In 1934, brothers Dizzy and Daffy Dean were stars of Major League Baseball’s regular season and World Series. Following their St. Louis Cardinals’ victory over the Detroit Tigers in the Series’ seventh and deciding game, the pair joined a 14-game barnstorming tour in which they competed against the best African American baseball teams in the country—including the Kansas City Monarchs.

In a discussion of his book The Dizzy and Daffy Dean Barnstorming Tour: Race, Media, and America’s National Pastime, baseball historian and author Phil Dixon revisits the 1934 tour and the many all-star players and future Hall of Famers who participated. He also examines how the media’s biased coverage of the tour downplayed the contributions of black players and perpetuated racism in American sports.