I Was Right On Time
From SoSH
Author: Buck O'Neil with Steve Wulf, Preface by Ken Burns
Paperback Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Date Published: paperback, 1997
Summary: The beauty of former Negro League star Buck O'Neil's autobiography is its tone: it's filled with thankfulness for the life he's had. Born into an era of racial segregation, O'Neil really gets into the tales of his courage while being willing to tell the truth about baseball discrimination. Mostly a first baseman, O'Neill played mostly for the Kansas City Monarchs. In 1941 he met Satchel Paige, with whom he developed a close friendship. He became the Monarchs' playing manager in 1948; when black baseball folded because of post-Robinson integration, he was a scout and a coach for the Chicago Cubs from 1956 to 1988; and he has scouted for the Kansas City Royals ever since. His autobiography written with Wulf, an editor at Sports Illustratedis also a historical portrait of the Negro Baseball Leagues and the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s. O'Neill was a contemporary of such great Negro League stars as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, and he made his living as a baseball man before Jackie Robinson broke the color line and after.
