The Mountain Empire League
My purpose in writing The Mountain Empire League was to explain how the world still had a long way to go in the immediate aftermath of Jackie Robinson. To the best of my knowledge, no work of fiction has ever focused on the hardships faced by young African-American men who were hoping to make a career for themselves in professional baseball. The story of the sport's integration, most especially in the minor leagues, needs to be told, because it is filled with a great many unsung heroes. Through the use of a fictional league and characters, I have attempted to tell that tale, and salute them as the pioneers they were.
I do not believe this is strictly a "baseball novel." Baseball is most assuredly the backdrop, but it is a book about America, the nation we were and the nation we were trying to become. Set primarily in 1951 and 1952, we are exposed to a country that was beginning to see and hear the rumblings of social change, sights and sounds that, sadly, have not abated with time.
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"A situational novel only someone who lived in the times, lived in the area, and lived the baseball experience, could write. Join Marshall and imagine yourself in these historic times."
-- Bryan Steverson, baseball historian and author
"Every baseball fan knows that our great game encapsulates the best (and sometimes the most challenging) aspects of our national identity. And every lover of literature knows that the best access to imaginative truth is via the novel. Marshall Adesman's genius has been to combine these two, using his immense and very personal knowledge of baseball to provide grounding for his sympathy with the people of the game, both on and off the field. You heard it here first: The Mountain Empire League is the McCoy."
-- Jerry Klinkowitz, author of Short Season, Basepaths, Writing Baseball, and Owning a Piece of the Minors
"Adesman has done a masterful job of capturing the essence of minor league baseball in the South in the 1950s. Thanks to what was undoubtedly an immense amount of research, he leads his fascinating characters through their adventures-both on the field and off -all the while blending in true events and people. Sports fan or not, this is a great read!"
-- Chris Holaday, author of Cracks in the Outfield Wall, The Story of Baseball Integration in the Carolinas and Southern Breads: Recipes, Stories and Traditions (American Palate)
