Roy Campanella

A film adaptation of The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn, this documentary, hosted by comedian Sid Caesar, a Brooklyn boy and lifelong Brooklyn Dodgers fan, dates from 1983. While it discusses the exploits of the team in their grandest era, THE BOYS OF SUMMER focuses more importantly on the team members' lives since the end of The Era.

A young boy is taunted mercilessly by the other boys in town - until he gets some help from the ghost of a Brooklyn Dodger, who turns him into a great baseball player.

Throughout the 1900's, before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1946, black baseball talent blossomed in the Negro Leagues. Baseball buffs still sing the praises of Josh Gibson who could be counted on to hit 70 homeruns in a season, and Satchel Paige who pitched over 100 no-hitters in his career. Only the Ball Was White pays tribute to the many topflight players from the Negro Leagues. Narrated by actor Paul Winfield, the program documents a bygone bittersweet era in baseball and the men who were denied stardom by the color line. Ballplayers throughout the country were interviewed for this program, all of them quick to tell tales of the life, the competition, and the camaraderie. These include: Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, Buck Leonard, Jimmy Crutchfield, David Malarcher, Effa Manley, and Quincy Trouppe.