Overview

From the prison cage to the batting cage, Ron LeFlore’s journey to the major leagues was anything but ordinary. When twenty-three-year-old Ron LeFlore played his first organized baseball game, it was in a yard at the State Prison of Southern Michigan where he was serving five to fifteen years for armed robbery. An extraordinary athlete, the Detroit native had luck on his side: his coach, a convicted felon, had connections to the Detroit Tigers. Within three-and-a-half years, Ron went from a prison inmate to a Tiger centerfielder. In Baseball’s Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore, Adam Henig tells for the first time in full the unbelievable life and career of Ron LeFlore. Blessed with blinding speed and a powerful swing, Ron shed his jailbird past to become one of the game’s premiere hitters and its most dangerous base stealer during the latter half of the 1970s. His rags-to-riches life story became a bestselling book and a made-for-television movie starring actor LeVar Burton, fresh from his performance in Roots. But the good times did not last. Less than a decade after making his Major League debut, Ron was finished with baseball. Baseball’s Outcast is not just another book about the rise and fall of a troubled athlete. Henig goes deeper, tracing the star player’s family roots, exploring the segregated world that Ron was raised in, examining the criminal justice system he was subjected to, and revealing how childhood trauma shaped his success and downfall. Filled with insight from Ron himself, as well as from former teammates, coaches, front-office personnel, inmates, childhood friends, and relatives, Baseball’s Outcast provides unprecedented access into Ron’s life story and the obstacles he faced every step of the way.

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9781538194959

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Reviews

Ron LeFlore’s fantastic journey deserves a fantastic biography, and Adam Henig delivers here with resounding success. He captures one of the most unlikely of all baseball careers—the drama on and off the field—with impressive research and splendid writing. Unforgettable. -- Jonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life and author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig Ron LeFlore’s journey from prison to MLB All-Star is the greatest underdog story in the history of American sports, and Adam Henig covers all its angles with extraordinary research, access, and passion. Baseball's Outcast is a must-read tale of Americana, hustle, inspiration, and tragedy in 1970s baseball. -- John W. Miller, author of New York Times bestseller The Last Manager Adam Henig has a penchant for rescuing Black men from obscurity, restoring their credibility, and offering a broader tapestry of their lives and achievements. With the same literary tools and insight that he utilized in his book on Frank Wills, the security guard who foiled the Watergate break-in, he applies in the trials and tribulations of Ron LeFlore, giving us a better perspective and understanding of his feats on the diamond—and elsewhere. I was among a throng of Detroiters who rooted for the fleet-footed LeFlore, watching the ex-inmate steal bases, lace line drives, and become an inspirational leader in the Tigerdom. Henig deftly and artfully recaptures those halcyon days, and it was once again ‘Go Go, LeFlore.’ -- Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination Ron LeFlore is one of the most memorable characters ever to play major league baseball. He came from prison, where he first learned to play, and amazingly he became a star for the Detroit Tigers. Adam Henig has written a truly wonderful book about him. His research is impeccable and impressive, and on almost every page I learned something interesting. I loved it. -- Peter Golenbock, author of The Bronx Zoo and The Forever Boys Thankfully, Adam Henig has provided a compelling in-depth look at the fall, rise, and fall of ex-convict and All-Star Ron LeFlore, one of the most remarkable stories in baseball history. -- Bill Dow, Detroit Free Press and Detroit Sports History Blog freelance writer Baseball's Outcast is an engaging life story told in a compelling fashion ...This book demonstrates excellence in crafting the post-modern baseball biography via a richly-told tale that combines the research discipline of a historian with the narrative non-fiction storytelling artistry of a writer … Highly recommended. * Bevis Baseball Research *

Ron LeFlore’s fantastic journey deserves a fantastic biography, and Adam Henig delivers here with resounding success. He captures one of the most unlikely of all baseball careers—the drama on and off the field—with impressive research and splendid writing. Unforgettable. -- Jonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life and author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig Ron LeFlore’s journey from prison to MLB All-Star is the greatest underdog story in the history of American sports, and Adam Henig covers all its angles with extraordinary research, access, and passion. Baseball's Outcast is a must-read tale of Americana, hustle, inspiration, and tragedy in 1970s baseball. -- John W. Miller, author of New York Times bestseller The Last Manager Adam Henig has a penchant for rescuing Black men from obscurity, restoring their credibility, and offering a broader tapestry of their lives and achievements. With the same literary tools and insight that he utilized in his book on Frank Wills, the security guard who foiled the Watergate break-in, he applies in the trials and tribulations of Ron LeFlore, giving us a better perspective and understanding of his feats on the diamond—and elsewhere. I was among a throng of Detroiters who rooted for the fleet-footed LeFlore, watching the ex-inmate steal bases, lace line drives, and become an inspirational leader in the Tigerdom. Henig deftly and artfully recaptures those halcyon days, and it was once again ‘Go Go, LeFlore.’ -- Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination Ron LeFlore is one of the most memorable characters ever to play major league baseball. He came from prison, where he first learned to play, and amazingly he became a star for the Detroit Tigers. Adam Henig has written a truly wonderful book about him. His research is impeccable and impressive, and on almost every page I learned something interesting. I loved it. -- Peter Golenbock, author of The Bronx Zoo and The Forever Boys Thankfully, Adam Henig has provided a compelling in-depth look at the fall, rise, and fall of ex-convict and All-Star Ron LeFlore, one of the most remarkable stories in baseball history. -- Bill Dow, Detroit Free Press and Detroit Sports History Blog freelance writer

Author Information

Adam Henig is the author of the well-received Watergate’s Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman, which Kirkus Reviews called “powerful” and an “absorbing biography.” Henig is also the author of Alex Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey and Baseball Under Siege: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training. Henig’s writings have appeared in Time, Tampa Bay Times, Washington Independent Review of Books, Detroit Metro Times, The Biographer’s Craft, and Blackpast. He is an active member of Biographers International Organization and the Society for American Baseball Research. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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