Featuring lively verse, fascinating facts, and archival photographs, here is a celebration of the Negro Leagues and the great players who went unrecognized in their time written by Children's Literature Legacy Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford. Imagine that you are an outstanding baseball player but banned from the major leagues. Imagine that you are breaking records but the world ignores your achievements. Imagine having a dream but no chance to make that dream come true. This is what life was like for African American baseball players before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier. Meet Josh Gibson, called "the black Babe Ruth," who hit seventy-five home runs in 1931; James "Cool Papa" Bell, the fastest man in baseball; legendary Satchel Paige, who once struck out twenty-four batters in a single game; and, of course, Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball, and one of the greatest players of all time. Written by acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford with a foreword by Buck O'Neil, a Negro leagues legend whose baseball contributions spanned eight decades, this book is a home run for baseball and history lovers, and makes a great gift for both boys and girls. "Weatherford has collected a wealth of information and memorabilia from the earliest days through the Leagues' demise in 1963.... one doesn't need to be a baseball fan to be fascinated." — Kirkus Reviews "An engaging overview, richly augmented by archival photographs... this title succeeds as a thoughtful introduction, capturing both the significance of the Negro Leagues and the accomplishments of its great players." — School Library Journal "Public and school libraries will want to add this to their collections, as material on the Negro Leagues is fairly scarce for this age group." — Library Media Connection New York Times  best-selling author  Carole Boston Weatherford’s  60-plus books include the Caldecott Honor book  Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre , for which she was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award and a Sibert Honor; the Newbery Honor winner  Box; and the Caldecott Honor winners  Freedom in Congo Square, Fannie Lou Hamer, and  Moses . She won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor for  Becoming Billie Holiday . Weatherford teaches at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. Visit cbweatherford.com.