns a graphic novelist's eye to Paige's story. Told from the point of view of a sharecropper, this compelling narrative follows Paige from game to game as he travels throughout the segregated South.

In stark prose and powerful graphics, author and artist share the story of a sports hero, role model, consummate showman, and era-defining American.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368042895
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/23/2019
Series:	The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	398,997
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.90(h) x 2.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

James Sturm is a cartoonist and the cofounder of The Center for Cartoon Studies. His graphic novels include The Golem's Mighty Swing, Market Day, and Off Season. His picture books for children include Ape and Armadillo Take Over The World, Birdsong, and the Adventures in Cartooning series (with Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost).

Rich Tommaso started writing and drawing original comics and graphic novels in 1993. He is mostly known for his series of crime novels, the first of which was Clover Honey. Since then, he has penned a few more crime books, including Sam Hill: The Cavalier Mr. Thompson, Dark Corridor, and Dry County. At the moment he is drawing a new, but classically-styled, Dick Tracy comic series with Mike, Lee, and Laura Allred. Aside from his crime work he's made a dozen other comics and graphic novels in various genres, including Spy Seal, She Wolf, Vikings' End, Don't Look Back, 8 1/2 Ghosts, Perverso!, The Horror of Collier County, and a humorous travel book called Let's Hit the Road. He lives in Atlanta, GA with his girlfriend, Amy, and their two cats.

Editorial Reviews

"Sturm's text poignantly conveys the quiet bitterness of his hero, and Tommaso's spare, two-tone drawings brilliantly contrast the physical beauty of the old, rural South with the savagery of its social institutions."- The New York Times Book Review

"Numerous books have been written about Satchel Paige and Jim Crow laws, but this book, with its strong graphics is in another league-perfection."- Library Media Connection

* "By emphasizing Paige's influence and mythos rather than focusing on details about his life or career, Sturm and Tommaso offer a powerful and unique testimony to his legacy."- Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "[T]his graphic novel . . . imparts as clear a picture of the aggressive style of black baseball as it does of the realities of life in the rural Deep South in Paige's barnstorming heyday."- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "This visually powerful, suspenseful, even profound story makes an excellent choice for readers interested in baseball or in the history of race relations."- Booklist, starred review

"Raw and memorable."- Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

It's a haunting story in which Sturm's text poignantly conveys the quiet bitterness of his hero, and Tommaso's spare, two-tone drawings brilliantly contrast the physical beauty of the old, rural South with the savagery of its social institutions. An abiding air of menace hangs over the story like a gathering storm cloud. The authors refuse to look away from anything, not even lynching, although the material remains suitable—even vital—for most children. Paige himself is as elusive here as he was in real life, but Sturm and Tommaso, along with an excellent introduction by Gerald Early, provide a telling glimpse of this consummate showman, entrepreneur and competitor, who pitched into his mid-60s and against all odds managed to rise above both the black game and the white one.
—The New York Times

Kevin Baker

Gr 8 Up
Satchel Paige, the great pitcher who flourished both in the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues, gets his own graphic novel. Told in flashback, the story takes place during the Jim Crow days where baseball was a genteel pastime, with the elderly seated under shady grandstands while black players abided the sickening and arbitrary restrictions placed on them. A period piece rather than a biography, the narrative captures the daily action of sporting contests against local racists and Paige's dignity and resilience. Baseball and small-town Southern life are both slow paced, and this title moves slowly too-frames depicting Paige tying his shoelace or pitches that go for balls may seem out of place, but they set the pace and mood for this affecting look into a near forgotten way of life. The stylized art is an absolute gem, resembling Chris Ware's work, with many repeated images and sequential frames that change only slightly across the page. Paige's mystique as a lifelong survivor in the brutal world of early- to mid-20th-century race relations and sport will attract readers. The depiction of what daily life was like during this period is the real subject of this title, and it should be a marvelous discovery for teens.
—John LeightonCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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