Indian Summer: The Forgotten Story of Louis Francis Sockalexis, the First Native American in Major League Baseball

The name of Louis Sockalexis in Cleveland (OH) pro baseball lore is usually associated with the tale that the team was named after the star player in recognition for being the first Native American in MLB. It is about as accurate as Cooperstown, N.Y., being the birthplace of the game. The nickname was selected by a panel of Cleveland sportwriters in 1915. Author Brian McDonald packs a wealth of information on Sockalexis, pro baseball and the era in which he lived and played hard, both on and off the field. Sockalexis, 25, was a sensation at the plate and in the field during his 1897 rookie season with the Cleveland Spiders. The club was sometimes referred to as the Indians in stories filed by sportswriters. But the excesses that can grip star athletes is not new; Sockalexis pursued the late-night haunts where his celebrity opened doors, but ultimately shut the ones that should have mattered most. If there ever was an athlete who needed a "role model" (guard) off the field, it was Sockalexis. He had baggage when he entered pro baseball, being expelled from the University of Notre Dame after ripping up a brothel when the madam made a racial slur to him. But as the game within the game is still played today, the Spiders looked the other way as long as Sockalexis played like a star. It didn't last long, though. Later in his rookie season, he severely injured his leg while jumping out of a second-story window of a brothel. He hung on for two more seasons in Cleveland before being released, but stayed in the game by playing & umpiring in the minor leagues. He died at the age of 42. The history has been embellished for so many years and McDonald does an outstanding job in placing the life and times of Sockalexis in its proper context.

Louis Sockalexis, as a great ballplayer, was the Roberto Clemente of his time. By all accounts, while in his very short prime, he made plays that defied description; he outran balls that could not possibly have been caught; he hit anything he wanted to hit. But his race (he was a Native American), his prediliction for drink, and a public that both adored yet patronized him all contributed to his demise and to a short and tragic career. Sockalexis, in some ways, may have been the first overindulged college ballplayer. Common nowadays, back then - probably due to his race - Sockalexis was given incredible leeway by Notre Dame specifically because of his sports ability. Eventually dismissed, he was allowed to continue his excesses simply because, as good as he was, he made a great drawing card for the team he wound up playing for - Cleveland. This book says as much about America and the way the country idolized, and idealized its non-white heroes as it does about Sockalexis. It also says much about what such idols had to deal with and how easy it was - and still is - to get caught up, and destroyed by fame and the price of it. A good historical perspective on how major sports, even then, could corrupt (and allow one to corrupt himself) somebody who might have been one of the best, ever.

I had heard of Louis Sockalexis and knew he was from Old Town, Maine, but that was all. Author Brian McDonald has researched the baseball life of this Penobscot Indian, and provided us with a neglected subject in baseball's history. Sockalexis was on his way to having a superior season with the Cleveland National League team in 1897 while enduring the derisive taunts from fans throughout the league because he was an Indian. Sockalexis turned those taunts to cheers with his batting and fielding skills, while others attended games just to see this much heralded Indian play ball. It certainly wasn't known at the time, but the apex of Sockalexis's career was on the team's first visit to New York's Polo Grounds when he hit a home run onto 8th Avenue off the "Hoosier Thunderbolt" Amos Rusie. As has been the case with numerous athletes throughout history, the love of alcohol and the night life brought this budding star's career to an abrupt end. While jumping out of a second story brothel window Louis suffered a broken ankle and his running ability was never the same. He managed to hang on through the seasons of 1898-1899, but was only a shadow of his former self. He had vowed to give up his drinking and take his baseball seriously, but it was not to be. The Cleveland team was known as the Spiders, and was changed during this time to Indians. Whether it was because Sockalexis was on the team in open to conjecture. In 1900 the National League dropped its four weakest franchises, Cleveland among them, which finished the 1899 season with the worst record of any team in baseball history, 20 wins and 134 losses. Sockalexis died from heart failure on Christmas Eve of 1913. We are also introduced to Indians' owner Frank Robison and manager Patsy Tebeau who endured the tribulations of managing his alcoholic star. Interesting stories are also told of the St. Louis Browns' colorful owner Chris Von der Ahe who ended up selling his team to Cleveland owner Frank Robison at a sheriff's auction. Owning two teams was known as "syndicate baseball." The author begins each chapter with interesting tidbits that were taking place in America during the years of 1897-1899. One was the two day postponement of the execution of a Choctaw Indian who was to be shot by firing squad so he could be in the lineup of the governor's favorite team. The book is a worthy addition to a baseball library. His story, however, is an all too familiar one of wasted talent.

This book is a must read for baseball fans and history fans alike. McDonald tells the story of this unsung hero while interweaving facts about the struggles of Native Americans in general during the 1890's in this country. The author does both Sockalexis and baseball fans a great service by telling the story of this phenomenal talent. Sockalexis performed head a shoulders above the others players while facing adversity at every turn. It is difficult to believe that a player of Sockalexis' caliber is not touted along with Babe Ruth, and the like- such a disservice to the game.One can't help but wonder what type of impact Sockalexis would have had on the game if he had played baseball during a different time period in this country.

This is a great view into the professional game of baseball in the late 19th century. Everything was fair game at that time and one can't help but think about how relatively tame today's game is. Sockalexis was a tragic figure who went through much of what Jackie Robinson did fifty years earlier. It is a tribute to how strong Robinson was! Louis was not so strong and his promising career was destroyed by alchohol abuse. One cannot help but see parallels with Daryl Strawberry of today. This is a wonderfully written story full of the sound and fury of baseball in the 1890's. I highly reccomend this to anyone interested in life in America at that time. Great book!!!