Review of "Baseball's Outcast"

While the past week was quite busy for me, the snowstorm that is gripping much of the nation has helped me catch up on reading and writing reviews.  To start the recovery of reviews, here's one on former MLB star Ron LeFlore. 

Title/Author:

“Baseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore” by Adam Henig

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

While every professional athlete, no matter their background, has an interesting story to share about the rise to becoming one of the best at their profession, former Major League Baseball player Ron LaFlore had a very different path to get to that point.  His story of going from a convicted criminal serving time in prison to becoming an All-Star outfielder is covered in this book by Adam Henig.

LaFlore grew up in a poverty-stricken, mostly Black area of Detroit.  Succumbing to life on the streets, he took to committing various crimes to obtain money.  During an armed robbery, he was arrested and sentenced to serve time at Jackson State prison.  While I was certainly interested in LaFlore’s baseball career, I found this section of the book to be the best as Henig did a masterful job of describing LaFlore’s life in prison, his change in behavior from rebellious to model prisoner due to athletics and the ways he developed his skills in baseball, a sport he never played before suiting up for the prison team.

A scout from the Detroit Tigers discovered LeFlore through connections and he was granted a 48 hour pass to attend a tryout at Tiger Stadium.  While still fairly raw with his fielding and hitting, it was LaFlore’s speed that eventually earned him a contract with the Tigers and more importantly, an early release from prison.

From there, the book is mainly about his baseball career, where he became an all-star with the Tigers during the 1976 – 78 seasons, led the American League twice in stolen bases and was a fan favorite. He teamed up with a local sportswriter to pen an autobiography, which became a best-seller and also was made into a made-for-TV movie that starred LeVarr Burton playing LaFlore.  Henig’s writing was also very good here, including when he injected aspects of LaFlore’s personal life that not only affected LaFlore’s performance on the field, but also his standing with teammates and the Tigers’ front office. 

That led to a trade to the Montreal Expos, where he led the National League in stolen bases, becoming the first major league to accomplish the feat in both leagues.  However, again due to difficulties with getting along with teammates and the front office, the Expos released him after just one season, 1980.  After that, he tried to catch on with the Chicago White Sox, but that didn’t end up well either. 

Here is where the book turns into simply a brief summary of his life after baseball, save for one incident where he and his wife were invited to a reception for former players in Detroit, only to have several issues such as the lack of a hotel reservation make it more difficult.  I found this to be quite an abrupt end to the book after all the great detail about his life before and during baseball.

I wish to thank Bloomsbury Academic for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Outcast-Story-Ron-LeFlore/dp/1538194953/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0