Dillard: Baseball on the backroads in Arkansas
From Tom Dillard at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on November 4, 2018, with SABR member Jim Yeager:
During the first half of the 20th century, baseball stole the hearts of Arkansans just as football does today. Most Arkansas towns prior to World War II had their own teams, with names such as the Newport Pearl Diggers, the Ozark Bears, the El Dorado Oilers. The stories of these baseball players have lain dormant for years, but a new book has just been published which draws attention to dozens of small-town Arkansans who deserve a place in our published sports history.
Jim Yeager, a Russellville resident and retired educator and coach, is the lead author of Backroads and Ballplayers, a volume that chronicles the baseball careers of Arkansas “farmers, coal miners, timber cutters, and even sharecroppers.” Assisting Yeager with the book were various members of the Robinson-Kell Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research.
Read the full article here: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/04/baseball-on-the-backroads-20181104/
Originally published: November 5, 2018. Last Updated: November 5, 2018.