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Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,
Lexile, ® and Reading Recovery are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.
Biography
Baseball
Heroes
by Greg Rogers
Genre
Biography
Comprehension
Skills and Strategy
• Compare and
Contrast
• Cause and Effect
• Visualize
Text Features
• Captions
• Chapter titles
• Glossary
Scott Foresman Reading Street 2.6.1
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Reader Response
Baseball Heroes
1. Compare the major leagues with the
Negro leagues. Use a graphic organizer
by Greg Rogers
like the one below to organize your
ideas.
Major leagues
Negro leagues
2. Read the first six lines on page 11. Make
a picture in your mind about what the
words are describing. What do you see
3. The word talented is used in this book.
Use the glossary to find out the word’s
meaning. What are you talented in
4. What evidence does the book give
that people’s thinking about African
American baseball players was
changing Look at pictures as well as
the words.
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York
Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois
Coppell, Texas • Ontario, California • Mesa, Arizona

CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 4
Playing Separately
CHAPTER 2 6
Jackie Robinson
CHAPTER 3 10
Willie Howard Mays
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for
photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to
correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman,
a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R),
Background (Bkgd)
CHAPTER 4 14
Hank Aaron
Now Try This 18
Glossary 20
Opener: (T) Brand X Pictures, C) Bettmann/Corbis; 1 ©DK Images; 4 (T) Brand X Pictures
(BR) Bettman/Corbis, (C) ©DK images; 5 Getty Images; 7 (T) Library of Congress, (B)
Bettman/Corbis; 8 Bettmann/Corbis; 9 Bettmann/Corbis; 11 Bettmann/Corbis; 13
Bettmann/Corbis; 15 Bettmann/Corbis; 16 Bettmann/Corbis; 17 Bettmann/Corbis; 18
Library of Congress
ISBN: 0-328-13309-4
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is
protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher
prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission
in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to: Permissions Department,
Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V010 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
3

Chapter One: Playing Separately
Before the 1940s, African American
baseball players faced many challenges.
From 1884 until 1945 they were banned
from major league and minor league baseball
because they were black. During this time,
African American players decided to start
their own teams. They formed leagues, or
groups of teams, that came to be known
as the Negro leagues. Negro league players
were professionals, but they earned much less
money than white players.
Playing in separate leagues was unfair.
It was the result of prejudice. Many people
fought to end the prejudice that kept black
players from playing with white players.
Finally, in 1945, the first African American
player was invited to join a major league team.
You will read about three of the greatest
African American baseball players—Jackie
Robinson, Willie Howard Mays, and
Hank Aaron .
Willie Howard
Mays
4
Hank Aaron
Jackie Robinson
5

Chapter Two: Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson, called Jackie,
was the first African American baseball
player to join a major league team. Jackie
Robinson was born in Georgia in 1919. He
grew up in California and went to college
there. He was one of the best athletes in
college sports. He played varsity football,
basketball, and baseball.
After college, Jackie Robinson joined the
army and fought during World War II. When
the war ended, he joined the Kansas City
Monarchs. The Monarchs were one of the
best Negro league baseball teams.
The Brooklyn Dodgers, a major league
team, first noticed Jackie Robinson when he
played shortstop for the Monarchs. It was
clear that he was very talented. Still, the
Dodgers waited many months to ask him to
play for them. They needed to think about
facing the pressure of being the first major
league team to sign a Negro league player.
Jackie Robinson
was a great
athlete in many
sports.
6
7

Jackie Robinson was asked to join the
Dodgers in 1945. In 1947 Jackie played first
base in his first major league game at Ebbets
Field. Though he did not get a hit at the
plate, he went to first base on a pitching error
and scored the winning run for the Dodgers.
Jackie was treated badly by many people
during his rookie season. Some fans and even
some other players were very prejudiced. But
Jackie played and handled this prejudice so
well that he was voted Rookie of the Year.
Jackie Robinson played major league
baseball with the Dodgers for ten years. He
led the National League in batting. He played
in the All-Star game six times. That was a
major league record. He also helped change
people’s ideas about African American
athletes.
In 1949 he was named Most Valuable
Player, and he was elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame in 1962. Jackie Robinson is a
hero. He is honored for his ability to play
baseball but also for staying calm and focused
when facing challenges.
8 9

