Keeping Score

By Sean Gregory

Three new books examine the history of African Americans in baseball. Negro League Baseball by Neil Lanctot documents how Major League owners underpaid black franchises for star players. Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America by Tom Stanton details Aaron's trials on the road to 715, while The Ticket Out by Michael Sokolove shows that slugger Darryl Strawberry wasn't the only member of his high school team to fall victim to drugs and despair.