Louis Sockalexis was the first Indian to play major league baseball. He broke the color barrier fifty years before Jackie Robinson, but was all but forgotten for many years. Now his life is told by Maine author and athlete, Ed Rice.
Louis came from the Penobscot Nation on Indian Island. His amazing athletic talents were quickly discovered, and he went to school on scholarship. At Holy Cross College, he batted .436 one year and .444 the next. One homer traveled over 500 feet. He had an arm like a cannon and could throw to the plate from the deep outfield. He stole bases at will and was recruited to the Cleveland team, the Spiders, in 1897. Handsome and easygoing, he quickly became the most popular ballplayer in town, despite racial taunting and war-whooping whenever he came up to bat.
Sadly, his career was cut short by excess drinking and a foot injury, and he lost his dazzling speed. He wandered around a few minor league teams, then went home to Maine. He became a respected umpire and coached a team of Penobscot youths, sending five of them on to the New England Leagues. They were proud to learn from "Coach Sockalexis," and never forgot what he taught them.
"Sock" is buried on Indian Island, where people come from far and wide to remember "Baseball's First Indian."

Readers ages 13 and up will enjoy this informative piece of baseball history and colorful game-by-game descriptions. The book includes rare photos of Hall-of-Famers Cy Young, Jesse Burkett, and Sockalexis as a young player at the peak of his game. A great read any time of year, "Baseball's First Indian" belongs on every library shelf!

Descriptions of "Sock's" later years as a beloved coach and umpire after his career in the majors fizzled out. Far from being a failure, he had other talents, including singing beautifully. Those who knew him remembered him as a gentle man who never raised his voice or belittled anyone, but in a disputed call of umpiring, he knew so much about baseball that his word was final. By then, he had long since given up drinking, which took courage and personal discipline.

The print is a bit small and the writing is sometimes too scholarly for its dramatic subject. Otherwise, it's a wonderful book!

I wanted to go up to Indian Island and pay tribute to Sockalexis in person. I actually did last summer, and left a baseball at his grave with a message:
"Louis, may you live forever on our field of dreams."

Fascinated by the topic of baseball, especially the nineteenth-century version, which was a lot rougher than even today. Players tripped each other, fans threw rotten tomatoes, and the ball was a so-called "dead ball", so fewer homers were hit. They played a lot of "small ball", bunting, stealing, and laying down singles. It was more of a team effort.

Ed Rice, a marathoner and journalist, spent 18 years researching the life of Sockalexis. He heard legends of Sock throwing a ball across the Penobscot River and running 100 yards in 10 seconds in full baseball uniform. Sockalexis was larger than life, and Mr. Rice vowed he would tell his story.

A long-forgotten pioneer of baseball is getting the attention he deserves at last.

The content isn't suitable for younger readers because of Sockalexis's alcoholism and carousing in Cleveland's red light district.

I think older readers will be awed by Sockalexis's achievements. He was and still is probably the best college baseball player of all time. Holy Cross College inducted him into their Hall of Fame. He is also in the Maine Athletes' Hall of Fame, and the American Indian Athletes' Hall of Fame along with his second cousin, marathoner Andrew Sockalexis.

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Created Oct 23, 2003 at 8:48pm • Submit your own review...