Chapter Three: Willie Howard Mays
After Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn
Dodgers, other major league teams asked
talented African American players to join
them. One of these players was center fielder
Willie Mays.
Willie Howard Mays, nicknamed the Say
Hey Kid, was born in Alabama in 1931. The
son of a baseball player, Willie Mays had
played baseball since childhood. He began
playing in the Negro leagues at the age of
sixteen, when he was still in high
school.
Willie Mays joined the New
York Giants in 1950. Willie Mays hit
twenty home runs in his first year and
was named Rookie of the Year .
He made many famous plays in center
field. In Pennsylvania, Mays sailed across the
outfield, racing to catch a fly ball that was hit
almost five hundred feet away. He lost his
baseball glove, but he managed to catch the
ball with his bare hand! What an effort!
Willie Mays was a great player in the
field. He was a powerful hitter at the plate
and a very fast runner around the bases.
Willie Mays’s talent helped lead the Giants to
the 1951 World Series.
Willie Mays scores again!
10
11

During the 1954 World Series, Mays
made one of the greatest catches in the
history of baseball. This catch came in game
one against the Cleveland Indians. A batter
hit a towering fly ball deep to center field.
Mays made a backward catch after running
from hundreds of feet away!
The Giants moved to San Francisco in
1958, and Willie Mays went with them. He
was soon receiving the highest salary of any
baseball player of that time. In 1972 Willie
Mays returned to New York, where he played
for the New York Mets until he retired at age
forty-two.
Willie Mays was one of the most popular
baseball players in history. He won many
awards, played in twenty-four All-Star games,
and hit more than six hundred home runs.
He was elected Most Valuable Player two
times and won twelve Gold Glove awards.
Willie Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall
of Fame in 1979.
12
13

Chapter Four: Hank Aaron
Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron was another
talented baseball player from the Negro
leagues. Hank Aaron was born in Alabama in
1934. In 1954 Hank Aaron joined the Atlanta
Braves after two years in the Negro leagues.
He hit a home run his first at bat!
During his last season with the Braves,
Hank Aaron would break one of the greatest
baseball records of his time. Many people
thought it was a record that could never be
broken. It was Babe Ruth’s all-time career
home-run hitting record of 714 home runs.
As Hank Aaron got closer to breaking
Babe Ruth’s record, he started getting angry
letters and phone calls. Many people did
not want to see an African American player
break a record held by a famous white
baseball player. Hank Aaron continued to
fight against their prejudice and beat the
record. Aaron’s talent inspired many people
on and off the field.
14
15

In 1974 Hank Aaron left the Braves to
join the Milwaukee Brewers. He played two
years for the Brewers before retiring in 1976.
By the time Hank Aaron retired, he led
the major leagues in home runs. He also held
many all-time records. He had played in the
most games, had the most at bats, and had
the most base hits.
In 1982 Hank Aaron was elected to
the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the last
African American player to come to the
major leagues from the Negro leagues.
Hank Aaron’s Hall of Fame ceremony
Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Hank
Aaron were very talented ballplayers. Jackie
Robinson and Hank Aaron were two of the
best hitters ever to play. Willie Mays was an
amazing fielder with lightning speed.
These athletes made history. Jackie
Robinson, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron
faced prejudice and challenges to gain the
right to play the sport they loved. Even at
difficult times, their talent showed through.
Their courage inspires us and makes us proud
today.
Jackie Robinson signs autographs for fans.
16
17

Now Try This
Time Line: Important Events
In Baseball
There have been some important events
in the history of baseball. A time line is a line
that shows events happening in order. Make
a time line to show what you learned about
baseball history.
Here’s How to Do It!
1. Make a list of the years and events
mentioned in this book.
2. Place your events in order.
3. Get a long sheet of paper.
4. Draw a line from left to right across the
middle of your paper.
5. Mark this line with a large dot for each of
the years on your list.
6. Write down the events in the order they
happened in time.
7. Choose a few events to illustrate.
8. Present your time line to the class.
18
19

Glossary
athletes n. people
trained in sports.
banned v.
forbidden by law.
challenges n.
things that test
our abilities
or character;
difficulties.
effort n. the use
of concentration
and energy to do
something; trying
hard.
prejudice n. an
unreasonable
dislike of a group
of people.
record n. the best
number, rate, or
speed yet reached.
rookie n. player in
his or her first year
of professional
athletics; beginner.
talented adj.
skillful; able to do
something very
well.
Reader Response
1. Compare the major leagues with the
Negro leagues. Use a graphic organizer
like the one below to organize your
ideas.
Major leagues
Negro leagues
2. Read the first six lines on page 11. Make
a picture in your mind about what the
words are describing. What do you see
3. The word talented is used in this book.
Use the glossary to find out the word’s
meaning. What are you talented in
4. What evidence does the book give
that people’s thinking about African
American baseball players was
changing Look at pictures as well as
the words.
20