I enjoyed reading All Star, and also approve of it. As a lifelong baseball fan who is also a supporter of civil rights, I welcome books that flesh out baseball’s history and the history of civil rights. Audrey Vernick’s 2022 picture book All Star does both. Jackie Robinson deserves all the credit and attention he’s received, but though he was first, he was in baseball less than three months before Doby followed, and Doby was in the American League, which meant Robinson hadn’t blazed the trail for him directly.
Cannaday Chapman’s illustrations serve the story well: their color and design suggest period sports posters and decorations (without directly imitating them).
Vernick tells Doby’s story directly and carefully, sharing quotes from Doby himself multiple times, and always emphasizing the man’s character and dignity. She sketches in elements of the larger historical context, but, again, carefully: she covers the horrors of angry racists without really dwelling on most specifics.
There are some oddities to the story, and they often relate to what Vernick left out of the book. She left out the complexities of Doby’s family life (the years his grandmother cared for him, his religious background) and some of the oddities of his professional path (the time spent playing under a fake name so he could play for money and still be an amateur). She also left out two more critical elements: how well Doby played, and why Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck chose Doby. We get generalities–that Doby was good–but few specifics, and since Robinson was chosen for both character and ability, the question arises, was that the case for Doby too?
But I’m glad this book exists, and I enjoyed it.
