Baseball Heroesby Greg Rogers

Scott Foresman Reading Street 2.6.1

Biography

GenreComprehension

Skills and StrategyText Features

Biography CompareandContrast

CauseandEffect

Visualize

Captions

Chaptertitles

Glossary

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, Lexile, and Reading Recovery are provided in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

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Vocabulary

athletes

banned

challenges

effort

prejudice

record

rookie

talented

Word count: 1,131

Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs, sidebars, and extra features are not included.

Baseball Heroesby Greg Rogers

Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois Parsippany, New Jersey New York, New YorkSales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts Duluth, Georgia Glenview, Illinois

Coppell, Texas Ontario, California Mesa, Arizona

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PhotographsEvery effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Pearson Education.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Background (Bkgd)

Cover: (T) Brand X Pictures, (B) AP Images; 1 Rogers Photo Archive/Getty images; 4 (L) AP Images, (R) Rogers Photo Archive/Getty images; 417 (Bkgd) Brand X Pictures Getty Images; 5 Library of Congress; 7 (T) Library of Congress, (B) AP Images; 8 AP Images; 9 Ernest Sisto/New York Times Co./Archive Photos/Getty Images; 11 AP Images; 13 HF/AP Images; 15 AP Images; 16 National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY; 17 AP Images; 18 Library of Congress

ISBN: 0-328-13309-4

Copyright Pearson Education, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

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Contents

Chapter 1 4Playing Separately

Chapter 2 6Jackie Robinson

Chapter 3 10Willie Howard Mays

Chapter 4 14Hank Aaron

Now Try This 18

Glossary 20

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Chapter One: Playing SeparatelyBefore the 1940s, African American

baseball players faced many challenges. From 1884 until 1945 they were banned from major league and minor league baseball because they were black. During this time, African American players decided to start their own teams. They formed leagues, or groups of teams, that came to be known as the Negro leagues. Negro league players were professionals, but they earned much less money than white players.

Hank Aaron

Willie Howard Mays

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Playing in separate leagues was unfair. It was the result of prejudice. Many people fought to end the prejudice that kept black players from playing with white players. Finally, in 1945, the first African American player was invited to join a major league team.

You will read about three of the greatest African American baseball playersJackie Robinson, Willie Howard Mays, and Hank Aaron.

Jackie Robinson

Willie Howard Mays

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Chapter Two: Jackie RobinsonJack Roosevelt Robinson, called Jackie,

was the first African American baseball player to join a major league team. Jackie Robinson was born in Georgia in 1919. He grew up in California and went to college there. He was one of the best athletes in college sports. He played varsity football, basketball, and baseball.

After college, Jackie Robinson joined the army and fought during World War II. When the war ended, he joined the Kansas City Monarchs. The Monarchs were one of the best Negro league baseball teams.

The Brooklyn Dodgers, a major league team, first noticed Jackie Robinson when he played shortstop for the Monarchs. It was clear that he was very talented. Still, the Dodgers waited many months to ask him to play for them. They needed to think about facing the pressure of being the first major league team to sign a Negro league player.

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Jackie Robinson was a great athlete in many sports.

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Jackie Robinson was asked to join the Dodgers in 1945. In 1947 Jackie played first base in his first major league game at Ebbets Field. Though he did not get a hit at the plate, he went to first base on a pitching error and scored the winning run for the Dodgers.

Jackie was treated badly by many people during his rookie season. Some fans and even some other players were very prejudiced. But Jackie played and handled this prejudice so well that he was voted Rookie of the Year.

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Jackie Robinson played major league baseball with the Dodgers for ten years. He led the National League in batting. He played in the All-Star game six times. That was a major league record. He also helped change peoples ideas about African American athletes.

In 1949 he was named Most Valuable Player, and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Jackie Robinson is a hero. He is honored for his ability to play baseball but also for staying calm and focused when facing challenges.

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Chapter Three: Willie Howard MaysAfter Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn

Dodgers, other major league teams asked talented African American players to join them. One of these players was center fielder Willie Mays.

Willie Howard Mays, nicknamed the Say Hey Kid, was born in Alabama in 1931. The son of a baseball player, Willie Mays had played baseball since childhood. He began playing in the Negro leagues at the age of sixteen, when he was still in high school.

