In the steamy summer of 1919 Chicago, notorious owner Charles Comiskey and Andrew "Rube" Foster, the Father of the Negro Leagues, scheme to rock the baseball world by adding African American star shortstop John Henry "Pop" Lloyd to the White Sox's roster. It is a devil's bargain, as only the men's thirst for fame and fortune allows them to overcome their contempt for each other.

Meanwhile, Comiskey's low pay and tawdry treatment of his ballplayers drive them towards the Black Sox scandal, while the clashes between blacks and whites grow hotter than Chicago's oppressive heat, setting the stage for what will explode into Chicago's Great Race Riots of 1919.

As Comiskey's greedy tentacles extend further and further, he brings on young Sam Weiss to do his dirty work and be his go-between. Weiss and an aspiring nightclub singer, Kid Douglas, later to known as Memphis Minnie, find themselves tangled up in Comiskey and Foster's scheme, utterly powerless, of course, to alter a thing.

Shadow Ball, originally published in 2001, is a work of great imagination, firmly grounded in genuine history. Author Peter Rutkoff takes readers down Chicago's dusty cobblestone streets, into smoke-filled back rooms, and elbow to elbow with two of baseball's true titans of the era.