Our Team

Our Team

Our Team

The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball

The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball

In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history.


In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.


Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series—all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history.


In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.


Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series—all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

In July 1947, not even three months after Jackie Robinson debuted on the Brooklyn Dodgers, snapping the color line that had segregated Major League Baseball, Larry Doby would follow in his footsteps on the Cleveland Indians. Though Doby, as the second Black player in the majors, would struggle during his first summer in Cleveland, his subsequent turnaround in 1948 from benchwarmer to superstar sparked one of the wildest and most meaningful seasons in baseball history.


In intimate, absorbing detail, Luke Epplin's Our Team traces the story of the integration of the Cleveland Indians and their quest for a World Series title through four key participants: Bill Veeck, an eccentric and visionary owner adept at exploding fireworks on and off the field; Larry Doby, a soft-spoken, hard-hitting pioneer whose major-league breakthrough shattered stereotypes that so much of white America held about Black ballplayers; Bob Feller, a pitching prodigy from the Iowa cornfields who set the template for the athlete as businessman; and Satchel Paige, a legendary pitcher from the Negro Leagues whose belated entry into the majors whipped baseball fans across the country into a frenzy.


Together, as the backbone of a team that epitomized the postwar American spirit in all its hopes and contradictions, these four men would captivate the nation by storming to the World Series—all the while rewriting the rules of what was possible in sports.

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PRAISE FOR

PRAISE FOR

Our Team

Our Team

Our Team

“Appealing…Epplin profiles four characters—Bob Feller, Satchel Paige, Larry Doby and Bill Veeck—who illustrate the forces that helped drive baseball into its modern age.”

–The Washington Post


“Luke Epplin debuts with an inspirational account of the rise of the newly racially integrated 1940s Cleveland Indians…As Epplin follows the arc of the Indians’ 1948 season, he offers nuanced portraits of the team’s key figures…Epplin’s epic saga is simultaneously a riveting drama and a searing portrait of the racism that plagued baseball for decades. This sharp and well-documented history will be a hit with baseball lovers and general interest readers alike.”

– Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)


"The thoughtful baseball book of the summer…Our Team reads like a kind of play-by-play prequel of baseball’s future.”

—Chicago Tribune


"A vigorous history of a little-known episode in the integration of professional sports…a boon for baseball fans.”

—Kirkus Reviews


“For anyone who loves baseball and its history.”

—New York Post


“Epplin has a journalist's eye for narrative and gives a dramatic account of the season and the series.”

―The Wall Street Journal


“If you love baseball, Our Team is a three-run walk-off homer in Game 7 of the World Series. And if you care about justice, Epplin’s book is a crucial lesson in the fight for civil rights in post-World War II Cleveland.”

―Sherrod Brown, former U.S. Senator from Ohio


“A real winner….This is a great American story, often exhilarating even in the face of ugly Jim Crow realities. Epplin’s effort is a literary grand slam.”

—The News-Gazette


“One of the most entertaining and important baseball books to come out in years. Our Team’s Cleveland Indians of 1948 finally get the respect, the insight―the historical attention―they deserve. Think you know about baseball’s integration years? On the heels of Jackie Robinson’s breakthrough came another team beset with perhaps even more challenges and half the publicity. Luke Epplin brings all the drama, the strife, the unity, and the ultimate triumph to you―with the flair of a Satchel Paige windup, the power of a Larry Doby swing, and the panache of a Bill Veeck promotion!”

―Laurie Gwen Shapiro