Willie Mays joined the New York Giants in 1950. Willie Mays hit twenty home runs in his first year and was named Rookie of the Year.

Willie Mays scores again!

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He made many famous plays in center field. In Pennsylvania, Mays sailed across the outfield, racing to catch a fly ball that was hit almost five hundred feet away. He lost his baseball glove, but he managed to catch the ball with his bare hand! What an effort!

Willie Mays was a great player in the field. He was a powerful hitter at the plate and a very fast runner around the bases. Willie Mayss talent helped lead the Giants to the 1951 World Series.

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During the 1954 World Series, Mays made one of the greatest catches in the history of baseball. This catch came in game one against the Cleveland Indians. A batter hit a towering fly ball deep to center field. Mays made a backward catch after running from hundreds of feet away!

The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, and Willie Mays went with them. He was soon receiving the highest salary of any baseball player of that time. In 1972 Willie Mays returned to New York, where he played for the New York Mets until he retired at age forty-two.

Willie Mays was one of the most popular baseball players in history. He won many awards, played in twenty-four All-Star games, and hit more than six hundred home runs. He was elected Most Valuable Player two times and won twelve Gold Glove awards. Willie Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

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Chapter Four: Hank AaronHenry Louis Hank Aaron was another

talented baseball player from the Negro leagues. Hank Aaron was born in Alabama in 1934. In 1954 Hank Aaron joined the Milwaukee Braves after two years in the Negro leagues. He hit a home run his first time at bat!

During his last season with the Braves (now in Atlanta, Georgia), Hank Aaron would break one of the greatest baseball records of his time. Many people thought it was a record that could never be broken. It was Babe Ruths all-time career home-run hitting record of 714 home runs.

As Hank Aaron got closer to breaking Babe Ruths record, he started getting angry letters and phone calls. Many people did not want to see an African American player break a record held by a famous white baseball player. Hank Aaron continued to fight against their prejudice and beat the record. Aarons talent inspired many people on and off the field.

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In 1974 Hank Aaron left the Braves to join the Milwaukee Brewers. He played two years for the Brewers before retiring in 1976.

By the time Hank Aaron retired, he led the major leagues in home runs. He also held many all-time records. He had played in the most games, had the most at bats, and had the most base hits.

In 1982 Hank Aaron was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the last African American player to come to the major leagues from the Negro leagues.

Hank Aarons Hall of Fame ceremony

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Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron were very talented ballplayers. Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron were two of the best hitters ever to play. Willie Mays was an amazing fielder with lightning speed.

These athletes made history. Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron faced prejudice and challenges to gain the right to play the sport they loved. Even at difficult times, their talent showed through. Their courage inspires us and makes us proud today.

Jackie Robinson signs autographs for fans.

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Now Try This

Time Line: Important Events In Baseball

There have been some important events in the history of baseball. A time line is a line that shows events happening in order. Make a time line to show what you learned about baseball history.

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1. Make a list of the years and events mentioned in this book.

2. Place your events in order.

3. Get a long sheet of paper.

4. Draw a line from left to right across the middle of your paper.

5. Mark this line with a large dot for each of the years on your list.

6. Write down the events in the order they happened in time.

7. Choose a few events to illustrate.

8. Present your time line to the class.

Heres How to Do It!

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Glossaryathletes n. people trained in sports.

banned v. forbidden by law.

challenges n. things that test our abilities or character; difficulties.

effort n. the use of concentration and energy to do something; trying hard.

prejudice n. an unreasonable dislike of a group of people.

record n. the best number, rate, or speed yet reached.

rookie n. player in his or her first year of professional athletics; beginner.

talented adj. skillful; able to do something very well.

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1. Compare the major leagues with the Negro leagues. Use a graphic organizer like the one below to organize your ideas.

2. Read the first six lines on page 11. Make a picture in your mind about what the words are describing. What do you see?

3. The word talented is used in this book. Use the glossary to find out the words meaning. What are you talented in?

4. What evidence does the book give that peoples thinking about African American baseball players was changing? Look at pictures as well as the words.

Reader Response

Major leagues Negro leagues

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