The ManDak League may be one of baseball's best kept secrets. Operating in Manitoba and North Dakota from 1950 to 1957, it was the outlet for former Negro Leaguers to continue playing and entertaining fans, occupying fields with ex-major leaguers, minor league stars and some of the best Manitoba-, North Dakota-,and Minnesota-born players. It featured such greats as Willie Wells, Leon Day, Ray Dandridge and Satchel Paige, who pitched briefly for the Minot Mallards in 1950. In Part I, chapters on each of the ManDak's eight seasons provide detailed information on the stadiums, franchise and league personnel, pennant races, and standout performances. In Part II, a comprehensive listing of profiles presents basic information on the league's players, their baseball backgrounds, and their accomplishments in the ManDak and other leagues. Emphasis is given to former Negro Leaguers, many of whom finished their careers in the ManDak League. Appendices provide batting and pitching records, rosters, and rules of conduct.

Provides an overview of the Mandak League from 1950-1957.

The first complete biography of an important Negro League baseball player from Austin, Texas. Willie Wells was arguably the best shortstop of his generation. As Monte Irvin, a teammate and fellow Hall of Fame player, writes in his foreword, “Wells really could do it all. He was one of the slickest fielding shortstops ever to come along. He had speed on the bases. He hit with power and consistency. He was among the most durable players I’ve ever known.” Yet few people have heard of the feisty ballplayer nicknamed “El Diablo.” Willie Wells was black, and he played long before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. Bob Luke has sifted through the spotty statistics, interviewed Negro League players and historians, and combed the yellowed letters and newspaper accounts of Wells’s life to draw the most complete portrait yet of an important baseball player. Wells’s baseball career lasted thirty years and included seasons in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. He played against white all-stars as well as Negro League greats Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Buck O’Neill, among others. He was beaned so many times that he became the first modern player to wear a batting helmet. As an older player and coach, he mentored some of the first black major leaguers, including Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe. Willie Wells truly deserved his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Bob Luke details how the lingering effects of segregation hindered black players, including those better known than Wells, long after the policy officially ended. Fortunately, Willie Wells had the talent and tenacity to take on anything—from segregation to inside fastballs—life threw at him. No wonder he needed a helmet. “Willie Wells: “El Diablo” of the Negro Leagues is well researched and well written, so the average baseball fan should find it to be an entertaining read.” —Dale Petroskey, president, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum “The story of Willie Wells opens another window on the conditions and constraints of Jim Crow America, and how painfully difficult it can be, even now, to remedy the persistent effects of discrimination. Every baseball fan will love this story. Every American should read it.” —Ira Glasser, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union, 1978-2001 “Reconstructing, indeed resurrecting, the career of a peripatetic Negro League baseball player is a daunting task. Negro and Major League great Monte Irvin tells us that his fellow Hall of Famer, shortstop Willie Wells, belongs on the same baseball page as Gibson, DiMaggio, Paige, and Feller. This fine biography by Bob Luke does a wonderful job in telling us why and how that is the case. We have here a Hall of Fame telling of the story of a true Hall of Famer.” —Lawrence Hogan, author of Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African American Baseball

Kings of the Diamond is based on historical events in Winnipeg in 1950, drawing on the city¿s great sporting heritage. The main storyline follows the 1950 season of the Northern Hotel team of the Twentieth Century Community Softball League, the powerhouse team that went on to play in the Western Canada Softball Championship that year under the direction of the story¿s chief protagonist ¿ author Robert Diamond¿s father, Lazar Diamond. That legacy is brought to life in this story of the Diamond family and the Northern Hotel and of many of the players and principals of the Twentieth Century Community Softball League. The entire narrative builds inexorably towards the final championship game, when 8,000 people crammed the Aberdeen School Grounds to watch it. Kings of the Diamond is the story of one of the most colourful chapters in the sporting and cultural history of Winnipeg, and of the legendary characters who were the main players on this stage. It is also a story of family and friendships that survive tests of emotional strength, love, and commitment, and of how they find final vindication. From Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz¿ foreword: ¿Winnipeg had its share of larger than life characters in those days. [The author] aptly and authentically describes them all in this tale of Winnipeg sports and other games ... Ex-pat Robert Diamond pays homage to his hometown, offering fascinating insights into how Winnipeg earned its moniker, the Chicago of the North, and to a very special era in softball history.¿

The result of a study commissioned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and funded by a grant from Major League Baseball(, this richly illustrated, comprehensive history combines vivid narrative, visual impact, and a unique statistical component to re-create the excitement and passion of the Negro Leagues. 75 photos.

A unique approach to the history of a Negro League team: The first half of this book covers the leagues and the players of the 1920s, the 1930s, and 1940 through 1947 (when Robinson broke the color barrier). The second half is devoted to the Black Barons of subsequent decades, the former Barons invited to tryout camps, others who were signed with minor league clubs, and the fortunate few who got their long-awaited chance in the majors.