Invisible Men by Donn Rogosin Book Analysis

Invisible Men manifests how Negro baseball leagues were one of the most important aspects, amidst segregated America, for the history of baseball. These great black baseball players known as  the “invisible men” were involuntarily required to play in a league of their own, the Negro Leagues due to segregation. The “invisible men” were for the most part responsible for the integration of American sports which would then play a role in the end of segregation. Rogosin’s reason for the writing of this book is to bring more attention and appreciation to those “invisible men” who were solely responsible for the integration of baseball and the enrichment of black lives in America.

Rogosin continually acknowledges the point of how “...the importance of the Negro league transcended the world of sport” (Rogosin 4). Rogosin brings up this point at the beginning of the book and then continues to mention it all throughout. He gradually proves his theory to be true by delivering a lot of strong supporting claims.

For instance, during segregation, Rogosin reports that  the first consensus was that black baseball players were inferior to white baseball players in terms of athletic ability. Rogosin then explains that it turns out that the creation of the Negro Leagues allowed people from all around America to admire the skill sets of these great black atheltes, who were just as good or even better than a majority of the white athletes. Rogosin remarks, “Black teams, representing black communities, formed a replica of major-league baseball, separate and unequal in everything but athletic ability” (Rogosin 4). The athletic ability of these black athletes would then be appreciated as the Negro Leagues would have the reputation of having the finest baseball players outside of the major leagues. Rogosin then shows that the Negro Leagues also introduced many ways of playing the game which was never seen with white baseball. He says that the way in which these Negro League players played the game would root itself into the deep history of baseball and would continue to be adopted by the ways in which the game is played today. 

In the terms of transcending the world of sport through integration, the Negro Leagues were now starting to spread itself throughout white America. For a lot of the great Negro League teams, Rogosin showcased that, “They also were cheered by all-white crowds and admired by white ballplayers less proficient than themselves” (Rogosin 151). Enjoying the game of baseball required the community to admire the game itself and not take into consideration who were the ones playing the game. The main aspect that Rogosin tries to express is how the Negro Leagues were a bridge that not only provided African Americans with a place to display their talents, but for Cubans, Dominicans, and South Americans. It was here that Rogosin believes that for Negro League baseball, it was no longer an integral part of the black community, but for the baseball and sports communities as a whole. This is because of how the Negro Leagues were able to spread the game of baseball and integrate it for everyone, transcending the world of sport in America.

Undoubtedly, Rogosin’s book does a good job throughout the book portraying how the Negro Leagues were able to overcome the adversities of segregation. Since the integration of baseball was during the pinnacle moments of segregation, it was a necessity for Rogosin to bring up these dark times of American History. Rogosin allows the reader to relive these moments from the perspective of these players when he brings up the point of, “In general, a Negro leaguer was not about to fight a battle he could not win, but there were limits to patience, tolerance, and passivity” (Rogosin 132). Segregation was something that all of these players were going to have to deal with and find a way to incorporate it into their everyday lives. With regard to segregation, Rogosin provides many ways that these players and teams were to adversify. Most notably, refusing to play in towns where the teams were denied lodging or food and having to integrate exhibition games to generate money to keep the teams afloat. Rogosin was able to truly show from beginning to end how these great ballplayers were not going to let anything get in the way, particularly segregation, of their dreams of playing in the major leagues.

Alternatively for Rogosin’s book, one of the gueling aspects was the plethora of different individuals and baseball teams being discussed all within the book. Certain parts would be overly detailed and hard to interpret due a multitude of characteristics that were describing these players and teams. Because of this, it would make it hard to focus on the main talking points of the book and hard to remember attributes of certain individuals. Furthermore, there seemed to be a little bit of an organization issue within the book as Rogosin would bring up a point and then promptly switch to another without any clarifications. This would also prove to make it laborious to understand the major talking about what he was trying to express. 

Overall, Rogosin’s book, “Invisible Men” was able to successfully emcaptulate the importance of Negro Leagues and how it was able to transcend the world of sport. He was able to do this by providing his theory while having well built claims and evidence that was able to back up everything that he was saying. Rogosin did an exceptional job throughout the book of now only showing the importance of but, the hardships of the Negro Leagues through segregated America. Aspects of Rogosin’s book could be improved but for the majority was able to capture this important facet of baseball history.