Cardinal Dreams

The untold story of one of the first Black players for the St. Louis Cardinals, who dreamed of leaving a lasting impact on Major League Baseball.

Charlie Peete was poised for greatness. After a meteoric rise through the minor leagues, the rookie outfielder appeared in twenty-three games for the St. Louis Cardinals during the summer of 1956 and established himself as one of the best prospects in the organization—until a cruel twist of fate intervened. On his way to Venezuela to compete in a winter baseball league, Peete and his family died in a plane crash near Caracas.

Nearly seven decades later, Cardinal Dreams revitalizes the legacy of Charlie Peete with the most comprehensive account to date of his remarkable life, including personal interviews with those who knew him and played with him. Raised under Jim Crow laws in southeastern Virginia, Peete broke into professional baseball in 1950 with the Negro American League’s Indianapolis Clowns, served his country admirably for two years in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, returned home to help integrate the Class B Piedmont League with the Portsmouth Merrimacs, and then climbed to the top of the St. Louis Cardinals organization at a time of rapid change under new ownership. Had Peete not lost his life in that plane crash, he likely would have become the first Black position player in franchise history to earn a permanent starting job.

Charlie Peete’s death stunned the St. Louis Cardinals and left the baseball world to forever wonder what his career might have become. But, despite his premature and tragic ending, Peete changed the world for the better—and left a lasting impact on the sport he spent his life pursuing.

Danny Spewak has more than a decade of experience as a news reporter at local television affiliates in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Buffalo, and mid-Missouri. A native of the St. Louis area, he graduated from the University of Missouri with dual degrees in journalism and political science. Spewak has also covered college sports extensively as a freelance writer, producing work that has appeared in the USA Today Network, The Huffington Post, and other online media outlets. He is the author of From the Gridiron to the Battlefield: Minnesota’s March to a College Football Title and into World War II, which was a finalist for the Emilie Buchwald Award for Minnesota Nonfiction in the 2022 Minnesota Book Awards.

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