SABR Digital Library: From Setbacks to Success: The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes
Add a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:
From Setbacks to Success: The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes
Edited by Vince Guerrieri, Thomas Kern, and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Len Levin and Carl Riechers
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-960819-45-1, $24.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-960819-44-4, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 162 pages
From Setbacks to Success provides a detailed account of the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes with biographies of the players and the team officials who led the team to its World Series triumph. Also included is a complete season timeline, articles about some standout games. the story of League Park and Cleveland Stadium (where the Buckeyes played), and an appreciation of the cultural context of the time.
Until the emergence of the Buckeyes in 1942, no Negro League team formed in Cleveland survived more than a year. The high-water mark for the Buckeyes was undoubtedly 1945, when they won the Negro American League title and then, against all odds, defeated the perennial Negro National League champion Homestead Grays four games to none in the Negro League World Series.
This book comprises contributions from 29 members of the Society for American Baseball Research. This history of the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes is the eighth in a series of SABR books about the great Negro League teams of the first half of the twentieth century.
Contributors include: Richard Bogovich, Isaac C. Brooks Jr., Alan Cohen, Dominick Denaro, Jeff Findley, Matt Garvey, Darren Gibson, David J. Goldberg, Evelyn R. Gregory, Margaret M. Gripshover, Vince Guerrieri, John V. Haynes II, Leslie Heaphy, Jay Hurd, Bill Johnson, Thomas Kern, Sean Kolodziej, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, Tony S. Oliver, Richard J. Puerzer, Carl Riechers, Kelly Boyer Sagert, Mark Shirk, Russ Speiller, Jeb Stewart, Tom Wancho, and Dave Wilkie.
SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!
- E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, EPUB/Kindle formats.
- Paperback: Get a 50% discount on The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Amazon Kindle Direct can take up to 4-6 weeks.)
Buy the book
- E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes for $9.99 from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
- Paperback: Get the paperback edition of The 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes from the SABR Store ($34.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Amazon Kindle Direct can take up to 4-6 weeks.)
About the SABR Digital Library
For more than 50 years, SABR and its members have led the way in publishing the best baseball historical and statistical research. Our publications program is shifting to take advantage of new methods of publishing. Not only will we continue to publish new books like Can He Play? A Look At Baseball Scouts and Their Profession (2011); Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century (2013); Scandal on the South Side: The 1919 Chicago White Sox (2015); Jackie Robinson: Perspectives on 42 (2021), ¡Arriba! The Heroic Life of Roberto Clemente (2022); and Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan (2023); which showcase the best efforts of SABR’s members, chapters and committees, but new technology makes it possible for us to bring out-of-print titles like When Boston Still Had the Babe: The 1918 World Champion Red Sox (2018); Green Cathedrals (2020); and The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin’ Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World (2021) back again.
Visit SABR.org/ebooks to find all past titles and download your favorites. Books will be available in digital formats as well as paperbacks produced by “print on demand” (POD).
SABR members can download all Digital Library e-book editions for free and save 50% on purchase of the paperback editions. If you’re not a member, click here to join SABR.
Stay tuned throughout the year for new (and old!) titles that we’ll be adding to the SABR Digital Library. To learn more about SABR Publications, contact Publications Editor Cecilia Tan at ctan@sabr.org.
Having trouble downloading our e-books? Click here for step-by-step instructions or a short tutorial video on how to download SABR digital publications.
Originally published: July 29, 2025. Last Updated: July 24, 2025.