The year was 1947. A talented young minor-league baseball player was called up to the majors to join the Brooklyn Dodgers. But this was no ordinary man, nor any simple achievement. This was Jackie Robinson: an all-around star athlete, a U.S. Army veteran--and a black man. Until that year, baseball's shameful color line had kept African Americans out of the big leagues. Overcoming prejudice, exclusion, and even hatred, Jackie Robinson broke that line and became one of the game's best player...

The history of baseball is filled with forgotten names: players who are good enough to reach the top of the sport but who, for any number of reasons, land at the edges of the game. Some spend a week or two in the major leagues and then disappear back into the minors. Many leave the sport for good. Still, for an afternoon, a week, or a couple of months, these men stood on the field alongside the best players in The Show. Here are gripping stories of their brief moments in the sun.

The history of baseball is filled with forgotten names: players who are good enough to reach the top of the sport but who, for any number of reasons, land at the edges of the game. Some spend a week or two in the major leagues and then disappear back into the minors. Many leave the sport for good. Still, for an afternoon, a week, or a couple of months, these men stood on the field alongside the best players in The Show. Here are gripping stories of their brief moments in the sun.

The year was 1947. A talented young minor-league baseball player was called up to the majors to join the Brooklyn Dodgers. But this was no ordinary man, nor any simple achievement. This was Jackie Robinson: an all-around star athlete, a U.S. Army veteran--and a black man. Until that year, baseball's shameful color line had kept African Americans out of the big leagues. Overcoming prejudice, exclusion, and even hatred, Jackie Robinson broke that line and became one of the game's best player...