Sockalexis book reaches stores after 5-year wait American Indian’s life documented

ORONO – Ed Rice has completed 25 marathons during a lifetime of distance running.

But perhaps none was more exhausting than his most recent endurance test, the five years it took to secure a publisher for his new book, “Baseball’s First Indian, Louis Sockalexis: Penobscot Legend, Cleveland Indian.”

But Rice persevered, primarily because of his commitment to the topic, and the biography of the first American Indian to play professional baseball is now out in hardcover through Tide-mark Press of Windsor, Conn.

“I wanted the book to have a Maine publisher,” said Rice, an Orono resident. “But I spent five years trying to find a publisher, and I’m glad it’s out there now.”

Rice began researching this book nearly two decades ago, primarily at the University of Maine’s Special Collections in Fogler Library on the Orono campus. As he continued to learn more, his dedication to telling the Sockalexis story became even more intense.

It is an intensity that remains just as strong today.

“It’s just so important for people to think about what he accomplished,” said Rice. “He was the first Indian to play in the major leagues, and he deserves the respect that he wasn’t given at the time.

“The conditions he played under were just frightening. I want to make people respect him and think about what he had to go through.”

Sockalexis, known as the “Deerfoot of the Diamond,” was born in 1871 on Indian Island and played collegiate baseball at Holy Cross and Notre Dame before reaching the major leagues in 1897 with the Cleveland Spiders.

Sockalexis made an immediate splash hitting .328 through July 3 of that year to rank behind only future Hall of Famers Honus Wagner and Big Ed Delahanty in batting average.

But he soon was injured, and Sockalexis’ major league career was limited to 94 games over three seasons, a victim of injuries, the prejudice of the day and alcohol abuse.

“I tell people about the best of his career, and I take people to the absolute worst,” Rice said.

Sockalexis went on to play for teams in the New England League and Connecticut League in the early 1900s, and later returned to Maine where he coached youth teams and umpired until his death in 1913.

“He had respect here in Maine that he didn’t get elsewhere,” Rice said.

Rice offers a virtual game-by-game look at Sockalexis’ major league career, relying heavily on newspaper reports of the day.

He also addresses some of the more political issues not reflected in box scores, among them the treatment Sockalexis received as he pursued his professional baseball dreams.

“No one else in baseball history came close to living the Jackie Robinson-type of experience than Louis Sockalexis,” Rice said. “Fans made it a living hell; they swore at him, spit at him, yelled war whoops. He went through a living hell.

“Harry Blake, who was sent to the minors after being replaced in the lineup by Sockalexis, said the way Sockalexis was treated was just awful. Even Blake, who lost his job to Sockalexis, had compassion for what he was going through.”

Rice also deals with the controversy over whether Sockalexis truly was the first American Indian to play professional baseball. That was the consensus opinion until the 1960s, when a baseball historian named Lee Allen began a study of the first baseball players and received information that James Madison Toy, who played briefly in the late 1880s, was part Sioux.

That story gained some momentum over the years, but Rice researched the issue and came to a different conclusion.

“My first suspicions came after I saw [Toy’s] picture,” Rice said. “He had a huge handlebar mustache and Caucasian features. I went on to find other articles and talk with some of Toy’s living relatives to prove my point.

“One thing I wanted to get across with the book was to reinforce the fact Louis was the first Indian in the major leagues, and that’s something I challenge all baseball historians on.”

Rice has a specific educational goal for book, which also includes photographs from the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and the College of the Holy Cross archives

“I ultimately want this book to be a library book,” he said. “I want people to be able to go to one source for the story of Louis Sockalexis.

“And if any library or school wants to adopt the book for their library, I’ll gladly be available to come and talk about it.”

“Baseball’s First Indian, Louis Sockalexis: Penobscot Legend, Cleveland Indian” is available at BookMarcs in Bangor and at the University of Maine Bookstore in Orono for $25. Author Ed Rice will host a book signing at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at the Orono Public Library.