Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today by Apples With  Many Seeds.

For all the devoted baseball fans.  Do you know the name of the first woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame?  If you don't have the answer then today's selection -- "She Loved Baseball: the Effa Manely Story" written by Audrey Vernick and illustrated by Don Tate -- is a book for you.

Effa Manely was a lifelong baseball fan who founded and owned the Newark Eagles -- a Negro League team.  When African American players had the opportunity to move on to integrated major league teams, she fought tirelessly to protect her players and guarantee that they had fair contracts.  She later campaigned to have African Americans included in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Vernick does an admirable job of profiling a woman who changed the face of baseball in America and extended her activism to promoting equal rights outside the stadium as well.  Tate's illustrations make these pivotal moments in baseball and American history come to life.