We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball: "3rd Inning"–"4th Inning"

by Kadir Nelson
This engaging history of Negro League Baseball details the obstacles and prejudices African-American baseball players faced in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.

This list covers vocabulary from "3rd Inning"–"4th Inning."
15 words 1504 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. unsavory
    morally offensive
    We had a number of really unsavory characters like Charleston or Jud Wilson to contend with, as well as pitchers who didn’t have a problem throwing at us, but that was something we had accepted as part of the game.
  2. spiritual
    religious song originated by African-Americans in the South
    To pass the time we played cards or sang old Negro spirituals or barbershop numbers.
  3. quartet
    four performers or singers who perform together
    To pass the time we played cards or sang old Negro spirituals or barbershop numbers. Just about every team had a quartet.
  4. segregate
    separate by race or religion
    It was segregated in the North, too. They wouldn’t serve us inside a restaurant, so we had to get our food from the back door and eat on the bus. We’d send one guy to buy food for the whole team. Hotels were segregated, too.
  5. inexplicable
    incapable of being explained or accounted for
    The minute we arrived, inexplicably, every hotel would be full.
  6. grandstand
    a covered structure with tiers of seats for spectators
    For league games, we charged a dollar for the bleachers, two dollars for the grandstand, and two-fifty for box seats.
  7. squawk
    complain
    Makes you mad to hear players today squawk about jet lag, and all of this. Try sleeping in a car with your knees to your chest, crammed with eight other guys, only to play a game the next day.
  8. depression
    a long-term economic state with unemployment and low prices
    In October 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed and sent the country spiraling downward into what is known as the “Great Depression.” Businesses collapsed and banks closed, taking people’s life savings with them. People were losing their jobs left and right, and soon it seemed everybody was out of work.
  9. racketeer
    someone who commits crimes for profit
    Despite the hard times, there were a few who did make money during the Depression. They were known as "numbers men,” racketeers.
  10. outstanding
    distinguished from others in excellence
    It was a team of all-stars: Josh Gibson (the black Babe Ruth); William Julius “Judy” Johnson, a star third baseman; Ted Page, an outstanding outfielder; Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe, who used to pitch the top half of a doubleheader and catch the bottom half; and Jake Stephens.
  11. doubleheader
    two games played back-to-back
    It was a team of all-stars: Josh Gibson (the black Babe Ruth); William Julius “Judy” Johnson, a star third baseman; Ted Page, an outstanding outfielder; Ted “Double-Duty” Radcliffe, who used to pitch the top half of a doubleheader and catch the bottom half: and Jake Stephens.
  12. undertaker
    one whose business is the management of funerals
    But there were also doctors, a few black celebrities, and even a couple of undertakers.
  13. unrestricted
    not subject to or subjected to limiting
    Other owners would offer us more money, and we would leave our teams and go play for them. We were some of the first unrestricted free agents.
  14. portable
    easily or conveniently transported
    In 1930, the Monarchs had the first portable lighting system in organized baseball.
  15. dynamo
    a coil that rotates between the poles of an electromagnet
    While it was still light, the players set the lights up on poles around the field next to first and third base and in the outfield. They had these big dynamos hooked up to generators run by a 250-horsepower engine housed in a truck parked way in the outfield.
Created on Mon Sep 30 20:12:48 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Jun 16 12:47:31 EDT 2025)

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