Presale launches for Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger
We have an official release date for Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger, of Feb. 4, 2025. But we have a surprise for Ballpark Digest readers and Friends of Steve: a December 1 presale that ships with an autographed bookplate.
Steve, of course, is Stephen Dittmore, author of Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger. It’s a deeply researched, authoritative biography of one of baseball’s pioneering players. Jim “Junior” Gilliam never commanded the spotlight, yet he was instrumental in the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers reaching seven World Series, winning four, during his career. He never had a permanent position and was frequently the subject of trade rumors. Remembered as a role player, Gilliam sacrificed his statistics for the good of the team.
In Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger, the first book-length biography of the Dodgers legend, Stephen W. Dittmore tells the story of Gilliam’s rise in the baseball world, from rough times in the Negro Leagues to more glamorous times in Los Angeles and the majors. Gilliam’s story parallels the many changes in professional baseball, from segregated MLB rosters to the first Black stars, as told in this deeply researched account of the forgotten Dodger. Featuring interviews with the family, friends and teammates who knew Gilliam the best, Jim Gilliam: The Forgotten Dodger is both the story of an important figure in the baseball world while also telling the story of the sport’s evolution from segregation to a national desegregated pastime.
