Robert W. Peterson

Introduction

Robert W. Peterson was a sports and Scouting journalist who subsequently became a freelance author of articles for magazines and books.

Early Life and Career

Peterson was born on December 19, 1925, in Warren, Pennsylvania. He attended Upsala College and later served as a writer and editor at the New York World-Telegram, which went bankrupt in 1966.

Peterson is well known for his book Only the Ball Was White, which documented the history of the American Negro League. He had been a baseball fan since he was a child, and he remembered witnessing some of the black athletes play when he was a kid, including Josh Gibson's record-breaking home run, which was the furthest in Warren County. He had the chance to compete against some of the top players in the Negro League while playing catcher in his youth.

After enlisting in the United States Navy at the end of WWII, Peterson worked as a journalist for the Rockland Independent in Suffern, New York, in the early 1950s. He worked for two years as the Titusville Herald's city editor and the next two years as managing editor of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in Ohio. In 1961, Peterson started working as a junior news editor at the New York World-Telegram. He began freelancing in 1966, writing for magazines such as Boys' Life when he came up with the idea for a novel about the Negro Leagues, which became Only the Ball Was White in 1970.

About His Writings

The New York Times praised Peterson's 1970 record of Negro league baseball, Only the Ball Was White, for "recapturing a long-forgotten phase in baseball history and a rich aspect of black life in America." The baseball commissioner at the time, Bowie Kuhn, later complimented Peterson's book for "concentrating greater attention on the achievements of Negro League players," which contributed to the inclusion of the players into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Negro Leagues was a challenging part of baseball history for several years before breaking down in 1951, and only a few years after Jackie Robinson smashed down the racial barrier by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Peterson believed that the many talented players in that league who were never given a chance to play in the main leagues deserved to be recognized for their exceptional abilities. He finished the first book on the topic by combining research with recollections of the event, which is now considered an important resource for baseball historians. Afterward, Peterson wrote two sports history books: Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football (1996) and Cages to Jump Shots: The Early Years of Pro Basketball (1990). He also worked as an editor for several publications and wrote a book about the Boy Scouts. He was most known for his knowledge of African-American baseball.

Peterson's book The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure was released in 1984, on the eve of the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) 75th anniversary. He discusses the history of Scouting's various programs in that book, including E. Urner Goodman's establishing of the scouting organization Order of the Arrow and Ernest Thompson Seton's successful implementation of American Indian culture in his Wood Craft Indians initiative, which influenced Scouting's initial growth, particularly the Order of the Arrow.

Peterson wrote articles for Scouting magazine numerous times throughout the 1970s and 1990s, including a 1985 tribute to William Hillcourt, calling the well-known BSA leader "the greatest influence on the growth of the Boy Scouting program." In 2001, he wrote another feature for Scouter magazine about Hillcourt. Peterson contributed to the BSA's Scouting magazine, an account of Scouting activity in Japanese-American internment camps during WWII.

Death

Peterson died of lung cancer on February 11, 2006, in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, leaving behind his wife, Peggy, a son, and a daughter.

One of his last activities was serving on a Hall of Fame committee that attempted to choose previously unknown black players to be honored in the Cooperstown, New York Museum. Peterson got the opportunity to vote for those he thought deserved to be recognized before passing away on February 27, 2006.

Books Written By Robert W Peterson

• Only the Ball Was White was made available in 1970.
• Rhodesian independence was released in 1971.
• Agnew: the coining of a household word in 1972.
• Space: From Gemini to the Moon and Beyond was published in 1972.
• Crime and the American Response was first released in 1973.
• South Africa and Apartheid was published in 1975.
• The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure was released in 1985.
• Cages to Jump Shots: The Early Years of Professional Basketball was published in 1990.
• Pigskin: The Early Years of Professional Football was released in 1996.