As Brian McDonald wrote Sockalexis's biography he also included US history of the time around the turn of the 20th Century: the aftermath of the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War with the input of Hearst and Pulitzer, labor relations, race relations, the power plays between religion and politics, and most pertinently the rise of the prohibition movement. Watching the self destruction of Sockalexis you can see why people might think that banning alcohol would save lives. He had great physical control as a ballplayer - good hands, great strength, speed and accuracy which lead to one wonderful season of major league ball with fans shouting Sockalexis, Sockalexis - Sock it to them, Sockalexis. Then he drank himself right out of a career. What a loss. What a disease. ( )

On the surface, it sounds like something you'd see in the news today: an incredibly gifted and intelligent athlete is unable to handle success, lives life too much in the fast lane, and destroys himself and his career through substance abuse. Only this story takes place at the end of the 19th century, the drug in question is alcohol, and the athlete in question is the first Native American to play in Major League Baseball. (Actually, as the author of this book admits, another ball player is officially acknowledged as the first Native American major league player. However, that player did not acknowledge his racial identity, attempting to "pass" for white -- in an ethnic version of "don't ask, don't tell," I guess.)

Louis Francis Sockalexis was a full-blooded member of the Penobscot tribe in Maine and was openly, unabashedly a Native American -- or, as the language of the day would say, an Indian. Indeed, there are those who feel that the naming of the current Cleveland baseball team was done with him and his playing days in mind, as the current American League franchise was named at a time when he was very much within memory of those who had seen him play.

He excelled at sports in an early age, was offered a scholarship at Holy Cross in Worcester, MA to play baseball there, and eventually was offered a contract with the major league ball club in Cleveland. (Note: this was a National League club which went out of business, not the current American League franchise.) For a brief, glorious time he was one of the best of the best in the game: a power hitter with blazing speed running the bases and a phenomenal throwing arm. But his success, and the fast life to which it led, sowed the seeds of his rapid and tragic downfall.

Brian McDonald tackles the story with insight and compassion. There were some quirks in the writing that originally annoyed me -- the tendency to refer to Sockalexis as "The Indian" being the main one. However, I think his point was that, for so many of the whites around Sockalexis, that's how they viewed him -- as "The Indian." McDonald coveys a sense of the isolation he must have felt in a "white man's world" that so thoroughly misunderstood his people and subjected him to intense prejudice. McDonald helps us understand that context with information about how Native Americans were being treated, including misguided attempts to "help the Indians" by destroying their culture.

In the end, I found this to be an informative and moving story. ( )

Being a short account of the meteoric career of baseball's Sockalexis. Unfortunately, aside from his ethnicity, Sockalexis just isn't that interesting a figure. The author has a good feel for the period and brings it to life very well, but he didn't make a case for Sockalexis as a great, or even a potential great, that well. ( )