MY BOOK

I WAS BORN POOR
I WAS BORN BLACK

AND I WAS BORN IN MISSISSIPPI

WHEN YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH
THAT YOU CAN DEAL WITH ANYTHING

IN THIS GROUNDBREAKING STUDY OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETE OF THE DEEP SOUTH, GEORGE "BOOMER" SCOTT, BORN INTO MISSISSIPPI'S RACIALLY TURBULENT DELTA AND THE SHAMEFUL JIM CROW PERIOD OF HIS YOUTH, MANIFESTS A TALE OF HOW THIS-YOUNG BLACK MAN NAVIGATED THOSE PERIODS OF RACIAL UNREST - AND THEY WERE NUMEROUS - WITH ITS UBIQUITOUS INEQUITIES OF RACIAL SEGREGATION, ITS VIOLENCE, AND HOW HE OVERCAME THESE INJUSTICES RISING TO PREEMINENCE AS AN ATHLETE IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL JOINING, IRONICALLY, THE BOSTON RED SOX, AN ORGANIZATION WHOSE HISTORY WAS GROUNDED IN RACIAL TRANSGRESSIONS. THE NAGGING EFFECT OF RACIAL NON-ACCEPTANCE REMAINED PROMINENT THROUGHOUT HIS BASEBALL YEARS, AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WOULD ULTIMATELY TURN A BLIND EYE TO HIS AMBITIONS, AND THE AMBITIONS OF OTHERS.

THIS IS A STORY BUILT AROUND METICULOUS RESEARCH OVER THE COURSE OF INNUMERABLE YEARS COMPRISED OF ENDLESS INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE SCOTT, HIS ASSOCIATES, COACHES, MANAGERS, COLLEAGUES, EX-BALLPLAYERS, JOURNALISTS, HISTORIANS, AND TOWNS PEOPLE, CHRONICLING HIS LIFE FROM A YOUNG AGE AND THE NUMEROUS CHALLENGES HE CONFRONTED BOTH ON AND OFF THE PLAYING FIELD, WITH A FOCUS ON THE RACIAL ELEMENTS AND BIGOTRIES THAT FILLED HIS LIFE, AND BLACK TEAMMATES, AND WHICH FOLLOWED HIM INTO MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.

Long Taters

A Baseball Biography of

George “Boomer” Scott

When African American first baseman George “Boomer” Scott made his debut in the major leagues in 1966, he took the field for the Boston Red Sox—the last major league team to field a black ballplayer, only seven years before. An eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, a three-time All-Star, and an important member of the Red Sox 1967 Impossible Dream American League Champions, Scott stroked 271 “taters”—a term he coined for home runs that has been memorialized in baseball lexicon. Yet throughout his career, the outspoken player faced an ongoing struggle to gain racial acceptance. This detailed biography chronicles Scott’s youth in violently racist Mississippi, his impressive 14-year professional career, and the challenges he faced off the field. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with the former slugger, this work celebrates one of Boston’s legends and reveals the barriers that still existed for black ball players years after Jackie Robinson paved the way.