The 521 All-Stars

In small towns across the South, semi-professional baseball leagues offer a glimpse of the game that was once the American pastime in real life rather than on television. These mostly black leagues have a remarkable impact on their local communities. Two years ago, photographer Byron Baldwin and writer Frye Gaillard began following one of the teams, the 521 All-Stars of Rembert, South Carolina. In a series of documentary photographs and an extended introductory essay, Baldwin and Gaillard take readers through a season of play with the All-Stars. What emerges is a portrait of a group of men who play the game for the joy of it, and who are leaders and role models in their communities in ways that often go far beyond the celebrity and wealth of the stars in the major leagues. As luck would have it, the All-Stars won their league championship during the second year Baldwin and Gaillard were chronicling their story The win was sweet yet tinged with regret at the untimely death earlier in the year of one of their teammates.