Opening Day - by Jonathan Eig (Paperback)

About the Book

This detailed, authoritative account of one of the most important seasons in baseball history chronicles the day when, in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and played first base for the Dodgers. "Opening Day" is being published on that 60th anniversary of the game.

Book Synopsis

This bestselling account of the most important season in baseball history, 1947, tells the dramatic story of how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and changed baseball forever.

April 15, 1947, marked the most important opening day in baseball history. When Jackie Robinson stepped onto the diamond that afternoon at Ebbets Field, he became the first black man to break into major-league baseball in the twentieth century. World War II had just ended. Democracy had triumphed. Now Americans were beginning to press for justice on the home front--and Robinson had a chance to lead the way.

In Opening Day, Jonathan Eig tells the true story behind the national pastime's most sacred myth. He offers new insights into events of sixty years ago and punctures some familiar legends. Was it true that the St. Louis Cardinals plotted to boycott their first home game against the Brooklyn Dodgers? Was Pee Wee Reese really Robinson's closest ally on the team? Was Dixie Walker his greatest foe? How did Robinson handle the extraordinary stress of being the only black man in baseball and still manage to perform so well on the field? Opening Day is also the story of a team of underdogs that came together against tremendous odds to capture the pennant. Facing the powerful New York Yankees, Robinson and the Dodgers battled to the seventh game in one of the most thrilling World Series competitions of all time.

Drawing on interviews with surviving players, sportswriters, and eyewitnesses, as well as newly discovered material from archives around the country, Jonathan Eig presents a fresh portrait of a ferocious competitor who embodied integration's promise and helped launch the modern civil-rights era. Full of new details and thrilling action, Opening Day brings to life baseball's ultimate story.

About the Author

Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of five books, including Ali: A Life, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. Ali was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and the James Tait Black Biography of the Year Award, and won the British Sports Book Awards Sports Book of the Year Award and the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children.